“I need you to go upstairs,” he said.
“This is my house, too.”
“Yes. And we will deal with that properly. Right now, my mother needs space, and you’re making excuses.”
“You’re choosing her over your wife?”
“I’m stopping this conversation.”
Sarah searched his face, found no opening, and left the kitchen. Her steps were quick until she reached the hall. Then they slowed, each one suddenly audible.
Elena stared at the soup.
“The guests—”
“I’ll cancel.”
“They’ll want an explanation.”
“They can survive without one tonight.”
He switched off the burner.
That small movement undid her.
She bent over her hands, trying to make the first sob silent. Her son knelt again, but he did not pull her toward him.
“Can I hold you?”
She nodded.
He put his arms around her carefully, keeping pressure away from her side. For a long time, neither spoke.
When Elena finally lifted her head, she said, “I thought maybe you’d asked her to tell me.”
His eyes closed.
“No.”
“You’d been busy. She said you needed your life back.”
“No, Mom.”
He repeated it until she looked directly at him.
“I wanted you here because I wanted you cared for.”
“You asked whether I was comfortable when she was standing beside me.”
He absorbed that without defending himself.
“I did.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you in front of her.”
“Then next time I ask you alone.”
“There shouldn’t have to be a next time.”
“You’re right.”
He brought her water and called the number on her discharge instructions. He described the pain without exaggerating it, then handed her the phone so she could answer for herself.
An examination was arranged for the following morning. Until then, she needed rest and help, not another evening on her feet.
He wrote down the instructions.
Elena watched him put the pen beside the medicine chart.
“I don’t want to sleep here tonight.”
“All right.”
He did not ask her to reconsider.
While he packed her things, Elena called her younger sister, Ruth, in Georgia. She had been avoiding that call because Ruth knew her silences too well.
“Can I come home for a while?”
