Blackout After Dark: Gansett Island Series, Book 23

by Marie Force

  Jenny stepped forward. “It’s so, so nice to meet you, Marion.”

  Alex put George next to Scarlett on her lap.

  Both brothers took pictures while they could, both knowing this interlude couldn’t possibly last.

  Hope stood and leaned in to whisper to Paul. “I’m going to see if Quinn is here,” she said of Dr. Quinn James, the center’s medical director.

  Paul nodded. “Thank you.”

  After Hope left the room, Paul could only stare at the marvel of his mother appearing to be completely herself after living in a fog of confusion and disorientation for years.

  “What is this?” Alex asked him softly while Marion was occupied with the babies and Jenny.

  “I don’t know,” Paul said. “I couldn’t believe it when I walked into the room, and she said, ‘Hey, Paul, whose baby is that?’ I said, ‘She’s my daughter, Scarlett, Mom, and this is my wife, Hope.’ She asked when I got married, and I realized she was lucid. It’s been almost an hour.”

  Hope returned with both Quinn and his fiancée, Mallory Vaughn, who was director of the nursing staff. “I updated them,” Hope said to Alex and Paul, who stepped aside to allow Quinn and Mallory into the increasingly crowded room.

  “How’re you doing, Marion? I’m Dr. Quinn James, and I’ve been overseeing your care for a while now.”

  “They… they say I have dementia.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  She seemed to be processing that information. “And that means I have trouble remembering things, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “But I can remember my boys and my husband. We live on Gansett Island, and we run our business…”

  “You remember right now,” Quinn explained in a gentle tone, “but it may not last.”

  The babies began to get fussy, but Marion waved off their mothers. “Let me hold them, please.” She spoke softly to the little ones, consoling them until they settled and became interested in each other, as they usually were. She looked up at Quinn. “How long do you think it will last?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

  Marion looked to her sons. “Has this happened before?”

  Alex nodded. “A couple of times, but never this long. This is… It’s such a gift, Mom. We’ve missed you so much.”

  Marion broke down into tears as she hugged her grandchildren close while she could.

  “I’m going to call Daisy,” Hope said to Paul.

  “Oh God, yes. I should’ve thought to do that.”

  Hope squeezed his arm and left the room to call the young woman who’d been such a dear friend to Marion. Daisy had been faithfully devoted to Marion since the day the older woman showed up on her porch after having walked barefoot into town.

  Paul was uncomfortable from the sweat running down his back and face. The AC was on, but not at full speed, and it was warm in the close confines of Marion’s room.

  “Do you think maybe I could go home for a while?” Marion asked her sons.

  They looked to Quinn and Mallory for guidance.

  “I suppose that would be all right for a short time,” Quinn said.

  Paul took his reply to mean the doctor didn’t expect the period of lucidity to last much longer. He had his reservations about taking Marion home. Would they have trouble getting her to return to the care center when the time came? And the house was different now. For one thing, he and Hope slept in the room that had once belonged to his parents.

  “I’d really like to do that, if you boys wouldn’t mind,” Marion said.

  “Of course, Mom,” Alex said, glancing at Paul. “Whatever you want.”

  Daisy Babson had been shocked to receive the call from Hope Martinez. She grabbed her purse, phone and car keys and was on her way out the door when she nearly collided with David, who was coming in from a morning at the clinic.

  “Whoa, what’s your rush?” he asked when he kept her from falling by grasping her arms.

  “It’s the most unbelievable thing! Marion is completely alert. Hope called to tell me. They’re all there, and they wanted me to come see her.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing. Do you mind if I go with you?”

  “No, I’d love that.” Her phone chimed with a text from Hope. “Marion has asked to go home for a little while, so they asked me to meet them there.” She returned Hope’s text to let her know she’d see them at their home. “Isn’t this so incredible?”

  “It is, for sure, but it probably won’t last. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

  “I know,” Daisy said with a sigh. “But it’s a miracle while it lasts.”

  “That it is.”

  David drove them around the island toward the Martinez compound, where the family lived and worked. “What’re you doing one month from today?”

  “I can’t recall. Give me some hints.”

  He poked her leg, making her laugh.

  “Oh! Do you mean marrying the love of my life?”

  “That’s what I mean. I can’t believe it’s finally almost here—again.”

  “Don’t jinx us.” They’d postponed their wedding, which had been scheduled for last September, after his father had had a massive heart attack.

  “Nothing’s going to stop us this year, baby. And besides, it’s just a party. We’re already married in all the most important ways.”

  “That’s very true. If we never had a wedding, it wouldn’t change anything.”

  “Maybe so, but I’m ready to stand up in front of everyone we love and tell them what you mean to me.”

  “Who would’ve thought that getting beat up by my ex would lead me to my own sweet, sexy doctor?” Daisy asked with a sigh.

  “It’s hard to believe everything that’s happened since that night. Weird how something so awful can lead to something so great.”

  “I won’t ever profess to being thankful to what’s his name, but I am thankful every day that you came into my life and we found each other. You have no idea what a mess I was before I had you to put me back together.”

  “Likewise, my love. We’re very lucky.”

  She placed her hands over her abdomen. “And about to be so much more so.”

  “How will we ever stand to wait nine months? Ugh.”

  “It’ll go by fast. I’m just glad that I won’t be showing yet for the wedding.”

  “But we’ll know there’s a special package on board for our big day.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  “When can we tell people?”

  “After three months. You know how often things go wrong in the first trimester.”

  “Nothing’s going to go wrong.”

  “And you know that for sure?”

  “I do. I feel it in my bones. We’re going to have a beautiful baby who looks just like his or her gorgeous mommy.”

  “Or handsome daddy.”

  “Let’s hope they favor you.”

  “Stop it. I want handsome sons who look just like you.”

  David took the left turn into the gates at Martinez Lawn & Garden, drove past the greenhouses and retail store and then took a right toward the house where Paul and Hope now lived.

  “Hey, Daisy…”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t be upset if she doesn’t remember you. She met you when she was deep in the throes of dementia.”

  “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.”

  Charlie Grandchamp worked the grill in the scorching heat as sweat rolled down his face and soaked his T-shirt. There’d been a time in his life when the heat and sweat would’ve annoyed him, but it took an awful lot to rile him these days.

  He was free, in love with the most amazing woman, and they were surrounded by family and friends in their gorgeous new home. Nothing could get him down today, not even the power failure that had them cooking everything they’d bought for the party and feeding people as they arrived, rather than all at once later as they’d planned.

  The only thing he needed to make this day perfect was to see his daughter, Stephanie. He hadn’t seen her in a week, since she and Grant left for LA to attend the premiere events for the film that was telling their story to the world. He wanted to know if she’d decided to see it or not. She’d been leaning toward not when she left, and he could surely understand that. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see it either, although he was curious about how his son-in-law and the Quantum team had told their story in the film. So he might see it for that reason alone.

  Sarah’s daughter Cindy joined him at the grill, bringing a large platter. She had light brown hair and brown eyes and a warm smile that made Charlie feel welcome in her life. “Mom said to bring this to you.”

  “Thank you. Thought you were working today.”

  “I worked this morning.” She cut hair at
the Curl Up and Dye salon in town. “I didn’t take any appointments this afternoon because I wanted to be here.”

  “How’s Chloe doing?”

  “Not so great from what I hear.”

  Chloe Dennis, who owned the salon, had been dealing with a significant flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis.

  “I’m sure the heat isn’t helping,” Charlie said as he transferred steak and chicken from the grill to the platter.

  “It’s not. She’s miserable, but Finn is with her and taking good care of her.”

  “The poor girl. That’s an awful thing for someone so young to have to deal with.”

  “It sure is. She’d been doing really well, so the setback has been devastating.”

  “I hate to hear that. I’m sure she appreciates you covering for her at the salon.”

  “I’m happy to do it. She’s been so good to me.”

  “It seems that life on Gansett is agreeing with you.”

  “It is. I love it here. Having my grandparents, my mom, Katie, Julia and Owen close by is the best. It’s been years since we all lived near each other, and now John and Jeff are here, too. It’s awesome.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that, honey. Your mom is thrilled to have you all here.”

  “It’s so nice to see her happy, Charlie. None of us have ever seen that before, and it means so much. You have no idea.”

  He reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “I have some idea. One of the best parts of marrying your mom is getting seven more kids to love.”

  “And we get a real father for the first time in our lives. Win-win.”

  “Hey, what’s going on? Are you cheating on me, Charlie?”

  He and Cindy laughed as he turned to find his daughter, Stephanie, coming toward him on the huge deck. “Don’t be jealous. There’s plenty of your old man to go around.”

  Stephanie walked into his outstretched arms and hugged him tightly.

  “Ack, I’m a sweaty mess,” he said.

  “Don’t care.”

  “Good to see you, kid.” She’d been gone only a week, but it’d felt like much longer. Now that they could see each other every day, any day without her felt wrong.

  “You, too, Pops.”

  He pulled back to take a closer look at her. “How’re you doing?”