A choked laugh catches in her throat. “Oh, my girl sure does know me.” A world without her won’t be okay. She’s like a second mother to me. This woman hasn’t missed one important moment in my life, and she sat beside Mom as she raised me, always having a thing or two to say about the matter. I couldn’t have asked for a better family than the one Ihave.
“Are you in a lot of pain?” I place my hand carefully on hers, scared to do anything that could hurt hermore.
“Eh, I’ve fallen before. I mean, falling face first on this floor wasn’t the highlight of my life, but what are you going todo?”
“Never a dull moment with you, Grams,” I tellher.
“So, I hear I’m dying,” she says with an exasperatedsigh.
Recoiling from her words and the shock that she already knows too much, my mouth falls agape. I have no idea what to say, besides, “Don’t think that way. You could still have years left. You just have to be careful and follow the doctor’s orders.” It’s so hard to swallow my words because I feel like I’m not telling her the wholestory.
“I knew it was coming,” shesays.
“What?How?”
“If you search online for shortness of breath, tightness, and pain in the chest, plus fatigue, it gives you the answer right there. The only solution is surgery, and it’s too risky at my age. I figured I had a few good months left in me.” Wow, I guess when you’ve lived ninety-two years, through just about everything, you don’t need someone to tell youanything.
“Grams, you should have been a doctor,” I tellher.
“I probably could have been with the amount of knowledge I gained while working at the sick bay, but I wanted nothing to do with that once I was free. I had seen enough scars to last me the rest of mylife.”
I brush her hair off her forehead, careful to avoid any of the bruises. “Grams, where did Charlie live? I mean, the last time you heard from him.” I’m determined to find this mannow.
“The last time I heard from him?” she asks through more struggling laughter. “Oh, Emma, it’s been seventy-four years since I heard from himlast.”
“You—he, I don’tunderstand.”
“Honey, I don’t know if he’s dead or not. I want to think he’s not because I’ve now been revived twice, and he hasn’t been there along with the others who are waiting for me. I know it sounds ridiculous, but in my heart, I feel like Charlie is still alivesomewhere.”
“In the United States or anothercountry?”
“I have no idea, Emma. Anything could have happened since I saw himlast.”
“Well, whathappened?”
Grams stares at me with angelic eyes as if she were gazing right through me. Her head gently shakes from side to side before she begins to speak. “I can’t,” she says. “If you want to know, you will have to read it for yourself.” I want to tell her that talking about things sometimes helps, but I will never be able to understand what she’s gone through. “Anyway.” She nestles her head into her pillow and shrugs her shoulders a bit. “How isJackson?”
“Grams, he’s fine,” I say, shortly, hoping to change the subject back to Charlie. We’re not doing “that”now.
“He said he would be back in just a few minutes, but I have a strange suspicion you already knew that.” Even with the bruises lining her swollen cheeks, she can still wink atme.
“Grams,” I sayagain.
“Oh, Emma, my goodness, I was your age once. I know what young peopledo.”
How do I belong to this family? I’m going to turn into her someday, and embarrass my children without a care in the world. “That’s great,” I tellher.
“So, do you think you could grow to love him?” How can I look at her like this and get irritated? She knows that, and she’s using it againstme.
“We only started seeing each other a few days ago,” I remindher.
“Love will grow, sweet girl. Just give it time, and be good to eachother.”
I’m beyond thankful that Jackson walks in when he does, interrupting this uncomfortable discussion of my personal life. I do need to figure this out for myself. It’s new and exciting, but I don’t want to get hurt again, either. Yet, Iwassort of quick to ask this man to be my boyfriend last night. I’ll chalk that insanity up to pillow talk, sleep deprivation, and distress. That’s what it mustbe.
“Hey, Amelia, did they bring in your breakfast yet?” Jackson asksher.
“Not yet, but it’s okay, I can wait a bit,” she says. Grams twists her head to look over at Jackson as he’s reviewing her cardiogram report. “So, when are you two getting married? I need a great-grandchild, you know.” Before I have a chance to intervene and stop whatever will come out of her mouth next, she continues, “I suppose with the short timeline you’ve left me with, that may not be possible, but there is enough time for awedding.”
