Page 57 of Merrily Ever After
‘RICE,’ he said, fetching a cold compress from the fridge. ‘Rest, ice, compression and elevation.’
She laughed softly, realising what Kylie had meant. The kettle, which had been building up to boiling point, clicked off.
‘That’s more like it. Want to talk about it?’ he asked softly. ‘Or can I interest you in tea and cake.’
‘Definitely tea and cake please.’ She gave him a watery smile.
‘Coming up.’ He got to his feet and took mugs down from a shelf. ‘There’s always tons of cake going spare, and boxes of chocolates. Visitors often bring gifts for the staff. People feel guilty for putting their relatives in here. I know I did.’
‘Youdid?’ She looked up sharply.
‘Yep. My grandad spent his last years here. It broke my heart to have to “lock him up”, as I’d thought of it at thetime. But the change in him was almost instantaneous. He seemed peaceful, whereas when he’d been trying to manage at home, he was like a coiled spring, full of anxiety and fear.’
‘You make it sound as if it was a decision you had to make on your own,’ she said, intrigued.
‘That’s exactly what it was. I don’t have any other family. Sugar?’ He held up a canister marked sugar and she shook her head. ‘My dad disappeared before I was even born. My mum died in prison and Grandad brought me up.’
Emily blew out a breath. ‘Families, eh?’ It made her own new discovery look quite tame in comparison. ‘Thank goodness for your grandad.’
He gave her a sad smile. ‘He was my everything. When he got Alzheimer’s disease and started forgetting who I was, I lost my entire family. I felt bad that I couldn’t care for him myself after he’d looked after me, but I had to work.’
She smiled wistfully. ‘It’s hard to know what the right thing to do is when you’re on your own.’
He set plates on the table beside her where she could reach and pulled up a chair opposite. ‘Listen to me giving you my life story when I’m supposed to be looking after you. Here you go.’
He handed her a mug of tea and she sipped at it. It was strong and steaming hot and instantly reviving.
‘This is perfect, thank you.’
He grinned and took a bite of his cake. ‘The power of tea and cake should never be underestimated in my opinion.’
‘I’m Ray’s only family too,’ she told him, tearing off a piece of cake and popping it in her mouth. ‘So I’m the one who had to make that call to move him and it was … it was …’ Except she wasn’t his only family anymore was she? Her family tree had a new branch, and somewhere out there, she had a sister.
Will looked at her with his friendly smile and kind eyes. ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’
Emily held his gaze, weighing up whether to confide in him or not. It would be nice to talk about it with someone who was here in the present, rather than someone whose memory flitted backwards and forwards. They hadn’t known each other long, but she felt a connection to him, he seemed like a person she could trust.
‘I do want to.’ She set down her mug and reached inside her bag which Will had placed on the floor beside her. ‘Remember this?’ She showed him the photograph and he nodded. ‘We misread the writing on the back. It saysMerry’sfirst Christmas, not merry first Christmas. Merry is the name of the baby.’
Will took the picture from her. ‘So that’s not you?’ he asked, confused.
‘Apparently that’s my sister. My half-sister.’ She stared at the little blonde girl, her face lit up with happiness as she looked at her dad –their dad, she thought with a jolt.
‘And you didn’t know about her?’
‘Not until today, no.’
He whistled under her breath. ‘Oh man. That’s wild. How do you feel?’
‘Honestly?’ She gave him a half-smile and shrugged. ‘I don’t know yet. Mindblown, I think. If I hadn’t seen this photograph, would I have ever found out, I wonder?’
‘I’ve spent a lot of time with dementia patients over the years,’ said Will. ‘This happens more often than you’d believe. Something will happen out of the blue to trigger a memory, or past traumas, secrets they vowed they’d never confess. Some people own up to love affairs or decide to track down children given up for adoption which other family members know nothing about.’
Emily nodded. ‘Maybe Dad feels that time is running out to come clean before he loses his memory completely.’ She had a sudden thought; maybe this was why he’d come back to the area. Maybe he wanted to be near his family.Bothof his daughters. ‘I wonder where she is now?’ she murmured.
Will turned over the compress on Emily’s ankle, easing the cold fabric gently over her skin. ‘Are you going to try to find her?’
Emily blinked at him. ‘I don’t know, I hadn’t thought … It’s all a lot to take in.’
