“I intend to be right beside her when she wakes up,” Dillon had responded stubbornly. “The rest of you should go.”
With obvious reluctance, the family had taken him up on his offer to stay. And because Moira refused to leave her grandfather here alone, Luke had stayed with her.
It had been a long night. They’d already consumed more cups of god-awful coffee and stale vending machine junk food than he’d imagined was humanly possible. If they kept it up, they were likely to wind up hospitalized right next to Gram.
Each time Luke had tried to broach the subject of their own differences, Moira had shaken her head and silenced him.
“Not now,” she said. “This isn’t the time.”
“When will be the time?” he’d asked in frustration. It had only earned him another shake of her head.
So he’d settled for sitting beside her, fetching coffee, checking occasionally on Dillon, who was at Gram’s bedside, and letting Moira’s head rest on his shoulder when she risked falling asleep for more than a heartbeat.
Morning light was streaming in the waiting room windows before they knew it. Luke looked up to see Dillon regarding them with a benevolent smile.
“You’re a thoughtful man,” he told Luke.
“I doubt Moira would concur at the moment. She’s annoyed with me.”
“Then perhaps a visit with Nell is just what the both of you need,” Dillon suggested. “She’s asking for you.”
Luke frowned. “Both of us?”
“She insists on it,” Dillon told him. “I’ll tell her you’ll be there in a minute.”
Luke nodded, then gently tried to rouse Moira.
“What?” she murmured, snuggling closer.
“Time to wake up. Gram’s awake and she wants to see us.”
She blinked at that. “You and me? Why?”
“I’ve no idea, but your grandfather says she’s determined to have a word with us.”
Moira nodded and stood, stretching in the slow, sinuous way that always captivated him in the morning…and made him want to crawl right back into bed with her.
“Okay, then,” she said, then frowned at his expression. “What?” Apparently, she noticed a giveaway glint in his eyes, because she said incredulously, “Now? You’re thinking about sex now?”
Luke grinned. “I always think about sex when we’re together.”
“Even here? In the hospital?”
He shrugged. “Can’t help it.”
She shook her head, but there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips as she walked away. They walked down the hospital corridor, which brought back way too many memories of the hours Luke had spent here when Susie had been so ill. He’d hated it then, but at least there had been a good outcome. He hoped this incident would turn out just as well.
To his relief, Gram was sitting up in bed, her cheeks filled with color, her eyes sparkling.
“Well, you certainly did stir things up yesterday,” he teased her as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Oh, you know how I enjoy being the center of attention,” Nell responded. “I just wanted to see who’d show up if they thought I was on my deathbed.”
Luke frowned. “That’s not even close to being funny, Gram. You scared us.” He leveled a look into her eyes. “And it’s not the first time you’ve taken ten years off my life recently.”
She reached for his hand. “I know, darling, and I am sorry,” she apologized, then gave him a stern look. “Don’t think I don’t know that you’re responsible for your mother suddenly hovering over me, either. It was thoughtful of you, but entirely unnecessary.”
“Unnecessary?” Luke scoffed. “Look where you are.”
“That’s not important, except for the fact that it’s giving me the perfect opening to say a few things that I think the two of you need to hear. Perhaps under these circumstances, you’ll actually listen. Moira, come over here, please.”
Luke risked casting a glance at Moira, who inched cautiously closer to the bed. She seemed stunned that she was about to be lectured by a pint-size woman in a hospital bed. He knew better than to try to silence Gram, even though he suspected the bulk of her words were likely to be directed at him.
“Okay, Gram, what’s on your mind?” he prodded reluctantly.
She gestured for Moira to come even closer, then reached for her hand and held it tightly, probably anticipating the moment when Moira would decide to bolt from the room. But even as she clung to Moira, her gaze was directed at Luke.
“Timetables are a fine thing,” she began, “especially for a young man who had no real sense of direction when he graduated from college. But a smart man recognizes when it’s time to let them go, when they’re no longer relevant.”
“But—” Luke began, only to be cut off.
“Let me finish,” she commanded. “You’ve had me as an example that life can be long, that it can be full and rich with love and wonderful memories. Now let me be the example that it can also be entirely too short. Dillon and I have just found each other again. We have a second chance at happiness, but these little episodes of mine are proof positive that we’ve no way to know whether that chance will be for days, months or, blessedly, years. The same is true for you and Moira. You may be young, but life is uncertain. We’re not put on this earth with a timetable,” she said, obviously using the word deliberately.
“I know that,” he said.
“Then act as if you understand the meaning of it,” she scolded. “Seize what’s important when it’s there for the taking. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. There will always be challenges that can be offered up as excuses. What’s important is to understand that love and family are the only things that matter. I know you’ve heard that from me so often that
