Page 60 of Cowboy of Convenience
Her grandmother’s eyes met hers, carrying a sadness she’d never noticed before. “I deeply regret not having this conversation sooner, but I worried you would cut me off the same way your mother has."
Had her mother done that? It didn’t seem like it. "But she still goes to every event. She represents the family at every function." Her brain was still struggling to come to terms with this new truth. “You two talk.”
"She's always enjoyed the perks of being a Warwick and wouldn't give them up for anything.” Her grandmother’s jaw set. “And I suppose I didn't want the world to see how horribly I failed as a mother, so we are cordial when we’re in public." Her steely eyes hinted at sadness. “But outside of that, I haven’t spoken to her in years.”
“I—” Evelyn let out a small scoff. “I don’t know what to say.”
The nurse from earlier appeared through the door, smile faltering a little as her eyes drifted across a waiting room way less populated than it was before. “I was coming to let you know your mother-in-law is in her room.”
Her grandmother leaned close. “Have you already married the cowboy police officer and just didn’t want to tell me?”
She could come clean now. Admit she and Grady were never engaged. That technically, they weren't even together when all this started. But her relationship with her grandmother was still on fragile ground, and it seemed like a lot to unload onto an already complicated and convoluted situation.
Evelyn shook her head, relaxing a little at still being fictitiously tied to Grady. "No. We're not married yet."
The foreign expression that spread over her grandmother’s face, her smile, looked surprisingly genuine. "I'm glad to hear that. I would hate to have missed out on yet another important event in your life."
"If you ladies are ready to go, I can take you up to the room now." The nurse’s tone was brisk and got Evelyn moving.
"Yes. Okay." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Grady's number as her grandmother hefted the vase of flowers from the floor. They followed behind the nurse as the call connected.
"Hey, Sweetheart. Are you okay?"
His immediate concern warmed every part of her. "I'm fine. The nurse is taking us up to your mother's room."
"You and Gram-Gram?" Grady’s tone was cautious.
"Yes. Is that okay, or would you like for us to wait?"
She was caught in a weird predicament. Technically, Grady's mom was nothing more than the confused parent of a guy she was just beginning to find her footing with, so it felt a little invasive to be the first one into her room. Except Gram-Gram didn't know any of that. She believed she was meeting a future in-law.
One Evelyn knew wouldn’t recognize her own son, let alone her.
"I'll meet you there. Go ahead and go in without me if you feel comfortable with it." Even in this moment, he was thinking of her. Making sure she was comfortable.
Evelyn got the room number from the nurse and gave it to Grady before disconnecting the call.
"Does he not tell you he loves you before he hangs up the phone?" Gram-Gram frowned, seeming a tad judgmental.
And it got Evelyn's feathers up. "His mother just broke her hip and had to have surgery. He’s got a lot going on, so you’ll have to forgive him if he forgets some things."
Her grandmother tilted her head to one side. "I apologize. I forget that not all relationships are like the one I had with my child. I should have considered that he wouldn’t be his normal self right now." Her grandmother pressed her lips together. "I take it Grady loves his mother."
Evelyn’s defensive reflex calmed a little at her apology. "He loves her very much."
The differences between Grady's relationship with his mother and her mother's relationship with her grandmother were drastic and stark. Almost as glaring as the differences between her relationship with her own mother. It was never particularly close or warm, but until today she didn't see just how distant and detached it really was. Because, like the completely out of touch lifestyle she was raised in, it was all she’d ever experienced. All she knew.
She didn't have fond memories about hush puppies or dumplings. She didn't have funny stories about things her mother had said or the relationship her parents had. All she had was a false narrative that led her down a path of self-imposed self-destruction.
"I'm glad you have found a man from a normal family, Evelyn. You deserve that." Her grandmother reached out, giving Evelyn's hand a squeeze in the first show of affection she'd ever experienced from the woman. It was gone as quickly as it started, but the impact of it lingered.
And it wasn’t the only hard truth she was facing.
"Unfortunately, his mother's fall isn't the worst of what she's dealing with." Evelyn swallowed a lump in her throat, beginning to understand just how much Grady had lost. "His mother has vascular dementia and there's a chance the sedation from the surgery exacerbated her condition."
Her grandmother's eyes jumped her way as they reached the doorway of the room. "I see."
The nurse motioned into the space before taking off, leaving them standing in the hall.
