It's All Relative(137)
Kai stepped up to the men, and overheard a conversation that confirmed his greatest fear. “Elderly woman. Dead on arrival. Nothing we could do for her. We’ve started interviewing some of the neighbors, but it seems that she had a heart attack.”
Kai put a hand over his mouth, feeling like his stomach was going to surge through it. Jessie started to sob. Tears stinging his own eyes, Kai forced his voice to break free from his throat. “I’m sorry, did you say…?”
He felt the tears spill down his cheeks, and did nothing to wipe them away. She was gone? He felt his heart deadening as the men looked him over, and then he noticed something behind them that made his entire world start spinning. Another fireman and the other medic were wheeling a stretcher out of Gran’s front door. The EMT was sadly shaking his head and zipping up a bag over the body. It was a black bag.
Kai’s voice choked up completely as the stretcher was wheeled right past him. Jessie’s sobbing increased, but Kai could only gape in stunned disbelief. She can’t be dead. They had too much to tell her. He had too many questions. He wanted to know why she’d hidden the truth, why she hadn’t told him who he was the minute he’d arrived here. He wanted to tell her about his feelings for Jessie.
He wanted… He needed…
Disgust at his own selfishness filled him. The world had just lost an amazing woman. Jessie had just lost her last relative in the city. His father, the man who’d raised him, had just lost his mother. And Millie Harper, the woman so filled with life and vitality that it was hard to picture her any other way, would never get to see another sunrise, would never get to play matchmaker for another grandchild, and would never get to see the tomatoes she’d just planted in her greenhouse come to fruition.
And they’d said heart attack. Was that because of him? Did he do this? Did he cause her so much stress and worry that her aged heart couldn’t handle it? Was all of this…his fault? God, why the hell hadn’t he called her?
Jessie twisted in his arms to cry against his chest, and Kai wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tight. This couldn’t be happening. How did he go from so incredibly happy to so incredibly sad in just a couple of hours? The men offered their condolences for the loss they saw before them, and a warm hand rested on Kai’s shoulder. The hand patted him consolingly as a familiar voice said, “Sad, isn’t it?”
Kai and Jessie broke apart at the same time and snapped their gazes to the person who had spoken. Kai felt all of the blood drain from his face as he looked over what could only be a ghost. Millie Harper stood before Kai, favoring her tender hip as she sadly stared at the ambulance doors banging closed. Sighing as she shook her head, she calmly looked back at him and said, “She came over for tea, then boom…dead.” Her gray brows bunched together as her wrinkled lips pursed. Her eyes, warm and very much alive, flicked back to the ambulance beginning to drive away. “Gosh…I hope it wasn’t the tea…”
Kai and Jessie slackened their embrace from around the other as Kai’s gaze darted between the woman he’d sworn was dead, to the ambulance obviously holding someone else. Focusing on his grandmother, he took in the handmade Christmas sweater, the khaki slacks, the slippers on her feet, and the slight dirt under her nails from endless plant pampering. He’d been so sure she was gone that seeing her alive almost didn’t seem real.
Smiling warmly, she stepped forward and embraced him. “Oh Kai, I’m so glad you are okay. I was so worried about you.” Her gaze turned sympathetic as she examined him. He could still only gape at her. He wasn’t even able to return her hug.
Jessie found her voice first. “Grams? We thought…” She grabbed her grandmother, knocking the woman back a step.
Confused, the older Harper stroked her granddaughter’s back. “Jessica, dear, what is the…?” Her voice trailed off as her eyes followed the leaving ambulance. “Oh, did you two think…?”
Kai’s eyes overflowed with tears as he nodded. “We thought you…had a heart attack.” Kai stepped into her, enclosing his arms around her and Jessie.
His grandmother, by nurture if not nature, shushed them both and patted their backs. “Oh, no, sweethearts, that wasn’t me. My ticker is just fine.” Kai and Jessie pulled back to take her in, still surprised that she was a living, breathing person and not an apparition. Smiling softly, she brushed dry one child’s cheek, then the other. Cocking an eyebrow, she said, “It will take much more than a leisurely cup of tea to end this old girl. I plan on going out in a blaze of glory…sky diving or something.”
Kai shook his head and inadvertently chuckled at her; the release felt wonderful. Thank God she was okay. Grudgingly letting go of her, so they didn’t accidently crush her to death, Kai asked, “Who was that then?”
Gran sighed as she looked across her lawn, to the neighbor who had helped Kai on his first visit to his grandmother’s house. “Betty…my neighbor.” Shaking her head, she returned her eyes to Kai. “She was centuries old, and really didn’t take very good care of herself. But she was sweet, in a nosey sort of way.”
She paused a moment as she reflected over the loss that had taken place in her home, then her expression brightened. “While I’ll miss that old broad, I can’t help but think that her home was a rental, and will probably need a new tenant now.” She gave him an endearing smile. “You could move out of your tiny little apartment. You could be my neighbor…if you’re staying, that is.” She raised her eyebrows inquisitively, waiting for his answer.