Read Online Tiny Island Summer by Rachelle Paige - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rachelle Paige
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to put space between them.
Chapter Six
“Honey, what are you doing here?” Ben’s mom asked, as he stood on her doorstep bright and early two days later.
“I told you I’d be coming up. I wanted to see how everything is going. How you’re getting settled in.”
“Come in, come in, I don’t want to talk on my front porch all morning,” she teased, opening the door as wide as she could.
Ben squeezed past his mom and closed the door behind him. Standing in the portico of the grand old house, he quickly surveyed the front parlor to his side. The settees had been removed and the vitrines filled with delicate little objets d’art pushed against the wall to make room for the hospital bed. Books sat in heaps, stacked from floor to the height of the bed along one side.
“I wish you’d let me get you a TV,” Ben grumbled.
He wanted to make her comfortable and keep her entertained. To reduce her social schedule as dramatically as she’d had to, Ben could only imagine how she filled her time. Ben frowned. He hated these feelings.
“You know I’d hate that,” she rolled her eyes.
“You could watch your movies?” Ben offered.
“I can still read, darling. The cancer hasn’t metastasized that.”
Ben froze. He hated saying the word or even hearing it spoken aloud.
“Come on. I have some coffee on, would you like some?”
“Where’s the nurse?”
“Still getting settled in, I have her upstairs.”
“Should she be so far away?”
“It’s fine. I have a call button on the bed.”
“Should you be on your own? Shouldn’t she be with you at all times?”
“Ben, don’t be tedious, darling. I’m allowed to do as much as I feel capable of. Hospice is about living and enjoying the end. I’m not tied to the bed or hooked up to anything.”
Ben nodded slowly and followed his mom to the kitchen. She still moved as sprightly as ever, giving no hint of her condition. In fact, how well she looked had been part of the initial problem when trying to convince his brothers to give up on hospital care. For fifteen months, she’d been fighting lung cancer after never having smoked a single cigarette in her entire life. After all the drugs and chemo failed to stop the disease from attacking more of her body, Ben saw some of the sparkle go out of her.
His mother had always been the most glittering, sparkling person he’d ever known. She’d had seemingly endless energy. She raised five boys alone after his father’s early death, ran her family’s charitable foundation, sat on the board of several nonprofits, and had a full social calendar of both the boys’ and her own events. He’d never known her to sit still before her diagnosis.
She’d been determined to fight the disease and had made no secret of her absolute horror at the idea of leaving behind her boys before seeing even one of them get married and have babies. She never complained and did not let anything affect her schedule or her commitments. Until one day, she suddenly had. She’d accepted the end. But it took several more months of practically living at the hospital before Ben had been able to see what she saw.
The fight with his brothers had been ugly. Old wounds had been reopened, conflicts resolved in boyhood revisited, and every dirty secret exposed. They were all scared of her dying and each handled it in his own way. The younger brothers had accused him of wanting to kill her for his inheritance. A laughable accusation considering that he’d had full access to his trust fund for the better part of a year, while the others had at least three to go before getting theirs, but a serious statement nonetheless.
John finally had stepped in as the oldest and her medical power of attorney to let Ben take her out of the hospital. He hadn’t agreed with the plan either. But John couldn’t stand to see the way her dying threatened to tear their family apart. He wanted to preserve their relationships.
“Help yourself,” she told Ben.
Ben
Chapter Six
“Honey, what are you doing here?” Ben’s mom asked, as he stood on her doorstep bright and early two days later.
“I told you I’d be coming up. I wanted to see how everything is going. How you’re getting settled in.”
“Come in, come in, I don’t want to talk on my front porch all morning,” she teased, opening the door as wide as she could.
Ben squeezed past his mom and closed the door behind him. Standing in the portico of the grand old house, he quickly surveyed the front parlor to his side. The settees had been removed and the vitrines filled with delicate little objets d’art pushed against the wall to make room for the hospital bed. Books sat in heaps, stacked from floor to the height of the bed along one side.
“I wish you’d let me get you a TV,” Ben grumbled.
He wanted to make her comfortable and keep her entertained. To reduce her social schedule as dramatically as she’d had to, Ben could only imagine how she filled her time. Ben frowned. He hated these feelings.
“You know I’d hate that,” she rolled her eyes.
“You could watch your movies?” Ben offered.
“I can still read, darling. The cancer hasn’t metastasized that.”
Ben froze. He hated saying the word or even hearing it spoken aloud.
“Come on. I have some coffee on, would you like some?”
“Where’s the nurse?”
“Still getting settled in, I have her upstairs.”
“Should she be so far away?”
“It’s fine. I have a call button on the bed.”
“Should you be on your own? Shouldn’t she be with you at all times?”
“Ben, don’t be tedious, darling. I’m allowed to do as much as I feel capable of. Hospice is about living and enjoying the end. I’m not tied to the bed or hooked up to anything.”
Ben nodded slowly and followed his mom to the kitchen. She still moved as sprightly as ever, giving no hint of her condition. In fact, how well she looked had been part of the initial problem when trying to convince his brothers to give up on hospital care. For fifteen months, she’d been fighting lung cancer after never having smoked a single cigarette in her entire life. After all the drugs and chemo failed to stop the disease from attacking more of her body, Ben saw some of the sparkle go out of her.
His mother had always been the most glittering, sparkling person he’d ever known. She’d had seemingly endless energy. She raised five boys alone after his father’s early death, ran her family’s charitable foundation, sat on the board of several nonprofits, and had a full social calendar of both the boys’ and her own events. He’d never known her to sit still before her diagnosis.
She’d been determined to fight the disease and had made no secret of her absolute horror at the idea of leaving behind her boys before seeing even one of them get married and have babies. She never complained and did not let anything affect her schedule or her commitments. Until one day, she suddenly had. She’d accepted the end. But it took several more months of practically living at the hospital before Ben had been able to see what she saw.
The fight with his brothers had been ugly. Old wounds had been reopened, conflicts resolved in boyhood revisited, and every dirty secret exposed. They were all scared of her dying and each handled it in his own way. The younger brothers had accused him of wanting to kill her for his inheritance. A laughable accusation considering that he’d had full access to his trust fund for the better part of a year, while the others had at least three to go before getting theirs, but a serious statement nonetheless.
John finally had stepped in as the oldest and her medical power of attorney to let Ben take her out of the hospital. He hadn’t agreed with the plan either. But John couldn’t stand to see the way her dying threatened to tear their family apart. He wanted to preserve their relationships.
“Help yourself,” she told Ben.
Ben
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