“He needs more care than you can provide.”
“I'm managing.”
“No, you're not.” Dani's voice was gentle but firm. “Katie, he's wandering at night. He doesn't recognize us half the time. He's forgetting medications.”
“That's why I manage them for him,” Kate answered.
“What happens when you're not here?” James asked. “When you're dealing with guests or repairs or…”
“I'm always here. That's the point.”
“That's the problem,” Tom said. “You can't do this alone anymore. Not to mention, you need a life.”
“I have a life. Just because it doesn’t look like yours doesn’t mean it isn’t a life.”
“Seriously, Katie?” Tom responded.
Kate looked at her siblings, their concerned faces, their clean clothes and stable lives. They didn't understand what it meant to be needed like this, to be the only thing standing between Pop and complete deterioration.
“So what are you suggesting? That we put him in a home?”
“That we get him professional help,” Tom said. “In-home care. Nurses who know how to handle dementia.”
“With what money?”
The siblings exchanged glances, and Kate knew what was coming.
“Lillian's offered to pay for everything,” Dani said. “Full-time care, the best doctors, whatever he needs.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Nothing,” Tom said, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.
“There's always something.”
“She wants to be part of the family,” James said quietly. “Whatever time she has left, she wants to spend it with us. With Pop.”
Kate stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor. Through the window, she could see Ben still working on the roof, steady and reliable. She wished she could climb up there with him, hammer nails into wood, solve problems that had actual solutions.
“Pop doesn't want her here,” Kate said.
“Pop doesn't know what he wants half the time,” Tom said, then caught himself. “I'm sorry. That was…”
“True,” Kate finished. “It was true.”
They sat with that truth for a moment, its weight settling over them like snow.
“What does Pop say?” James asked. “On his good days?”
Kate thought about this morning, Pop making eggs, teasing her about Ben. Then she thought about yesterday, Pop bleeding from broken china, calling Dani by their mother's name.
“He says different things on different days.”
“Then we have to decide for him,” Tom said. “That's what family does.”
“What Mom would want us to do,” Dani added.
Kate wanted to argue, wanted to fight, but she was so tired. Tired of holding everything together, tired of pretending things would get better, tired of being the only one who stayed.
