His mom was a rock. She had always been there for the kids, and the idea that there might be something wrong scared him to death. They were used to looking to her for her wisdom and her calm and wise advice. What would they do without her?
He knew he was jumping the gun. Maybe she had just been fighting the flu for a while, or maybe it was just something else. Something benign, something that she would be over in a month or two. Or maybe it was something worse.
They prayed and passed the food around, and then as people began to eat, Judd spoke from the head of the table.
“Mom,” he said, calling her “mom,” even though technically she was his wife’s mother.
“I don’t know what you guys are all upset about,” his mom finally said, admitting that there had been an undercurrent—she had known and heard the whispers and conversations that had gone on before everyone got to the table.
“Mother. You have never in your life sat down when there was work to do. You certainly would never allow us to just do it ourselves. What’s going on?” Terry asked, her voice heavy with concern.
“Am I not allowed to be a little bit tired?”
The table was quiet. Of course she was allowed to be a little tired. This is when Roland decided that he might be betraying his mother, but he needed to speak up.
“You slept all afternoon. I thought it was because you wanted to be chipper when you got here.”
His mother gave him an annoyed look. But he wasn’t fooled. He wasn’t in trouble.
“That’s exactly why I took a nap.”
“So you would have energy to help in the kitchen,” Gilbert said.
“Yes.”
“And then you decided that you’d rather sit at the table than help in the kitchen, even though you took a nap in order to be able to do that,” Isadora said. She looked a little discombobulated as well. Her world had already been upset by her husband leaving, and she was getting used to being a single mom. Now, to have something happen to her mom—Roland could only imagine that she did not need her world rocked in that way. Not this soon anyway.
But sometimes a person just didn’t get to choose when they were going to go through a trial.
“Guys, I’m fine. This is just the time of year when everyone’s tired. You guys are all tired too.”
“But we didn’t sleep all day and then go in and sit down.”
“Isn’t an old lady allowed to sit down for a little bit?”
“Mom. I’d really like it if you’d talk to us about this. I think maybe you’re due for a checkup.” Terry spoke, and while she didn’t exactly have her doctor hat on, she had a bit of authority in her tone that even her mother respected.
“Fine. Do you know when I could get in to see the doctor?” she asked, putting a polite smile on her face.
“Anytime, Mom. Come in tomorrow. I’ll pick you up on my way there.”
“And I can bring you home when you’re done,” Roland said immediately. He would be out late with his Secret Saint partner but not so late that he couldn’t get up early and pick up his mom. He would do anything for her.
“All right then, it’s settled. I’ll go see my doctor tomorrow.” She gave Terry a smile. “Now can we have a normal meal? Without everyone getting all upset about stuff?”
It took a little while for the conversation to get going, but after a while, it felt pretty normal. Roland figured that everyone was trying to come to grips with it as he had been for a while now, and he was ahead of the curve. But he appreciated everyone trying to be normal for their mom’s sake. She didn’t like having the extra attention on her.
The meal was shorter than it normally was, and it was 11:30 when he made it to the tree where he met his partner. He figured he would have a long wait, but she showed up within two minutes of him.
Maybe she was as eager as he was to meet.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Wow, you’re here early. I thought I would beat you by a mile,” Nelly said to her Secret Saint partner as he walked up.
“I was a little restless. I had a meal with my family tonight.” There was something familiar about his voice, and…it seemed like he didn’t have it disguised like he normally did.
“Oh? How did that go?” she asked.
