by Judy Baer
“Are you having pain?”
“No, dear, just a little heaviness. I do believe that someone can actually have a broken heart.”
Hannah made a quick decision. She turned the steering wheel to the right and headed for the emergency room.
“Where are we going?” Lily asked. Her voice wasn’t as strong as it had been.
“To see a doctor. I should never have taken you to that house. You’ve gotten yourself all worked up.”
Lily didn’t respond. Instead, she settled her head against the backrest and closed her eyes. That frightened Hannah most of all.
It didn’t take long, once Hannah told the E.R. receptionist that Lily was having chest pains, for them to find themselves in an examination cubicle with Lily hooked up to an EKG machine.
A doctor entered the cubicle carrying Lily’s chart. Both women looked at him expectantly.
“The good news is that Lily seems to be doing fine now. It could have been an anxiety attack she experienced, but I want her to spend the night in the hospital so we can watch her. We’ll hook her up to a monitor that will give us an idea what her heart is doing. If things look good, she can go home in the morning.”
“That’s not necessary!” Lily protested. “I have Hannah if I don’t feel well.”
“You’re staying,” Hannah said bluntly. “I feel bad enough for taking you to Clara’s. I will not take you out of this hospital before the doctor discharges you.”
“It’s so much more comfortable at home. And I promised Danny we’d play checkers after school.”
The doctor suppressed a smile. “I do think she’s going to be fine, but I have to make sure. Twenty-four hours, that’s all.”
Lily gave him the same look she used with Hannah and Ty when she didn’t agree with one of them.
For once, Lily didn’t get her way.
* * *
Hannah, who had chosen to remain at the hospital with Lily, tried Ty’s cell phone at least once an hour, but he didn’t pick up. She didn’t want to leave him a message about Lily. She needed to explain things herself. Trisha and one of her roommates had promised to stay with Danny and get him off to school in the morning.
Lily was already sleeping peacefully when Hannah settled herself with a pillow and blanket on the recliner in the room that she’d made into a quasi-bed. She tried to sleep, but all she could think of was that Ty would be furious once he heard that his grandmother had spent the night in the hospital. Her thoughts raced in circles. Lily had been desperate to see her friend. Still, Hannah was the one in change of Lily’s health. Even though Lily could talk paint off a wall if she chose to, Hannah knew she had caved in way too soon.
Ty would fire her and she deserved it. Even though it seemed that something special was growing between them, that shouldn’t prevent him from firing her. She’d let him down. Lily could die, for goodness’ sake! And it would be Hannah’s fault. Just when she needed the money to cover Trisha’s negligence, Hannah had made the poorest decision of her career. The longer she thought about it, the more convinced Hannah was that she was the one for whom a heart attack was imminent.
Lord, You’ll have to work this out for me. I put it in Your capable hands. I pray that, whatever happens, it is Your will.
Finally, she slept.
* * *
Ty was exhausted. He’d had late meetings and early ones, too much coffee and too little sleep. He was looking forward to getting home and sleeping in his own bed, having breakfast with Danny before he went to school and a relaxing second cup of coffee with Hannah prior to going to the office. They’d fallen into that little routine gradually, and now it seemed almost wrong not to have the ritual to start the day.
It was difficult to go to work with a bad attitude after spending time with Hannah and Danny. They were both excited for every new day and took nothing for granted. Sunshine, rain, fresh muffins, stale cookies, it didn’t matter, they were thankful for it all. Being short on money had not made either of them bitter, only grateful.
There was a lesson to be learned there, Ty realized. Of course, there were a lot of lessons he could learn from Hannah. Cheerfulness, patience, transparency, kindness, goodness, persistence, lack of complaint. What’s more, her son modeled exuberance, joy and curiosity. Being poor didn’t mean having to go without the things that really mattered. He was filled with unexpected warmth and anticipation at the notion of seeing them again. He’d really missed them. His days had felt empty because he couldn’t see them.
What was he going to do when Hannah and Danny moved out?
He pulled into the garage and, feeling like a lovesick puppy, grabbed his bag and ran into the house. The kitchen was clean and silent, but the patio door into the backyard was cracked open. His heart beat faster. Hannah... Ty put down his things and stepped outside.
Irene and Danny were working together in the late-afternoon sun, picking debris out of the garden. Danny’s towhead glinted pale and golden in the sunlight. His earnest, eight-year-old face was expressive, as if he were telling Irene the most important tale in the world.
“Hey, you two!” Ty yelled.
They looked up in unison.
To Ty’s surprise, neither of them looked happy to see him. In fact, they appeared downright dismayed.
He walked across the lawn that was Lily’s pride and joy. She and the gardener spent hours every summer hatching up new plantings and coming up with ways to foil ash borers and encourage the roses. “What’s up?”
Irene and Danny stared at him as if he’d asked them to quote all of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
Danny spoke first. “We’re cleaning up out here.”
“Yes, cleaning,” Irene echoed.
“Aren’t you here kind of late today, Irene?”
She looked confused and glanced at her watch. “I suppose I am. It’s a, er, special occasion.”
“What’s that?”
“Cleaning the yard,” they both said.
“Okay, what are you two up to?” Ty chuckled. “You’re acting as if you didn’t expect to see me.”
“We thought you were coming home lots later tonight. You’re early,” Danny said accusingly.
“I was done and there was space on an earlier flight. Are Lily and Hannah upstairs?” He couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice.
Ty saw the pair glance at each other as if they were wondering how to answer.
“They aren’t home yet.”
“Not at home? Where did they go?”
Before either of them could answer, they heard the honk of a horn out front.
“That’s Mom!” Danny chirruped and bolted off.
Ty and Irene followed at a slower pace.
Why, Ty wondered, was Irene wringing her hands?
Chapter Fifteen
Hannah’s heart sank when she saw Ty exit the house. She’d hoped to have Lily home and back in her room before Ty arrived. Oh, well, it was what it was. And it was too late now.
“Hey,” Ty greeted them cheerfully. He went to Lily’s door and opened it. Then he gave his grandmother a peck on the cheek and lifted her out of the car as if she were a toy. “Do you want to go to your room or be downstairs?”
“My room, please,” Lily said faintly, her voice tired.
He looked at her curiously but said no more.
Hannah exchanged a frantic look with Irene as they entered the house. This was not working out. Lily was exhausted. If she’d already been asleep when Ty arrived, it would have been much better. That would have given them a few extra hours for Lily to revive.
When she got to the room, Lily was waving Ty off. “Let Hannah help me get ready for bed, dear. I’m very tired.”
He looked confused but obediently backed toward the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Maybe you don’t have to tell him what happened,” Lily suggested when she and Hannah were alone.
“Of course I do.”
“Then tell him it was all my idea.”
“I’m touched that you want to protect me, Lily, but I’m responsible for my actions. I shouldn’t have taken you to Clara’s yesterday. You got too overwrought, and look what happened.”
“I don’t want my grandson to be upset with you,” Lily fretted.
“Let me take care of that,” Hannah told her. “I’ll tuck you in and then I’ll go and face the music.” Gently, Hannah helped the older woman ready herself for bed.
Lily’s eyelids were already drooping. By the time Hannah left the room she could hear the elderly lady’s soft snore.
Ty was in the hallway.
“She’s sleeping,” Hannah informed him.
“That was fast. She hasn’t had dinner yet.”
“She was very tired.”
Ty stared at her appraisingly, his dark eyes seeming to x-ray her soul. Hannah was afraid he could see right through to the events of yesterday. “Now would you tell me what’s really going on? I come home and Irene and Danny are acting weird, Lily is so exhausted she doesn’t even talk to me and I can see you’re agitated. What went on while I was gone?”
At that moment, Danny and Irene mounted the stairs.
“Irene is going to read me a story,” Danny announced. Both of them averted their eyes so they didn’t have to look at Ty.
Talk about being bad liars! Hannah thought. They looked as if they were prevaricating about something even when they were telling the truth.
“We’d better go downstairs,” Hannah suggested.
“Into my study, then.”
She was going to lose her job; she should lose it. She hadn’t listened to Ty, and she’d taken Lily out and the poor woman had ended up overnight in the cardiac unit of the hospital. Hannah had probably set her back a month in her recovery time. What had she been thinking?
Of course, Hannah knew the answer. Lily’s heart was going to break one way or the other, either from stress or because of her sadness over Clara.
Then she thought of the mess Trisha had gotten them into. She was still short almost two thousand dollars. The girl had purchased several items that couldn’t be returned, Hannah had discovered. Not only did she have to find money for the delinquent mortgage, but also for credit cards with sky-high interest. Without a job there would be no way to catch up. With no way to catch up...Hannah couldn’t go any further. If this snowballed and she lost the house, she had no idea where to turn. By the time they entered the study, Hannah had herself living in poverty, her home a shopping cart, her life over.
She sank onto one of the leather wing chairs across from his desk. It felt like butter, soft, pliable, rich. It would only take the price of one of these chairs to pay the mortgage.
Hannah was grateful when Ty switched on the gas fireplace. It was cool in the room and night was beginning to fall. Closeted with its thick drapes, endless bookshelves, dark wood and large, finely woven rugs the room felt like a private cocoon. It seemed as if she and Ty were on another planet, one all their own. She braced herself to be kicked off Planet Matthews very soon.
“When did Irene start reading to Danny?” Ty demanded. “And why is she here so late in the day? What caused my grandmother to be so exhausted that she couldn’t even talk to me?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got all night, Hannah.” He studied her face. “Maybe you should make some coffee. I have a hunch this might take a while.”
She escaped to the kitchen and returned with a carafe and two mugs. She’d also done some baking earlier in the week, so the tray held chocolate-dipped biscotti and almond macaroons drizzled with chocolate.
The last supper, she thought morosely, her guilt genes firing on all cylinders.
He sat down behind the desk and waited.
“It all started yesterday, when Lily insisted she had to see Clara.”
A groan escaped him. “I was afraid of that.”
“She was relentless. She even quit eating. You know how she can be.”
“Better than anyone. I hope you didn’t humor her.”
Hannah glanced at him, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m afraid I did.”
“So you were at Clara’s today?”
“Not exactly. We were there yesterday.”
“Then where were you just now?” He looked puzzled.
“Seeing her friend upset Lily a good deal. I didn’t like how she was behaving after we left. She’d become so agitated that I was afraid she might have a heart attack or a ministroke.”
“Keep going.” He sounded grim.
“So I took her to the emergency room. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to play it safe. They did an EKG, which was normal, but they decided to keep her overnight wearing a monitor so they could watch her. It was just a precaution and I felt better that they did that. Lily’s okay, just tired.
“In fact, her heart is very strong for her age. ‘A remarkable specimen,’ they called her, at least fifteen years younger than her actual age.” She looked into his face, now creased with concern. “Ty, I’m giving you good news, not bad.”
“She was in the hospital all night? And you didn’t call me?”
“Actually, I did. You never picked up.”
“There were no messages.”
“I didn’t want to leave one. I thought it was something you needed to hear directly from me.”
“You make all sorts of decisions, don’t you, Hannah?”
“I did my best.”
“You promised me that you wouldn’t take her out while I was gone.”
“She was working herself into a frenzy! What was I supposed to do?”
“Call me.”
“But you didn’t answer!”
They could go around like this all night, Hannah thought.
“Tell me everything that happened—at Clara’s, what made you take Lily to the hospital, what the doctor said.” His blue eyes had grown inky and she didn’t know how to read them.
“Nothing much has changed there,” Hannah said wearily, sinking deep into the leather chair, wishing she could disappear into its depths. Truth be told, she yearned to vanish and not come back until her mortgage was paid and Ty wasn’t scowling at her.
“Lily was very firm about being alone with her friend, so I had to respect that. I don’t know what they discussed, but if Lily could have taken Clara home with her, she probably would have. She’s convinced that we need to rescue Clara. She’s obviously suffering from benign neglect because neither John nor his mother have any training or skills as a caregiver. Psychologically, it can’t be good. Even Lily suggested a care facility of some kind. The emotional part of being old may be the most difficult—losing one’s independence, one’s mobility, one’s friends.”
“The last part is the hardest,” Ty said softly. “I see that. It doesn’t seem fair. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Lily spent the night in a hospital.”
“Look at it this way—if she was going to have trouble, we’d have nipped it in the bud. Better safe than sorry,” she added brightly.
“Lily wore you down. Why should you be surprised that Lily could wear me down, too?”
“You’re the expert, Hannah. You should be able to take any pressure a patient puts on you and refuse to give in if those are your instructions.”
“They weren’t really reasonable instructions.” She found herself terribly annoyed. “Lily isn’t a prisoner here. She’s clear and cognizant of everything. Surely she should have some say in her own life.”
“Not when her ideas land her in the hospital.”
“Oh, come on, that was a precaution. If I hadn’t taken her to the hospital, you would have been mad at me then, too.”
She should probably keep her mouth shut, Hannah realized. She hated arguing with him; she despised interacting with him like this, when she couldn’t see the tender, funny side of him.
Still, she couldn’t go without saying what she had to tell him. For Lily’s sake, not his. “You’re going overboard with her, Ty. She’s a lot more resilient than you g
ive her credit for being. You complain that your grandfather pampered her too much, yet you are doing exactly the same thing. Why shouldn’t she push the edges of the envelope? She enjoys being indulged and cosseted. Why not find out how much pampering she can get? She’s smart—savvy like a toddler who knows how to work his parents. Ask her. She’ll tell you that herself.”
He groaned and raked his fingers through his hair, a sure sign of his frustration. “I expected you to be more protective of her, after the types of things you’ve seen and know happen. You know I’ll do anything to see that Lily is well taken care of.”
She reached out a hand, wishing she could touch him, smooth the dark hair he’d rumpled. “All I’m saying is that you should ease up for your own sake and Lily’s. Even Lily doesn’t like to be coddled every moment. Let her get out and live her life.”
The look he gave her could have cut diamonds. Then his expression softened. “You’re probably right.” He sighed. “I know the strength of Lily’s will. I was just hoping that somehow you could find a way...”
Tears were running down her cheeks when she reached across the desk and grabbed his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
Silently Ty stood up, came around to her side of the desk, took Hannah in his arms and let her cry. He rested his cheek on the crown of her head, smelling the fragrance of her shampoo, finding himself wanting to do whatever it took to make this woman happy.
Chapter Sixteen
She awoke late the next morning and scrambled out of bed. Danny was already dressed and eating breakfast with Irene when Hannah entered the kitchen.
“Hi, sleepyhead,” he said with a grin. He jumped up, grabbed his backpack and headed for the door. “Josh’s mom is giving me a ride to school today. He and I are going to feed the hamsters and the lizards before school ’cause it’s our turn. See ya later, Mom.” He breezed a kiss by Hannah’s cheek and scooted out the door.
Hannah smiled, grateful that Danny had found a good friend. He’d been a little short on them at school lately.
“Did you sleep well, Hannah?” Irene asked when Hannah walked into the kitchen. She handed her a cup of coffee.
