Page 36 of Over the Verdant Hills
“That’s not terrible. You have plenty of time to say goodbye?—”
“No. Well, I guess to be more specific, she said she could die in her sleep tonight, but the longest that she would give her would be six months. She said if we were able to spend Christmas together, she would make a big deal of it because it would be her last for sure.”
“That’s not very encouraging.”
“No. The doctor was very sympathetic. I felt bad that she had to give such terrible news. I wouldn’t want to have a job where I had to tell people that they were dying in the next six months.”
“Yeah, me neither,” he said, grateful that he was just a handyman and fix-it person. He couldn’t imagine if his job included playing God, even in that small way.
“Anyway. I’m supposed to call all the relatives and let them know. She said that we could give Grandma as much pain medicine as she wanted, but the more and stronger the pain medicine got, the more Grandma would sleep and be out of it.” She took a breath, looking at her tea but not touching it. “Grandma said she’d like to try to hold off on the pain meds until everyone who wanted to see her had been around to talk. I’m glad she’s lucid enough to think that way.”
“Me too.”
“But I just feel so overwhelmed. I need to make all the phone calls, the last day of school is tomorrow, and my kids have a program that night, and I don’t know whether to try to take Grandma or have her stay, and whether to stay with her and?—”
He put a hand up. “Hey. I’ll help. Okay? If you need to stay with Grandma, I can take the kids. And if you want to go with the kids, I can stay with Grandma. You make the decision and tell me what you need.” He said that as firmly but as calmly as possible. He didn’t want to put any pressure on her, but he wanted her to know that she was not alone. He also wanted to say that it was too bad she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Grace, because he was sure that Grace would help her through this hard time.
But it was probably too late to try to form any type of bond, especially now while Claire was in such panic mode.
Still, if the opportunity came up, he might mention his conversation with Trevor.
“Thank you so much. I… I guess I just feel overwhelmed. But I appreciate you being calm and reasonable.”
“I think it’s easier for me, because it’s not my life that’s imploding.”
“But you’re sympathetic enough to make me feel like you care while still keeping me grounded.”
“I’m glad it’s working. I want to help you any way I can.”
“I’m going to have to figure out how to get the kids to my husband—ex-husband—as well.”
“I’ll help you with that.”
“Thanks.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “Grandma and I decided that we were going to try to do as many things together this last week as we could. I… I don’t expect the kids will get to see her again alive. And I haven’t decided whether I should try to get them back for the funeral.”
“You might want to talk to them about it. They might not want to come back. Or they might feel like they need to.”
“Do you think they’re old enough to make that decision?”
“I think if you talk to them about it and tell them that you’d like to do the thing that works best for them—the thing they want, even if it isn’t what they think they should want—they’ll remember that you at least talked to them about it.”
“Good point. I guess what is the right decision for one kid could be a wrong decision for another, and who am I to know whether it’s best or not?” She seemed to be thoughtful as she said that. He was glad that she seemed to be able to reason things out and didn’t seem to be in quite such a panic. “All right. I still feel like everything’s a jumble in my brain.”
“You need to make some phone calls, you need to be here when your kids get off the bus, you have a program tomorrownight, and you can let me know if you want me to go see the kids or if you want me to stay with Grandma. Or maybe she feels well enough that between the two of us we can get her there.”
“Oh, that would be best. Yeah. Let’s aim for that, if you don’t mind helping.”
“No. I don’t. My dad’s not here right now, so I just might not work as many long hours here, go home and spend some time with my mom, and then come back and spend the evening with you. She’s often in bed shortly after supper anyway.”
“Oh, I hate to take you away from her.”
“Don’t worry about it. I told you, I’ll see her during the day. I don’t have any yacht work this week either, and I might cancel next week’s job.”
“I don’t want you to lose any work.”
“I’m not losing work. I’ll just postpone it until some other time. Things come up. And if they find someone else to do the job, it’s not like I need it. I promise. I won’t do anything that jeopardizes my financial health.”
“Well, thank you. I’ll trust that you’ll keep your word on that and tell me if I’m asking too much of you.”
