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I caught Maldonado as he was rushing toward the stairs. “What’s wrong? Is Granda all right?”
He barely paused. “Your grandfather has had a stroke,” he said abruptly. “The doctor should be here by now.” He pulled away, scurrying off without a backward glance, and I didn’t hesitate, racing up the broad flight of stairs to Granda’s room.
All the lights were blazing, and I remembered how he hadn’t liked the bright lights. I saw him lying flat in the bed, struggling for breath, an oxygen cannula doing little to improve his gray color, and his nurse was busy taking his blood pressure, a worried expression on her usually placid face. Mary Alice was nattering on about how he should be in a facility, with Valerie piping up her agreement at regular intervals, all the while Marcus made soothing noises. Only Ian was silent, standing a little apart from the other grandchildren, a stark expression on his face. For some reason, I wanted to go to him, but I stayed where I was, just inside the door, as the doctor rushed through, followed by Maldonado.
“I need the room cleared,” he announced in sharp Spanish.
“I don’t see why I should have to!” Mary Alice announced. “He’s my grandfather and I want to be with him...”
“He’s my grandfather too,” Marcus said with just a trace of petulance.
“Mary Alice, dear,” Valerie began in a vain effort to soothe things.
“Get out!” Ian said in a tight voice, turning away. “He doesn’t need you vultures hanging over him.” He appeared to be including his own brother, which surprised me, and Marcus flushed at the reprimand even as Ian headed toward the door, when a muffled sound came from the bed.
“He’s trying to say something,” Mary Alice pointed out unnecessarily. “We’re not leaving until...”
The doctor had bent close to Granda’s pale, crackled lips. “Who’s Kitty?” he turned to ask.
It gave me no joy that the name seemed to infect the room with temporary paralysis. “Kitty’s not here,” Marcus said finally. “I need to explain...”
The doctor was leaning down again, and then his gaze fell on me. “He says he wants Bella then.”
“Of course he wants Bella,” Mary Alice sneered. “I, for one, am not about to sit around while she makes a play for his money...”
“The will has already been notarized,” Ian snapped. “It was sent off yesterday morning. He’s not likely to change it at this point, though if he wanted to, it’s his every right. Now get the hell out of here and leave the old man in peace.”
“What about you?” Mary Alice sniped, stress stripping her of her usual sang-froid.
“I’m going too. He wants to talk to Bella, and none of us are standing in his way.” It was a warning, even a threat, and no one seemed inclined to argue. With a low rumble of complaint, they filed out of the room, leaving me behind, feeling awash with guilt and misery. I wanted to run away too, rather than lie to the old man who still meant so much to me.
But with one cold, final glance at me, Ian shut the door behind them, and I slowly approached the bed.
“Be quick about it,” Dr. Madhur said. “We have to try and stabilize him, and he needs calm and peace.”
“I can come back...” I said, about to move away, when Granda’s pale hand reached out and caught mine in a weak grip. His eyes were open, and he was staring at me, for all the world like he knew who I really was.
“Kitty...” he wheezed, the sound barely audible, and once more I cursed the lies I’d agreed to tell.
“I’m Bella, Granda,” I said, hating myself.
He shook his head, whether in negation or as a response to the nurse hooking up a new IV solution. “You must...marry...him...” This time it was a whisper.
Marry him? Was he talking to Bella, or to Kitty? It had to be Bella and the supposed engagement. After all, who was Kitty supposed to marry? “Don’t try to speak, Granda,” I said soothingly. “Just let the doctor take care of you...”
His grip tightened on my hand. “Kitty,” he said again, and my heart sank. “Don’t...worry. I did it on purpose.” Or at least, that was what it sounded like.
“What did you do, Granda?” I said desperately. “And I’m Bella, not Kitty.” More and more lies, hot tears stinging my eyes.
“Kitty,” he said with the softest of sighs, and his faded blue eyes closed. Before I could ask another question, they’d snapped an oxygen mask over his mouth, and I was being tugged away from the bedside by the nurse.
“We need to let the doctor work,” she said. “He’s the only one who can help him now. The doctor and God Himself.” She was leading me toward the door, inexorably, and I could hardly put up a fight. I could see as well as anyone that Granda was unconscious, and tonight there’d be no more confused, tumbled words.
And then I was alone in the hallway, the door shut firmly behind me, and I wanted to beat my fists on it in rage and misery. What had he been trying to tell me? But he should know I was Bella! Unless the stroke had managed to confuse him into thinking I was plain old Podge, miraculously transported back...
“What did he say to you?”
I didn’t jump. I hadn’t seen him, but I’d somehow known he’d be there, waiting for me.
