by Karin Baine
‘I’m sure it wasn’t but you two seem to be very close. He’s lucky to have you.’ Mollie met his eyes in the rear-view mirror and a small glow of warmth crept into his chest, thawing out the cold fingers of fear that had been gripping his heart since receiving that phone call. He didn’t do any of this for praise or sympathy, merely out of duty and love for his grandfather, yet that look of admiration made him sit taller in the driver’s seat. This was the first time he’d shared the information with anyone who hadn’t responded about how this would impact on their life rather than his. He suspected it would be a different story if they were embarking on a relationship other than one based on charity.
Ben gave a bitter laugh. ‘I think it’s very much the other way around. If anything happens to him...’
Even with the struggles they endured he couldn’t imagine a life without his grandfather in it. It had been difficult enough saying goodbye to his grandmother, helpless to halt the progression of her illness then, too, but at least there’d been two of them holding each other up when grief had threatened to fell them. Without his grandfather he would have nothing. No one.
They circled around the neighbouring streets within walking distance of Ben’s apartment but there was no sign of his missing relative.
‘Is there anywhere he likes to visit? A park he and his wife used to go to? Or somewhere he feels safe? If he’s confused he might look for something familiar.’ For a woman who’d only met the man twenty-four hours ago, she sounded every bit as concerned as Ben was about his safety.
This was how he should have been with Penny: able to share his fears and find solutions without facing the prospect of blame and ultimatums. He could see now she lacked the empathy that came so naturally to Mollie. As, apparently, did the rest of his family. If he’d had anyone like Mollie on his side to share the weight of responsibility he might not have had to choose between family and a personal life.
Penny had known how affected he’d been by his parents’ refusal to take responsibility for his, and his grandfather’s, welfare. He’d trusted her enough to impart those deep-rooted issues and how he’d felt as though he’d been abandoned time and time again. Yet she hadn’t thought twice of walking away herself when faced with the same commitments on her time and energy. She’d never taken his feelings into consideration when making that decision and had left him wondering for the second time in his life if he’d ever truly been loved at all.
In the space of a few hours Mollie had already shown him more support without even knowing his history. She was just as eager to run towards the conflict as Penny had been to get away from it and proved she was a better person than his ex. It made Ben want to confide in her and hope her sweet nature would neutralise the bitter taste of betrayal that had lingered too long.
‘He doesn’t generally travel too far unless Amy or I are with him. His memory isn’t what it used to be any more.’ They drove past the corner shop where his grandfather went for the morning paper every day but it was shut up for the night, with no sign of anyone except a teenage boy riding past on his bicycle.
The rain had started to fall and he hated to think of Hugh out here cold and alone, with no idea where he was. If they didn’t find him soon there’d be no choice but to phone the police and report him missing. They would have the resources for a search on a much broader scale. Time would be of the essence now, before hypothermia or some other serious medical consequence of being out here set in.
‘What about home? His home, I mean. Where did he live with your grandmother before moving in with you?’ It was easy to tell her mind was working overtime trying to solve the mystery along with him, and this genuine concern for people she hardly knew was exactly what made her a good nurse. He was sure there was probably a good reason she seemed a bit distant from her colleagues and had gained an unfair reputation to that effect.
Perhaps she had an elderly relative tucked away at home that she had to get back to at the end of every shift, too.
‘It’s not too far. About five minutes away in the car. Although, I’m not sure he would remember how to get there under his own steam.’ Neither of them had been back since the house had sold. It was too painful to remember the family the three of them had once been there before illness split them apart and forced them to leave the good memories behind.
‘It’s worth a try, right?’ She could easily have cried off by now and left him to it, but here she was, winding down her window and leaning out of the side of the car for a better street view, regardless of the falling rain. Penny would’ve already been complaining about the havoc the weather was causing with her hair, or fretting about being left with water marks on her clothes. Although Mollie obviously took as much pride in her appearance, it didn’t take priority over everything else. In his world it made all the difference when there was one less thing for him to have to stress about.
They trailed the route from his apartment building back to the house where he’d spent the best years of his life, with no success. He decided to do one last tour around the vicinity before admitting defeat and pulling over so he could phone the local police. A lot of these suburban streets looked the same in the dark, and especially to an old man who couldn’t even remember where he’d left his glasses from one minute to the next.
As they turned around one corner, they found a large dark shape sitting hunched on the front garden wall of one of the semi-detached houses. The car headlights picked out the rain-drenched, pathetic figure of his pyjama-clad grandfather squinting against the light.
‘There he is. Thank goodness.’ Ben immediately pulled over and shut off the car engine so he was plunged back into darkness. The last thing he wanted was to scare him off like some skittish creature caught in the spotlight.
‘Are you okay, Hugh? We’ve been so worried about you.’ Mollie was out of the car first, taking a seat beside him on the wet wall and speaking to him so tenderly it could’ve been her own grandfather she was addressing. The cold that was no doubt seeping into her clothes didn’t seem to bother her as she leaned across to put an arm around his shoulders and comfort him.
‘I think I took a wrong turn.’ Ben’s grandfather glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings, his whole body shaking and his teeth chattering. If he’d been out here in the cold for too long there was a risk of hypothermia setting in, which could quickly become life-threatening. Yet he didn’t appear to register anything other than his poor sense of direction.
‘Where were you going, Grandad?’ Ben took off his jacket and draped it around his grandad’s shoulders to protect him from further exposure to the elements as well as prying eyes. It was sad to see the fabric hanging loosely around his now bony shoulders, hunched over in defeat, with all that strength that Ben had relied upon in his youth now stripped from him physically and mentally.
‘Home. Where do you think?’ Hugh snapped, as though Ben were the one behaving erratically.
‘We don’t live here any more. Remember?’ He hated these moments most of all. It was one thing having to remind him where he’d left his possessions, or that he didn’t have to rush out of the door in the mornings to see his patients, but having to tell him time and again that his wife had passed away and he could no longer be trusted to live on his own was painful for both of them.
‘Of course, I don’t live here. I’m not stupid. I told you, I took a wrong turn.’ As was the pattern his mood switched without warning with Ben being accused of playing tricks on him. That unreasonable, damaged part of his brain turned his loving grandson into a monster who was trying to drive him mad.
‘It’s late, Grandad. Why don’t you come home with me and I’ll get you some warm, dry clothes?’ It was no use standing here arguing with him in the rain when he’d probably have forgotten this conversation by tomorrow anyway. The important thing was always to keep him safe and give him peace of mind over that logical need to get facts right. There was no need to
cause him any more distress but there was a growing need to get him indoors. It was difficult to assess him out here when some of the symptoms associated with hypothermia—tiredness and irrational behaviour—had become such a part of his personality now.
Hugh resisted Ben’s attempt to chivvy him towards the car, eyeing him with suspicion and that paranoia trying to convince him his grandson was a stranger trying to coerce him into going somewhere he didn’t want to go.
‘You can’t sit out here all night, Hugh, you’ll freeze.’ Mollie took his hand, which was turning blue with cold, and Ben could see her subtly checking his pulse. If it became slow and weak they’d really be in trouble but, as she gave him a reassuring nod all was well, he hoped they’d got here in time.
‘Where did you go, Ellen? I was trying to find you.’ His grandfather sounded so lost as he mistook her for his late wife, it broke Ben’s heart that he would have to deliver the news to him all over again about what had happened to her. Some days it was a blessing he didn’t have those nightmarish days spent on chemo wards or in the hospice with her as she fought for her last breath, but not tonight when that memory lapse was putting his health in serious jeopardy.
‘Why don’t we go back to Ben’s place and get warm?’ Without batting an eyelid at the mix-up, or the need to correct him, Mollie coaxed him over to the car.
‘Are you coming, Ellen?’ He hesitated to get into the back seat without her, distrust radiating from him towards Ben, who was holding the door open for him and trying not to take anything personally. The only way to get through these moments was to remind himself this was the illness attacking both of them simultaneously and not a true reflection of the relationship they’d cultivated over their years together.
‘Sure.’ Mollie slid into the back seat and held out her hand to encourage him to join her. Her ease with the situation immediately seemed to reassure Ben’s grandfather he was safe and he didn’t put up any further resistance as he clambered into the car beside her.
‘What time is it? We don’t want to keep Ben up late when he has to go to school tomorrow. We told his parents we’d look after him. We’re going to get him back on the straight and narrow, aren’t we, Ellen?’ From time to time he did regress to those days when he believed the three of them were still living together, oblivious that Ben was a grown man now who no longer physically resembled his teenage self. The mind was capable of blocking out those important details in its confusion. That little titbit about his rebellious teens probably hadn’t gone unnoticed by their lovely companion, but he was counting on her to be discreet about all of tonight’s events.
‘Well, then, we’d better get moving, hadn’t we?’ He slammed the door shut and jumped into the driver’s seat, leaving Mollie to assist his grandfather with his seat belt since he seemed more inclined to accept her help.
Her ability to remain cool in a crisis, unfazed by tonight’s turn of events, made her more attractive to him than the world’s greatest supermodel. There was no question of her physical beauty, but he knew that didn’t always reflect the true nature of the character inside and tonight she’d shown him who she was behind the make-up and rumours. It didn’t match the detached partner he’d assumed he’d be dancing with and was causing him to think of her in a whole new, alluring light, which was no doubt going to make this arrangement less straightforward than he’d planned.
For now, though, his priority was to get his grandfather home safe and warm. As always, his personal life would have to wait.
CHAPTER FOUR
MOLLIE DOUBTED THIS was any more fun for Ben, or Hugh, than it was for her but a person would have to be made of stone not to be moved by their plight tonight. Ben had given her opportunity to leave from the minute he’d got the news his grandfather had gone missing but she’d been happy to help. With Talia home there was no need for her to race back and she could never have left Ben to deal with this on his own anyway.
She knew what it was like to receive one of those emergency phone calls that meant you had to drop everything and run to help. She’d done it time and time again when her mum had phoned drunk from a club disoriented and needing someone to come and find her. Although her mother’s self-inflicted state of confusion wasn’t the same as an elderly man’s clear distress, she was able to sympathise with the toll it would take on Ben being called out tonight. Especially when he didn’t seem to have anyone else to count on to help. Sometimes having that extra person to share the burden with made all the difference. Someone who was able to say, You’re not alone.
Her presence here seemed to be helping Hugh settle, even if he was a bit mixed up about who she was. She hadn’t pretended to be ‘Ellen’ but she hadn’t corrected him and neither had Ben. Hugh was obviously having trouble grounding himself in the here and now and she wasn’t going to achieve anything by insisting she wasn’t who he thought except make an already difficult situation worse.
‘Is everything all right back there?’ Every now and then Ben would glance back at the two of them and she could see he was worried about what was being asked of her as well as his grandfather. He needn’t have worried; if there was one woman who was used to babysitting her elders, it was Mollie.
‘We’re fine, aren’t we?’ She patted Hugh’s cold hand and flashed him and his grandson a smile to put them both at ease. A lifetime of making sure the people around her were happy often contributed to her volunteering for duties she wouldn’t normally entertain, including this dance competition, but she genuinely wanted to help because Hugh had seemed such a lovely man when she’d first met him. That change in his behaviour had come as a shock to her so goodness knew how Ben had coped with it.
‘We’re nearly home now.’ Ben carefully navigated the car through a series of turns when Mollie knew he probably wanted to get his grandfather home as quickly as possible.
As they pulled up outside a block of swish apartments more fitting for an eminent young surgeon than an elderly man in his pyjamas and slippers, Mollie could almost feel his relief.
‘Let’s get you inside.’ She unbuckled both of their seat belts and didn’t have to wait long before Ben came to assist them from the back of the car.
‘Have you got homework to do, Ben? We don’t want you falling behind again.’ Hugh clutched onto Ben’s arm, giving a further glimpse into the kind of relationship they’d had even in their younger days.
She couldn’t imagine a time when Ben wasn’t the confident, capable man he was now, but it did sound as though his upbringing hadn’t been as straightforward as people might have imagined. Whatever the mysterious history it was obvious he’d at least had someone looking out for him and she knew how important that was to a child when that support had been missing from her life. Despite being a twin and having lived with her mother for most of her life, she’d always felt alone in her fight to make things right at home. At least Ben and Hugh had been able to rely on each other at one time or another.
‘No homework tonight, Grandad,’ he said without any sighing or contradiction, making it clear this wasn’t the first time they’d gone through this routine.
Mollie wondered how many alarming conversations they’d had where Ben had reminded him he was a surgeon now before he’d accepted there was something wrong. She’d dealt with enough elderly patients to know it could be some time before families realised there was more amiss than simple forgetfulness and how devastating it was to have their lives turned upside down by illness. It was tough to watch loved ones wither away to someone you no longer recognised. Worse still when you were the one to blame for stripping away the person they’d once been.
She didn’t imagine illness was any easier to accept and live with than guilt.
There was an unspoken agreement for her to accompany them into the apartment and she followed Ben through the opened door.
‘Oh, thank goodness you’re okay.’ A small, motherly figure rushed towards them the sec
ond they stepped through the front door.
‘We found him out near the old house. Sorry we worried you, Amy.’
‘I’m just glad you’re safe but look...you’re all soaked through. I’ll go and get you some towels.’ She bustled off and returned a short time later clutching a bundle of towels and a dry pair of pyjamas for Hugh.
‘Amy, meet Mollie from the hospital. My new dance partner.’ Ben introduced them as he passed Mollie one of the towels from the stack. The woman’s eyes were wide with surprise at the news and it was hard to tell if it was because it was a colleague or a dance partner he’d brought home. Since he was supposed to have quite the collection of conquests at work, Mollie assumed it was the latter.
‘Lovely to meet you. I wish it had been in better circumstances.’ If it hadn’t been for bad timing, she would probably never have had reason to set foot in here.
‘I’m going to go and help Grandad get out of his wet clothes. Thanks for staying on, Amy, but I can take it from here. You go on home.’ Ben replaced the jacket around Hugh’s shoulders with a dry towel and ushered him down the hall.
‘I’ll make sure they’re both okay before I leave. If you have a mobile phone I could take your number and give you a text later.’ The least Mollie could do was send a message and make a cup of tea if any of them were going to rest easy tonight.
‘That’s so kind of you. Thank you. I only live a few streets away so if there’s any problem at all just give me a call.’ They swapped numbers and goodbyes at the door before Mollie went into the kitchen to hunt for the kettle.
