Page 62 of An Island Summer
“You ask Rupert.”
TWENTY-ONE
“Hi,” Toby said, bumping into Meghan at the entrance of Rosewood Manor the next morning. His hair was slightly disheveled and his shirttail was untucked from his jeans.
“Hello.” Meghan stopped, holding the bag of muffins she’d brought to surprise Rupert, shocked to run into Toby so early.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “I’m just packing up Gramps’s things. They had to rush him to the hospital last night.”
“Oh no. What happened?” she asked, her heart racing in panic.
“He’s caught a virus of some sort, but it’s running him way down. He was dehydrated and he was having trouble breathing, so they wanted to get him in before he showed any symptoms of pneumonia. It came on really quickly.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Toby looked completely distraught and helpless as he shook his head, clearly unable to answer her question. With Rupert’s age, this wasn’t good.
“I’ll come with you so you don’t have to deal with it alone.” She peered down at her phone for the time. “I’ve got two hours before I have to be at work.”
“All right,” he relented, but his distress was evident.
She followed him to Rupert’s room, the silence of it settling heavily on her chest. She peered around at the movie memorabilia, all of it having new meaning for her. Now, it wasn’t the work of a delusional old man, but rather the outward expression of someone struggling to keep hold of his life so it didn’t slip away.
“What do we need to get?” she asked.
“A change of clothes for when he’s discharged,” he said, his gaze barely meeting hers, and she knew that he was worried about how this would all go. “And his toiletries. I thought maybe we could take one of his books for him in case he wakes up.” He opened the closet door, and pulled out a pair of trousers and one of Rupert’s button-up shirts.
As she looked through Rupert’s book collection to find a good one to bring, Meghan knew Rupert’s life couldn’t end yet. Hester wouldn’t allow it. He’d been Hester’s rock, and Meghan was convinced that he had more to say about his life.
“He’ll be okay,” she said, more hopeful than anything else.
Toby nodded, not saying a word.
Meghan stood outside Rupert’s hospital room, peering in through the little window beside the closed door while Toby went in and set the man’s things down on the open closet next to the sink and counter that held cotton balls, antibacterial gel, and a box of tissues.
Rupert lay quietly in his hospital gown, his eyes closed, IVs in his arms that were lying motionless on top of his blanket. She wanted to burst in there and tell him she was by his side, but the staff had advised that only immediate family go in. They’d told Toby not to stay terribly long, to allow Rupert to sleep.
When he’d gotten Rupert’s things situated, Toby stopped and stood near Rupert’s bed, his head hung low as he reached out and touched his grandfather’s hand. Then he turned and met Meghan’s eyes through the window, the fear evident in his gaze.
The two of them walked together to the lobby, where they both sat down, neither of them knowing the next step. Meghan wanted to stay there all day to provide silent support for Rupert, but she knew that sitting there worrying wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
“We should probably go,” Toby suggested. His gaze flickered over to a middle-aged woman who shifted in her seat across from them, leaning tiredly on her hand while the book she was reading was turned over on the magazines that covered the coffee table between them. “He’s not coming out of sedation any time soon.”
Meghan winced when he said it. She hadn’t liked the idea of sedating Rupert, but he’d been giving the staff a difficult time, telling them all that he was fine. The same way he’d seemed to be fighting his dementia, struggling for a foothold in his own life, he was fighting this virus.
Toby stood up, so, without anything else more she could do, Meghan followed suit, and he took her hand. His touch gave her a sense of calm, and the way he gripped her hand, she knew that he was telling her that they were facing this together. Without a single thought, she followed him to the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” she asked, climbing into his Range Rover.
“I have no idea, but I can’t sit here,” he replied. “Anywhere you need to go?”
Meghan looked at her watch—she still had an hour until work. She thought for a minute, wishing she could do something for Rupert. But then it hit her. “Actually? Yes.”
“Okay,” he said, starting the engine. “Where to?”
“Pinetop Securities.”
“If Hester did, in fact, give my grandmother a combination to a safe, there might be something of value in it,” Meghan explained to Toby, as they waited for the salesman who was pitching the latest in-home security to a potential buyer.
