“Sure, blame me for your inability to wait. It must be my fault.”
“I will.” His face grew closer and she lifted her mouth for a kiss.
Before their lips met, however, the sound of tires on gravel and Wes’s voice calling out to them, broke things up. “Gross! Can’t you two get married already so you can start fighting like normal adults?”
The engine turned off and Tia peeked around Danny’s shoulders to see Wes getting out from behind the wheel and Mona emerging on the other side. Wes still had a twisted view of marriage, a relic of his parents’ breakup, and the unfortunate demise of his own brief foray into wedlock.
“You two are so cute together,” Mona called.
Tia sighed and pulled out of Danny’s embrace, but took his hand. She looked over and saw Samantha helping Tristi up the stairs on the playground so they could go down the little plastic slide. Nerves ran through her as she thought of what was still to come that afternoon. Would things go smoothly or would it be a complete disaster?
The others arrived a couple of minutes later, Ron with Glena and Rose with Lisa. They talked for a moment while Danny opened the wheelchair for Rose. Lisa came over to introduce them.
“Mom, this is my friend Danny, and his fiancée, Tia.”
Danny smiled at Lisa. “Good to meet you both.”
Tia chuckled in embarrassment as she realized she should have done introductions already. Lisa hadn’t met anyone else there. “Sorry, I’m falling behind in my duties.” She introduced Tia and Danny.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lisa said. Then to Danny, “It’s good to finally meet you.”
“Same here.”
“My, you’re a tall one, aren’t you?” Rose asked, staring up at Danny. “And handsome, too!”
Danny grinned at her. “I am pretty tall, yes. Do you need some help moving to the wheelchair?”
“Only a steadying hand, if you don’t mind.”
“No problem.” Danny handled it like the pro he was, and in a moment had her seated comfortably in the chair. “Anything else you need or are you good to go?’
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
Rose turned and studied Tia. “Now, you look so familiar, honey. Have we met?”
Her stomach felt like it might revolt, but Tia smiled at the woman who had given birth to her. “Not yet. My name’s Tia. Lisa tells me you like to watch my cooking segment on the noon news.”
“Oh, Tia Riverton! I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you. I love watching you!” Rose took Tia’s hand between hers, warmth and excitement radiating from her face. “You’re such a beautiful girl. You remind me of myself at your age.”
Tia smiled, charmed and relieved, though she still felt nervous and a little uncertain about the afternoon. “Thank you. Would you like to meet the rest of my family?”
“That would be nice. You did bring something delicious for lunch, didn’t you? Where I live, we get lots of mashed potatoes and mushy vegetables.” Rose pulled a face.
“Yes, I have some really yummy choices, nothing mushy in the bunch. Come on.”
She turned and stopped short when she found Glena standing only a few feet behind her. “Grandma, let me introduce you to Lisa and Rose Lowell. Ladies, this is my grandmother, Glena Parry.” Tia hugged her grandma. “How are you doing today?” she asked once pleasantries were exchanged.
“I’m fine, child, but I don’t know why we had to take such a long drive to meet here.” She tugged her shirt, smoothing the wrinkles.
“I wanted to have Lisa meet with us, and she lives in Columbia. This is a nice park, though, isn’t it?” Tia put an arm around Glena’s shoulders and started leading her back to the pavilion where Samantha still hung on Wes, and Tristi played a game of got-your-nose with her grandpa.
“How old are you, dear?” Rose asked Tia as they moved on.
“Twenty-eight,” Tia said.
“Really? Did you know that Lisa is twenty-eight too? She’s my February baby. I hoped to have her on Valentine’s Day, but she insisted on arriving on the seventeenth.”
Glena stopped and turned to look at Tia, then continued around to stare at Rose, and then at Lisa. Her eyes narrowed and she asked in a low, shaky voice. “I thought you gave up on this, Tia.”
Tia pressed her lips together and guided her grandma away from the others, calling out that they should continue to the pavilion without her. “Grandma, I told you I had to have answers.”
“Answers? Why? You have a good family, lovin’ parents. Me! Even a sweet hunk of a man who loves you—why you have to go lookin’ for somethin’ that doesn’t matter?”
“I needed to know.” Tia stared at Glena. “I’m sorry you aren’t happy about it, but that’s the way it is.” She bit her lip. “How did you guess?”
Glena’s face was pale and her lips pressed firmly together as she sent the strangers distrustful looks. “That Lisa looks so much like your mother, and you and that woman . . . What’s she doin’ in a wheelchair, anyway?”
“She has Huntington’s disease. It’s given her dementia, and makes her a little unstable when she walks. Someone has to walk with her, an arm tucked in hers to keep her from stumbling, so Rose requested the chair today.”
Glena’s face blanched. “She’s sick? Could you get it?”
Tia swallowed, then nodded. “It’s genetic. There’s a fifty-percent chance I’ll have it too.” As always, the mention of her possible future made her stomach tighten in a hard ball.
“That can’t be true, if I’d known . . . the mother was healthy, it was supposed to be perfect.” She mumbled this under her breath, rubbed her forehead and turned away. “Wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Forty-four
Suddenly everything clicked for Tia. “Grandma, please tell me you aren’t responsible for this.” But there was the way she’d fought the search, keeping back the fact that she’d been working in the hospital. And didn’t Mona say her grandmother had sat with her in the nursery for most of the time between the birth and when she’d been returned to the hospital room? Glena would have had ample opportunity, and as an employee, they would have trusted her. The tightness in her stomach grew worse and she felt a little nauseated.
When there was no response, Tia held onto Glena’s upper arm and turned to face her. “Grandma.” Her voice was pleading.
Glena’s face grew angry and moved to the offense. “I had to do somethin’. I didn’t want my son raisin’ her daughter. Bad enough that she’s crazy, worse yet that it wasn’t even your father’s child. And now you.” She reached up, put her hands on each of Tia’s cheeks. “You could be sick like that someday. “ She shook her head. “No. You must have found the wrong family.”
Tia tried to separate everything her grandmother had said. It was almost as if she blamed herself that Tia might develop Huntington’s diseases. As if she caused it, instead of it being the luck of genetics. And what was that about the baby? “Grandma, you thought Mom cheated on Dad and I wasn’t his?”
“Well, she did cheat—it’s what broke them up,” Glena reminded her.
“Yes, but not until years and years later.” Tia wondered if her mother had been lying about cheating earlier. “What made you think the baby wasn’t Dad’s?”
Glena’s face twisted into a hate stronger than anything Tia had seen before. “I seen her cattin’ around with another man. Eatin’ lunch with him, the way he touched her hand, it was obvious there was something between them. A couple of months later she came up pregnant. I knew then her baby was his, not your father’s. I couldn’t let her get away with that, passing some other man’s child off as my son’s.”
Shock had Tia moving back half a step. “Grandma! How could you do that? You had no right—”
“I had every right to protect my son.” Glena slammed the end of her cane against the ground to emphasize her words, light flashing in her eyes. “I tried to talk to him, to tell him about you before you were born, but he didn’t believe it. She turned hi
m against me. She even tried to keep me from seeing you, but your dad wouldn’t allow it. I was angry, so I made the switch. If he was going to have to raise another man’s child, she shouldn’t be allowed to raise her own daughter.”
Tia had to sit down, lightheaded from everything she’d heard. She started moving toward a nearby bench, not sure if she even cared if Glena followed her. “But Grandma, how could you?”
Glena trailed along behind, keeping her voice low enough that the others wouldn’t hear. “They left me alone with the babies. And a few minutes later they brought you in. I’d seen the parents while we waited for Mona to deliver. They were so strong and healthy and happy. I could see it, their love, like me and my Grant when we was young and in love. They looked so healthy and I knew their baby would be perfect. My son deserved something perfect considering who he was married to.”
Tia stared at her grandma, wondering how she had hidden how deeply her hatred went for Mona. “So you made the decision and you changed the bracelets.”
Glena nodded and sat slowly on the bench, wincing slightly as she settled. “I knew they were going on break and I’d have time. The two of you looked a lot alike then.” She turned to Tia, her face imploring. “Are you sure you found the right family? You could be wrong.” She sounded more hopeful than believing.
“No, I’m not wrong.” Tia’s shock started to wear off and she felt the disgust and anger rise inside her. “We did DNA tests. Lisa belongs in this family.”
“But did you check your dad?” Glena’s words shot out louder than before. “Or just that woman?”
“Yes.” Tia clenched her teeth, and stood from the bench, too upset to sit anymore. “We did have Dad tested. In fact, we didn’t have Mom tested at all. We only tested Dad against the girls. So guess what, she is Dad’s little girl, and you kept him from knowing his child. What did you think you were doing, playing with all of our lives like that?”
Glena’s face went even whiter.
A hand on her arm had Tia looking up into Danny’s face and she wondered how much he’d heard. She hadn’t exactly been quiet. Her emotions were getting away from her.
“Is everything okay?” he asked. “Can I do anything?”
“Grandma, she switched us.” The words sounded foreign. How could it be true? Tia shook with anger and confusion.
He turned and stared at Glena. “What?”
Tia pressed her fingers into her temples, then rubbed her face. “We can’t do this right now.” She turned to Glena, who looked even worse than Tia felt.
“It’s my fault,” Glena mumbled. “I chose wrong. I shoulda chose different. So wrong. Thought I was right, but I wasn’t. How could I been wrong? You’re perfect, the best granddaughter I could want.” She kept mumbling, but was no longer understandable.
Tia glanced over at Lisa, who seemed nervous, awkward as she spoke with Ron. Wes shot a few glances in their direction, obviously concerned, but not wanting to get in the middle of it.
“I have to go keep things together.” Tia felt like her life had been turned upside down again. She looked at Danny hopefully.
“I’m sorry.” He brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll stay here with Grandma. You go ease things with everyone else. It’s okay, really.” He pressed a warm palm to her cheek, offering comfort.
“Thanks.” She didn’t want to step away from him, wished she could curl up in his arms for a good hour or two, but she couldn’t. Not right now. There would be time for that later. Now she had to get away from Glena and think about something else for a few minutes, though how she was supposed to do that in the middle of lunch with everyone else, she had no idea.
Tia returned to the rest of the group, still feeling overwhelmed. She moved through the motions of facilitating the conversation, got the food out and helped set up lunch. She saw Danny and Glena sitting with their backs to her, out of ear shot, and tried to wrap her mind around what she had learned.
* * *
When Tia returned to the group, Danny took Glena by the wrist and guided her to a nearby bench. She was still muttering nonsense and when he said her name, she looked up at him with confusion. “Grandma, are you okay?” Danny kept his hand on her wrist, felt her pulse beating against his fingers. Too fast. Even without counting, he knew it was too fast. He checked his watch and counted the beats. One-twenty-two. He couldn’t believe this sweet old lady was responsible for everything Tia had gone through in the past few months, and he felt angry and defensive for her, but he worried about Glena too.
She still hadn’t answered, so he spoke again. “Hey, I know this has been a bit of a shock, can you take a few deep breathes for me? Come on, in and out.” He caught her eye and sucked in a long, deep breath as an example, then blew it out, glad to see her following suit. “Let’s do that again.” He prompted her through a few more good breaths. “Okay, what are you feeling?”
“I made the wrong choice. How could I have known?” the muttering continued.
Danny’s breath caught as he watched her speak. The left side of her face wasn’t moving in tandem with the right and her words were slurred. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.
* * *
“Hey, Danny’s waving at you,” Wes said, nudging Tia.
She looked up and saw the worry on Danny’s face. “I’ll see what’s going on.” She left the group with a backward look at Lisa, but Wes took over the conversation, drawing Lisa in, and Ron seemed to be having a nice conversation with Rose. Maybe their families would work out all right after all. Not that she had any choice now, since her grandma interfered.
When Tia reached Danny, she realized he was speaking on a cell phone. “Yes, heart rate about one-twenty, sagging face and weak arm on the left side, confused.”
Tia’s eyes strayed to her grandmother, and she saw what Danny was talking about. Stroke, she thought. The sagging face told her it could be a stroke, but the thought was too frightening. All of her anger evaporated in an instant as worry took over. She knelt in front of Glena and took her hand. “Grandma, what’s going on?”
More muttering, Glena looked right through her, then seemed to focus and gave a lopsided smile. “You’re sho beautiful. I shaw the muver, knew you be bootiful too, love what you become. You make old lady proud.” The words slurred, and were barely understandable.
“I love you, Grandma. Danny’s getting you some help. We’ll take good care of you.” Everything tangled up inside Tia and she struggled to stay calm and focused.
The sound of footsteps had Tia turning and looking up into her father’s concerned gaze. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Danny hung up his cell phone and put it away. “I think your mom is having a stroke. I’ve called an ambulance.”
“Don’ need ambance,” Glena protested.
Panic filled Ron’s eyes. “Can’t you do something for her?”
Danny didn’t look up, focused on his patient instead. “Just monitor her until the ambulance arrives. They’ll give her oxygen, get her to the hospital where they have clot busters available to help her.” He touched Glena’s cheek. “Grandma, take another deep breath for me, okay?”
She muttered some more, but then paused to breathe.
“Good.” Danny nodded and glanced up at Ron. “If you catch strokes quickly, get them the medication, the recovery is much faster, and much more successful than it used to be. Sit down if you need to, but don’t pass out on me or anything. I can’t deal with two patients.”
Tia noticed how awful her father looked and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the other side of his mother, and pushed him into the empty space on the bench. It wasn’t very big, but it would do. “Come on, Dad, you need to breathe, too.”
“Do you know anything about your mom’s medications?” Danny asked. He alternately kept Ron and Glena busy answering questions until the ambulance turned the corner. Tia flagged them down, relieved her father was starting to look better, act more centered. She was glad she hadn’t told him yet about his m
other switching her and Lisa.
By the time the EMTs had the gurney out, everyone else from the group had gathered around Glena.
Danny looked at Tia, “Get everyone back out of the way.” He turned to the ambulance crew and started giving them a rundown about her medications, surgeries and allergies, according to what Ron had told him.
Tia stood and snatched up Samantha as she cried and ran toward Glena. “Hey, kiddo, let’s get out of the way, okay?” She turned to the rest of them. “Grandma’s not feeling well. Danny thinks it might be a stroke, but they’re going to take good care of her and get her to the hospital. Let’s move back and let them have some room.”
Mona turned to Lisa. “Heart problems, that’s what you’re going to have to deal with. My side of the family doesn’t have heart problems. She always said my family was crazy, but look who’s laughing now.”
That irritated Tia. “No one is laughing, Mom, because this isn’t funny.” Tia gestured for everyone to move out of the way, but as soon as they had cleared out, she turned back to watch the proceedings. Danny helped strap Glena on, said a few last words to the closest crew member, then turned to Ron, who handed him a set of keys.
Danny walked back to them. “Ron’s riding along. I’ll bring his car out to the hospital in a minute.” He pulled keys from his pocket and handed them to Tia. “You take my car.”
Tia turned to Lisa. “I’m sorry you drove all this way to meet us.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re all going to the hospital?” Lisa set a hand on Tia’s arm.
“I’m not,” Mona said, folding her arms over her chest. “The woman hates me, and I’m not going to the hospital for her.”
“Unless you want me to leave you behind,” Wes interjected, “Yes, you are.” He shifted his gaze back to Tia. “Let’s load everything into the cars and head over. Once we hear something from the doctors we can grab a bite in the parking lot if we still have an appetite.” He sifted his gaze to Lisa. “Will you come with us?”
The Switch Page 24