Page 50 of The Gathering Storm

Chapter Thirteen

Will arrived at the hospital in Gainesville early that afternoon, after a quick lunch with Sigrid where he’d done his best to explain what was going on without giving too many family secrets away. A crowd had gathered in the waiting area nearest Robert’s room, comprised of close family, Rebecca’s children and their families, those that could make it in, Anya, and a few other near kin.

Will waded through the crowd, fielding hellos and handshakes, and went straight to his grandmother where she sat at the end of a couch next to Charlotte, Rebecca’s next youngest natural daughter. “Hey, Amma. Any news?”

“Nothing since the family text blast.” She grasped his hands in hers and smiled faintly. “He’s been asking for you. Said you were to go right in, and I quote, no matter what those damn doctors said.”

Charlotte leaned her head against Anya’s shoulder. “Crotchety is a good sign.”

“Better than the alternative,” Moira said from a nearby chair, and earned a sharp elbow to the arm from Dani.

Will nodded at the corridor leading to Robert’s room. “Rebecca’s with him?”

“She needs a break. We’ve all had a turn, but you know how she is.” Anya patted his hands with her wrinkled ones and her cornflower blue eyes twinkled. “Be a good boy and spell her for a while before this crowd gets out of hand and we all stampede his room.”

Will bent down and kissed her, whispered a pointed reminder that he wasn’t a boy anymore, and scooted through the crowd toward his mentor’s room.

He opened the door on a whispered conversation between Rebecca and her eldest, Margaret. They broke off in mid-word and glanced up at him, spearing him with identical, blue gazes, Rebecca’s weary, her daughter’s coolly assessing.

Margaret stood abruptly, stretching to her full height just a few inches shy of Will’s. “That’s my cue.”

She cupped a hand over Will’s shoulder as she passed, and slipped out of the room, her boots silent against the tiled floor.

Will took the hard plastic chair she’d vacated and slid his hand into Rebecca’s. “How is he?”

Her hands tightened on his and her gaze strayed to her husband. “Not as well as he should be.”

“What can I do?”

“Your duty.” Rebecca smiled, easing the sting of her words. “It’s all any of us can do until his body decides to heal, or his doctors force it to.”

Robert stirred, rustling the sheets covering him, and his eyes blinked open in the room’s dim lighting. “You make it sound like I’m on death’s door.”

“You’re entirely too close for comfort,” she murmured.

“Bah,” he said. “It was just a piddling heart attack.”

“And an upcoming surgery.” Rebecca sighed and released Will’s hands. “I have an errand to run while I’m here, a patient I need to look in on. Stay with him, would you, dear?”

Will nodded and accepted the kiss she pressed to his cheek, and worried over the coolness of her skin. As soon as she’d left the room, he turned to Robert. “What’s this I hear about you cursing your doctors?”

Robert’s mouth twisted into a grimace against the salt and pepper of his beard. “Damn doctors. Do you know, they’ve told me I can only have two visitors at a time? Said any more and the excitement might kill me, like I’ve been living a quiet life all these years since meeting Rebecca.”

“Living with a Daughter provides enough excitement for a lifetime,” Will said, tongue in cheek.

Robert barked out a laugh. “There you have it.”

“What’s the surgery for?”

“Bypass. Nothing to worry over, though I’ll probably be out of work for weeks yet.” A huge breath sighed out of Robert. He fumbled along the side of his bed, punched the controls, and raised the head of the bed to a higher angle. “I know you’re overloaded right now between running The Omega and helping Rebecca deal with everyone flooding into Tellowee, but I need a favor.”

Will leaned back in his chair and crossed one ankle over a jean clad knee. “Shoot.”

“Can you follow up on some research I’ve been tracking? It’s fairly important or I wouldn’t ask.”

Will pressed his lips together, considering. “I don’t know, Robert. My time is short right now.”

Robert grinned. “That’s right. I heard you were dating someone.”

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