That grown,elderlyman looked at her as if he had just been grounded. And, no, he couldn’t believe it.
“Did she go to your wedding?” Thelma asked. “Was she there when your daughter was born?” No, she actually had to ask these questions because she hadn’t been to those events.
Robbie muttered something, arms crossed in front of the steering wheel.
“What was that?”
“I saidwhat does it matter?”
Yet he got out with a huff, locking the car as the three of them approached the main entrance of Great Oak Acres.
“Who’s this?” the receptionist on duty asked after welcoming Robbie and Megan by name, as if that was how they shamed the rarer visitors around there. “Why, you look a lot like Mrs. Pearson!” She referred to Debbie’s married name. “It’s the cheeks, love. Actually, you look a lot like…”
As she narrowed her eyes and cocked her head, Thelma froze.Does she recognize me from an old picture in my daughter’s room?Robbie had mentioned that Debbie claimed many of Thelma’s things when they grew up, which might have included her wedding and graduation photos.
Robbie cut in. “This is Thelma. Debbie’s daughter.”
The receptionist, who bore the nametag Carlotta, blinked in rapid succession at the older man standing before her counter. “Debbie has a daughter? That’s new to us.”
Thelma knew she needed to direct this ship before it crashed into an iceberg. “Yes. I’m Debbie and Paul’s daughter. Thelma Van der Graaf. Named after my grandmother.”
“Oh,that’swho you look like! We know all about your grandma here. Debbie’s told us the story of how she went missing so many times. Poor thing. I always wonder what happened.”
A nurse appeared, this one more calcitrant than Carlotta. “What’s up, Car?”
The receptionist addressed her directly. “This is Debbie’s family. Including her daughter! Did you know she had one? She ever mention it?”
The nurse, whose nametag heralded Linda, raised one stiff brow and shook her head. Her hands remained firmly in her cozy sunset-pink sweater she wore over her turquoise scrubs. Curly brown hair was held high on the back of her head as a ponytail bounced with her movements. “Never heard her say anything about a daughter. Considering I’m the one who takes care of Debbie and cleans her room every day…”
Oh, Thelma was ready for this, too. She and Megan had come up with it during aChrononaut & Familyclass. “They gave me up for adoption when I was born,” she said. “Couldn’t take care of me, financially speaking. Of course, my adoptive parents told me about it when I got older, and I managed to reach out to my birth mother, Debbie, a couple of years before I got sick. Now I’m living with my uncle and my cousin, so I thought I could finally come visit her here…”
Robbie glanced between her and Linda, as if he didn’t know this lie would work.
“Cool,” was all Linda said as she motioned for them to follow. “You’re in luck. She just got up from her nap. I’m sure she’d be happy to have some visitors.”
Thelma’s heart thundered in anticipation of what she would see when she finally held her daughter again.How bad is she? Is she gaunt?All of Thelma’s interactions with dementia were through her grandparents, and she was never around them much. Back then, such people didn’t live as long, she garnered.Now they’ve got places like these to keep them alive with some dignity.Maybe. It could always be worse than Thelma surmised.
They were sat at a table in the lounge, where they were instantly surrounded by elderly women whose mouths always hung rictus as they inched forward in wheelchairs and old men who shuffled along the metal grip bars attached to the walls. A large, white cat prowled the hall, purring, growling, and chirping at whoever paid it any attention. Thelma held her green 1950s purse in her lap as she anxiously awaited her daughter’s arrival. Megan was glued to her phone as Robbie’s eyes glazed over while staring into the distance.
“Here they are!” Linda’s voice took on new life as she escorted someone toward them. “It’s your brother, Robbie, and your little niece Megan!”
A woman with no teeth and wrinkles that sagged her whole face down toward her chin attempted to grin. Thelma held back a gasp.That’s not my daughter…It couldn’t be. Even when compared to pictures of Debbie as an adult, this woman lookednothinglike her. Where was the body fat? The chestnut brown hair? Or even the rigid shoulders and perfect posture like she had in all of her photos?
“And I’m told this is your daughter, Thelma.” Linda stood Debbie in front of the table. Megan put down her phone but couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact. Robbie nodded to his sister, sighing. As for Thelma?
She continued to hold her breath, gazing into big blue eyes thatknewher.
“Debbie…”
“Ma?” That was the first full word Debbie uttered when she arrived at the table. “Mama!”
Tears gushed from her closing eyes. Linda steadied her, but Debbie was neither falling over nor running away. Instead, she braced against the chair, mouth attempting to speak in gasping breaths as she reached a wrinkled hand out toward Thelma.
“Mama…”
She wasn’t the only one crying. Despite whatever confusion or discomfort the others might feel, Thelma let her tears flow freely as she pushed herself out of her chair and rushed into her daughter’s arms.
She was thin and frail. But she was Thelma’s daughter. And they embraced like it was a new morning to greet, a new breakfast to be made before school.
