Page 51 of Destiny

“No problem. I’ll keep you up to date.”

“Please do.”

“I love you,” she mouths after flicking her long, wavy hair to one side.

“I love you too.”

Then, she gets into the car and drives off.

It’s still hard to believe all that woman willingly does for me. She has absolutely no obligation to help the woman she’s currently taking time to take to the hospital.

How did I get so lucky?

I go back inside, and my daughters have questions about where grandma went.

“Bea is taking her to the doctor really quick.”

“Why? What’s wrong with her?”

I bend down to their level. “Well, she fell in the closet.”

Aurora’s face goes pale white.

“Oh, no. It’s okay, sweetie. Grandma is okay. We just want to make sure that she didn’t hurt her head.”

Unlike my intention, that doesn’t make her feel better. Instead, tears form in the corners of her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“I kept asking her to play with us. She said it wasn’t safe for her to be walking around. But I kept pushing.”

She collapses on my chest and cries harder.

“Baby, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

“If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be in the hospital right now.” Her voice is muffled against my shirt.

“It’s okay. Please don’t blame yourself.”

Chapter 3 – Bea

“I think it’s really nice that you and Marco are dating,” Caroline randomly says as I drive her to the local hospital.

I look back at her in the rearview mirror. Her demeanor is much more lucid and aware. I wonder if her erratic behavior was the result of the head injury, simply a symptom of the Parkinson’s, or a combination of both. “Aw. That’s really sweet of you to say. Thank you.”

“I mean it. You take care of him. My Clara never did that. Well, not well enough.”

“I’m sure she did the best she knew how.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

I don’t either, but I don’t want to bad mouth her own daughter in front of her.

“The girls are a little confused about your relationship.”

“What?” This genuinely catches me off guard.

“They asked why you spend so much time with them but aren’t married to their dad.”

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