One More Dance by Roxanne Rustand (best ebook reader for pc txt) 📗

The nurse hesitated in the doorway, then mouthed good luck, before disappearing down the hall.

Casey sat back in her chair. “Hi, Grandma. Were you sick, too?”

“No, I was not. Just a little stressed, but anyone would be in this situation.” Sylvia shifted and straightened her spine. “The nurses were quite wrong in ordering me down to the ER—but I suppose that’s how they try to bring in more revenue.”

For a woman who “wasn’t ill,” Sylvia looked remarkably pale, and Kate wished she could run down to the ER and ask about her condition. There’d be no point, though, given the health care privacy laws. She considered the best approach and mentally crossed her fingers before speaking. “What sort of adjustments did they make with your meds?”

Sylvia pursed her lips.

“Did they order a stress test?”

Silence.

“An MRI?”

Sylvia’s gaze shifted away and her lower lip quivered for just an instant, but at that brief glimpse into her soul, Kate saw her for what she was, behind the hard mask she always kept firmly in place.

An old woman in fragile health.

Alone.

Her only daughter away at school, her only son badly injured and lying in ICU—yet she was still too stubborn and prideful to welcome an olive branch of peace and comfort.

Decades of bitterness had carved those lines so deeply in her gaunt cheeks. And while Sylvia would probably never change, maybe it was time for everyone else to try a little harder.

“I know you aren’t tired and that you feel perfectly fine,” Kate said. “But when you do want some rest, our house is closer than the hotel and no one is there.”

Sylvia shot her a disparaging glance. “Thank you, but no.”

“It would be quiet and peaceful, and the guest rooms both have comfy beds. Casey could probably use some sleep, too. How long have you been up, honey?”

Casey flashed her a quick look of understanding. “A good thirty-six hours, but I don’t really want to go home alone. Unless maybe Grandma would go with me.”

“Dr. Mathers?”

All three women jerked around to face the doorway, where one of the ICU nurses stood.

“Sorry,” she said with chagrin. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. If one of you would like to go back in to sit with Mr. Mathers, it would be all right. He’s doing better. He’s still asleep, but the doctor has tapered those new meds. And Dr. Mathers—you have a call on line four. You can take it in here, if you like.”

“We should let Grandma go in first, don’t you think?” Kate asked Casey. “I believe you must have seen him last.”

When Casey nodded, Sylvia silently rose and left the room to be with Jared. Kate went to the desk phone on an end table to pick up her call.

“It’s me,” Amy said, her voice shaking. “I’m at the clinic and there’s been more trouble. The sheriff is on his way over to see you. Tom is coming too, because he stopped in when he saw the patrol car out front.”

What next? Kate took a deep breath. “I was in the clinic just an hour ago, Amy, and everything was fine. At least as far as I know.” But had she looked that closely? Had the intruder been hiding inside, even while she was there?

“I was late for work this morning, because my truck had a flat when I got up this morning,” Amy said. “I just walked in maybe ten minutes ago. The sheriff was at the café having breakfast, so he came right over when I called. Someone trashed your office—threw papers everywhere, then must’ve walked through your lab and pharmacy and swept everything off the shelves. There’s broken glass all over. And this time...” She swallowed audibly. “This time, there was a note.”

Kate felt her blood chill. “Do you have it?”

“The sheriff does. But I remember what it says. ‘Back off or you’ll be next.’ Next for what? And why?”

WHEN SYLVIA RETURNED from her five minutes at Jared’s bedside, she looked even more exhausted. “His color seems better, and he gripped my hand just a little when I talked to him.” She sank into a chair. “Maybe I should take that rest, after all.”

Thankful for her change in attitude, Kate tossed the SUV keys to Casey. “Can you bring my car up to the back entrance, so your grandmother doesn’t need to walk so far?”

“I could walk,” Sylvia sniffed after Casey was gone.

Kate nodded. “I know, but I just wanted a moment to talk to you alone.”

The old woman’s eyes flared wide with alarm. “About Jared? Is he worse than they told me?”

“No. I just wanted a chance to tell you how much we all love you...and how much I wish that there was a way to mend all the hurt between us.”

Sylvia stiffened.

“I know you were against Jared’s marriage to me. I know you had high hopes for something different. But,” Kate added with a gentle smile, “we’ve made it for twenty years now. I love him with all my heart. And it would mean so much to both of us if we could all be a closer family.”

Sylvia sat upright. Her rigid spine might have been made of granite. But after a long moment, she turned her head away, her lower lip trembling.

“Please? You never know what the future might bring for any of us...or how much we’ll need each other.”

Sylvia clenched her hands in her lap until her knuckles whitened.

“I wish Casey could get to know her only grandmother better. She would love that. And it would mean so much to me if we could all start building some good memories...together.”

Sylvia’s mouth worked, as if she were trying to force words that just wouldn’t come, then she turned away, her back rigid.

Ten minutes later, Casey appeared at the door. “I’ve got the SUV at the entrance. Are you ready, Grandma?”

The older woman hesitated.

“Go on home and rest, you two,” Kate said on a long sigh.

“You...you’ve been a good wife to my son,” Sylvia