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“Stay here. Get to the party with Grant,” I tell Elsa, then focus on Grandma Rose.
“I’m going with you,” Elsa says firmly, following me. “My job is to impress your grandma and your parents, right?”
I just stare dumbly at her for a moment, being distracted about granny, but then nod my head in agreement because she is right.
We try to be discrete and head out without too many curious glances, as everyone else is filing out too after the ceremony and heading over to the party.
We get to the parking lot, where I sit grandma gently in the passenger side and turn on the air conditioner, while mom takes her blood pressure.
“Incredibly high.” Mom shows me the display on the device. It’s bad.
“We need to get her to the hospital, but I don’t want to ruin Kiera’s day…”
Mom starts to cry, which leaves Grandma Rose even more altered.
“It’s all my fault, isn’t it?” she says, still feeling her chest.
“No, it’s not,” Elsa kneels beside her. “No one can predict this sort of thing!”
“Gimme your keys, mom. Elsa and I will take grandma there,” I say, already extending my hand to take the keys.
“I’m going with you!” mom says in protest.
“No, stay. Kiera needs you. Don’t call off the party, preferably don’t even tell anyone yet. Just say we took grandma home because she was tired. Okay? I’ll call you in case something happens.”
“She’ll be fine, Lorna,” Elsa says, still kneeling beside granny. “We’ll take care of her.”
Elsa smiles at granny, and granny smiles back at her.
“I’m so glad Harvey is marrying you, darling!” she says, immediately breaking my heart.
I switch keys with mom, and we part ways. Mom is in distress. After all, it’s her mother, but her daughter’s wedding doesn’t need to be ruined by something that is likely just heatstroke.
The hospital is on the other side of town. When we get there, grandma is wheeled in immediately.
“Okay, I need someone to go in with her, and someone to fill out this form,” the nurse, an older woman with a very stern face, tells me and Elsa.
“Okay, I’ll fill out the form.” The nurse hands me a clipboard and pen and leaves my side to guide Elsa and grandma away.
As I fill out the form, my heart is pounding. Suddenly my mind is flooding with memories of my childhood moments with grandma. Grant, Kiera and I used to spend summers at her house, a big place by the lake with plenty of spots to play hide and seek.
I hand the form over at the reception desk, and feel my throat tighten. She can’t go now, not only two years away from her big 100th birthday.
But I’m not going to cry. Grandma wouldn’t want me to. To me, what’s left is to drink some water, take a deep breath, sit, and hope for the best.
I look at the emergency doors obsessively, and don’t stop until I see Elsa walking out of them in her pink dress and her white heels, her hair tied in a beautiful bun that looks like a flower…
“Harvey?” she looks at me worried.
“Huh. How is she?” I jolt out of my distracting thoughts.
“She’s sleeping,” Elsa says. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but she has to stay here at least for the next twelve hours.”
I nod, feeling relief that grandma is resting and is in good hands.
“If you wanna go back home…” I say.
But Elsa doesn’t let me finish my thought.
