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Katherine was dozing off, with Troy sitting reading a magazine by her father’s bedside. Her mother was stretched out beside her on the cot, trying to get a few winks of sleep. A slight groan caught her attention, and she looked up to find her father staring at her, fully awake.
She leaned over and punched the nurse's button.
“Hi, daddy,” she said, as Troy leaned over to shake her mom awake.
“Casimir,” her mom said, leaning over her husband with a loud sob.
“What happened?” He asked, with the most confused look on his face.
“You had a brain tumor, daddy,” Katherine stated gently.
“What?” He asked as the sad and distant look on his face grabbed at her heart. He looked so small, and the massive wound on the one side of his head captured his attention. As he ran a hand gingerly along the stitched surface, he realized the truth.
“I remember saying some crazy things,” he said, staring at Katherine and then her mom.
“Maybe a little honey,” her mom said, trying to let him off the hook. There would be time for discussions about things said and done, but now it was the time to heal.
“We have time for that later,” Katherine said, as the nurse walked in with a doctor on her heels.
“We need to do an exam,” she said to all those gathered in the room. “If you could give us a few.”
“I’d like to stay,” Katherine heard her mother’s request with the nurse and doctor nodding with approval.
“We will be just down the hall,” Katherine said, as Troy followed her out.
“Do I know that boy?” She heard her father ask her mom, but Katherine closed the door before the answer was given.
“Oh, you will have some explaining to do,” Troy said, teasingly.
“I might make you face that man on your own,” Katherine whispered as they walked farther from the door down the hallway.
“If that means you want me to talk to your father about my intentions of trying to date his daughter,” Troy added, “I might be inclined to agree.”
“Oh really,” she said, and rose on her toes and kissed him gently on the corner of his mouth. “Last time, he threatened you with a shotgun.”
“There is that,” Troy said, with a look as if he would reconsider his position. They came upon a group of chairs, “I think we should sit for a minute,” he said, with a deep inhalation.
Katherine felt her body react to his tone, and her pressure rise a bit. She truly hoped it wasn’t more bad news, because after the last two weeks she didn’t think she could handle it.
“I would love to ask your dad when he is feeling better for permission to get to know you better. I wish to date and eventually marry you, Katherine, but I want something to be clear first,” he said.
“Alright,” Katherine squared her shoulders, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“You know that I was injured pretty bad a while back, and I am healing in small measures each day. There are times, though, when I need to refrain from interacting and seek solitude with my thoughts. I go to the bench by the river and just sit. It’s a sort of meditation I do. Call it talking with God, or maybe just communing with nature, but I find I need that to continue my path toward recovery. That doesn’t mean I don’t adore spending time with you or all my friends at the ranch.”
She chuckled a bit.
“What?”
“You know there is a scripture that talks about just that, a time for everything in Ecclesiastes. One of the lines is a time to embrace and a time to refrain, and Pastor Necome preached about it a couple of years ago. Solitude in ourselves and not others. Finding the quiet to figure out things for ourselves truly and embracing others when the time calls for it. That balance is God-given and even dictated in scripture.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, “You never cease to amaze me, Katherine Grazinski. I just want us to be completely honest with each other always.”
“Agreed, so I better get to telling you my truth,” she said, as solemnly as she could without cracking a smile. “I might have been drawn to you from the first moment I saw that ruckus of a hairdo of yours. You just made me want to know you, and I can’t explain it.”
“You dig the curls, huh?” He teased.
“Maybe just a little,” Katherine grinned from ear to ear, as a noise caused her to turn suddenly.
Her mother was running towards them, “He’s fine, and they said another couple of days, and they think he can go home,” she said, out of breath.
“That is amazing,” Katherine exclaimed, jumping up to grab her mom in a big bear hug. Her mom held out her arm, and Troy joined the compact group in celebrating the good news.
Katherine had never felt such an overwhelming level of joy in her life. Her father had come back to them unharmed, healed, and hopefully able to carry on as he once had. She was grateful and so happy, the tears that walked down her cheeks were signs of her internal relief. It was all going to be okay, and maybe better than that, she thought as she glanced up into Troy’s eyes.
