Charlotte rolled her eyes, “Well as long as it’s only a little weird.”
“You don’t have to,” Declan said. “I know it’s asking too much. But it’s getting harder and harder for me to see him.” Declan’s voice choked up for a moment. “I have a feeling there’s not much time left. I keep waiting for my phone to ring and it be one of his nurses telling me he’s gone.”
Charlotte took Declan’s hand and pulled it towards her chest, “My baby. I’m so sorry. That’s so terrible. Of course I’ll go see him with you.”
“Thanks,” he smiled. “It will be different than your last run-in with him. Cancer has humbled his ass.”
Charlotte laughed, “It’s fitting that it would take a terminal illness to humble Henry DeGraff. But God, I hate it for you, Declan. And for him. It’s not right.”
“No,” Declan said. “It isn’t right. But it’s life.”
********
Charlotte couldn’t help but be a little nervous as they entered the DeGraff home. Everything looked almost exactly as it had ten years ago when she’d first come for dinner-though it didn’t seem quite as bright now. It looked a little duller and more somber. The absence of Anna DeGraff was apparent. The mansion hadn’t known the touch of a woman in a long time.
Henry was asleep in his bed in the living room and although Charlotte was used to seeing patients and had done some of her residency at an oncology ward, it was still unsettling to see the once larger than life Henry DeGraff reduced to what looked like almost a skeleton of a man.
“Hello, Mr. DeGraff,” a tiny woman whispered to them across the room. She was replacing IV fluid. “He just fell asleep. He ate a tiny bit though. I told him you’d be here in a moment. He asked for you as always.”
Declan smiled, “Thanks, Marie. And please, Mr. DeGraff is my father. Just call me Declan. This is Charlotte.”
Charlotte stepped forward and awkwardly shook Marie’s hand, “Hello, nice to meet you.”
“Charlotte,” Marie said. “Mr. DeGraff actually mentioned you this morning.”
“He did?” Charlotte looked over at Declan. “I haven’t seen him in years and it was only one time.”
“He had just received his morphine,” Marie said. “Said you were his son’s great love and he hoped you’d find one another again.”
Declan laughed, “Really? That’s funny.”
“Is it?” Marie asked sternly. “Not maybe what a woman would want to hear you refer to it as.”
Charlotte gave Declan the side-eye, “Yeah. What’s so funny about that?”
Declan threw up his hands, “No, no. It’s not funny. It’s perfect. It’s just I mentioned you one-time yesterday and we barely spoke about you. It’s just funny in the way that drugs make you always tell the truth, is what I meant. It’s funny because it’s true. You are my great love.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes, “Nice save, Mr. DeGraff.”
Marie chuckled, “I like Charlotte. She keeps you on your toes.”
“That she does,” Declan said, wrapping his warm around her shoulders.
“He’ll probably sleep a couple hours,” Marie said. “If there’s anything you need to get done today, this might be a good time to do it.”
Declan sighed, “Well, I was hoping we’d catch him before he had his afternoon nap, but I think I have an idea of something that can distract us. Charlotte, I’ll be right back. I need to make a quick phone call.”
“Okay,” she said as Declan walked out into the foyer, his iPhone already to his ear.
Charlotte walked around the living room quietly as Marie did her nurse duties. She wasn’t sure what to say. Charlotte wasn’t great at small talk.
“You make him happy,” Marie said.
Charlotte turned to her, a quizzical expression on her face.
“Declan. Mr. DeGraff’s son. When he first came here, he was very down. No light in his eyes. I thought it was because of his father,” Marie said, folding a sheet. “I think maybe it was because you weren’t here. You’ve tamed him.”
Charlotte sat down in the chair across from Henry’s bed.
“We were together a long time ago,” Charlotte said. “And we kind of met up again by coincidence.”
“You believe in coincidence?” Marie asked.
“Of course,” Charlotte said. “Don’t you?”
“Oh no,” Marie grinned. “My momma used to say that coincidence is just how God stays anonymous.”
Charlotte laughed, “I like that. Maybe so. Maybe so.”
Declan had walked back into the room, “You ready? Marie, we’re going to be back in about two hours. If he wakes up before that, just text me, okay?”
“Certainly,” Marie said. “It was nice to meet you, Charlotte.”
“Really nice to meet you too, Marie.”
********
Declan was driving with the windows down, the smell of the lowcountry filling their nostrils.
“Where are we headed?” Charlotte asked, taking his hand in hers.
“Angel Oak,” he replied. “I’m meeting someone there. Someone who wants to talk to you, actually.”