AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Blake’s lips pressed together.
They were moved to a different waiting room. The hospital was smart, in a way. There were no clocks on the wall to tick off the time. Malcolm paced, so he was already standing when the doctor came. He moved off to the side with him, nodding as the doctor talked.
Celia’s aunt and uncle arrived while the doctor was still there, and they rushed over to Malcolm. What had been calm and quiet was suddenly the exact opposite as they started asking questions, talking over one another.
“Are you the parents of Katie Griffin?” the doctor asked.
Celia’s uncle nodded to the man.
Celia’s aunt clutched Malcolm’s arm. “Malcolm, do you know how she is?”
“I was just telling your son that she came out of surgery fine. She’s being situated in a recovery room, and you can visit her shortly, but one at a time.”
Next to Celia, the tension went out of Blake and he leaned his head back against the wall. “Thank God.”
Celia studied him. She’d always thought he and Katie had more of a love-hate relationship than his level of concern was suggesting now.
“It will be another day until she’s released, and it would be best if someone helped her for a few days. She’s not to lift anything, and minimal movement would be appropriate.”
“Oh,” Celia’s aunt said. She turned to her son. “Malcolm, will you be staying with her?”
Malcolm looked over at her. “Celia has already offered to stay with her to help.”
Celia wanted to cringe, but nodded instead. She knew what he was doing. Staying with Katie would give her a reason to move out of Trenton’s condo. She stood. “I can help out.”
They both straightened, and his mother’s arms lifted, then dropped, as if she wasn’t sure how to greet her niece, who had lived with her as a daughter. “Hello, Celia. I didn’t realize you were in town.”
“I moved back just the other day,” Celia said, moving closer.
Malcolm’s father nodded, and Celia was thankful when the doctor took their attention again. She listened to him speak, wondering what Katie would think about having a new roommate when she woke up.
Chapter 32
Trentonstaredathiscomputer in his office, not seeing the words on the screen. Jacob came in, putting some files down on his desk. “Here are those two cases you asked for.”
Trenton blinked, trying to remember which cases he meant. “Thank you, Jacob.”
“No problem.” His legal assistant hesitated. “Is everything okay?”
Trenton nodded. “It will be.” Once he tracked Celia down and managed to tell her how sorry he was.
His cell phone rang, and he lunged for it, startling Jacob. It wasn’t Celia. Of course it wasn’t. He closed his eyes. She’d never actually called him before.
Jacob backed out of the room, and Trenton answered the phone. “Hi, Mom. Is Dad okay? You don’t normally call me while I’m at work.”
“Sorry, Trenton, honey. I was just thinking about you and wanted to check in.”
Trenton wasn’t that surprised. As long as he could remember, even as a child, his mom had somehow known when he was sad. She’d called him before he could call her when Emily was being moved to hospice. He couldn’t lie to her and say everything was fine, so he let the silence between them linger.
“Did you have a chance to ask Celia what you were asking us last Sunday?”
He should have been prepared for her to ask. “I did.” It brought the story to his mind again, and how badly he had needed to hold her when he’d heard. “I never knew she and Malcolm went through that.”
“Well, why would you? You were taking care of me, and your dad, and all your sisters, too, back then.”
“True,” Trenton agreed, but the reminder didn’t help.
“How are you, honey, really?” his mom asked.
