She wasn’t supposed to be here, but her presence made my entire body sigh with relief.
“Did you cut school?” I rushed over, wrapping my arms around her as I buried my face into her neck. She chuckled as she rubbed my back and kissed my cheek.
“No. I had one of the assistants watch the kids until dismissal. My sister is off today and was planning to take Jack after school anyway.” She pulled back and rested her forehead against my chin. “I thought maybe you needed someone.” Her lips spread into a wide grin as she lifted her head, and it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
“No, not someone. I neededyou.” I cradled her head in my hands and kissed her lips. “Thank you, Ella-Jane.”
“My pleasure, Nicholas Patrick.” She kissed my chin and led me by the hand to sit back down. “What did they tell you?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled. “She fell off a ladder.”
“A ladder? Oh, my goodness!” Ellie covered her mouth with her hand as she sat down. “Why would she be—”
“Good question. My guess is she was rearranging the top shelf in the kitchen cabinets again.”
“Again?” Ellie snickered. “She is something else.” Her hand drifted up and down my back as she chuckled.
“That she is.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as I moved closer to Ellie. “You know if something happened to her . . .”
“You don’t know that, Nick.”
I rubbed Ellie’s thigh and shook my head. “If something . . .” I gulped, unable to repeat what I was dreading the most. “There’s no one to be proud of me anymore. I mean, there’s Marilyn, but it’s not the same. When something really good happens, like when I got into the fire department or I got a promotion or I . . . met someone I really liked.” I slid my hand to where hers rested on her knee and laced our fingers together. I winked when she met my eyes. “Nothing would feel the same without hearing ‘Hey that’s great,Papito.’ I may not ever hear that again.” I bit my lip and looked away.
“Stop. I bet when we get back there she’ll wave you off for being a worrywart. Aren’t you tired from working the night shift?”
“Yeah, I finally got to sleep right before they called me. At four o’clock I’ll officially be up for twenty-four hours.” I let out a long sigh and rubbed my eyes.
“Why don’t you sleep? I’m here, and if the doctor comes out, I’ll wake you up.” Ellie patted her lap and leaned back into the chair. She cocked her head as her lips turned up into a smirk. “I won’t bite.” She leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “Unless you ask me to.”
I kissed her lips before stretching my legs across the row of seats. “If I squeezed your ass it would probably help me get to sleep.” I laid my head on her lap and laughed at her pursed lips.
“Don’t push it, Lieutenant.” She grazed my scalp with her nails, and my eyelids fluttered.
“That’s worked on Jack since he was a baby. I knew it would work on you.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. I grazed my hand up and down her thigh until I drifted off. If there was any part of me Ellie didn’t already own, she took it into her permanent possession the second she strolled through the emergency room doors.
I needed my grandmother to wake up so I could tell her all about it.
“Nick, wake up. I think the doctor is coming over to us.” Ellie nudged my arm as she whispered in my ear.
Jerking awake, I sat up and spotted the same gray-haired doctor I met earlier. I stood and grabbed Ellie’s hand as he made his way toward us.
“How is she? What did the tests say?”
“No stroke. Just a bad fall that knocked her unconscious. She fractured her hip and may need surgery, but we’ll find out tomorrow. Either way, she’ll need therapy afterward. We gave her some pain medicine, but she’s awake if you’d like to see her. You can follow me.”
Thank you, God.She would be fine and missing a ladder when she got home. I’d wait until tomorrow to really yell. Tonight, I needed to see her with her eyes open and hear her voice to ease my troubled mind.
Ellie and I followed the doctor through the emergency room until we found her. I cringed at the ugly bruises on the side of her head and the bloody bandage covering her stitches. My grandmother was tiny, but to me, she was larger than life. Seeing her so small and helpless made the air whoosh out of my lungs.
“Papito,”she uttered on a gravelly whisper when her heavy eyes met mine. She clutched my hand and asked me in Spanish what day it was.
“It’s Friday. And you areneverclimbing on another ladder again.” I kissed her cheek and dropped my head to the coarse gray curls dotted with blood.
She shook her head and turned to Ellie. “Patricia, tell Nicky I am sorry. I’ll see him tomorrow. I promised him that toy today, but I didn’t get to go out.” My stomach rolled as I realized she thought Ellie and I were my parents. My brow furrowed as I turned to the nurse adjusting her IV.
“Excuse me, why is she incoherent? The doctor said it was just a fall.”
She shrugged without looking back. “She hit her head, and she just got a dose of pain meds. Could be why she seems out of it.” She exhaled as she looked between Ellie and me. “Best thing would be to go home and let her get some rest.”
