Chapter 5: Chapter 5 NOT GOOD AT GOODBYE

Scarlet and Stephan walked up the steps to the front door, Stephan hissed as Scarlet’s grip on his hand tightened. They had spent fifteen minutes in the car with Stephan trying to coax her out of it. She was nervous and something about the visit didn’t feel right to her.

“Relax, just breath.” He kissed the top of her head and knocked on the door.

“We don’t even know if they still live here.” Scarlet was nervous and was looking for any excuse to leave.

Scarlet took a few quick deep breaths as she waited for the door to be opened. She didn’t recognize the woman who opened the door, but there was deep sorrow in her eyes.

“I’m looking for Mrs. Cooper. I’m not sure if she still lives here-,” she looked up at Stephan wondering if he was a confused as she was.

“She does. They both do.” She rubbed her palm over her eyes.

“Is there a chance that we can talk to them?” Scarlet noticed the tears she was trying to hold back.

“Sure. I’ll just get her for you.” She closed the door behind them and went up the stairs.

Scarlet and Stephan were alone in the living room. There was a somber mood in the house, something she didn’t understand. The bright room was filled with wall-to-wall pictures of the coopers. Kayla’s grandmother always insisted on adorning her house with things her children and grandchildren made. This was a happy home, so the mood it now had confused Scarlet.

“Something is not right here,” Scarlet whispered. She could hear someone breathing heavily from the floor above them; it was like they were struggling to catch their next breath.

“Maybe they are just resting or something. One thing I noticed is humans don’t like Mondays very much.” Stephan was trying to downplay her anxiety.

“I’m not imagining this. This house is usually noisy and packed with people. Kayla’s grandmother and mother are never usually in their rooms. They are in the kitchen or here entertaining guests.” She hadn’t spent a lot of time with them, but every time she had come here with Kayla, her grandmother usually had visitors rolling in with each minute.

“You may be worrying yourself for nothing.” He squeezed her hand.

“No I’m not-,” Scarlet’s thought broke mid-sentence. She stood up when she heard the wooden stairs beneath their feet. The uneven breaths were getting closer and closer.

“Stephan.” She whispered again and grabbed his arm.

Iris and the other woman walked around the corner into the living room, between them was Nana Cooper. They were holding her up, supporting her. She was pale and looked weak, like the second they would release her she would crumble to the ground.

Scarlet’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. She dropped Stephan’s hand and slowly walked towards the frail old lady.

“Hi, baby.” Nana Cooper’s voice cracked. The smile on her face stood out from every other feature on her body. It wasn’t saying the same thing her eyes were.

They eased her down into the armchair closest to them. She stretched out her arms, inviting her for a hug. Carefully Scarlet leaned into them acknowledging how brittle she looked, even if she was a complete human she was sure she could break her in half.

Scarlet slowly pulled away and smiled down at her, trying to hide the concern and fear in her eyes. “You look beautiful Nana.”

“That’s what I have been telling her. Hi honey.” Iris embraced her.

“Hi, Iris. You didn’t have to bring her down; I could have come up to see her.” Scarlet pointed out the unnecessary trip she made down and the other that she would have to make back to her room.

“She insisted.” From the tone in her voice, Scarlet knew whatever the old lady was ailing from was serious.

“I had to get out of that room, and seeing you was the perfect excuse.” Nana Cooper took her arm and pulled her beside her.

Scarlet leaned down next to her and as hard as she could she tried to put a smile on her face.

“So where is my baby?” She croaked once more.

Scarlet looked at her once more, she didn’t know if she could lie to her this time. She swallowed the lump that had been forming in her throat and stared blankly at her.

“She’s working.” Stephan put in.

Scarlet sighed in relief, she had forgotten he was there but he had once again come to her rescue.

“Who is this handsome man?” Nana leaned towards her ear and whispered.

Stephan got closer to them, a smile on his face.

“This is my husband.” Scarlet stretched her hand to him. She was introducing him as her husband for the first time. Kayla’s grandmother was like her grandmother, so it was important for her to like him.

“Husband? Why didn’t you call us for the wedding?” Kayla’s mom shook his hand.

“It was a spur of the moment thing. She didn’t know we were getting married until the day.” Stephan filled them in on the impromptu wedding.

“He is very persistent and didn’t want to risk me saying no to him.” Scarlet smiled up at him.

“It is time that you and my baby started your own families. But I can’t imagine any man who would be willing to put up with Kayla’s headstrong nature.” Nana joked.

“She has found that someone.” Scarlet had promised Kayla that she wouldn’t divulge anything about her life, but this seemed important to her Nana.

“I hope that I will be able to meet him before I die.”

Scarlet crouched at her knees; she was fighting against the emotion building up in her chest. “Don’t say that. You will outlive us all.”

“Oh honey, I have outlived my purpose in this world. I just want to see my little girl happy before I bow out. Tell me about this man she is seeing.” She tried to navigate the conversation away from her impending death.

Scarlet wanted to give her what she wanted. She was an unselfish woman who always worked towards other people’s happiness. Now it was her turn to get something back.

“You will she is flying in tomorrow night.”

Stephan cleared his throat, his way of telling her that her lie would probably not work out well.

Scarlet ignored him, she was determined and if she had to she would fly to Washington and drag Kayla to her grandmother’s side. “Let me just go and call her.”

She rose quickly to her feet and walked out of the house. She didn’t want an audience as wrangled with Kayla. Scarlet could hear someone coming up behind her; she knew it wasn’t Stephan because the footsteps were too light.

“She needs to come home now. Her grandmother needs this time alone with her before the rest of the family start trickling in.” The desperation in Iris’s voice was evident.

“She’ll be here,” Scarlet assured her.

When she was alone she quickly dialed Kayla’s number.

“Hey Scarlet how is it going?” she was asking about how her family was.

“You need to get here as soon as you can. Your grandmother isn’t well.”

“What? What’s wrong with her?”

“She is sick and your mother is worried.”

The line was silent for a while. “Ok, I’m taking the next flight out.”

“That is great. Please come with Solara and SJ, tell the twins to hang back we don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“Ok, ok.”

The line went dead. Getting Kayla to come up and see her grandmother was easier than she thought it would be. She walked back into the house and crouched at Nana’s feet once more.

“She’s on her way.” She smiled up at her.

“Thank you.” Nana cupped her face and with her thumb, she gently stroked her cheek. “I need to lie down.”

Iris and her cousin went to her side to lift her, but Scarlet reached out for her before they could. It would be much easier for her to carry her to her bed without causing her any discomfort. But she had to find a way to do it and still look normal.

Scarlet supported her on one side and Iris went to her other side. Slowly they helped her back up the stairs and to her room.

When Scarlet came back downstairs, Stephan was on the phone with the airline.

“I’m on hold. They are trying to see if they can change their tickets and get them a flight out today. Solara and Kayla can take the twins’ tickets.”

Scarlet nodded in agreement. She couldn’t say anything; everything else was inferior to the situation going on in the house. She checked on the sick old lady every fifteen minutes, at times she felt that she was making sure she didn’t slip away before her granddaughter arrived.

That night Stephan and Scarlet spent the night in Kayla’s old room. Scarlet struggled against her sleep, she wanted to be awake once Kayla arrived and part of her was still keeping watch. But after a while, she gave up and slipped into a siesta.

Stephan took her place, listening to Nana’s breathing and her exhausted heart pumping blood through her body. He could hear how tired she was and how she struggled to hold on to life. He hadn’t known any other love besides the one he felt for Scarlet and SJ, not until now.

Kayla’s grandmother wanted to see her granddaughter.

That night was longer than usual for Stephan. He was watching over both his wife and Kayla’s grandmother. At the break of dawn, he was there to receive Kayla, Solara, and his son. He didn’t think about how they were going to explain SJ to the two humans.

Kayla walked into her grandmother’s bedroom, she could see everything, hear everything and it broke her heart. She sat at the foot of the bed and watched her grandmother sleep, a feeling of guilt washed over her. She thought of the time that she had wasted avoiding her family instead of spending as much time as she could with them. Now she didn’t have much time to spend with the woman she considered her second mother.

Her grandmother was the only connection she had with her father and whatever love he didn’t give her, her grandmother was more than happy to. She had betrayed her and now she didn’t have enough time to make it up to her grandmother.

Kayla could see what she was dreaming and hear the silent pleading to God at the back of her consciousness.

“Nana. My sweet Nana.”