Chapter 2 – Marco
“Well, that wasn’t so bad. Right?” he asks while we’re driving home.
“No. Not at all.”
“I mean, your father didn’t seem thrilled about me . . .”
“Don’t worry. That’s how he acts toward the things he likes. If he didn’t approve, he would’ve voiced his opinion. The only thing you’ll ever see him get excited about is his wood.”
I can’t help but laugh at the innuendo.
“Wha—oh, gross! That’s not what I meant, and you know it!” She lightly slaps my arm.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”
I offer to drop her off right at home, but she asks if she can help me put the girls to bed, and I say of course.
When we pull up to the house, my heart is full, knowing how much she loves my children. But my blood soon turns cold after walking in and not hearing any noise. I expected to hear the television on, at minimum.
“Hello?” I call out in terror. My eyes are darting from side to side.
“Marco? What’s wrong?”
“It’s too quiet.”
She pulls out her phone and confirms that she didn’t get any call during dinner. I do the same.
Then, we go together and check the kitchen, dining room, and rest of the house. Nothing.
“Oh, my God.” I’m trying not to panic, but how can I not?
“Marco!” Bea screams. The counter is in the way, so I can’t see where her hand is pointing right away, but when I get closer, it is clear that the door leading into the garage is open to a crack.
I parked in the driveway, so we didn’t come through that way into the house. I open the door fully, turn on the overhead light, and scan the concrete slab.
“Nothing,” I report.
“What the heck?” She’s chewing on her nails.
“I . . . I don’t know.”
“Daddy?” I finally hear from behind me, and it’s like music to my ears.
I turn around and see Alessia’s innocent little face.
“Oh, thank God.”
I rush to her and bring her up for a hug.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where is your sister?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I can’t find her.”
Then, the dread is starting to sink back in.
“What do you mean?”
“She and grandma went to hide, but I can’t find them.”
I feel Bea place a hand on my shoulder. “They were playing hide and seek.”
“Oh.” I feel a little foolish for getting so worked up. However, the fact that Caroline has had mobility problems lately comes to the forefront of my mind. “We need to find grandma,” I instruct my daughter and Bea simultaneously.
“Yay!” Alessia squeals.
But Bea better understands the situation, so she just nods. We each take rooms and start our diligent search.
“Aurora! No fair! We said you couldn’t go in the cabinet!” I hear Alessia say.
“Sorry,” her sister responds.
I’m in the guest room and am trying to decipher where an older woman might try to hide. I decided first to check the most obvious place—the closet.
“Marco?” I hear a weak voice call from under a pile of clothes that appear to have been ripped off the cylinder rack.
“Caroline?” I work to remove everything on top of her. “Bea! In here!”
“Oh, my gosh!” she says before helping me get the frail woman up. “Are you okay, Caroline?”
We lead her to the bed.
“I think I hit my head,” Caroline says as she raises her hand to feel for an injury.
I’ve never been that great in an emergency, but Bea jumps into action.
“Girls, please go play downstairs for a little bit. Okay?” she instructs.
“Okay.”
With the kids gone, she sits next to my ex-mother-in-law. “Caroline. Do you remember losing consciousness?”
“I—”
“At any time when you were on the ground, did you black out?”
“I’m not sure.”
Then, Bea points out the blood that’s in her hair near the back. I walk over and confirm that there’s also some on the wall.
“We need to take her to the hospital.”
“No, no!” Caroline objects. “No hospital. No doctors.”
“Caroline, you may have a concussion. We need to go get a scan of your brain.”
“No!” She quickly becomes hysterical.
“Do you have Clara’s number?” Bea asks.
“Of course. Why?”
“Give me your phone.”
I do as she says.
“Hello, Clara? Hi. This is Bea. I’m . . .” She looks up at me before continuing, “I’m the girls’ babysitter. Listen, your mother was over, and she and the kids were playing hide and seek. Well, she managed to bump her head in the closet—no, I understand. I’m not sure why she’d try to do that. But the issue right now is that your mother is refusing to go to the hospital. Can you please try talking to her? I’m very worried she may have a concussion.”
Then, she hands the phone to Caroline.
I can’t hear exactly what my ex-wife is saying, but it seems to work because we soon get her mother to calm down and agree to go get medical care.
“So, you’ll just stay here with the girls.”
“No, it’s okay. I can take her.”
“What? Are you sure?” I was not expecting her to offer that.
“Yeah. It’s better for you to stay here with them. Um, just let me make sure I get Clara’s number into my phone.”
“Yeah, sure.”
She types it in, and then we escort Caroline into the back of Bea’s car.
“Thank you so much for doing this.”
“No problem. I’ll keep you up to date.”
“Please do.”
“I love you,” she mouths after flicking her long, wavy hair to one side.
“I love you too.”
Then, she gets into the car and drives off.
It’s still hard to believe all that woman willingly does for me. She has absolutely no obligation to help the woman she’s currently taking time to take to the hospital.
How did I get so lucky?
I go back inside, and my daughters have questions about where grandma went.
“Bea is taking her to the doctor really quick.”
“Why? What’s wrong with her?”
I bend down to their level. “Well, she fell in the closet.”
Aurora’s face goes pale white.
“Oh, no. It’s okay, sweetie. Grandma is okay. We just want to make sure that she didn’t hurt her head.”
Unlike my intention, that doesn’t make her feel better. Instead, tears form in the corners of her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I kept asking her to play with us. She said it wasn’t safe for her to be walking around. But I kept pushing.”
She collapses on my chest and cries harder.
“Baby, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
“If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be in the hospital right now.” Her voice is muffled against my shirt.
“It’s okay. Please don’t blame yourself.”