Page 89 of Jace 4Ever
We whipped around and there was a feminine version of Nelson standing there with her arms folded and a teasing smirk on her face.
“Helene…”
She opened her arms, and Nelson flew into them. They wrapped around each other as only siblings could and just held on.
So very different from me and Jerrod.
Helene started speaking rapidly in Icelandic. I had no idea what she was saying, but I could see Nelson soaking up her words and his eyes brightening. His whole body was lifting out of his funk the more she said. It took a long few minutes for them to remember I was standing here and finally turn to me.
His sister asked something, and Nelson answered.
I looked between them, and Nelson laughed. “Shit. Wrong language.” He motioned me forward. “This is my big sister, Helene. Helene, this is my boyfriend, Jace.”
I stuck my hand out, but she wasn’t having that. She grabbed it and pulled me into a hug, a tight, hard, sisterly hug.
“Welcome, Jace. It’s good meet you. My brother doesn’t shut up about two things: movies and you. Thank you for getting him here. It’s been too long and this was just the worst way for this to happen.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I managed to grunt from the hug.
“Come on,Pabbiis waiting. He’s awake from the surgery.”
“Is Móeiðr here?” Nelson asked.
“He ran home to getPabbisome survival supplies like pajamas and a toothbrush,” she answered. “We just basically dropped everything and followed the ambulance. When they told us they were going to operate right away and he was going to be here for a few long days, we all calmed down enough to start thinking straight. Heath will be back in a bit. He left almost three hours ago, so I’m expecting him.”
Nelson nodded and motioned to the entrance. “Let’s go see him.”
This was a strange experience for me. Not only was it my first time here, I didn’t know a lick of the language, and I was in a hospital in a foreign country. It wasn’t like I was well versed in international travel. I’d only gotten my passport when one of my first jobs had needed to film in Vancouver, and I’d never had a chance to go on an international vacation.
My expectation of the hospital was that it would be different from what I was used to. It wasn’t. It looked just like Bellevue or Columbia Pres like I was used to. Just, with everything labeled in a different language. Helene led the way through the corridors, up an elevator to an area that I guessed was the cardiac care unit. We walked past a nurses’ station and ducked into a room just a few doors down.
I stood back, pressing my back against the wall as Nelson approached the man in the bed.
He looked just like his father. The only difference was Nelson’s brown hair versus his father’s solid white color. The older man in the bed rolled his head toward his son, and a bright smile bloomed on his face. “Nils...”
“Pabbi.” He stepped up and grabbed his father’s hand.
The conversation flowed back into Icelandic, and I just hung back. Helene leaned against the wall with me. “Do you want to know what they’re saying?”
I shook my head. “No. Let them have their privacy.”
She touched my hand. “Jace. Thank you for getting him here. It’s been too long, and this is the wrong way for this to happen, but thank you.”
A deep sigh escaped me. “I lost my parents a long time ago, and I knew that he couldn’t miss the chance to see his father, even if it was just one last time.”
“Your father?”
“Mother,” I said. “She died by a stray bullet. The three of us were too late to say goodbye. Dad we lost a year later, in a car accident.”
“So just you and your brother?”
“Just me. My brother isn’t exactly an upstanding human being.”
“Nils said you were living with him.”
“He was living with me and I was handling everything. Now, he’s beholden to Nelson for the place in Garden City. I don’t care what happens at this point. He doesn’t care what happens to me, that’s for sure.” And he didn’t, not that I had been able to tell in the past six months.
“Well, nonetheless,” she said. “Thank you.”
