Page 84 of Bubbles at the Beach House Hotel

“Amen,” said Rhonda. “This has been such a terrible week, and I wouldn’t be pleasant handling that.”

“Understood,” said Lorraine. She gazed around. “The tree and decorations are stunning. I’m sure the hotel will be busy for our holiday brunch season because everyone will want to come here to look at them. It’s become a kind of tradition.”

Lorraine left us, and Rhonda gripped my arm. “Should I call Angela? Do anything for Reggie?”

“I’m afraid this is one time where there’s nothing to do but wait,” I said.

“You know how I hate that,” sighed Rhonda.

“Let’s concentrate on the hotel, the staff party, the upcoming events, and the things we can control.”

“Okay,” said Rhonda. “But I won’t rest until I know everything is all right with Angela and her family.”

“I understand,” I said as my cell rang.Vaughn.

“Hi, Sweetie. What’s up?” I asked.

“It’s Randolph. Stephanie and I are with him at the hospital. He’s not feeling well, and the doctor thinks it’s time to change the batteries of his pacemaker. Stephanie is pretty upset because she found him on the floor.”

“I’ll come to the hospital right now.” Stephanie and Randolph were the closest thing my family had as grandparents.

“What’s wrong now?” said Rhonda.

I told her and sighed. “I guess the more people we include in our hotel family, the more issues we’ll have with them.”

“But that’s being part of a family,” Rhonda said, and I was reminded how unusual my own family had been growing up with just a grandmother.

“You’re right. No matter what, I’d still want them to be part of it.”

“Go,” said Rhonda. “I’ll see that things are completed here. I’m also going to have Lorraine send each of us the file for Sunday’s wedding so we can plan how that will get done.”

I grabbed my things and drove to the hospital as quickly as I could.

###

When I arrived, I sawVaughn and Stephanie in the emergency waiting room and hurried over to them. “How is Randolph?”

“He’s all right,” Vaughn assured me. “It’s the battery in his pacemaker that’s the problem. It needs to be replaced. They’re giving him a lot of antibiotics now and will do the surgical procedure later today.”

“A few days ago, Randolph told me he’d called for an appointment to have the work done, but apparently, it couldn’t wait that long,” said Stephanie.

“I’ll stay here with Stephanie until the surgery is complete,” Vaughn said. “The procedure isn’t difficult. Lots of people can have it done as an outpatient, but they told us they want to keep Randolph overnight.”

I gave Stephanie a long hug. “I’ll take Vaughn’s place after the procedure. We’ll have you come for dinner, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“What would we ever do without you two?” Stephanie said. “You’ve given us a whole new life as Robbie’s grandparents.”

“We feel the same about you. We’re family,” I said.

“Who knew this would happen when we couldn’t get a room at the hotel?” said Stephanie, doing her best not to cry.

“A lucky day for all of us,” I said.

“I’ll walk you out,” said Vaughn to me. “And then Stephanie and I are moving to the surgical waiting area.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” I said, waving to Stephanie.

“How are they both?” I asked Vaughn. “Stephanie looks completely frazzled.”

---