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I shrugged.
“Archer, your mum just walked three miles on a broken foot and hip because she was searching for something familiar. She was searching for you…”
A sob ripped from my throat and Nee crawled into my lap.
“She loves you. She might not recognize you, but you are at the core of all her memories. That’s an amazing impact to have had on someone.”
Wrapping her arms around me, she pressed me to her chest while I fell apart.
“We’ll go with her to the hospital and demand some answers about how she found her way here. We’ll come up with a plan about how to keep her safe and we’ll do it together. Okay?”
“You don’t have to. This isn’t what you signed up for.”
Pressing her fingers to my chin, she lifted my head, so I looked at her. “Well, this is what I want to do.”
The doorbell ringing pulled us from our conversation.
“Archer, you good with this… me helping?”
I nodded, unable to speak because of the emotion that clogged my throat.
“Good. I’m going to let the ambulance people in. You stay with your mum.”
She stood and walked to the door.
I swallowed hard. “Nee?”
She turned.
“Thank you.”
Ionee
Itraveledwithhismum to the hospital, while Pete and a driver took Archer. The staff apologized for the colossal fuck up that resulted in Archer’s poor mum walking miles on broken bones to find somewhere that felt like home. They had no idea how she had slipped out without anyone noticing. Archer’s sisters arrived, upset and as angry and confused as Archer was. And then her doctor came in, while his mum was having an x-ray, asking them all the take a seat.
“I want to apologize again for tonight, but I also feel like I need to warn you all about what might happen next. Now, there is no definitive outcome, but I’ve been working with dementia patients for twenty-five years, and often when they get a burst of memory like your mum did—remembering something you didn’t even realize they remembered, like the code to your security gates or even how to get to your house—well, it can be the start of a downward spiral.”
Laura glared at him. “She’s already in a downward spiral. She walked to my brother’s house where she only lived for a few months, on broken bones. She smashed her arm through a glass window and broke in. You can’t tell us any of this is normal.”
Clicking his pen a few times, he paused, obviously not wanting to say what he was about to. “It’s not normal. I’m not trying to tell you it is. I’m trying to tell you… warn you that things might get worse.”
“We might lose her?” Sophia whispered.
“Like I said, there is no blueprint for dementia. Everyone is different.”
“Will she die?” Archer asked.
“I can’t tell you with any certainty. I’m sorry. But you should prepare yourselves for her condition worsening.”
Laura gasped, emotion cracking her voice when she spoke. “How can it get worse? Look at the state she got herself into tonight… and she doesn’t remember any of us. How can it get worse?”
The doctor stared at them all one by one, with a look of sympathy on his face that spoke volumes. “Look, I’ll leave you all to take a few moments while I check your mum is okay in x-ray and I’ll be back later.”
He left the room and Laura burst into tears while they all stared at the bed their mum should be in, probably wondering how long they had left with her.
“I’m going to take some time off from the band… to spend with her.” Archer groaned, pressing his fingers to his temples, looking exhausted and almost defeated.
“No, you’re not,” Laura spat out in between sobs.
