Page 14 of The Rules We Broke
I blinked, surprised she’d offered. I hadn’t been back home since I was eighteen. Aunt Lu had told me it was for the best. That I needed to go and never look back. Why had she changed her mind all of a sudden?
“I’ll get a hotel room nearby tonight,” I stammered, terrified of going home. Facing my memories. It was bad enough they lived rent free inside my head.
“That’s nonsense, child. You can stay at the house.”
“We’ll see,” I said cautiously, settling next to her side, not wanting to upset her. “So, tell me what happened.”
“Doris overreacted,” she huffed. “I had a little pain and some shortness of breath, and the next thing I know I’m being whisked off in an ambulance against my wishes. The fools wouldn’t even take me to Kaysville General.”
I couldn’t help but snicker. I knew I shouldn’t laugh, but she was a riot. No doubt those paramedics got an earful.
“Well, you’ve got to be tired, too. Why don’t you try to get some rest until we get your results back. Do you want me to get you anything?”
“Yes,” she said. “Send for my cosmetics. And my satin pajamas. If they think I’m wearing this ridiculous article of clothing during my stay here, they have another think coming.” She pointed at the blue hospital gown with disdain.
I smirked. “Anything else?”
She reached for my hand, holding it gently but firmly. “Yes. I want you to call my lawyer.”
“Why?” I said, slightly panicked.
She squeezed my fingers. Her eyes locked onto mine, steady and knowing. “Because it’stime.”
Chapter Two
Iknewwhatshemeant when she said, “It’s time.”
She’d been trying for years to place me on her accounts. To sign over a substantial portion of her wealth. The house included.
I’d always resisted. I didn’t want her money. It had never brought her happiness—except that it allowed her to give me anything I wanted and then some. Besides, I had my own money. I’d built a life. But more than the money, she wanted me to have power of attorney.
Just in case.
I didn’t want to think aboutjust in case.
Still, I did as she asked.
I called Doris, asked her to bring my aunt’s “necessities” to the hospital, and, with a heavy heart, I dialed Mr. Howard—her attorney.
Apparently, he made hospital room calls.
By late afternoon, the test results came in. She’d had a heart attack. Two blocked arteries. She’d need angioplasty.
Aunt Lu wasn’t thrilled. She demanded second and third opinions, arguing with every suggestion. Eventually, she relented—but with conditions.
No procedures until Mr. Howard arrived. No treatment until her accounts had my name on them and the power of attorney was in place. I couldn’t get her to budge.
She was blackmailing me with her health.
By evening, I was running on fumes. Yawning between thoughts, blinking through fog.
“Ella Lu, go to the house and get some sleep,” she said.
“I’m getting a hotel room.”
Her voice softened, but her words didn’t. “Ella Lu, it’s time to face your past, sugar.”
The words spilled out before I could polish them. “You told me to leave and never come back.” Not only did I sound childish, but I felt childish.
