Sally brought Brandon home the next day. The first thing he asked was if they could go see Ada. Jen hesitated, not sure she wanted Brandon to see Ada the way she was. But then she realized he wasn’t a child anymore. He loved Ada like a grandmother. If she died before he had a chance to see her, he might never forgive her.
“Let me call the nurse’s station,” she said, “and make sure it’s okay. Some hospitals have age restrictions.”
“That’s not fair,” Brandon started, but she held up her hand.
“Fair or not, that’s the way it is. But I’m pretty persuasive, so why don’t you go get ready?”
Jen half hoped the hospital would refuse to let Brandon visit. That way she could protect him from the shock of seeing Ada without having to be the bad guy. But when she was transferred to the nursing station for the floor that Ada was on and was informed that Ada was awake, everything changed. The nurse was hesitant at first about Brandon visiting, but like Jen had told Brandon, she could be pretty persuasive.
“For a few minutes only, though,” the nurse finally agreed. “For you as well. She needs her rest.”
“I understand,” Jen said. “Thank you.”
After she hung up and gave Will the good news, she began to wonder if the fact Ada was awake would make any difference to the effect on Brandon. It might be worse if Ada was awake but didn’t recognize them. But it was too late to worry about that now. She had permission and Brandon wanted to go.
Now as they stopped in front of the closed door of room 330, she hesitated.
“Mom?”
“Maybe they’re doing something,” she said to explain her hesitancy. “Maybe we should check with a nurse first—”
“Or maybe we should just knock,” Will said and rapped his knuckles twice on the door.
A smiling nursing assistant opened the door. The smile faltered when she saw the condition of their faces, but she quickly recovered.
“Hey, Ada, looks like you’ve got company,” she said over her shoulder. To them she said, “I was just checking her vitals.”
She stepped aside and motioned them through, then stepped out, closing the door behind her. Jen started toward the bed, but Brandon wiggled around her and got there first. Jen held her breath, afraid all he would get from Ada would be a blank stare, but her worry had been for nothing. Ada’s face split open in a huge smile, her eyes filling with pleasure.
“There’s my favorite young man.” She reached her right hand out toward Brandon, and he took it in both of his. As her eyes moved up and focused on Jen, her smile vanished. “Oh, my word. You look like you should be in this bed instead of me.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Jen waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. Leaning over, she gave the old woman a peck on the forehead. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you, Ada. You shouldn’t have had to be involved in this.”
This time it was Ada who gave a dismissive wave.
“Oh, I’ll be okay. The doctors say I’ll probably be released in a day or two. I keep telling them I feel good enough to go home now, but you know how they can be with old people. They seem to forget that if we’ve lived this long, we must be pretty tough.”
“You’re definitely that, Ada.”
Ada turned her eyes on Will and motioned him closer.
“I’ve never been properly introduced to you,” she said. “I’m guessing you’re going to be hanging around the building a lot, so it’s about time. I’m Ada Levinson.”
“And I’m Will Anderson.” He held out his hand, smiling. Ada pulled her right hand out of Brandon’s grasp, shook Will’s hand, and took hold of Brandon’s hand again.
“You don’t look quite as bad as Jen,” she said, “but you both look like you’ve been through the wringer. I saw the news. You got him, but it doesn’t look like it was easy.”
“He won’t be hurting anyone again,” Jen said. “That’s all that matters.”
“Yes, I guess it is.” Ada sighed. “Oh, I can’t wait to be out of here and back in my apartment. And when I am, I expect the three of you to come for dinner. That is”—she looked at Will—“if you’ll still be around?”
Will smiled and slid his arm over Jen’s shoulders.
“I will be unless this woman runs me out of town.”
“Hmmph.” Ada raised her eyebrows. “Fat chance of her doing that, don’t you think?”
“I certainly hope so.”
They only stayed a few more minutes as Ada started looking tired.
“She’s gonna be okay, isn’t she, Mom?” Brandon said as they waited for the elevator.
“It certainly looks like it,” Jen said. “Thank God.”
As they rode down, the conversation was all about Ada, but as they stepped through the sliding doors, and Brandon ran off to open the car, Jen looked at Will. She felt suddenly shy but forced herself to ask the question she had to ask.
“Did you mean what you said to Ada?”
“You mean, about being around unless you run me off? I sure did.”
“But what about your job? Won’t you have to go back to Chicago?”
“For a little while,” he said. “But there’s a vacancy in the Cincinnati field office and I’ve put in the transfer request. If that doesn’t go through, I’ll try for Indianapolis or Louisville. Either one would be closer than Chicago. And while I’m still in Chicago, I’ll
