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Cameron
A couple of weeks later, I wait for the train to arrive at the PATCO Speedline stop. A crowd of people starts coming up from the lower train level, and I spot Hattie’s spry gait behind a young family. When she reaches me on the other side of the turnstile, we hug.
“Hattie, I’ve missed you more than you can imagine.”
“I’ve missed you, too, my dear boy.” She stretches up and pats my cheek. “I can’t wait to see Shirlene and the baby. How are they? Has Shirlene fully recovered from almost drowning?”
“I’ll fill you in, but first, how are your granddaughter and her children?”
“Everyone survived my visit.”
I guide Hattie toward the elevator, but she gives me the stink eye. We take the stairs to the street level and go around the corner toward my place.
“Was your flight back okay?” I ask.
Hattie slaps my arm. “Why are we making this small talk, Cameron? You’re worrying me.”
I take her hand and squeeze it. “Hattie, we’re going to talk in a minute. There’s my apartment coming up.”
Once we’re inside the building, I walk toward the studio apartment in the back. Aimee hasn’t moved in yet, and it will provide us the privacy we need to talk. I hope I don’t have to hold Hattie back from going up to my apartment and strangling Rain.
Hattie pauses in the hall. She observes the stairs. “Shirlene said you live on the second floor.”
I open the studio door. “Hattie, we’re talking down here.”
Her hands flutter to her throat. “Shirlene’s not here, is she?”
Hattie begins to collapse. I dash to catch her before she hits the floor. When I lift her tiny body up into my arms, she seems to weigh as little as Arlene.
“Hattie, are you all right?”
She hasn’t passed out, but she buries her face in my shoulder as I carry her into the one-room apartment. There’s no furniture yet, but Mrs. Haddad and her husband have set up a card table with two chairs. They’ve left a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of cookies.
“Can you sit?” I ask.
“Yes.”
I set Hattie down in one of the chairs and pour her lemonade. She takes a hankie out of the handbag dangling on her thin wrist and dabs at her eyes.
“What happened?” she asks.
I take a seat in the other folding chair. “When I thought that Shirlene had nearly drowned...” It’s difficult for me to say this out loud. “Rain took her body back. I’m very sorry, Hattie. Shirlene is gone.”
Tears stream down Hattie’s cheeks. “When we talked on the phone, you said Shirlene was going to be all right.”
“It was Rain pretending to be Shirlene.”
“Bitch.”
I agree but remain quiet. Hattie clutches her purse to her chest for a shield and cries silently. Seeing her mourn brings tears to my eyes. My efforts to compartmentalize my grief disintegrate. I wonder how Arlene, Hattie, and I will ever move past this loss.
“Please forgive me, Cameron.” Hattie’s intense stare unsettles me. “I knew. I knew, and I didn’t warn you.”
I don’t appreciate the sound of this. “What are you talking about?”
Hattie sets down her purse and takes my hands in her tiny ones. “Before the near drowning, Shirlene called me. She told me Rain was talking to her.”
My stomach tightens. “So it’s true—Shirlene hid this from me.”
“I insisted she had to inform you about what was going on. I threatened to tell you myself. That’s why I left the message for you.”
I gently pull my hands from Hattie’s. I don’t intend to upset her, but my head is spinning again. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth when I called you?”
Hattie dabs at her eyes with her hankie. “You’d just rescued who we both thought was Shirlene from the ocean. I didn’t want to put more on you. But most of all, I thought Shirlene should be the one to tell you she was considering giving her body back to Rain. I had no idea it had already happened.”
I shift in the chair. “I wish you had told me, Hattie, because Shirlene was acting withdrawn for a couple of weeks before I found her—or the person I thought was her—floating in the surf.”
“I’m so sorry. I really should have told you everything. Maybe Shirlene would still be alive.”
“There’s more?”
Hattie’s eyes well up again. “Yes. The reason Shirlene was considering letting Rain have her body back was because Rain had convinced her Stan and Danny needed her.”
I fly out of the chair. “But they’re dead. Arlene and I are alive. We’re the ones who need her.”
“I do as well. But I suspect what took Shirlene away was her need to confront Stan. There was too much unresolved between them after his deathbed confession.”
I stride to the window. “Shirlene left me for Stan. Clearly, she still loved him and not me. But Arlene. How could she leave her daughter?” I wipe my wet face.
Hattie blows her nose.
“You don’t happen to have another handkerchief, do you?” I ask.
“No, and I’ve soaked this one.”
I notice a roll of paper towels on the kitchen counter. I flip on the faucet, splash cool water on my cheeks, and blot my face dry. “We are a fine pair, aren’t we?”
A tiny smile plays at the corners of Hattie’s mouth. She takes a sip of lemonade. “Shirlene also asked me to draw up papers putting her assets in a trust for Arlene with you as the trustee. I did it, but she never had the chance to sign.”
I need to be closer to Hattie, so I sit again. “Then why would she give up her body before signing them? If she chose to protect Arlene and make sure that Rain didn’t obtain control of the house and financial accounts Stan placed in Rain’s name, why didn’t she wait to go back?”
“We’ll never know.”
“Hattie, I’m grasping at straws here, but don’t you think Shirlene would have left me a note if she meant to leave?”
Hattie sighs. “I’m not sure.”
“But there’s hope.”
Hattie, who usually sits up straight, straightens herself even more. “Hope for what? Rain forced her out? Shirlene didn’t really want to go? Where does that leave us? She’s gone.” She wipes her eyes. “There’s nothing to hope for, young man. We need to let go of hope, which is nothing but a slippery slope, and we must grieve.”
I wipe another tear from my face. Hattie is right. Shirlene is gone. The baby cries in my apartment above us. Hattie’s face lights up.
“Arlene is ready to see you.”
“But is Rain up there?”
I nod.
“I can’t meet that woman.” She makes a tiny fist. “I’ll punch her lights out.”
“I’ll bring the baby down. Wait here.”
I take the steps two at a time. When I reach the nursery, Rain is wearing earbuds and sleeping. Arlene coos from her crib. I quickly change her, warm a bottle, and go back down to the studio apartment.
Hattie opens her arms the moment she sees our little peanut. “Oh, my girl. I missed you so much.”
I pass the baby to Hattie, along with the bottle.
“Let’s see my big girl drink this all up.”
As I watch my daughter cuddled in Hattie’s embrace, I try to pretend everything is normal. My weird normal. Raising my brother’s child and loving a ninety-year-old woman in the body of my brother’s girlfriend. Crazy, but it worked. Now I can’t figure out how anything will work.
“Cameron, time got away from me out in Washington State. School is back in session, isn’t it?”
“Yes, school has started, but I’m on a leave of absence.” I sit at the card table. “Do you remember Aimee, my former fiancée?”
“The vocalist.”
“Yes. Well, she had a stroke.”
“So young. I’m sorry.”
“She’s in rehab right now, and she’ll be living here in this studio where I can take care of her.”
“So you had to leave your job?” Hattie shifts Arlene in her arms.
“I can finish feeding her.”
“Hands off, Daddy. She’s all mine. Go on.”
“I took a family leave, which meant I had to write on the form that Aimee and I are engaged again. It was the only way to move the paperwork ahead.” I lean back in the chair. “I’m not sure how Aimee will feel about it.”
Hattie knits her brow. “Why haven’t you told her?”
“Because she has aphasia. She can’t communicate. I don’t want to upset her and have her unable to communicate her feelings. It’ll frustrate her at this point.”
Hattie plunks the baby’s bottle down on the table. “The poor woman.”
I rise and pace around the tiny apartment. “The physical therapists have gotten her to raise her chin as a response. It’s a little unclear because it sometimes seems to mean yes and other times no. Aimee has also started grunting in reply to us, but obviously, she can’t function on her own.”
“So you’ll have Aimee down here and Rain and Arlene upstairs.” Arlene burps. “Good girl.” Hattie cradles the baby in her lap. “You’re managing a lot. Tell me how I can help.”
“Thank you, Hattie.” I stand next to her. “The Haddads are being amazing, as usual. They’re renting this studio to me for about half what they should be getting, because I’m not working.”
“Let me help with that.” She kisses Arlene’s nose.
“Only if I need you to. Right now, I’m all right.”
“It’s a shame you can’t use Shirlene’s house.” Then Hattie asks, “Does Rain have any idea that Stan’s new will gives her access to Shirlene’s property and assets?”
“Hell no. I haven’t told her.”
“Let’s keep it that way. We have to come up with a way to force Rain to sign everything over to Arlene’s trust.” Hattie begins to cry again. She hugs the baby close. “I don’t know what I’ll do without Shirlene.”