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Priest: Are you okay?
Julien: Oui. He’s just gone down to see her now.
Priest: That’s good, but I asked if YOU were okay.
Julien: I’m okay. I’m sitting in a chair and doing my breathing.
Priest: Good. That’s good. How does Robert seem?
Julien thought about the close-to-silent ride over, and the way Robbie wouldn’t look at him in the elevator on the way up, and then that final look he’d given him just minutes ago. Guilty.
Priest: Because he was with us.
Julien: That would be my guess. And he knew that feeling intimately. Guilt. It was an emotion that ate you from the inside out. But Robbie had no reason to feel responsible for what had happened here. He’d done nothing wrong.
Priest: I’m sorry. I have to head back into court.
Julien: It’s okay. I’m fine, and he is safe. I’m going to stay here, though, to keep an eye on him.
Priest: Scrub the word FINE from your vocabulary, Julien. I’ll text you as soon as I can and bring food by if you’re still there.
Julien touched those words and imagined Priest rushing back into the courtroom, his face a mask of seriousness but his heart, as always, in the right place.
Julien: I love you.
Priest: I love you too. If you need anything, anything, Julien, you text me.
Julien: Will do. Talk later.
Priest: Later.
Julien leaned back in his seat, and as he shut his eyes, he thought of the man he’d married, the man who was always steady, always in control. That was his Priest. Solid as a rock so those who needed to could crumble around him. He’d done so spectacularly time and time again, and Julien had to wonder just how hard Robbie was going to fall by the end of the day. But one thing Julien did know was that he would have people there, ready to catch him.
ROBBIE STOOD IN the doorway to the hospital room and stared at the bed where his nonna lay. She looked so small there under the blue blanket and white sheets, and with her eyes shut, he was careful not to make any noise.
“You can go in,” a lady said from behind him, and Robbie turned to see a woman in a pantsuit and lab coat standing by Vanessa. “We have to wake her up to do some blood work anyway. Are you family?”
“Uh, yes. We live with her. She’s our nonna. I’m Robbie and this is Vanessa.”
“Oh,” the lady said with a smile. “Yes, she said you would be by. I’m Dr. Ellis. Go on in; I’m sure she’d be pleased to see you.”
Robbie swallowed and then looked back to Nonna’s closed eyes, and decided before he went into the room that he should ask the doctor questions.
“I’m sorry, we just heard the news and rushed over here. Vanessa was at a job interview, and I was—” Yeah, go on, tell her where you were, Bianchi. “I was…out when it happened. But could you tell us exactly what’s wrong with her? I’m going to need to call my mom, her daughter, and explain.”
“Yes, of course. From what we understand, she had a fall in the kitchen early this morning. She landed on her hip and broke it in two spots. She’s very lucky her neighbor had a key and found her when she did.”
Robbie put a hand over his mouth and shut his eyes. God, how could this be happening? What if she’d died? His ma was going to kill him.
“This isn’t uncommon amongst the elderly. Especially when they live independently—”
“But she doesn’t live independently—we live with her,” Robbie said.
“Yes, but you aren’t her caregivers, so there isn’t someone with her twenty-four seven. That’s when accidents such as these occur with patients who have ET like she does.”
“ET?” Robbie said.
“Yes, essential tremor. That’s something I’m going to let you all further discuss when she wakes. But for now, why don’t you go in and see her?”
Robbie felt ill. Essential tremor? That didn’t sound good. How had he not known she’d been sick all this time? Yes, he’d seen her hands shake, but she’d played it off as her getting older, not something more severe.
Vanessa entered the room first and took the seat by Nonna’s head, while Robbie stood at the end, using the rail of the bed to hang on to in case his legs decided that standing no longer seemed like a good idea.
She looked so frail lying there, which was ironic, really, because that woman was tough as nails. Hell, he remembered her back when she’d been in Logan’s office demanding answers and justice for Vanessa, and when she’d told Nathan to get the hell off her porch and never come back.
Not once could he have imagined her looking so small. But she did, Robbie realized. For the first time, she looked every one of her seventy-five years, and he was scared what that meant the next step was going to be.
