Page 48 of Forgive Not Forget
As usual, Anna took the driver’s seat as they made their way to Baycroft to visit Harry. She was tired after their disturbed night, and her thoughts fell to Katherine showing her vulnerability again. She was pleased Katherine felt able to be more open and share everything with her, but it also brought a weight of fear to her. She simply hated to see Katherine struggling.
They had barely spoken about Katherine’s revelation about not wanting to have children; after all, there wasn’t much to say. If Katherine didn’t want to, and Anna could understand why she might not, she wasn’t going to push her or be without her, so it was a matter of acceptance on her part. She wasn’t going to deny that she was disappointed — she genuinely believed they would make great parents — but today, they needed to focus on Harry.
“I’ve been thinking,” Katherine said, interrupting Anna’s thoughts. “As the weather improves, we should try and spend more time with Harry. Take him and Mabel out to places.”
“Mabel! Why does she have to come?”
“If she is important to him, then she’s important to us. He’s going to need all the help he can get going forward.”
Anna couldn’t disagree with Katherine. As much as she was unsure about Mabel’s sudden friendship with her dad, it made sense.
The receptionist paged Lucy on their arrival, and within minutes she was walking them round to Harry’s room.
“Thanks for doing this,” she told Katherine. “It’s better coming from you, I think. Did you have any questions from the report?”
“No, it was pretty thorough and clear. I won’t go into too much detail. Just make him aware,” Katherine assured her.
Lucy nodded her agreement. “His GP is in tomorrow morning, so if he has any more questions or wants to go over it again, he can. We’ll talk him through his treatment plan too. Call me if you have any concerns.”
“Thanks, Lucy,” Anna replied, holding her fist close to the door yet unable to knock. This was one of those moments in life where you wished you could turn and walk away but knew you couldn’t. It was happening whether she liked it or not, and it was her duty to be there for Harry every step of the way, as he had been there for her on her journey into the world.
She felt Katherine’s warm hand slip into hers, and a light squeeze gave her the strength to knock and enter. Harry was in his usual chair in front of the television.
“Hi, Dad,” she greeted him.
“Morning, Harry.”
A smile spread across his face at the sight of them, and he reached for the remote, accidentally knocking it onto the floor.
“Sorry we couldn’t come yesterday. Becks was visiting,” Anna said as she bent down to pick it up. She turned off the television and placed the remote back on the arm of his chair.
Harry nodded his understanding. “It’s nice to see you anytime. She all right?” His words were slow and fractured.
“Yes, she’s fine,” Katherine lied.
Anna let Katherine take the nearer chair this time as she was going to be the one explaining his diagnosis.
“How have you been, Harry?” she asked.
“All right, doc, yeah.”
“Are you being good for Holly? Doing all your exercises?”
“As much as I can. They had me doing some tests this week. I doubt I passed.” Harry lifted his finger to his head and poked it. “It’s not what it used to be.”
Katherine looked over at Anna for support. She responded with a nod and a smile to urge her on.
“The test showed you have Parkinson’s dementia, Harry.” Her voice quavered, and she cleared her throat to steady herself. “Do you know what that is?”
“I understand, doc. I’m losing my marbles,” Harry replied.
Anna noticed his expression didn’t change. Had he already realised his mental ability was in decline?
“I can’t remember things like I did.” He chuckled. “Funny how you can always remember that you can’t remember.”
“There’s no set progression with dementia, just progression. It can take any route over any time.”
Harry nodded and lowered his head. “I know doc, que sera sera.”
