“You did,” I said.
My voice sounded strange.
“You absolutely did.”
Rose came closer. “Grandpa, we weren’t trying to betray you.”
I nodded.
“You absolutely did.”
But inside, I was back in that hospital hallway, watching Lisa walk away.
Only this time, I was afraid the girls were walking toward her.
“Did she ask about me?” I said.
Nobody answered.
That told me enough.
I rinsed a clean plate because my hands needed something to do.
“Did she ask about me?”
May touched my arm.
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“Then what are you?”
I shut off the water.
“Scared.”
The word surprised all four of us.
“Are you mad?”
I had raised three babies on nearly nothing.
But nothing scared me like the thought that I had only been keeping someone else’s place warm.
Rose’s eyes filled.
“Grandpa, no.”
“If Lisa wants to come back,” I said, before I lost my nerve, “she doesn’t do it through packages.”
