Page 82 of Leave It to Us
She gave a wry smile, which she knew he couldn’t see. “You’ve told me that before.”
“Because it’s true.” He chuckled. “Have you at least eaten something?”
A couple of days ago, Deacon had walked into the kitchen while she’d been doing her finger stick to check her glucose level. There’d been nothing else to do in that situation but tell him about her diagnosis, even though she was certain he knew the meaning behind what she’d been doing. Admittedly, he hadn’t reacted in the way she’d thought he would. Then again, her issues with her condition where Deacon was concerned weren’t based solely on his reaction.
“I grabbed a salad from the hospital cafeteria before it closed,” she said. “Like I said, I’m fine. I’ll text you when she’s out of surgery.”
“You cancallme if you just need to talk before then,” he said. And before she could reply, he continued. “But I’ll look forward to the text as well.”
She was smiling again when she thanked him for his concern and disconnected the call. Then she settled in to wait for the four-hour surgery to be completed.
“Yvonne. Wake up.”
She heard the familiar voice and jumped, her eyes popping open. Yvonne hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until she heard her name being called and now felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” Lana said with a small smile.
“Hey,” Yvonne replied, blinking rapidly as she tried to completely wake up. “What are you doing here?”
She sat up straighter in the chair as Lana took a seat to her left. Isaac was standing on the other side of her, and he leaned in and gave Yvonne a half hug as she spoke. Then he went to his wife’s other side to take a seat.
“I left the island right after you did,” Lana said.
“Yeah,” Tami added, coming into the waiting room with a guy Yvonne suspected was the best friend she’d mentioned to her and Lana the night they were chatting and reminiscing during the thunderstorm. “If you would’ve waited a minute instead of stalking off, we could’ve all gotten on the ferry together.”
Shock didn’t begin to describe how Yvonne felt seeing her sisters here. But that wasn’t the most prevalent feeling she was experiencing right now. Her chest filled with pride, mixed with contentment, and she once again fought the urge to cry.
“You didn’t act like you wanted to come,” Yvonne said as Tami dropped down into the chair beside her and rested a hand on Yvonne’s knee.
“We didn’t,” Lana said. “And that was our fault. You’re not in this alone.” Lana reached for Yvonne’s hand and held it tightly.
“Nope,” Tami said. “I can be here for you, respect Mama, and still feel a way about how she treated me at the same time.”
Where Yvonne would’ve normally had a response to that—a wordy one that would probably have ended in Tami rolling her eyes—tonight, she simply accepted Tami’s hand when she enfolded it with Yvonne’s free one and said, “Thanks for coming.”
They sat there like that, the three of them holding hands, while they waited for the nurse or a doctor to come out and give them news about Freda. It seemed a little like déjà vu, carrying them back to the time they’d sat in the waiting room, waiting for news after Freda’s stroke. But this time was noticeably different. She and her sisters had spent weeks together in the summerhouse, reliving memories from a time when they were both on each other’s nerves and happy. The happiest, Yvonne would venture to say, they’d ever been together.
Admittedly, when they’d first learned about the terms of Grandma Betty’s will, they’d each been confused. Well—Tami, not so much. But Yvonne knew for a fact that she’d struggled with understanding why her grandmother hadn’t just willed them the house and then let them do whatever they wanted to with it. Or, if she’d wanted the house to remain as a shrine to the Butler family on Daufuskie, why she hadn’t gifted it to the Historical Foundation. Making them come back to the island had seemed so pointless, an unnecessary infringement on their time and their wishes.
But it had ended up being so much more than that. And no, they weren’t finished with the house—but sitting here, in this moment, with her sisters’ hands in hers as they presented what Lana had called theirunited front, Yvonne realized that going back to Daufuskie had done way more than any of them had ever expected. It had brought them together in a way she knew they never would have come to on their own in the city. It had given them the space to air all their feelings and hurt and to be forced to deal with it. If nothing else came from this summer, Yvonne vowed to hold tight to that and, as she gripped her sisters’ hands tighter, to them.
Forty minutes later, the doctor came through the electronically controlled double doors and headed toward them.
“Her neurologist saw her when she was admitted, and he’ll be back sometime tomorrow to evaluate her again,” Dr.Solomon, the orthopedic surgeon, said as he stood directly across from the sisters.
Isaac stood with an arm around Lana. And Gabriel, who’d introduced himself to Yvonne with a smile and a warm handshake a little while ago, stood right next to Tami. It was good to see her sisters supported and loved, because both of these men definitely had love in their eyes for them.
“I’ll also be watching her closely for the next few days,” the doctor continued. “I want to make sure there’s no swelling before I send her to the rehab facility.”
Yvonne nodded as waves of relief washed over her. “I understand,” she said.
“Can we see her now?” Lana asked.
“Keep an eye on those doors over there; the nurse will come out and get you when she’s completely awake,” he said. “And I know we talked about this before during one of her other visits, but if at all possible, I’d really like you to think about making things more accessible for her. There are some programs I can refer you to that will help with the costs, if need be. I know your mother wasn’t amenable to hearing about those options, but this fall could’ve been a lot worse. Not that a broken ankle and sprained wrist aren’t bad enough.”
Yvonne nodded again. “I understand,” she said. “And I’m going to take care of it.”
He gave them a curt nod before accepting their second round ofthank-yous and then left them alone.
