Page 46 of An Engagement for Erica

He moved over to the kitchen and opened a drawer, then pulled out the ring box. “This. My grandfather might be confused, but he’s always been sharp on details. He’s going to notice a ring missing from your finger.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Sorry. It’s only for when you see him.”

Tucker opened the lid and her eyes popped out of her head. “Tell me that isn’t real,” she said.

He pulled the two carat square stone out of the box. “No,” he said. “But it looks it.”

The fact he was tempted to get a real ring told him how messed up in the head he was.

Instead he was able to get this delivered this morning.

“It sure does,” she said.

“Let’s hope it fits,” he said. “I took a guess.”

She had a tiny frame on her, so he went with a small size. Maybe it would have been better to go bigger so she could get it on and off easier.

She reached for the ring and slid it on. “Perfect,” she said, shaking her head. “Or just about.”

“My lucky day,” he said.

She smiled. “How are you feeling about everything with your grandfather? Aside from him thinking you’re engaged.”

“I’m thrilled he’s more alert. He’s asking more questions about the business. I don’t want him to be distracted by that,” he said. “Are you ready? We can talk in the car.”

“I’m ready,” she said.

They left together and got on the road. “Back to my grandfather. I don’t want him to stress too much about the business. It’s like he forgot he said he hadn’t seen me in a while and remembered my father had passed and I was running things. I can’t tell you how thrilled that made me feel.”

Showing up last night and hearing that took a load off his mind.

There were still things his grandfather was struggling to remember or put together, but it was better he wouldn’t have to explain about his father’s death and why Tucker was living here and running the company.

“That is a good thing,” she said. “I don’t know a lot about stroke patients, but I do know from things I’ve heard my father talk about over the years. Not that he only dealt with stroke patients by any means. And once he was done with surgery, it was out of his hands.”

“I know,” he said. “My grandfather will have a few follow-ups with your father, but he’s got a neurologist now that he will see more often.”

“You’ll be happy when he’s home,” she said. “Did they say when that might be?”

“Tomorrow,” he said. “They are leaning that way. They try not to have people stay any longer than necessary. The big thing is he doesn’t have a lot of movement on his left side. He can move his arm but not well. Feeding himself isn’t easy, but his right arm is better.”

“Which helps,” she said.

“He’s not someone that wants to be fed. He was fighting with the nurses last night to let him do it himself.”

“That’s great,” she said.

“It is. I need to keep him motivated. They are going to get him up and let him try to walk more today. He needs help. He doesn’t like the wheelchair, but his left leg isn’t moving as well as it should.”

“I’m sorry, Tucker. Do they think he’ll recover from it?”

He turned his head to look at her. “I hope so. But I also know the odds are against him. If he has to spend time in physical therapy, or in a wheelchair or a walker, he’s going to have to get used to it.”

“Or it pushes him to keep going,” she said.

“That is the hope,” he said. “Tell me more about your sister.”

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