Chapter Twenty Three
It was after 11:00 a.m. when she opened her eyes again. This time her head was a lot clearer. She remembered where she was and all the events leading up to the tea. As sleep was oozing away from her mind, she remembered Janet and their conversation. Oh, yeah. She remembered why Brian wasn’t going to be there, too.
A somewhat familiar voice asked with a chuckle, “Well, are you finally awake, Sleeping Beauty?” A very prim older lady got up from the arm chair on the other side of the room and made her way to her. In a matter of fact manner she said, “I apologize for being here unannounced, but they let me in when I told them that I was your grandmother. I hope you don’t mind.”
Marci’s eyes widened and she sat up quickly as she asked excitedly, “Grandmother Barton? Is that you?” Without waiting for an answer, she began to swing her legs off the bed in an attempt to stand up.
Annette rushed over and cautioned her, “No, no, no. Don’t try to get up right now. Give yourself some time to wake up.” As she got close to Marci, she couldn’t help but cry. As they embraced she declared, “Oh, my sweetheart, my sweetheart. I have always dreamed of meeting you one day.” She suddenly leaned back from their embrace and grinned real big before saying, “But I never thought it would be under these circumstances.”
Quickly she gave Marci and extra precious hug before completely letting her go and admitting, “Then again, it doesn’t really matter at all. I get to see you is….I get to see you.”
A few tears had stolen their way down Marci’s cheeks also. She agreed, “Yep, I get to see you is I get to see you. After all these years, God let our paths cross.” The expression left her face immediately as she continued, “Although the circumstances aren’t the best in the world.”
“Yes, it would have been better if you had ever known your father before……the crash,” Annette began as she looked down at the floor. “But, then again, maybe not.”
Marci looked at her grandmother with a surprised look on her face as she asked, “Uh….how did you know I was in here?”
Annette twirled her finger in the air as she tried to pronounce the name, “Mrs. Pretrodu.. uhm..Peterski…what’s her name?”
“Mrs. Piatrowski?”
“Yes,” she answered, “her.” Annette looked her in the eyes and Marci knew that something heavy was weighing on her heart. “I called to talk to you privately about a couple of things that I didn’t want Dennis to hear when we come down to see you this Saturday. When I called the college someone put me through to her. She told me about the brave thing you did yesterday and she told me your room number.”
“Miss Hensley?” spoke a voice from the door.
“Come in.”
Janet peeked through the door and said to Annette, “She finally woke up, huh?” Then to Marci she asked, “Are you ready for something to eat? I can bring you breakfast or lunch, either one.”
“I’m not exactly hungry right now,” Marci answered. “But I could use a good cup of coffee. Grandmother, would you like something?”
“Coffee would suit me just fine.”
“Coming right up, then.”
Marci suggested, “Why don’t we drag those arm chairs closer so I can get out of this bed. Too much sleeping has made me stiff.”
“I can understand that,” Annette replied while helping Marci get her chair situated.
Janet surprised them as she returned in less than two minutes with two coffees, the sugar and the cream.
Annette was quick to notice, “That’s the fastest service I have ever seen in a hospital. And, I’ve worked in several in my lifetime.”
“Oh, really,” Janet asked as she set a small table between them, “how long?”
“A little over thirty years, young lady, I’m a retired RN.” Annette answered with a chuckle.
“Wow. I’ll be you’ve got a lifetime of stories you could tell, huh?” Janet asked on her way out. “Call me if you need me.”
Annette took a good sip of hers before she started, “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Marci.”
“About being a nurse?”
“No, not exactly,” she started. “After your mother broke off her engagement to Sanders, I did a lot of praying. I’ve never been one for going to church all the time and I guess I should have, but I thought I had a good reason not to.” She took another sip and continued, “When I retired several years ago, I had a lot of time to just think and pray. We-e-l-l-l, how do I get started saying what I want to say.”
Marci looked at the face of her grandmother and could tell something was weighing very heavy on her heart. It would have been the wrong thing to interrupt her thought process by asking her anything. The best she could do was sit quietly and let her grandmother sort it out.
Annette looked up and said with a smile, “I guess the shortest way to say this is that I whole-heartedly believe that my son never had what it took to be a good husband or a good father.” She watched Marci’s face to see if anything sank in.
Marci shook her head and said, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
Annette sighed deeply and explained, “I had high hopes for his marriage to Leslie. Yes, she was younger than he was but she worked for the racing team that Sanders drove for. It sounded like a good idea. Naturally, since they worked together, they would have more time to spend together. But, even with that, Sanders hardly paid any attention to her. We had all hoped that when little Dennis came around things would change but they didn’t.
“Now, I’m not the best Christian in the world, but I began to ask the Lord for a few answers. One day, it all came to me. The truth is we trained Sanders to be the way that he was. You see, Jack, my late husband, was on the road every week as a truck driver. I was an RN when we married, so I worked for the local hospital. He got all wrapped up in his truck on the weekends and I thought that every person close to death in that hospital needed my personal attention. When Sanders came along, he should have been the focal point of our lives. Instead, he became more of a distraction. But, we had money and we could afford all kinds of day care for him. We bought him everything he wanted but gave him none of what he really needed. What he really needed was a momma and a daddy that showed how much they cared.
“I can only guess how he treated your mother by the way he treated Leslie. It wasn’t until their marriage was falling apart that I finally realized that he was treating her the same way that Jack and I treated each other. Then it dawned on me that we had raised him to be that way.”
Annette reached over and squeezed Marci’s hand. When Marci looked up she saw that she was crying, “Oh, Grandmother, please don’t cry. It’s alright.” Annette held her hand tightly as she sobbed softly.
Without loosening her grip she managed to say to Marci, “No, it’s not alright, Honey. If Jack and I had spent more time with him as a mother and a father,” she lifted her head up to look at Marci with a sweet smile, “I could have spent my days spoiling one of the prettiest granddaughters a gal could ever have.”
Marci couldn’t hold it back. She lifted her grandmother’s hand to her lips and kissed it gently before holding it to her cheek. Silently they sobbed together for a few moments. Something in Marci stirred and a love bond was being cemented into her life. She knew that she would have to keep in touch with Grandmother Barton from now on. More importantly, her insides told her that she needed to be the proper sister to her little brother.
She had always envisioned herself as the white-frocked doctor in some chemistry lab. There she would be meticulously searching for the life-secrets that would help others live out their days a little healthier. But, her grandmother’s confession, ‘I thought that every person close to death in that hospital needed my personal attention’ hit home to her. In a moment of time, her heart longed to spend time with her grandmother. Even greater than that was the responsibility she now sensed toward her little brother.
The thought suddenly hammered into her spirit,
‘Oh, my gosh, I have a little brother.’ His profile picture on Facebook suddenly popped into her mind. His freckles and disarming smile with his two front teeth missing brought a sudden giggle that came within an ace of startling Annette for a moment.
Marci’s face lit up as she gushed, “It’s hitting home to me, Grandmother. Just when I thought I was alone, God has enriched my life with you……and one of the cutest little brothers in the world.” She giggled a little louder as she apologized, “I’m sorry. It’s just the joy….well... way down inside just….oops, is it wrong to say that he’s the cutest little brother…..ever?”
Annette chuckled at her as she answered, “Honey, he is cuter in person than he is in that picture. Just wait ‘til you see him. But watch out. He is a charmer. He’s bound to wrap you around his little finger.”
Marci was still wide-eyed at the thought as she stated, “I don’t know…I guess I’ll just have to wait and probably…….just let him do it.”
They were laughing at their own silliness when Janet came in with Marci’s lunch tray and apologized, “Oops. Hope I’m not disturbing anything. Here’s your din-din.” She put the tray on the table and quickly left.
Annette looked at her watch, “Oh, my goodness. I’ve got to go so I can pick up Dennis from school. It’s a two hour drive, you know. But, before I go, you need to know something else.” Without waiting for a response, she continued, “Leslie and Sanders had been dabbling in drugs just like the others in their crowd. When Sanders got killed a couple of weeks ago, she began to hit them hard and heavy. A-a-a-n-n-d, she took a bad combination and is now in a hospital for God knows how long. Health and Human Services has put Dennis in my custody since she is unable to care for him.”
She looked at her straight in the eyes as she finished, “But he’s six and I’m sixty-eight. When he’s eighteen, I’ll be eighty. I’m really wrestling about putting him up for adoption to some nice, Christian couple. He doesn’t need an old lady to raise him, not that I wouldn’t do everything I could. I would most certainly give him all the love and attention I could. But, Marci, he needs more than that. He needs a Godly daddy to show him how to treat a Godly momma right. And, I can’t do that by myself. Honey, I need all the prayers you can send up for me right now.”
They stood up to hug their good-byes. “I will Grandmother,” Marci promised as she gave her one last hug. “Are you still bringing my baby brother to see me Saturday?”
“I sure am.”
“Well, I’ve got your number and I’ll text you with the address.”
With a mischievous twinkle in her eye she asked as she headed for the door, “Why? I spent two years there many moons ago on my way to becoming an RN. Mrs. Petro……Mrs. P told me that nothing has changed on that part of the campus. I’ll find you.”
“OK, then I’ll see you Saturday.”
"We'll probably get there about two o'clock," her grandmother said as she he walked out and closed the door firmly behind her. Marci sat back in her chair and thought for a moment. The faint fragrance of her grandmother’s perfume still lingered in the air. What her grandmother had said was etching its way onto her heart. There was so much truth to what she said.
The more she thought about what her grandmother had said, the more the truth began to feed another starving part of her soul. He needs a Godly daddy to show him how to treat a Godly momma right. She began to see her life in a different context. She was so glad that she was in a quiet hospital while God was dealing with her. If she had been at the crazy dorm right now, God wouldn’t stand a chance of talking to her like this. It all helped her to know that God’s timing is ALWAYS impeccable.