Chapter 13 #2
“I know. I’m prepared to explain to her that we’ve become friends over the years.”
“Dementia is such a cruel disease. The guys are going to get this time with her only to have to lose her all over again.”
“I hate that so much for them, but I’m thankful they’re getting this interlude with her, even if it’s temporary.”
They sat there for a few minutes before the family arrived in two cars. Marion was riding in the front seat of Paul and Hope’s SUV. Daisy took one look at the older woman who’d become her friend under the strangest of circumstances and could see that she seemed much more alert than usual.
“And already my heart is breaking,” Daisy said softly to David as they got out of the car to greet their friends.
Paul helped Marion out of the car, and for a long moment, she stood in front of the house she’d called home for her entire adult life.
“You painted it,” she said.
“We did,” Paul replied. He stood close to his mother, who wasn’t as agile as she’d been before her illness worsened.
“It looks wonderful. I love the flower boxes.”
“Those are all Hope’s doing. She has your green thumb.”
Marion glanced at her daughter-in-law. “They’re lovely.”
“Thank you, Marion. I hope you know… Paul and I, we’ve made the house our own, but it’s still your house, so I want you to make yourself entirely at home here.”
“Thank you, honey. I’m glad that you’ve made a home for yourselves here. My George and I were always so happy in this house.” She looked to Alex. “Where do you live?”
“Jenny and I built a house out by the south fields. We’ll take you to see it while you’re here.”
“I’d like that.”
“Mom, this is—”
“Daisy,” Marion said, reaching for her. “My friend Daisy.”
Relieved that Marion remembered her, Daisy hugged her. “It’s so nice to see you, Marion.”
Marion pulled back from Daisy and studied her closely. “Are you expecting, honey? Your cheeks are fuller.”
Daisy gasped and then laughed. “You found me out.”
“I knew it!”
“Congratulations, you guys,” Alex said. “That’s great news.”
“So much for not telling anyone yet,” David said, his smile lighting up his lovely brown eyes.
Daisy loved when he smiled like that. It’d taken a while, after they found each other, for him to smile freely, to believe that what they had would last. He’d taken responsibility for the unfortunate way his relationship with Janey McCarthy had ended, but in the end, he’d needed to forgive himself for the mistakes he’d made before he could be truly happy with her or anyone else.
“I’m going to need to feed Scarlett,” Hope said. “Should we go in?”
“I’d like to sit on the porch for a while, if that’s all right,” Marion said.
“Of course, Mom,” Paul replied.
The porch had always been Marion’s favorite place to pass the time.
They helped her up the stairs and settled her in one of the rockers.
Daisy hung back, wanting to give Marion’s sons the opportunity to spend as much time as they could with their mother while she was in this alert state.
But Marion had her own mind and, as usual, wasn’t afraid to speak it. “Daisy, come sit by me.”
The brothers parted to let her through, and when she sat in the chair next to Marion’s, the other woman reached for her hand and held on tight.
“They say I’m not well,” Marion said. “That I have dementia.”
“Yes,” Daisy said.
“How is it that I remember you? That I remember sitting here with you before?”
Daisy looked to David for help in answering the question.
“Marion, I’m David Lawrence, and I was your doctor.”
“I don’t remember you,” she said, giving voice to the baffling mystery of her illness. She’d known David far longer than she’d known Daisy, as he’d grown up with her sons.
“David took very good care of you for a long time, Mom,” Alex said. “He was a big part of the reason we were able to keep you at home for as long as we did.”
“I’m sorry I don’t remember that.”
“Don’t be sorry, Marion,” David said.
“I don’t understand what’s happening. Why can I remember Daisy, but I don’t remember my sons getting married or having children?”
“Dementia is a very complex disease,” David said, “and it rarely follows any sort of predictable patterns.”
“They said the lucidity won’t last… Is that true?”
“I’m sorry to say that it is.”
“Will it happen again? Will I remember things again in the future?”
“I don’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“But it’s not likely, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
Marion set her jaw and gave a short nod. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
“Of course.”
Daisy could see that it pained David to have to be honest with Marion, but she gave him credit for his kindness.
“Could I hold baby George?” Marion asked.
“He would love that.” Jenny settled the baby on his grandmother’s lap. “Would you mind if I took some pictures of him with you?”
“My hair is a mess,” Marion said, raising a hand to straighten it.
“No, it’s lovely, Marion,” Daisy said. “Chloe comes to do it for you every Friday morning.”
“Chloe… Does she have pink hair?”
“Sometimes,” Daisy said. “You never know what color it will be.”
“She’s a nice girl.”
“She is, and she has a nice boyfriend named Finn McCarthy.”
“Little Finn McCarthy? Big Mac’s nephew? He’s just a teenager.”
“Not anymore, Mom,” Paul said. “I think he’s twenty-seven now.”
“Twenty-seven! My heavens. How did that happen?”
They talked for an hour about other island residents, who had married whom, who had children, people her sons had grown up with and other news. At one point, Alex walked to the other side of the porch where he stood looking out over their property, his shoulders hunched.
Jenny went to him, wrapped her arms around him and offered what comfort she could. How cruel it had to be for Alex and Paul to have their mother back while knowing she couldn’t stay.
As the afternoon passed, Marion’s faithful friends from church came by to see her. Ethan came home with his friends Kyle and Jackson in tow. Ethan delighted Marion, as usual, but she rarely let go of Daisy’s hand.
Daisy was honored to be someone who provided comfort to Marion and stayed by her friend’s side even as she roasted in the unrelenting heat.
Baby George had sat with his grandmother for more than an hour before he got fussy for his mommy. Despite the heat, the family stayed close to Marion all afternoon.
David put his arm around Daisy and whispered to her, “We’re supposed to stop by Charlie and Sarah’s.”
“We’ll do that later. I can’t leave Marion. You can go if you want, and I’ll catch up.”
“I’ll wait for you.”