Chapter 34

"Dammit."

"I get that you're mad."

"Mad?"

"You have a right to be."

I laughed as I combed my hands through my hair. "I've been living in his house for almost two months and you'd think he'd take the time to tell me he had a daughter that he'd known about for twenty-five years? Hell! At any point in my life, he could have told me."

Chase approached with caution and wrapped his arms around my middle. I instantly deflated and sank against him. It was impossible to be so worked up in his presence. He'd finally fallen apart in the waiting room and I was amazed by how quickly he'd slipped that mask back on, but he'd been wearing it for years. Would I ever get to a point that I'd be able to turn off my emotions like that? Did I want to? I hated that he could.

I finally pulled my phone from my pocket and made the phone call I'd been dreading since we got to the hospital. At least he wasn't dead, but this responsibility was the worst. I didn't want to be the one to tell everyone that Uncle Drew had another close call. But it was better than the last time when I couldn't respond at all. At least I was there.

"Mom?"

My mother was instantly on high alert when she answered. "What happened?"

Explaining things to her was easier than I expected. She was much more calm than I was. While we were on the phone, she'd gathered Dad and Aiden and had them loaded into the car to start their drive south before we even hung up. She promised to take over calling the rest of the family and that Dad would be the one driving.

After hanging up, I couldn't bring myself to go back into the room yet. I grabbed Chase's hand and pulled him to the elevators. "Where are we going?"

"I need to eat something. Or do something. I don't know."

He nodded and trailed behind me wordlessly. We followed signs to the cafeteria and grabbed little individually wrapped sandwiches and sat at a table to eat them. The bread was dry and I probably should have looked for condiment packets, but it all seemed fitting. A shitty sandwich to end what should have been an amazing day.

"I'm sorry."

Chase tilted his head to the side and studied me as he chewed his bite of food. "Why are you sorry?"

I set my meal down and grabbed my head, frustration washing over me in waves. "Because today should've been special."

He laughed, little breadcrumbs spraying from his mouth. "You mean dry-ass sandwiches in a hospital cafeteria aren't special?"

I groaned and looked at him from between my fingers. It was nice to see a smile on his face, to know that today hadn't messed with him too badly. At least from what he was showing.

"I never imagined that saying I was in love with you would end with getting a call that my uncle had a heart attack."

Chase laughed harder now. "I mean, it's a little funny, if you really think about it."

"How is it funny?"

"Oh Chase, I love you so much! It has so much impact that it almost kills someone."

When he put it that way, I did have to laugh about it a little. Something had to give about today.

We hung out in the cafeteria until my family arrived. My mom came running to me and wrapped me in a tight hug before turning and freezing when she spotted Chase.

"Chase?"

"Hi, Mrs. Grant."

It was at that moment that I realized that my whole family must have known about his parents because she flung her arms around him and pulled him in for the most ridiculous of hugs. She rocked him back and forth and petted his hair while he mouthed the words ‘Help me' over her shoulder.

Aiden stood by my side, and we laughed at the theatrics of the situation. When Mom finally let go of Chase, she looked him up and down before giving him a smile. "I'm glad to see you again. Nathan hasn't been giving you too much trouble this summer, has he?"

Chase laughed and shook his head. "If anyone has been giving him trouble, it's been me."

Aiden made a vulgar motion, like someone giving a blow job, and I shoved him. He doubled over in laughter, and I showed my parents how to get to Uncle Drew's room. On the way there, Mom asked if he'd still been smoking. I told her about the few times that I'd seen him doing it, but that it wasn't like back when I'd been growing up and he'd go through a pack or more a day.

"He shouldn't have been doing it at all."

I sighed. "I've told him that. But he's not going to listen to me."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Drew never listens to anyone."

She pushed open the hospital door and froze when she spotted Gabriella, who stood from the chair in the corner. She was the only person who looked out of place, but now that I knew the secret, I could see the small bits of resemblance between her and my uncle. They had the same color eyes, and she had a dimple that popped on only the right side whenever she smiled. Maybe those were insignificant things to some people, but they were traits that mattered when you were related to someone.

The room was silent as the world's most awkward staring contest continued.

"Drew?" Mom asked as she looked between her brother and Gabriella. I wanted to laugh because this was probably the worst time for the family to learn about this secret.

"Would you relax, Casey? She's family." Drew waved her off and Gabriella sat back in the chair quickly. She shifted in her seat, watching as everyone filed in. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off. The tension was so thick that one false step and everything would explode.

"Should I..."

"Nonsense." Uncle Drew cut off Gabriella before she could try to make her escape.

Yeah, things were about to get real interesting up in here for my family. Welcome to the Grant/Morris gang. We were all sane once. It left back in 2019 before the virus came and wiped out a majority of everyone's sanity.

Mom sat on the edge of her brother's hospital bed and reached for his hand. The IV made it hard for her to wrap her fingers all the way around it, but she still tried. "Now tell me, what the hell happened this time?"

Uncle Drew's laughter was broken up with coughs. His eyes were droopy by the time it all passed like he was ready to go to sleep. The doctor hadn't been kidding when he'd said that Uncle Drew would be weak. "Nothing crazy. Gabriella gave me the wrong cough medicine and when I tried to go back to work this morning, I was too damn stubborn to listen to my own damn body."

"You can't give regular cough medicine to people with high blood pressure." Gabriella shrank back in her seat when everyone's eyes flipped in her direction. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress and looked out the window as if it would rescue her from their scrutiny.

"And who is she?" Mom asked.

The hush that fell across the room was almost deafening. The term ‘You could hear a pin drop' wouldn't even cover it. You could hear that pin drop from three miles away, it was so damn quiet.

Gabriella stood and straightened her dress before standing next to the bed. "I'm Gabriella Murphy."

"Murphy? Wasn't that the last name of that girl you used to have a thing for a long time ago?" Mom asked, looking at her brother. Her eyes searched his face as he looked up at his daughter.

"It sure was."

It was like it all clicked into place at that exact moment.