As they entered the hospital, Maisy’s mother led them to the floor where her wonderful grandmother rested.
“Can I see her, too?” Patrick asked. “I want to tell her I was a batboy for the Cubs.”
“We’ll let your sister go in for a few minutes,” Sophie told Patrick. “You can see her later. Is that okay, sport?”
Patrick sighed, and for a moment it looked like he might object, but then he nodded. “Okay.”
With her hand on the door, ready to enter, Maisy looked back at her mother and brother. “I won’t be long,” she promised.
Her mother nodded.
Maisy slowly opened the door that led to her grandmother’s hospital room. Grams lay on the hospital bed, her white hair spread out across the pillow. Her eyes were closed, and to Maisy’s relief, her coloring was good. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully.
Lloyd, ever faithful, sat in a chair next to her bed. Tears gathered in Maisy’s eyes as she noticed Lloyd holding on to Grams’s limp hand. He looked up as Maisy approached the bed.
“She’s going to be fine,” he whispered, as though he needed to convince himself as well as Maisy.
Maisy nodded, because the knot in her throat made it difficult to speak. When she finally felt like she could manage, she whispered, “Thank you, Lloyd.”
He nodded. “I have no intention of losing Eileen. Best bridge partner I’ve ever had.”
Maisy wasn’t fooled. Grams meant a whole lot more to Lloyd than being his bridge partner. She lost count of the number of weeks he’d courted her grandmother. Maisy enjoyed seeing the two of them together.
Before she left, Maisy gently pressed her lips against Grams’s forehead. Her grandmother’s eyes flickered briefly.
“Love you,” she whispered, “so much.”
Grams returned a weak smile.
Once home, Maisy was about to carry her suitcase up the stairs when her mother stopped her. “It might be a good idea to call your uncle.”
Maisy paused. “Any particular reason?”
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded.
A sinking feeling hit the pit of Maisy’s stomach. She didn’t need to read the tea leaves to discern the news. Whatever this was surely revolved around Gallagher Jewels.
Maisy hated that she’d left her uncle in a lurch by taking off three consecutive days. Before she left, Uncle Fred assured her all was well and seemed pleased that she and Patrick had this wonderful opportunity.
Her uncle answered after the first ring, as if he’d been expecting the call.
“Did you have a good time in Chicago?” he asked.
“We did,” she said, with the sinking feeling her uncle was as reluctant to relay the news as she was to receive it. News she felt she already knew.
Her uncle paused, and Maisy heard him inhaling a deep breath. “Listen, Maisy, this likely comes as no surprise. I’ve talked this over with your mother and we both feel the best thing to do now is to put the store up for sale.”
A knot formed in Maisy’s throat at what this would mean for the family. “I…I suspected as much,” she whispered, because it was difficult to speak.
“We’re getting further behind every month. Neither of us have taken much of a salary for weeks. It’s no one’s fault that the store is failing. It’s the economy, online sales, failing malls, and a hundred other things. I was never the salesperson your father was. I’ve done everything I could to make a go of it, but…” His voice faltered.
“I know you have. As you said, this isn’t a surprise.” Maisy felt the need to reassure him. Selling the store was inevitable.Her only regret was that her uncle must feel like he’d somehow failed the family.
“You did all you could. You’re not to blame, Uncle Fred.”
“Your mother told me the same thing, and I’m grateful. The two of us have had several long talks about the business over the last few months.”
“Does Grams know?” Maisy asked, fearing the news might have been what prompted her grandmother’s heart condition.
