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“What are you doing here?” I felt bad as soon as the words came out of my mouth. These were his grandparents, too. I didn’t want him to feel like he didn’t belong.
“We found out what happened. Billy was going to come but I insisted. I hope that’s okay.”
I couldn’t read Hank, so I had no idea what he was thinking or feeling but this was probably the most he’d said to me and I was ecstatic.
“Of course, it is.” I wiped my eyes, not wanting him to think that I was upset about my grandmother’s condition. These tears had nothing to do with that.
“Um, do you want to go back and see her? Grandfather’s not here but—”
“I didn’t come to see her.”
I blinked up at him in confusion. “You didn’t?”
“No. I came for you.”
“You did? Why?” Had Cash told him what happened between us?
“You’re my sister and I didn’t want you to be alone.”
His words weren’t flowery or overly sentimental, they were better than that. They were real. They were honest. They were love. At least the love that I’d always wanted in my life. The sort of love that made you not be alone in times like these.
Without thinking about it, I threw my arms around Hank’s neck and cried against his shoulder. I cried for the childhood I’d lost with my brothers. I cried for the loss of my mom. I cried for the years that I’d lost with my biological father. I cried and I cried and I cried. And Hank held me and let me cry.
And just as I was starting to pull myself together I heard a staunch voice say.
“Let go of her. Now.”
I jerked out of Hank’s arms and found my grandfather standing in the doorway of the tiny waiting room.
“Grandfather, no! This is Hank.”
“I know who he is. He’s James Comfort’s son,” his voice was dripping with disgust. “And if you ever want to see a dime of the money you think you have coming to you you’ll walk out of this hospital and never come back.”
That was it. That was the straw that broke my back. I’d had enough.
“Yes, he is.” I stepped in front of Hank. “And he’s also Sabrina Comfort’s son. Guess what that makes him, your grandson. He’s your blood and he’s never done anything to you, but you treat him like he’s dirt on your shoe. Why? Because you have money? Do you think that makes you better than him? Well, guess what? You are not better than him. Because Hank, is a real man.
“Hank takes care of his family. He loves his family. He took care of your grandsons when you abandoned them. He raised them, when you and Grandmother turned your backs on them. And now you want to hold our mother’s money over his head like you have some sort of leverage. That’s disgusting. You didn’t even know my mother.
“She left you the second that she could, and she never looked back. And you know what? I used to wonder how she could do that because all I ever wanted was to have a mother and father and she had them and left. But now I see. I see how she could do that.
“I don’t know where the hate in your heart is from. If it’s fear or just plain ignorance, but I do know that it has made you miss out on the greatest joy in this life. Family. Because you could have had an amazing one, and now, you have no one. No one. And you only have yourself to blame for that.”
I walked out of the room and felt Hank following behind me. We didn’t say a word as we took the elevator down to the parking garage. We didn’t speak at all as he opened the passenger’s side door of what I assumed was his rental car and I got in.
It wasn’t until we were heading onto the highway toward the airport that I turned and asked, “Do you think that was too much?”
“It was just enough.” A wide smile spread on his face. “Mama would have been proud.”
Other people had told me that, but hearing it from Hank mattered.
I sat back against the seat basking in that compliment when he said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I couldn’t imagine what he could be apologizing for. He’d come all the way up here so that I wouldn’t be alone.
“For…being so distant from you. I just, I miss her and you look exactly like her. It’s not an excuse but it was hard for me to be around you and I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t have to apologize!” I rushed out. “I’m sorry that…that I look like her.” I finished lamely.
