“Yeah,” I agree. “With you.”
“Before we fall, we fly, Brand,” she reminds me softly, tracing the tattoo on my forearm. “Your gran was right.”
“She was right about a lot of things,” I answer, as I flip her over and hover above her. Nora raises an eyebrow.
“Such as?”
“Well, you’ve got to take life by the balls and shake it as hard as you can.”
She giggles and leans up to kiss my neck. “Your gran said that?”
I nod. “Yeah. You’d like her.”
“We need to go visit.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “We do. She’d like you, too.”
“What else was she right about?”
I stare into Nora’s eyes, long and hard. “Well, she was right about one other thing. The best things in life are worth fighting for.”
Nora sighs a shaky sigh and puts her head against my chest, closing her eyes.
After a minute, she opens them again.
“I can still hear your heart.”
I smile in the night.
“I should hope so. It’s yours.”
Nora grabs my face and pulls it to hers, kissing me as soundly as I’ve ever been kissed, soft then hard, then harder.
Her hand trails over my chest, over my hips, down to where I’m hard for her.
“Make me yours, Brand,” she breathes.
I smile.
“Gladly.”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Brand
Gabe meets us at the door of the nursing home, his face drawn and grim.
“Dude, I’m sorry we had to call you home from your honeymoon. We all knew it was coming, but…”
I shake my head and clasp his hand tightly.
“It’s okay. I would’ve been pissed if you hadn’t called.”
Nora walks beside me, her slender hand on my back. When we’d gotten the call, she hadn’t even hesitated, she’d just started packing our bags.
“We have to go, Brand,” she’d said.
I’ve never loved her more.
We flew nonstop through the night, and when we landed, we found out, with relief, that we weren’t too late. Gran was still holding on.
“She’s waiting to talk to you,” Gabe tells me as we walk down the halls. It smells like medicine here. And Ben Gay. And quilts.
I nod. “It doesn’t surprise me. Gran has always done things her way. She’ll die her way, too.”
“Hell yeah, she will,” Gabe agrees.
I’m surprised at the knot that is still in my throat. I haven’t been able to swallow it, not since we got the call and jumped on the plane. The very idea that the world is going to lose such an amazing person is sobering.
I take a deep breath as I face her closed door, as I stare at her nameplate.
Helen Vincent.
There’s no use putting it off. It won’t change a thing. She’s going to die whether I’m at her side, or not.
But I need to be there, like she’s been for me all of these years.
We step into her room and find Jacey sitting next to the bed, holding Gran’s wrinkled hand. Gran’s eyes are closed, but when she hears my voice, she opens them and smiles tiredly up at me.
“It took you long enough,” she complains good-naturedly and everyone laughs. They laugh through their tears because it’s very, very evident that this strong woman has grown weak. Her body is limp, her smile is tired.
It won’t be long.
A chill runs down my spine as I sit on the bed and pick up the hand that Jacey had just put down. Gran has been well loved. I know that. And I know its time. She’s ready to rest.
“You know me,” I finally answer. “I’m always running late.”
“Not for long,” Gran tells me, her little hand squeezing mine. “You’ve got a wife now to keep you in line.”
She closes her eyes again, and I watch the rise and fall of her chest beneath the sheets. She’s so small, so frail. It’s hard to believe that I once thought of her as big. She’s child-sized now.
Jacey catches my gaze from across the room.
It won’t be long, she mouths. I nod. I know. Jacey looks as tired as Gabe, as though they haven’t slept in days.
Behind her, Dominic sleeps in the chair by the window, here to share this moment with Jacey, to support her. Just like Nora is here for me.
Everything is how it should be.
“Where’s Maddy?” I ask Gabe. He nods his head toward the door.
“She took Eli outside to run some energy off. She’ll be back shortly.”
Gran opens her eyes at that. “That boy looks just like you, Gabriel,” she croaks. “He’ll be twice as ornery, too, if God believes in payback.”
Gabe smiles and holds a cup of water to her mouth, pushing the straw between her lips.
Gran stares up at me. “Can you believe this? They treat me like an invalid here.”
Everyone laughs and she takes the cup in her own hands, taking a sip. She hands it back, then settles into the blankets, folding her hands on her chest.
“I did so want to see everyone,” she murmurs. My chest tightens and I pat her hands, not quite sure what to do.
“I wanted to see your face before I went to sleep, Branden,” she continues. “You’re as much mine as these two are.”
My chest tightens even more.
I bend down and brush a kiss across her forehead. She smells like lavender and sunshine, the way she always has.
“You’re mine, too,” I tell her, my voice cracking. “Gran, I want to say thank you… for everything. For always taking care of me, for all of the advice… for giving me a home.”
She smiles now, again, without opening her eyes.
“Nora is your home now,” she tells me softly, so softly I have to bend to hear her. “You’re flying, Branden. You’re finally flying.”
I literally have to turn away, to steel myself so that I don’t sob like a baby right here in front of God and everyone. But I glance up and find that Gabe’s eyes are watery too, and Jacey is crying softly as well.
All of a sudden, though, Gran’s eyes fly open and she stares at a spot on the wall, above our heads, as intent and rapt as she can be.
“Olen!” she exclaims, and she reaches out her arms. “Wait for me. Don’t leave.” I stare in shock as she smiles at someone we can’t see, a sigh escaping from her lips, as though she’s finally somewhere she desperately wants to be.