“I’m trying,” she said, pulling a chair over to the TV, and tried to find the off button.
“That’s my mother?” Grant asked in disbelief. One of the women fell off of the ledge she was sitting on into some bushes. “What is she doing on TV?”
“She’s on thatSaucy Socialites of Manhattanreality TV show,” his father said with clear disgust on his face. He glared at the TV. “I hope she drowns in the Hudson River.”
“Hush. Excuse me,” she said as the nurse walked in. “Can we turn this off?”
“No,” the nurse replied. “It stays on.” His father looked as if he was going to start throwing things. “But our Marine here is about to be cleared to leave. So it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Perfect,” Grant said. His shirt had been cut off of him. Kate was prepared, though, and handed him a sweatshirt that said Harvard.
“You can go there, if you’d like,” his father said offhandedly. “Lord knows I’ve given them enough money.”
“I’ll think about it,” Grant said noncommittally. He felt as if he were too old for college. He waited in the hall while his father paid for his treatment.
“How much was it?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I should have gone to the VA.”
“I’m not sending you to those butchers,” Walter snapped.
Kate shushed him.
The driver was asleep in the car when they followed Kate into the parking deck. He jumped awake, then it was a short drive back to the estate.
“All right, that’s it,” Walter said when they walked through the foyer very early that morning. “You have to take it easy. He’s staying in his room until further notice.”
Kate nodded.
“I mean it,” he warned. “I cannot lose another child. You don’t understand. I will lose my mind. Lock him upstairs. He can take his meals there.”
Grant was too tired to complain. He trudged up the stairs and crawled onto the bed, not even bothering to change his clothes or pull back the covers.
Chapter 23
Kate
Kate went back to her grandmother’s house, creeping in to sleep a few hours. When she arrived back at the estate a few hours later, Stefan told her Grant was still asleep. She tiptoed upstairs. Walter was still in the same clothes she’d left him in. He was pacing the hallway. His brown hair with the hints of gray was disheveled.
“Have you slept at all?” Kate hissed at him. She heard a quiet whine and slowly opened the door. Gus trotted out. Kate picked him up before he could make a mess on the carpet. “You need to sleep.”
“I can’t believe that horrible woman,” Walter said. “She’s going to find out about Grant. You know that, right? She probably already knows. I should station guards around the property. Grant cannot leave his room.”
“Look,” she said, turning him around to face her. “Don’t do anything stupid, all right? Danielle still wants your money. She’s probably looking for a way to screw you in the divorce. Grant’s a marine. He’s killed people. He can take care of himself.”
“You’re right, you’re right. And Kate?”
She turned to look at him.
“I meant what I said. He doesn’t leave the room.”
“Girl scout’s honor,” she replied. She followed her boss down the sweeping staircase, put Gus outside, then ate breakfast and went over Walter’s schedule for the day.
“You need to calm down too,” she told Walter, “not just Grant. Leave after your three thirty is over and come home and have some quiet time. You haven’t really had a break since the fire. I’ll have my grandmother over. We can do something, I don’t know, normal. The incident, the funeral, dealing with the police and the city and Danielle, then Grant. It’s one crisis after another. You need to look after your health.”
He smiled and tugged at a piece of her hair. “You are like a daughter, aren’t you? Nagging a poor old man,” he teased.
