“I promise to proceed with the utmost care,” he answered back.
Scooping him up, Dom put the hammer in her grandfather’s lap, unsure what to expect.
And then MC spoke to him—inGreek.His tone soft, his voice steady and clear.
Dom didn’t know her family’s native language fluently, she knew a few phrases, some obvious words, but she’d heard her grandparents speak it often enough to get the gist.
She stared at her grandfather as his eyes went wide, before he leaned forward as if he were truly listening—and more importantly,understanding.Then he nodded his head and replied in Greek, more animated than he’d been since she’d entered the room.
Dom gripped MC’s handle in surprise.“What are you saying to him?”
“I inquired about his well-being, and then we chatted about one of his favorite dishes, spanakopita, and I told him Ilena is well and she’s waiting for him to come home.”
Dom gasped, but then her breath caught and she gulped hard.He knew everything about her.“Did he say anything else?”she squeaked.
“He said someone was here to see you, Dominique.Someone he didn’t know.”The grave tone MC used frightened her, making her grip her grandfather’s hand.
But more than some stranger visiting him, he remembered her?
“He knew who I was?How can you possibly know that?”
His explanation was simple.“There are things I’m capable of, depths I can reach inside a person’s mind most cannot.They’re brief and fleeting, and out of deep respect, I wouldn’t normally disturb them, but they exist, and there is a part of your dear grandfather’s mind that remembers you quite clearly.A place where he loves you, his little shish kabob, more than he loves anything else.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, hot and aching.He’d called her that as far back as she could remember, because his lemon chicken kabobs were her favorite meal.
She pulled her grandfather’s weathered hand to her cheek and whispered, “I love you, Papa.I love you so much.I miss you.”
He squeezed her hand back, looking her directly in the eye with the kind of love he’d once showered her with, before reverting back to that slack-jawed expression.
Tightening his favorite sweater around him, she went to the small fridge he had in his room and grabbed his favorite soda, cracking it open to offer it to him, but he didn’t take it, worrying her all over again.
“Papa, it’s your favorite.Orange soda.Don’t you at least want a sip?”
Suddenly, Harvey, Marty, Wanda, and Darnell were in the doorway, their footsteps soft, their eyes concerned, filling the room with their support.
“Is everything all right?”Harvey asked, kneeling beside her.
Dom blinked and muttered, “I don’t know.This…this is my grandfather.He has Alzheimer’s and usually at night, he’s pretty feisty.But when we found him, he was sitting just like this in a silent daze.”
Harvey lifted his sharply chiseled chin…then he did something Dom didn’t expect.He took her grandfather’s hand in his big palm and held it.“Sir, I’m Harvey Larsen.It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
She stared at him, her heart thumping wildly in her chest at his kind gesture.“I don’t think he understands.”Of course he didn’t understand.She wasn’t sure why she said that.
Harvey smiled at her, his eyes soft and as perfect as the man himself.“It’s okay.If there’s ever a time hedoesunderstand, we’ll have been properly introduced.”
Dom swallowed hard at the lump in her throat, fighting hot tears at Harvey’s thoughtful answer.
Marty, Darnell and Wanda stood just inside the doorway before they, too, came and introduced themselves.Each of them taking Stavros’s hand, speaking to him as though he understood what they were saying.
They talked to him in such a respectful, dignified way, as if having a conversation with someone whose mind wasn’t addled, that Dom had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from falling apart.
Nina came back into the room, her eyes filled with concern as she scratched her head and looked to her friends.
“Did you find anything or anyone?”Dom asked, the worry that no staff could be found growing worse.
She tapped her nose, her eyes narrowing.“Not yet, but can you guys smell that shit?”
Marty and Wanda’s nostrils flared before Marty murmured with a frown, “Huh.Yeah.I can.What is it?”
