Page 82 of The Woman Left Behind

“Yeah, her and Trey.” Her tone had turned cautious. “What’s up?”

“They’ve released your parents, honey,” he told her. “I need to know where Wade should take them when he gets back from Coeur d’Alene. He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Oh my God, I didn’t—” she started.

Harry heard Ronetta in the background. “What’s happening?”

“Mom and Dad are coming home,” Lillian told her. “We’ve been running around. I didn’t think?—”

“Hand me your phone, Lilly Bean,” Ronetta ordered.

Lilly Bean.

Cute.

There was a handoff, and then Ronetta said, “Hello, Harry.”

“Hey there, Ronetta.”

“You can take Sonny and Av to Pullman’s Mortuary Chapel. They’re expecting them.”

“They are?” Lillian asked in the background.

“It’s all taken care of,” Ronetta told her.

Harry then heard nothing but a faraway sobbing hiccup.

“Ronetta,” he called tersely.

“Trey’s got her, Harry,” Ronetta said in his ear. “She’ s a little choked up. I made some calls last night. It’s mostly arranged. I didn’t know we’d get them back this fast, so I didn’t mention it to Lillian. She’s pulling it together. I’ll go over everything with her now.”

“Right.”

“Harry…” She said no more, but he sensed she was moving somewhere private and that didn’t make him happy.

“Ronetta,” he repeated sharply.

“Okay, we called Lillian’s grandparents this morning.”

Shit.

“Needless to say, they were upset,” Ronetta continued. “Though, unlike Lillian, I sense not really surprised. That said, they’ve been hiding a few things from Lillian, probably because they wanted her to think they’d be there if she needed them.”

This made Harry even less happy. “What are they hiding?”

“Her grandpa Rainier isn’t getting around real great, at this point, essentially wheelchair bound, and he gets tired very quickly. Grandma Rainier is dealing with dementia. And her grandma Nowak’s diabetes means she has to have dialysis several times a week.”

Harry was mildly ticked. “That’s a lot to hide.”

“I agree, though I also understand,” Ronetta replied. “Lillian has taken more than her fair share of licks. But this means they can’t make it to Sonny and Av’s services.” A pause then, “I sense this also has to do with how devastated they are at the news. Even though they weren’t surprised, I got the feeling they also couldn’t hack it. Some of us, answers and closure help. Some of us, we wish we never knew. They’re all in their eighties. This is a blow for anyone, but for them, it’s not a memory you want to be making when you’re at that time in your life.”

He could understand that.

“Lillian told them she’s going to go out there for Thanksgiving,” Ronetta went on. “They’ll do something to memorialize Sonny and Av then.”

“How’d she handle all of that?” Harry asked.

“Well, she didn’t do cartwheels, but I felt a little relief. Bearing your own grief is a heavy enough load. Looking after your elderly grandparents and adding theirs is too much. Not that our Lilly Bean wouldn’t stand strong, just that would be asking a lot.”

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