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“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Now come,” Golden steered her toward the reception desk, “let’s get you signed in. I’ll wait down here so you both can have some time alone then I’ll come up, okay?”
Marjorie nodded then went over to sign the register. Just before she headed for the elevator she held up a small bag with a bow tied to it. “I brought her a gift. Homemade brownies. They were always her favorite.” She drew in her breath then let it out in a whoosh and smiled. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it,” Golden said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Now go see your mother.”
Golden watched the elevator door close behind Marjorie then she went to the couch and sank back down with a sigh. One good deed done for the day. She smiled, totally pleased with herself.
A few minutes later she was still basking in the warm and fuzzy feeling of a job well done when she heard a commotion and looked up to see Marjorie hurrying toward her, her face flushed. Golden’s heart jerked in her chest. Immediately, she hopped up and rushed toward the woman. “What’s the matter? What happened?”
“This is what happened.” Marjorie stuck out her arm to reveal a big brown stain on the sleeve of her white blouse. “She threw the brownies at me. She said she didn’t need me bringing her charity food.” She shook her head, her chest heaving, her lips moving like she was struggling to get the words out. “Golden,” she said finally, “this was a terrible idea. I wish you hadn’t convinced me to come here.” Her lips ceased trembling and grew tight. “It’s no use. She’s no longer my mother. I’m never coming here again.” With that she whirled and marched out of the building, leaving Golden standing there opened-mouthed in the middle of the lobby.
It took a good minute before her wits returned and she was able to move. Heart pounding, she whipped around and ran to the elevator. She had to find out what happened. She had to go to Claire.
When she got to the room she found the old lady climbing out of bed, reaching for her cane. Her rollers askew, she was mumbling to herself, her face set in a dark scowl, obviously in great distress.
“Claire, what happened?” Golden ran to her, reaching out to grasp her arm before she stumbled and fell. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going,” Claire said in a snarl, “to tell those people off. They say this is a well-managed nursing home? How dare they send that woman to my room without my permission?
“That woman?” Golden stepped back, aghast. “That was Marjorie, your daughter.” As she stared at Claire her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you recognize her?”
Claire waved her hand, obviously annoyed at Golden’s question. “Of course I recognized her. She’s the one who decided to take sides with her father. As soon as I saw her I said, have you stopped speaking to him? Is he out of your life? She said no, she’d gone to see him just yesterday. Yesterday. And then she decides to come see me today? The audacity.”
“But Claire, you’re both her parents. She can love both of you. Why are you making her choose?”
Claire gave her a sour look. “There can only be room in her heart for one of us. I told her then and I’ll say it now, it’s either him or me.” She plopped her bottom back down on the bed, folded her arms across her chest and gave Golden a look that said she was not about to budge.
Golden could only stare at her, her heart heavy with disappointment. Where was the woman she had learned to love? Who was this stubborn shrew who had taken over her friend’s body?
Shaking her head, Golden turned away and bent down to pick up the battered gift bag with the brownies spilling out. She couldn’t believe this was the outcome of the good she’d tried to do.
She’d dreamed of a storybook reconciliation but all she’d succeeded in doing was distress Marjorie, Claire and herself.
After what had happened today she would never meddle in anyone’s business again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After four days in Nevada Reed decided to give up. He could not do this on his own. Carrie was nowhere to be found.
The problem was – and it was an embarrassing one – he knew next to nothing about her. He didn’t even know her last name.
How the hell was he going to find a woman in the State of Nevada when all he had to go on was a physical description and a first name?
As humiliating as it was he would have to reach out for help. There was no way he could do this alone. Gritting his teeth he reached for the cell phone and dialed his brother’s number.
“Max,” he said when his big brother picked up, “I need your help. I want to put this to bed, this problem I have with Carrie.”
“Where are you now?” Max asked. “Do you want to come to California so we can talk?”
To his credit, Max did not go into a long spiel or pester him with ‘I told you so’s’. He knew Reed was in the United States so he would have had a pretty good idea about the reason for his trip. Max had probably been waiting patiently for his call.
That evening Max flew to San Jose then drove to Max’s house in Palo Alto. When he got there he hung out for a while with Silken, Max’s wife, and then the two men disappeared into the den where they could talk.
“You’ve made up your mind? You want to find this girl?” Max’s face was serious. “You’re ready to face the consequences?”
Reed grimaced. “I wouldn’t say I’m ready but this can’t wait any longer. I have to know how deep I’m in,” he shook his head, “and I need to get this resolved.”
Now it was Max’s turn to shake his head. “The things we do when we’re in college. Crazy, right?”
Reed grunted. “You said it.”
“Anyway, now that you’ve decided to make a move I’ll put my guy on it right away. He’s a top notch P.I.. You’ll just have to feed him all the information you have and we’ll take it from there.”
“Thanks, bro.” Reed sighed then as another thought crossed his mind he lifted his head and stared at Max through narrowed eyes. “Mom and Dad, they don’t know about this, right?”
“Not unless you told them,” Max said. “They got nothing from me.”
Reed nodded. “Good. Since this wasn’t one of my proudest moments let’s keep it that way.”
***
“No,” Golden sobbed. “No.” She put her fingers to her lips, fighting to keep the sobs from turning into wails. Her worst nightmare had come true. Claire had suffered a massive stroke and it was all her fault.
Golden lowered her head as she sat by the hospital bed holding Claire’s limp hand. She’d gotten the call from the nursing home early that morning. Apparently, Claire had given them her contact information, probably telling them that Golden was her emergency contact person.
Without hesitation she’d dropped everything and gone straight to the hospital. Workday or no workday, she had to be by Claire’s side. She would just have to catch up on her assignments some other time.
But now that she was here there was nothing she could do but sit. And wait. And worry. What if Claire never regained consciousness? What if, God forbid, she passed on?
At the thought, Golden’s lips began to tremble again. No, that wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t. She didn’t know how she would bear it.
What made it worse, it was because of what she’d done that Claire lay there suffering. If only she hadn’t tried to be her savior. If only she hadn’t meddled. It must have been the stress of her fight with Marjorie that had taxed her system.
Marjorie. As her thoughts turned to Claire’s daughter Golden had to wonder why Marjorie wasn’t there. She could only guess that when Claire had given them her contact information she had removed her daughter’s.
And now she was faced with another dilemma. Should she leave things as is and keep Marjorie in the dark or should she call her and sink back into the troublesome role of meddler? Golden didn’t know what to do, not when it was her meddling that had brought this on in the first place.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
After an exhausting day and night at the hospital it was with relief that Golden finally witnessed Claire open her eyes. Quickly, she got the nurse who wheeled Claire into an examination room where the doctors ran a battery of tests before announcing that she was on the road to recovery. They admitted that she’d pulled out of the crisis a lot better than expected with no sign of any permanent damage. It was this pronouncement that made Golden feel confident enough to leave.
As tired as she was, Golden had no choice but to head for home where she showered and dressed and then headed straight to work. She had already missed a full day at the office and her conscience would not allow her to take any more time off. Feeling like something Sir Winston had dragged in from the gutter she stumbled to her car, blinked then set off down the road.
