Kin (39 page)

He leaned across the table and reached for her hand. “Don't worry. I'm not going to be one of those patients who insists on dying at home and the whole place has to be in an uproar. I know how busy you and Duncan are. One bed is as good as another. I'll make it easy for you.”

He guessed that wasn't the right thing to say.

“Oh, Daddy!” She jumped up from the chair and put her arms around him, hugging him close. “Don't say that! I don't want it to be easy for me! You're not something that needs to be taken care of without any fuss. You're my dad and I don't want you to die!”

He patted her back and held her as long as she wanted.

It was nice to be loved that much.

* * *

It was nice to be loved this much.

Hilary and Reef lay in each other's arms on his single bed. He absentmindedly stroked her arm.

“Feel better now?”

“You have no idea.”

“Don't you think it's time I met your grandmother, and your parents, for that matter?”

“Yes, you're right. But when you do, you can't go spouting off about being a journalist travelling to hot spots around the world.”

“For the record, I'm not a journalist yet. I still have another year at King's.”

“You want us to travel together. That's news I have to deliver slowly and carefully. She'll have a stroke.”

Reef got up on his elbow and looked down at her. “That's not what I said. I asked you to marry me. And what did you say?”

“I don't know, maybe.”

“Do you know how reassuring it is when the woman you love says, ‘I don't know, maybe'?”

“Why get married? Who gets married anymore? Statistics are we'll be divorced in three years. Think of all that paperwork.”

He laughed and reached down to kiss her softly. “I want to marry you because my mother and father have been married for thirty years, my grandmother and grandfather have been married for fifty years, and my brother and his wife have been married for five years. It runs in my family. My mother wants me to have a wife. She says it will be the making of me.”

Hilary touched his face, dragging her finger down his cheek and along his jaw. “What if she disapproves of me? I'm not Muslim.”

“My mother has always told me that she will love who I love because I love her.”

“She sounds nice. I have to meet them too.”

“We can go to New York this summer. My brother and his wife are having their second baby.”

“Okay. Come for dinner on Saturday.”

“It's a date.”

“You have to kiss me until then.”

He scooped her up in his arms and laid her on top of him.

“Not a problem.”

When Hilary got home that night, there were barely any lights on. Maybe her parents had gone out, but they didn't say they were. She opened the back door and her mother's latest hairy rat ticked across the kitchen floor on his toenails to greet her. She rubbed his head. “Hey there, Monty, or Milk Bone, or whatever your name is.”

There was no one in the kitchen. She headed for the stairs, and then saw her mom sitting on the family room couch with her legs tucked under her, with only a small lamp on beside her. She had a box of tissue in her lap.

“Oh my god, what's wrong?”

“I don't want to tell you.”

Hilary's heart started to race. “Are you and Dad getting a divorce?”

Her mother screwed up her face. “Why would your father and I get a divorce?”

“The no sex thing.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about, but it doesn't matter. Come sit beside me.”

This was going to be bad.

Her mother took her hand. “It's Grampy. His stomach cancer has spread. He doesn't have long.”

Hilary went weak. She almost drifted down, her head in her mother's lap. Mom stroked her hair. “It's all right, honey. I know. I know.”

She didn't know. Grampy was her best friend.

Grandmother was inconsolable. Colleen called her every morning. Frankie talked to her every afternoon and their dad called her in the evening. The only thing she did was lie on her bed and weep. It got to the point where they called the doctor's office.

Hilary went with her mother to her grandmother's apartment. The doctor said he would see her if they could get her in before the office closed, otherwise they'd have to go to the emergency department.

Her grandmother looked like a tiny limp rag doll.

“Mom, you have to get dressed and come with us. We need to get you better.”

“He's the only man I ever loved. No one else. The only one I ever loved.”

“That's nice, Mom, and he knows that. We all know that, but you're not helping him by carrying on this way. It's making it very stressful for him. If you love him as much as you say you do, you'll be strong for him. He needs you.”

Her eyes opened wide. “You're right. He does need me. I have to go to Cape Breton this very minute. I'll stay with him and nurse him back to health.”

“I'll take her,” Hilary said. “Reef and I will take her.”

“Who's Reef?”

“I told you. The boy who's coming for dinner on Saturday.”

“He'd go with you?”

“He's good like that.”

Her grandmother sat on the bed and watched the two of them like a tennis game. Her mother mulled over the plan. “If you take her up this week, I can come and get her the next, because I was planning on going anyway, after my doctor's appointment. But I better call Dad to see what he thinks.”

Hilary was alarmed. “What doctor's appointment?”

“Nothing…just nonsense and hormones and menopause and every other blight known to womankind.”

Grandma pointed at the phone. “I'll call him.”

She told him she was coming up to take care of him. He said it wasn't necessary and when she started to cry, he backed down and said he'd love to have her. That was how her grandmother operated. The minute she got off the phone the tears dried up.

“I've got to get packed.”

She jumped off the bed and hurried into the bathroom, her tiny body visible under her nightie. At the back she looked like a ten-year-old who'd been deflated a little.

“I love your bum, Grandma.”

She shouted, “I always did have a nice ass.”

Hilary paced by the living room window waiting for Reef to get there. Her mother had bought one of those frozen roasts that were ready in ten minutes, with frozen roast potatoes, frozen mixed vegetables, and canned gravy. The one food in the oven was the frozen crescent rolls. She had an ice cream cake she bought on the way home. Hilary was cold just thinking about it all.

She saw his headlights in the driveway. “He's here!” She said it louder than she meant to. Her parents looked at each other.

Reef came to the door with a cardboard bakery box wrapped with string, a bouquet of flowers, and a bottle of wine. He stood and smiled at them.

They stared back.

Hilary went over to him and put her arm through his. “Mom, Dad, this is Sharif Jamal. Reef, these are my parents, Edward and Frankie.”

“Welcome to our home, Sharif,” Dad said. “It's nice to meet you.”

“You as well, sir.”

Mom shook his hand too. “Hello…there's so much that Hilary hasn't told us about you. I look forward to our evening.”

Reef held out the gifts. “The flowers are for you, Mrs. Roth.”

Mom took them. “Thank you, they're lovely.”

“And the wine is for you, Mr. Roth.”

“I appreciate it, thank you.”

Mom pointed to the box. “That looks interesting.”

“It's for dessert, Basbousa. My father makes the best in the world, but this will have to do.”

“How interesting. I've never heard of it.”

Hilary was going to scream if her parents didn't start acting a little more relaxed. It's like they were in an amateur community play.

Fortunately, Reef turned on the charm and told them about himself. That he was born in New York City, the Bronx, and that his father was Egyptian and his mother was from Harlem. He mentioned that he was Muslim before they asked him and said his dad was an engineer and his mom was a nurse. They lived in Brooklyn now and his older brother and his wife and baby lived down the street. He mentioned that his mother's sister lived here in East Preston and that's how he knew about King's University. He told them his mother only let him move away because her sister was close by. He expressed how lovely Hilary was, and added their daughter was the nicest and smartest and most compassionate girl he'd ever met and his parents were going to love her.

“How long have you been going out together?” Mom asked.

“I can't remember,” Hilary laughed.

“It's been one year, six months, and eight days as of midnight tonight. We met at the SUB building at Dal. We bumped into each other signing a petition. I forget what for.”

Mom's face lit up. “That's where my parents met! What an amazing coincidence.”

Hilary brought out the Basbousa and gave everyone a piece. “This looks delicious.”

“What's in it?” Dad asked.

“Yogurt, almonds, sugar, lots of good things.”

Her parents raved about it.

“That's what happens when you cook something from scratch, Mom.”

Reef thanked them very much, shook their hands, and walked to the car. Hilary walked with him.

“Thanks,” she said. “You handled them perfectly.”

“They're nice people.”

“They are, aren't they?”

Mindful that her parents might be looking out the window, they shared a chaste kiss, but he whispered “I love you,” in her ear before he left.

Hilary went in the house. Her parents were clearing the dishes.

“Why didn't you introduce him to us a long time ago?” Dad asked.

“Because I didn't know how long he was going to be my boyfriend. I don't drag guys I date home. There's no point.”

Mom rinsed the dishes before she stacked them. “You could've told us he was black. We felt like idiots gawking at him when he first came in.”

“He wasn't what we were expecting,” her dad said.

Hilary got huffy. “And what were you expecting?”

“A nice boy—not a really great boy.”

Grandma sat in the front passenger seat while Reef drove. Hilary was stuck in the back. She couldn't believe Grandma flirted with him the entire trip. He kept glancing at Hilary in the rearview mirror, his eyes dancing, trying not to laugh.

As they crossed the causeway, Hilary's mood changed. All the times she had come this way, excited to see Grampy and Aunt Colleen and the beach at Round Island. This was a journey that always made her happy, and today it didn't.

What was her life going to be like without Grampy in it? She couldn't imagine that world. It made her feel empty and lonely inside. He and Aunt Colleen had always been the two people she could count on to understand her, and even when they didn't, they pretended they did. They were the three musketeers. Now there would only be two.

They stopped at the Cedar House to pick up the raisin and oatmeal bread he loved, and his favourite molasses cookies. There was also a strawberry-rhubarb pie just out of the oven that looked divine, so they took that too.

When Reef pulled up to the house, there Grampy was in the window, waiting like he always did. Hilary ran out of the back seat and left Reef to deal with her grandmother. Grampy opened the door and she ran into his arms.

She couldn't believe how bony and thin he was; his face was gaunt. It was hard to ignore the skull that now made its presence known under his skin.

There were no tears, because she didn't want to upset him.

“Hi, Grampy,” she whispered. “I love you.”

“Hi, Hilary. I love you too.”

Grandma made an incredible scene, hugging and kissing him, crying the whole time. He finally told her to stop all the nonsense and by God, she did. That gave Hilary a chance to introduce Reef, who carried the baked goods and grandma's purse.

Grampy held out his hand. “It's nice to meet you, young man. Hilary talks about you all the time. I feel like I know you.”

“And I you, sir. There's no one in the world she loves better.”

Aunt Colleen waited by the kitchen door, not wanting to intrude. The minute Hilary left her grandfather's arms she ran into her aunt's, the two of them trying not to cry.

“I'm so glad you're here. He's been waiting for you all day.”

That's when Hilary noticed the hospital bed in the living room. It was huge and intrusive, just like the cancer spreading through his body.

The welcome wore Grampy out, so he lay back in bed and the others sat around the room, eating sandwiches Aunt Colleen made for lunch. Hilary went into the kitchen and cut him a slice of oatmeal bread and put a thin layer of butter on it. She cut it into four pieces and brought it to him, and when he saw what it was he smiled.

“My favourite.” He took a small bite.

“Remember when you'd take me to the Cedar House for lunch? You always had the seafood chowder and I had the fish cakes and beans.”

“An odd request from a little girl, but our Hilary always was a different sort of child. Who else would want to hang around with an old man all summer?”

“You were lots of fun. Remember the time I sat in the frying pan and you told Aunt Colleen that sausages were called bum warmers!”

Grandma said, “Bum warmers?”

“Inside joke, Kay.”

Eventually her grandmother went upstairs to unpack and freshen up. Reef and Aunt Colleen were in the kitchen tidying up and getting to know each other. Hilary sat by her grandfather's bed and held his hand while he slept. Aunt Colleen said he was on a lot of pain medication that kept him comfortable. They had a nurse who came in daily to check him out.

Hilary rubbed her cheek against his swollen knuckles. Nothing was quite as frightening when her grandfather held her hand.