Chapter 10

Barb’s turn:

“Hi, Grampa. Is Gramma okay?”

“Yes,” he said. “Much better.”

“Lemme put you on speaker so I don’t have to repeat stuff. What’d y’all find out?”

“They’re still running tests. We’re waiting for a CAT scan result.” Grampa’s voice was tired.

“But she’s okay, right?”

“They gave her some fluids and some medication. One of ‘em helps her rest. She’s asleep right now.”

“Can we come up there and visit her? Or is she coming home?”

“She’s gonna be here at least until tomorrow.”

“We’re coming to visit.”

“Baby, you don’t have to. We’re okay.”

“No, Grampa. You an’ Gramma are all the family I have. Paul will drive me up there. Is there anything we can bring you?”

We got a little list. Paul took me home to collect things he needed and we were on the road for the hour drive to the hospital.

I know Paul’s worried about them and he’s worried about me. “She’ll be glad to see you if she’s awake.”

“We’ll stay until she wakes up. That’s my Gramma. She’s more mom than Mom ever was. I can’t hardly remember Mom. Gramma’s been raising me since before I was two.”

“I’ve never asked about your mom.”

“Left. I was an accident. Mom didn’t know I was conceived, then she dumped me off on Gramma and Grampa so many times they finally got her to make them my guardians and she signed off all parental rights. And nobody’s heard from her in years. I don’t even know if she’s alive.”

“I’m sorry, baby. Didn’t mean to open old wounds.”

“It IS a wound, Paul. But I’m over it. Gramma and Grampa have loved me and treated me right my whole life. Then YOU came along, and I have the rest of my life mapped out.”

“You give me a lot of credit...”

“Just like it’s been. We keep each other safe.”

“Baby, your gramma’s in the hospital. Chances are, she’ll be okay, come home, things back to normal.”

Paul was partly right. They kept her another night. Grampa looked fried. Paul offered to stay and let him go home and rest. I offered to stay with Gramma. Neither of us could convince Grampa. He stayed.

Late afternoon of the next day, he and Gramma returned home. Gramma’s got some sort of abdominal issue and it’s not fatal, not in the short term. But she’ll still have issues and from time to time they might put her back in the hospital.

Grampa worries me. Paul and I carried everything up the stairs for him. He’s not moving as well as he was a couple of days ago. Might be my imagination.

I suppose I need to be more aware of what they need around the house. More than before. I’m bustling around putting things in order – not that they were out of order -- and told Paul that I would check in on him later.

He says he understands. I hope so. He’s important, VERY important, but I owe Gramma and Grampa. I’m torn. Time for me to stop acting like the kid I never really was and take on some adult responsibilities.

I’ve always helped out at home, but here lately both my grandparents are noticeably less capable. Endurance is down, recovery times are longer. Grampa still lifts and totes but he often has to take a break to give his back time to get back in order. Gramma’s just tired a lot.

And there are the steps up from the ground to the elevated cabin. That’s probably the biggest hurdle. Any trip out of the cabin involves a trip on those steps and neither of them can do it without a long stop on the landing halfway up.

There are several makers of solutions in the form of powered lifts and chairs. I’ve heard them talk about it. I’ve also heard them talking about assisted living communities. Trouble is, those communities we know about do not have accommodations for teenaged kids.

I know it’s tough for them. I also know that I am coloring their plans. Without me in the picture, I think they’d sell this cabin and bank the proceeds and take a spot in one of those retirement communities where the place is set up for ease of living for the aged and infirm.

Gramma assures me that I’m not a burden. “I don’t know where you would go if you weren’t living with us, baby,” she told me one evening.

At the time I was like her. I didn’t know either.

Three months into knowing Paul, though, I was starting to form an idea. After we collided and consummated our relationship, I know where I’d end up if there was any possible way. So I say my prayers at night like Gramma taught me and I pray that something happens.

I finished working with Gramma to put dinner on the table, ate with them, and after loading the dishwasher, I grabbed a full trash bag and headed for the door. “If you need anything at all, I’ll be at Paul’s,” I said.

“Go ahead, baby,” Grampa said.

A couple of minutes later I walked into Paul’s door and into Paul’s arms.

No, we did NOT immediately strip and jump into bed. We talked. I told him of my observations of my grandparents’ health. He supported my observations with his own, to the same conclusion.

“I get the feeling that they’d like to be in that retirement community they visited,” I told him.

“I know about those things. Most of ‘em don’t have provisions for teenagers, though.”

“I know. I think that’s the reason they’re not moving right now. Me.”

“Do they see us as getting closer over the last couple of weeks?”

“I know they’ve noticed. Gramma mentioned the amount of time we spend together. Grampa was impressed that we cooked and brought them food.”

“You know I signed the papers to be your backup if something happened to them, right?”

“I know. That gave me a seed of a thought.”

He twisted on the sofa and kissed me. “You’ve been the seed for thoughts ever since I met you, little darlin’. I probably have the same one.”

I smiled, lips warm and moist from the kiss. “We live together?”

“We live together.”

“Are you SURE?” I questioned him.

“Barbakitty, we would not have mated if I wasn’t certain I wanted you forever. My psyche wouldn’t take it. I can’t do quickies and one-night stands and short terms. You and I have had this discussion. You and me? We laugh and talk and read and cook and LIVE together. Not to mention that I’m a criminal for even touching you.”

“And I’m a silly, deluded, love-struck teeny-bopper for letting you get into my pants, right?”

“Something like that.”

He absolutely deserves the kisses I laid on ‘im. Of course, so do I. I strive to be ‘good people’, as Grampa calls them.

“What have you written while I was gone?” I asked.

He told me, “You know, I had trouble getting YOU out of my head. My female protagonist Bevalin is becoming more and more like a certain mystifying teen redhead.”

“So she’s through being every man’s ‘friend’?” I queried. I’d read his draft and the female in question was rather easy, in my opinion.

“I think she’s going to be overcome by the obvious positive qualities of the hero,” he returned. Then a snicker. “Her breasts got smaller.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You never discussed her breast size, Paul.”

“Well in my mind, she’s...”

“Me,” I smiled.

“Older, though,” he told me. “To account for her experiences.”

“Are you unhappy with my age?”

“Only the part where I go to jail for messing with you and I can’t marry you right now.”

“You would. Marry me, I mean. That ‘messing around’, that’s a given.”

“It doesn’t have to be, baby. You didn’t have to go that far to keep me. I started out being deliriously happy that you were just hanging around talking, writing, being near me.”

“I know. I had a lot of thoughts about all that. We’ve talked about it.”

“We did.”

I continued, “I could see that sex was easy to find, even me, all flat and weird hair and all that. But social aspects are more difficult to get. You and me, I may flatter myself, but I look at us as intellectually equal, other than you having ten years more exposure on the planet than me. Socially, we both seem to have the same tolerance for crowds.”

“You change, though, Barb. The other night at the library thing, when you got hit with the spotlight, you blossomed.”

“Well, that’s YOUR fault. I was there with YOU. I couldn’t let YOU down.”

“I almost panicked when they cornered you...”

“They didn’t corner me. They were curious. I had something they wanted and I sorta decided that I was the one to give it.”

“No preparation.”

“YOU, dear mate, are my preparation.” By this time I had him backed up against the end of the sofa. “And you know, sometimes I need you. Started out when I decided that you would provide me with the hugs I desired. It’s gotten worse. Or better.” I pressed against him.

I know he’s trying NOT to just start into the wonderful things he does to me. He’s soooo noble. I know I can shred that veneer of nobility with a touch, though.

Only a few weeks ago I would have never imagined myself being sexually aggressive. Now, though? MY Paul. One of the traits attracting me is he never acted like access to my body was his right.

Our FIRST time? I teased him. If anyone was abused, it was Paul. I took advantage, staying just a bit ahead of him in arousal.

And now? Exactly how subtle would YOU think I was being if I crawled up his body, my right hand trailing between us to find and grab that lump I knew was there for me.

Okay, it keeps getting better and better. I have determined that Paul does not find me hopelessly inept, inadequate and hopeless. I think that the two of us become almost insatiable.