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My sister goes with her. I’ll join them in a minute. “I’m going to clean up the puzzle so we can eat. Okay, Ma?”
When I start to pick up the puzzle pieces, my mother stops me with both hands on the board. “We have the money?” she asks timidly. “I can stay?”
“Yes. If you want to.”
“But you—you don’t—you wouldn’t…” Trailing off because she can’t find the words, she mashes her eyes closed and wags her head. “Would you—”
“Are you worried about me taking care of you? Changing you, bathing you, and things like that? Is that what you’re asking?”
She wipes the corner of her eyes, where tears are gathering. “Yes.”
“Mom, would it be okay for Kate to take care of that personal stuff for you?”
“And Mia?”
My smile spreads. It’s impossible for me to hear her name andnotsmile. And the fact that my mom remembers Mia’s name is a shot of warmth straight to my soul.
“Mia and I would live here with you. Kate would too. We’d all care for you, but Kate would help you with your private things. Personal stuff. Is that okay?”
She taps her forehead a few times. Lately, she’s started using signals to tell us she’s having processing trouble. Pretty sure that’s her signal for saying she needs to think.
“Relax, Ma. You don’t need to decide now. Let’s have a nice dinner. Okay?”
I put away the puzzle while Caroline takes our mother to her bathroom to get her washed for dinner. Sometimes she forgets to use the restroom, so we’ve learned to be proactive.
Once Mia and I finish setting the table, I follow her into the kitchen to pour drinks. Before she opens the kitchen cabinet, I wrap my arms around her waist and yank her back to my front.
Her hands rest on mine, and she leans to the side, giving me room to nuzzle her neck. “You okay, stud?”
“Yeah. That was hard. I think she wanted to say yes, but something is confusing her.”
“She’ll get there, babe. Be patient. I felt it too. It was on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to agree.”
“It wasn’t all in my mind? Just seeing what I wanted to see?”
She shakes her head and gives me a peck. “No. I saw it, and your sister did too. And I asked her what she thought when we got in here to get dinner out of the oven.”
I kiss her pulse point and mumble over her soft skin. “What did she say?”
She twists in my arms, and her hands land on my biceps. “She said in her conversation with your mother a few years ago that the money and you sacrificing everything were her concerns. This solution fixes both of those things. Your sister still supports her going into a facility, but she’ll also support this plan.”
Relief socks me in the gut, and my head nods like it has springs, rocking faster and faster.
Mia squeezes my cheeks to halt my head bobbing. “Are you okay?”
I kiss her because I can’t do anything else.
Yes, I’m okay,the kiss says.It’s going to be okay. Better than okay.
I’ll have Mia by my side, in my bed, and in my heart. We’ll have time to spend together as a new couple while still being there for my mother.
Ma can live her final months or years in the house her husband built— the house holding all the memories of her life. So even when she can’t remember what matters, memories of her happy, love-filled life will surround her. We’ll be there for her too. All without compromising her dignity or making her feel like a burden.
Because she’s not.
I pull out of the kiss and press my forehead to Mia’s. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
