Aunt Sara nodded, her eyes wide with fear and worry.
"Of course, I will, Cary," she said. "Yes. All of us will do what we can to help him understand, won't we?" she asked, turning to me. I smiled.
"Yes, Aunt Sara. Did you eat anything, Cary?"
"I had a candy bar. Got it from the machine in the hospital.'
"Oh. Well I kept everything warm for you, Cary," Aunt Sara said. "Just sit and I'll get you a plate."
"I'm not hungry, Ma."
"Of course you are, especially after the day you've had," she insisted. "Now," she added when he opened his mouth, "if you expect me to tell your father what to do, at least listen when I speak to you," she said.
Cary laughed.
"Okay. Let me just call Roy and see about the repairs on the boat. I have to give Dad a report before he goes to sleep, too," he said and went to the phone.
Afterward, May and I joined him at the dining room table and watched him eat. When Aunt Sara went back into the kitchen, he leaned over to whisper to me.
"He's bad, Melody, cranky and meaner than ever. He swears he's going to sneak back on the boat first chance he gets. I told him I wouldn't go out then and he fumed at me for a good half hour until I calmed him down. When I first got there, he accused me of not checking the oil before I took out the boat. I always check the engine, Melody," he assured me. "I know what can happen out there," he said.
"I believe you and I don't know why he wouldn't."
"It's just his condition, I guess. It makes him ornery."
"Well, he should be just the opposite. He should be pleased and proud he has a son who can step in during this emergency and keep the business going. I'll tell him, too," I threatened.
"No, please. That's all I need, him thinking we were conspiring against him while he was ill."
"He thinks it of me anyway, Cary."
"No, he doesn't," Cary said, but I saw the way he dropped his eyes quickly.
"What did he ask you about me? Come on," I urged. He started to look up and reply but Aunt Sara returned. When she left again, I repeated my question. Reluctantly, he answered.
"His brain is all jumbled from the heart attack, I'm sure."
"Come on, Cary."
"He wanted to know if you were spreading stories about him and your mother. I told him he had to be hallucinating-to think of something like that and he got so mad at me, I had to leave the room for a while. That's when I met his doctor and heard what was going to happen. Can you think of any reason why he would ask me that question?" Cary asked, his gazed fixed on my face.
"No," I said quickly. What Uncle Jacob had said to me in the CCU was never meant to be repeated. It was as sacred as a dying person's confession to a priest. I had no intention of uttering a word of it, ever.
Cary shrugged and returned to his dinner.
"That's why I said he was hallucinating," he muttered. He eyed me scrupulously as he chewed his food and I turned to May and asked her if she wanted to play Chinese checkers.
Before we rose to go into the living room, I told everyone I was going to visit my grandmother tomorrow. Aunt Sara stopped clearing the dishes.
"Oh dear, is that wise, Melody?" she asked.
"Very wise," I said. "I like her and she likes me. We have to get to know each other before it's too late."
"Yes, I suppose you do," Aunt Sara said, "but I'm sure Olivia--.
"Has nothing to say about it," I chimed in quickly.
"Oh dear," Aunt Sara said. "All this commotion at once. Oh, dear." She hurried back to the sanctuary of her kitchen.