Page 80 of Stick to the Deal
He gives me a gentle smile as pity fills his eyes. “I see. Well, there is no cure, but we can treat her and give her a number of years still. I’ve been encouraging her to go on a medical diet, but she’s refused. We have her on fluids, antibiotics, and some medicine to help with her appetite. She should be awake soon, but might be a little groggy.”
“So she’s not dying?” My heart constricts, waiting for him to confirm what I think I heard. His face blurs as tears burn my eyes.
“Not today. If she can get her diet under control, she won’t for years yet.”
I nod, unsure I can speak. Reginald’s hand on my shoulder steadies me. Looking for further comfort, I thread my fingers through his, gripping tightly.
The doctor pauses at the door. “If I might be so bold. I’ve been treating Mrs. Atherton for several years. She always talks about you and your photographs.” She does? “Your grandmother is very proud of you.” He leaves me as I try to balance the Vivienne Atherton of my memories with the one he described.
The same woman who always harped on me to move back to London and settle down was proud of the business I’d built? It just doesn’t make sense.
As I wait, I send texts to Gloria, giving updates. The minutes tick by and still I wait.
“Are you ok?” Reginald asks. I can only shrug my shoulder. “It’s been hours since you ate. I’m going to grab you a bite and some coffee, and another chair for me.” He presses a kiss on the top of my head. I close my eyes, soaking in the feeling as my lips tremble against the flood of worry.
Once alone, the adrenaline wanes and the flight catches up to me and I drowse in the chair. As my eyes blink longer and longer, I give in and rest my forehead on our clasped hands.
Chapter 41
The Truth Will Set You free
Idrift in and out. Slowly, I wake to a soft hand stroking my hair. I lift my head to find her green eyes looking down at me, full of raw emotion. Pain. Love. Regret.
“Grandmama.” I startle up in the chair, my back protesting the sudden motion.
“Oh, Nicolette. I’m so sorry.” I’m not sure if she means the fight or not telling me she was sick.
But she’s awake.
And talking.
Grateful tears slip past my mask. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her hand shakes as she pats mine. “I haven’t done much right, have I? Losing Genevieve, and so soon after my Edgar. There’s nothing that can prepare you for the loss of a child—I pray that’s a pain you will never know. I wasn’t equipped to raise you. Most days, I was barely holding myself together and then you were with me after losing so much yourself. I was terrified that I couldn’t be strong for both of us. That I’d end up leaving you, too. That’s why I sent you to boarding school. To be around girls your age, form a support network in case you needed it.”
“I thought you didn’t want me.” My voice cracks as I finally speak the truth that’s haunted my heart for years.
She pales further, her soft hand cupping my face. “Oh, sweetheart, no. Wanting you and loving you was never the problem.”
Grandmama sighs, looking off in the distance. “If I could do it again, I would do so many things differently. I would have held you close instead of keeping you at arm’s length. We could have grieved together. Maybe then we wouldn’t be so far apart now. I’m so sorry I wasn’t the grandmother you needed me to be. The one you deserved.”
Her words rock me, but with them a weight lightens.
I was always loved.
I was always enough.
Maybe now the healing can begin. A tentative hope rises within me. “I’d like to start over. Get to know each other now, as women.”
Grandmama smiles at me as tears trace down her face. “Me too.” She grows serious. “About that last fight, I was wrong about him—I see that now. He just looks so much like his grandfather.”
“What are you talking about? You knew Reginald’s grandfather?”
“I knew Reginald Senior when I was a girl. He was extremely handsome, and so charming.” She shakes her head slightly, some color finally returning to her cheeks. “I was quite swept off my feet and got carried away. He assured me we were going to marry, that he loved me. He begged me to give him a little time to talk his family around. I believed he could do it, too. Then I saw his engagement announcement in the paper, but it wasn’t to me.”
“Oh, Grandmama.”
“I came from an old family, land rich but not much else to offer besides our name. His wife was an heiress, new money but her father wanted to buy nobility for his grandchildren. I was heartbroken.”
