Page 99 of Protecting You

They could be trying to figure out how to live lives without their family’s rock. The cornerstone.

“I should never have asked so much of you and Mom.” Callan’s voice cracked, and he clamped his lips closed against the emotion.

Dad looked past Callan. “Why don’t you two go for a walk.”

Hannah said, “But we’re waiting?—”

“Do you need anything?” Mom asked.

“Just a kiss from my love.”

She kissed him, then pressed a hand to his cheek. “You be good.”

Dad grinned. “I’ll try my best.”

Mom looked at Callan. “If the doctor comes, you call me immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mom hooked her arm around Hannah’s back and urged her out, closing the door behind them.

“I love them both,” Dad said, “but you’d think I was at death’s door.”

The words, spoken so flippantly, raised a flash of irritation. “Dad, you had a heart attack. They have a right to be worried.”

“I just meant…” He looked toward the door for a moment. “You’re right. I can’t imagine if it was your mother.”

“I asked too much of you. You shouldn’t be raising a child. You should be resting. And now you’re here because you took on my burden?—”

“Don’t say that.” Dad pushed the button to raise the head of his bed until he was sitting almost straight up. “My granddaughter is not a burden. She’s a blessing, an amazing blessing, and I’m not one bit sorry she’s in our lives.”

“I didn’t mean…” Callan raked his hand over his head. “Only that you two shouldn’t have to raise her.”

“You’re right, we shouldn’t. But don’t you go blaming her?—”

“—not her, me.”

“—or yourself for my heart attack. How much power do you think you have, anyway?”

Callan wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“You listen now, son. You are not so powerful that you can clog a man’s arteries. You are not so powerful that you can damage a man’s heart. Maybe you should remember who’s really in charge. Go look in the mirror in there”—he waved toward the bathroom—“and tell the man looking back at you the truth. That you’re not in control, and you’re not supposed to be.”

Callan hadn’t been scolded by his father in a long time. He tamped down on an adolescent desire to argue his point.

“Caring for Peri is taking a toll. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I’ve seen a lot of heart-healthy advice. I’m supposed to avoid donuts, not granddaughters.”

“I know that, but you have to admit?—”

“Don’t take on guilt that’s not yours to own. Don’t take responsibility for what you can’t control. Focus on what you can.”

That was the problem. No matter how hard Callan tried, he couldn’t control anything.

“Enough of that.” Dad’s tone shifted to playful. “Am I going to meet this girlfriend of yours?”

“She’s not a girlfriend, she’s?—”

---