Chapter 4 - Come Back, Something Terrible Happened
I did not go back to the house.
I went to the hospital.
Daniel had tried to make those sound like the same thing.
They were not.
Lorraine had collapsed in the kitchen shortly after lunch.
According to Daniel, she had become dizzy, fallen against the counter, and stopped responding normally.
He kept repeating one sentence when I arrived.
“If you had been there, this wouldn’t have happened.”
I looked at him across the emergency department waiting room.
“Why?”
His jaw tightened.
“You know her medication schedule.”
“No. You told me her medication schedule at 4:40 in the morning because you didn’t want to learn it yourself.”
People turned toward us.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Not here.”
“Why? Does reality embarrass you?”
Rachel had advised me not to argue with him, but six years of silence had expired.
A physician eventually came out and told us Lorraine was stable.
There had been an issue involving her medications, dehydration, and low blood pressure, but she was awake and expected to recover.
Daniel immediately looked at me.
“You see?”
I stared at him.
“See what?”
“She needed someone responsible.”
The doctor interrupted.
“Mr. Hale, we already discussed this.”
Daniel’s face changed.
The doctor continued.
“Your mother told us she was unsure which medication she had already taken. The pill organizer had also been rearranged.”
Daniel said nothing.
I understood.
“You moved her pills?”
“I was trying to help.”
“You didn’t know what you were doing.”
“Neither did you!”
“I wasn’t there.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
“No, Daniel. That is mine.”
The doctor tactfully stepped away.
For the first time, I saw something in Daniel’s eyes that had not been there before.
Not guilt.
Calculation.
He was still trying to make the story fit.
I moved toward Lorraine’s room.
Daniel blocked me.
“She’s exhausted.”
“She asked for me?”
His silence answered.
I walked around him.
Lorraine looked smaller in the hospital bed than she had in my robe.
Without her sharp posture and judgmental expression, she looked seventy-one.
Tired.
Frightened.
Human.
I remained near the doorway.
“You wanted to see me?”
She looked past me toward Daniel.
“Close the door.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Mom—”
“I said close it.”
I had never heard Lorraine speak to him that way.
He stood motionless.
A nurse appeared behind him.
“Sir, she asked for privacy.”
Daniel finally left.
I closed the door.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Lorraine looked at my empty hands.
“You really left.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you’d come back by breakfast.”
“So did Daniel.”
Something almost like embarrassment crossed her face.
She looked toward the IV line, then back at me.
“I said terrible things to you.”
“Yes.”
“I believed terrible things about you.”
I waited.
Lorraine swallowed.
“Daniel told me you agreed I could move in.”
My stomach tightened.
“I never knew you were coming.”
“He told me the guest room had been prepared.”
“It wasn’t.”
“He said you thought I was becoming too old to live alone.”
“I never said that.”
Her fingers gripped the blanket.
For the first time, I saw fear.
“He said you wanted to help manage my money too.”
That made me step closer.
“What money?”
Lorraine looked confused.
“My retirement. My condo. He said you were concerned I might start forgetting things.”
I stared at her.
“Lorraine, do you own a company called Larkin Family Holdings?”
Her face went blank.
“A what?”
I already knew the answer.
She had never heard of it.
I sat beside the bed.
“Daniel formed a company in your name.”
Lorraine shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“He transferred more than one hundred fifty thousand dollars through it.”
“No.”
“I’ve seen the paperwork.”
Her face lost what little color remained.
She stared at the closed door.
Then she whispered something I did not expect.
“He made me come to your house.”
I leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
Lorraine’s voice dropped lower.
“He told me if I didn’t move in, you were going to take everything from him.”
I felt cold.
“Why would he say that?”
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“Because he needed me to tell someone that house was his too.”
