Feeling my legs give out, I leaned against the wall to hold myself up. A sinking feeling came over me as I thought about what Grace had just done. “Grace . . . I don’t have that kind of money. I’d never be able to pay him back and I can’t accept this. I won’t accept it. Tell your grandfather, while I certainly appreciate the offer, it’s too much for me to take.”
Grace looked down at the floor as she said, “It’s a wedding present.”
“What? A wedding present for who?”
Grace’s eyes met mine. “Us.”
My eyes widened as my stomach clenched. “Us?”
Before I could ask any more questions, Emily came walking up with a huge smile on her face. “Noah! Isn’t it amazing? Dad took the house off the market and gave it to you. I can’t believe it! When the lawyers delivered the documents this morning, I broke down in tears. I’ve already started making the plans to have Mom transferred home instead of the Christopher House. She’s going to be over the moon to know she’ll be home, Noah. She’s going to be home!”
Emily threw herself into my arms as she sobbed. “She’s going to be able to die at home in her own bed with us surrounding her, Noah. Our prayers were answered.”
Closing my eyes, I counted to ten before I opened them and looked directly at Grace. “By the Grace of God, Emily, our prayers were answered.”
Grace smiled as tears built up in her eyes. I didn’t know when I would get the chance to talk to her about this whole marriage thing. All I knew was she made my dying mother’s wishes come true and she managed to make my sister believe my father had a shred of decency.
“I promise, Grace. I’m doing fine.”
Grace had been back in College Station for two weeks. She wasn’t able to come to Austin last weekend due to a paper she had to write. The weekend before that, she had a cold and didn’t dare come near my mother or me for fear of getting either one of us sick.
“Noah, I can hear it in your voice. You’re tired. Have you slept at all?” Grace asked.
Pushing my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh and said, “It’s hard to sleep, Grace. I keep checking on her and as soon as I do fall asleep, Emily calls and wakes me up.”
“Noah, I’m telling you right now, you need to rest in order to take care of your mother.”
Glancing over at the bottle of Ativan, I nodded my head. “I’m going to check on Mom now and then head to bed. The hospice nurse is coming for the night. I think she saw how tired I was and she offered to come back and stay the whole night.”