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Patrick insisted on taking Sophie’s car to the auto shop for a tune-up. It was the kind of thing Jared had screamed at her for not doing enough. “You’re going to kill that car! You’re so reckless! You don’t take care of anything, least of all yourself.” By contrast, Patrick had simply made the appointment, asked Sophie to drive to the auto shop, and picked her up after she handed over the keys. Now, she sat in the passenger seat of his truck, beaming at him as they waited for the red light to turn green.
“What’s that look about?” Patrick asked, giving her a crooked smile.
Sophie knew better than to talk about Jared too often. He lurked in her mind like an evil ghost, but she didn’t always need to share.
Instead, she shrugged. “I just love you. And I appreciate that you pay attention to the little things in my life. The details. Like my car.”
Patrick raised his shoulders as though it were nothing. Sophie’s heart swelled. Patrick was the sort of man to have babies with, grow older with, and tell all your secrets to.
“You mentioned wanting to see your grandmother this morning,” Patrick said, lifting his foot from the brake. “Would you like to do that now?”
“I can always go later,” Sophie said. “I don’t want to hold you up.”
“Hold me up? I don’t have any plans in January,” Patrick reminded her. “I can be your chauffeur all month long.”
The temperature hovered around freezing, and a gray sky spat them with a rain-snow mix. Patrick pulled up beneath the overhang outside the hospital and said, “I’ll park. Get inside where it’s warm.”
Sophie kissed Patrick and leaped into the chill, hurrying into the foyer to wait for Patrick. She scanned the cars in the parking lot for her mother’s and couldn’t find it, a rarity for this time of the day. Without Katrina there, Sophie felt more confident sharing the good news about their upcoming wedding with Grandma Agatha. Having Patrick by her side would complete the picture nicely. She could already hear Grandma Agatha gushing about how handsome he was.
As Patrick and Sophie strode through the halls, Sophie greeted several nurses by name. One of them waved happily and said, “Your grandma looks better and better every day!” Another asked, “You headed up to see my favorite patient?”
Sophie knew it irritated Katrina that Agatha was so well-liked at the hospital. Grandma Agatha doted on several of the nurses, calling them the “beautiful daughters I never had.” Once or twice, Sophie had heard her say that in front of Katrina. Katrina had winced but kept a smile on her face.
It had been more than two weeks since Grandma Agatha’s fall. Now, as Sophie entered her hospital room, Grandma Agathawas propped up on several pillows that Katrina had brought from home. Her makeup was done; her lipstick was a cherry red, and foundation covered the majority of her bruises, even the ones on her hands. One of the nurses told Sophie that Grandma Agatha insisted on doing her makeup before seeing the doctor. “He saw me looking like a clown for too many days as it is,” she’d said.
“Grandma!” Sophie said, leading Patrick into the hospital room. “Look at you. You’re gorgeous as ever.”
“My darling Sophie!” Grandma Agatha smiled serenely as Sophie kissed her on both cheeks. “And my! Look at this handsome man you’ve brought with you!”
Sophie blushed and turned to catch Patrick’s eye. “You remember my boyfriend, Patrick?”
“I do,” Grandma Agatha said. “Pleasure to see you, Patrick.”
“And you. I hope you’re feeling better?” Patrick asked, sitting gingerly in a plastic chair. He looked at her, rapt with attention, slightly terrified.
“I keep telling them to send me on home, but you know how they are,” Grandma Agatha said. “But there’s plenty of television to watch here. And your mother brought me a stack of books.” Grandma Agatha pointed toward the end table beside her bed, upon which were piled biographies and a few women’s fiction novels. “She brought me heaps of romance novels. If your grandfather were here, he would make fun of me.”
Sophie laughed gently and sat next to Patrick, taking his hand. The flash of the ring caught Grandma Agatha’s eye immediately—nothing got past her. She arched her left eyebrow and watched them like a hawk.
“Don’t tell me you kids are getting married!” She feigned accusation, her tone warm and loving.
Sophie raised her left hand again to show off the ring. Agatha inspected the tiny diamond close-up, her eyebrows raising andlowering. Sophie was sure she was comparing the ring to Sophie’s previous engagement ring, that gaudy, preposterous thing Jared had put on her finger all those years ago. Jared had needed the world to see him adorning his wife in jewels. When she’d been using, she’d often taken off the ring and thrown it across the room, watching it bounce.
Sophie had given back the ring when they’d divorced. It had always felt separate from her, like a part of the costume for the role she was trying to play. She’d failed spectacularly.
“We’re going to get married in April,” Sophie announced, taking back her hand.
Agatha’s eyes widened. “So soon! Well, that’s just like you, isn’t it, Sophie? You like to leap.” She winked. “You know, you really should have your wedding at my house.”
Sophie’s heartbeat quickened. According to her mother’s plan, the Whittaker House wouldn’t belong to anyone in the Whittaker clan by April. For the better part of two weeks, Katrina, Sophie, and Ida had boxed up numerous items, driven to secondhand shops, and listed various items online for resale. The auction was planned for the end of March.
And it seemed Agatha didn’t know about it.
“The dining room is enormous,” Grandma Agatha was saying. “It once was used as a ballroom, you know. Of course, you’ll get married in the church I grew up in. And afterward, I’ll host the party. I’m thinking French cuisine. Five courses, at least. Plenty of champagne. Oh, it will be divine.”
Sophie and Patrick gave one another sidelong glances. Grandma Agatha’s eyes sparkled as though she could already see the party before her.
“I’ll have to find my jewelry from my wedding,” Grandma Agatha said. “Your grandfather was so nervous, he almost fainted, you know. Nobody ever tells that story.” She laughed, her chest shivering beneath the white sheets. “So many peoplethink they knew your grandfather, but they simply didn’t. He was a wonderful man. The kindest I’ve ever known.”
