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Lula
“Nan,” Lula said softly, entering her room carefully the next day. Dom was right behind her, gripping her hand. She was grateful for it. “How are you today?” She held her breath. Nan hadn’t been lucid for over a week now and every day this was getting harder.
Her grandmother looked up from her chair with shining eyes and smiled. “Lula.”
She let out a breath and felt tears of relief pushing against her eyes. She rushed forward and threw her arms around her. “Nan, it’s so good to see you.” She kissed her cheek.
“My goodness, Lula,” she said as Lula held her face in her hands, “you act as if you haven’t seen me in years.”
It felt as if she hadn’t. “I missed you,” was really all she could say.
“I missed you too, dear,” she said softly and looked over her shoulder at Dom. “And who is this handsome fellow?”
Lula blushed, stood, and drew Dom forward so she could introduce him. “Nan, this is Dominic Adams.” She gestured toward each in turn. “Dom, this is thee Beverly Stanley.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” he told her, his voice so kind and genuine that she thought she might burst as he took her grandmother’s hand and kissed her cheek.
Nan smiled and took his face in her hands. “Well, aren’t you the most handsome thing I’ve ever seen?” She looked over his shoulder to Lula. “I like this one.”
He chuckled and settled onto the sofa with Lula to visit, curling his fingers around Lula’s as if it were a habit.
They sat in the small room, the afternoon sun pouring through the windows, and chatted about everything. Nan was especially interested in everything about Dom. They talked about his teaching, his family, his research ... she was clearly smitten. Just like her granddaughter.
As they sat there, Lula felt something she hadn’t felt before. It was the warmth of family she had felt at Dom’s childhood home. And she had it right here, with just Nan and Dom.
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Dominic
Dom thought Nan was possibly the best grandmother on the planet. She was funny, smart, sharp, and mildly flirtatious. He could see why Lula loved her so much. And also where she got her endlessly attractive personality.
“That girl is my everything,” Nan told him when Lula left to use the restroom an hour or so later. Her eyes never moved from his, and her face was so serious that the entire mood in the room changed. It made his heart stop.
“And I ...” she continued, struggling to speak through the emotion. Tears shone in her eyes. “I’m all that she has. I’ve been hanging on, Dom, hanging on to make sure that she has someone to watch over her.”
He took her hand and her fingers curled tightly around his. He nodded though he had no idea what she was going to say.
“What I’m trying to tell you is that my time is coming.”
He paled and shook his head. He was about to tell her no but she stilled him with a smile.
“It is,” she squeezed his hand, “and I’ve made peace with it. I miss my daughter and my husband, and it fills me with great joy to think of seeing them again.”
Her eyes watered and dropped for just a moment. “But ...” She brought her eyes back to his. He felt it reverberate through his soul.
“Lula,” he said quietly, understanding dawning on him. “You’re hanging on for her.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek. “She’s lost so much in her short life and I can’t bear to see her alone. I promised ...” Her voice cracked and she took a moment to recover. “I promised her mother I would always watch over her.”
Looking at the struggle in her face, knowing the pain of loss she must be feeling, the sense of impending death, the hope of seeing her lost loved ones. Dom spoke before he even understood what he was going to say. He just knew without thinking that it was the right thing to do. “I don’t know what Lula and I are to each other yet,” he said softly, “but no matter what, we’ll always be friends, and I promise you that whatever life decides for the two of us, I’ll make sure she’s safe and taken care of. Loved.” And he knew he would, even as the words came out feeling foreign in his mouth.
She drew in a quick breath. “I can’t ask that of you,” she said, shaking her head.
He stilled her by squeezing her hands in his. “You didn’t,” he pointed out. “I am accepting the responsibility of my own accord, and I swear I will watch over her whether she wants me to or not.”
Another tear slipped down the woman’s paper-thin cheek and her lips trembled. “Thank you,You have no idea ...” She trailed off, unable or unwilling to complete the sentence.
But he understood, without her finishing, he knew what she was trying to say and, for now, he didn’t think about what it all meant, about how he had just cemented his role in Lula’s life one way or another. He didn’t have time to wrap his head around how appealing the prospect was.
All he knew was that he couldn’t look at this dying woman and not grant her wish. He would make good on that promise; he would protect Lula until the day he died, even if she wasn’t a part of his life.
He was stunned at how bleak a life without her seemed.
“Am I interrupting something?” Lula asked, coming back into the room. She was smiling, clearly happy they had made a connection. Jesus, she made his heart do all kinds of crazy things.
“Just an old lady enjoying the company of a handsome young man,” Nan answered, deftly recovering. “I hope you don’t mind, dear, I don’t see many of them these days.”
Lula laughed. “I forgive you, Nan. I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself too.”
“I bet you do,” Nan said with a twinkle in her eye. Her face suddenly looked softer, less lined. As if his promise had taken years of crushing weight away.
When they left that night, after the hugs and kisses and “I love you’s,” Dominic made sure he held onto Lula’s hand tightly as they walked to the car. He knew it would only be a couple of days before Nan left for good, and knowing how much pain his beautiful girl was going to go through gutted him.
“She’s an amazing woman, Lu,” he told her as he opened her car door. “You take after her in all the best ways.”
She absolutely beamed at him and it tugged at his heart. “Thank you.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m so glad you got to meet her. Now I’m not sure if she’ll even want to see me if you aren’t with me.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, I’m just eye candy, it’s you who she loves more than life.”
Lu smiled and slipped into the car.
He shut the door with that lump still pushing in his throat. Had he done the right thing? Should he have said nothing so that she would hang on longer? He didn’t know; all he knew was that he would absolutely, without a doubt, make sure Beverley Stanley’s last wish came true.