Chapter 10: Maureen's Terms

"Alana, sweetheart," Grandma Maureen said, "would you take Eli up for his nap? He's asleep on his feet."

Eli was asleep on Alana's shoulder, with a Goldfish stuck to his cheek.

Alana did not move.

"Maureen, the doctor said Maddy needs a cardiologist."

"I'm sure she did. I've read it." Grandma Maureen laid her palm flat on the paper. "Craig and I will take it from here. Go on, dear."

"I'd like to stay."

"I'd like you to be a good mother to that baby and put him to bed."

It was said so sweetly that Alana looked down at Eli for a long moment.

Then she looked at me.

"I'll be right upstairs," she said. "Maddy, if you need me, yell."

She walked out with her shoulders stiff.

Grandma Maureen listened to her feet on the fourteen stairs.

When the footsteps stopped overhead, she folded her hands.

"Sit, sweetheart."

I sat at the kitchen table across from her, in the chair where I ate my breakfast.

"That was brave of you," she said. "Going all that way, to a stranger's office, on your own account. I'm not angry."

"It wasn't on my own."

"Alana's a sweet girl. Soft-hearted. She doesn't know our family." She smiled. "I do."

She slid the visit summary across the table with one finger.

"Tell me what you think is going to happen, Maddy."

I looked at the circled words and kept my face as flat as I could.

"I think there's a hole in my heart. I think I need an operation. I think it has to happen soon."

"And how soon is soon?"

"Before the fifth of October."

For one second, something went very still behind her eyes.

Then it was gone.

"My goodness," she said. "You're very specific."

"Please, Grandma. I'm not lying."

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