“Of course, I can!” Dax shouted. “I want to know how my grandmother is!”
“Sir, I cannot legally give you that information over the phone since I do not have signed consent from the patient,” the woman said in a voice designed to soothe the frantic next-of-kin. “But if you come down to the ER, the doctor will be able to talk to you.”
Dax hung up and texted Geo to have the car at the entrance as soon as possible. We ran down the ramp toward the parking lot and jumped in the backseat of the Navigator. We held hands as Geo swiftly drove us to the ER, dropping us off at the entrance. Dax exited the vehicle, leaving the back door wide open, and I followed, trying to keep up with him, but he broke into a dead run and left me in the dust.
When I finally caught up with him at the nurse’s station, the nurse had requested his ID as the doctor rounded the corner and motioned for us to follow her. Dax tossed his driver’s license at the woman on the other side of the counter, and followed the doctor. She stopped outside a room with a curtain over the window, and said, “Mr. Connor, I’m so sorry, but your grandmother was in severe cardiac arrest when she arrived here. We did everything we could to try and revive her, but after 45 minutes, we were unable to bring her back. If you would like to see her, I can let you spend a few minutes in the room with her before we have to move her down to the morgue.”
Dax looked like he wasn’t quite aware of what was going on, so I nodded and said, “I think he’d like that, doctor. I know I would.”
The doctor slowly opened the door and allowed us in. Gram lay on the gurney under a cool, white sheet. I couldn’t quite process the fact that she was dead because she looked like she was sleeping peacefully. I looked up at Dax and saw that he was frozen in place. Tears were welling up in the corners of his eyes, but none of them fell. I reached out to take his hand, but he shook me off and moved toward Gram and bent down to kiss her cheek and whisper something I couldn’t hear into her ear. He laid his head on her chest and closed his eyes, and after a few moments, he straightened up and said, “We need to go check Gram’s turkey and pies. She’ll be mad if they burn and can’t be eaten.”
I thanked the doctor and told her we’d call the morgue later to make arrangements. As we walked back to the Navigator, Dax reached out and took my hand. He said nothing, but I could tell what was going on in his brain just by the way he squeezed my hand.
Chapter Forty-Three
Dax
It was an odd mix of joy and sorrow, but Gram taught me well and so Payton and I drove to her house and made sure that all the food she’d gathered was distributed, and all the people who’d been invited to dinner were fed. When Gram’s death hit the next morning’s papers, the press went wild. The Storm had beaten the Vikings and while the many columns celebrating the win, others detailed my grandmother’s life and mourned our loss.
I was numb, so Payton stepped in and took care of all of the funeral arrangements, and on Monday we were sitting in the front pew at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church listening to the priest who had known Gram for more than 50 years recall her life in a way that made us glad we’d walked the earth with her. All of the Storm players turned out, and the eight strongest defensive linemen carried Gram’s coffin from the church to the waiting hearse. It was a beautiful service and I knew Gram would have been happy to know so many people were going to miss her, but she would have also been distressed by the fact that her neighborhood teenagers would no longer have a place to hang out
and talk about the challenges of growing up with someone who loved and respected them.
After we buried Gram next to Pop, Payton and I headed back to the penthouse. I smiled gratefully at the beautiful woman who’d so unexpectedly changed my life. I felt sad and angry that Gram wasn’t going to get to enjoy the success of the Storm or see how things turned out with Payton, but I also knew that there were tradeoffs in life and that no one lived forever. I was just grateful I didn’t have to do this part alone.
The lawyer read Gram’s will on Wednesday. Since I’d hired the firm who drafted the will and had listened to Gram debate the best way to dispose of all of her things, there were no surprises. The lawyer said he would make another attempt to find my mother and father, but since they’d been out of touch for so long, he wasn’t optimistic that he’d find them. I signed off on all of the papers and then asked Payton to join me in bed.
She curled up next to me in my bed in the master suite, and lay there breathing softly as she waited for me to speak. My thoughts were spinning a mile a minute, and I couldn’t stop them long enough to pick out the ones I wanted to focus on so I lay there holding Payton and gently stroking her hair until I fell asleep and dreamed of the summer evenings when Pop would sit out on the front porch smoking his pipe and Gram would bring out a tray of lemonade and cookies and we’d sit and talk until the stars came out and Gram shooed me off to bed.
Chapter Forty-Four
Payton
I did my best to comfort Dax as he worked through the loss of Gram, and I felt a huge hole in our lives as we moved through the rituals of mourning and tried to get ready for the next game between the Storm and the Saints. When Sunday rolled around, Dax and I were up early and at the stadium hours before the fans were scheduled to be let in. There were a few groundskeepers doing last minute maintenance work on the Storm logo in the end zone, but aside from that, the stadium was silent and empty.
“She loved being part of all of this,” Dax said as we walked out on to the empty field.
“She loved you and she loved being part of your life,” I said reaching out to twine my fingers through his. I could feel the weight of his loss and I, although I’d suffered my own losses, I didn’t know how to ease the pain he was feeling in any way except to be near him. “You brought her so much joy, Dax.”
“She loved you, too, you know,” he said, looking over at me. I swallowed my grief, and nodded as I squeezed his hand. He pulled me into his arms as he whispered, “I think she knew I was going to be okay.”
“I’m sure of it,” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around his waist. I knew that grief had a tendency to push people toward feelings that, under normal circumstances, they might not ordinarily feel. It happened to me after Daddy died, and I knew it would be a mistake to get caught up in an emotional whirlwind brought about by loss, but I also knew that during the months since Dax and I had signed our contract, things had changed. I wasn’t sure what this meant in terms of our future, but one thing I was certain of was that he was a good man.
“Do you think we’ll win today?” he asked. I chuckled at the abrupt shift in the conversation.
“I’m certain of it,” I said, leaning back so I could look up at him. “We’ve got the best team in the league, and they’ve got Gram on their side. How could we lose?”
“Well then, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” he said leaning down to give me a quick kiss. I took his hand and together we climbed to the top of the stadium.
Several hours later, we sat chatting with the Storm guests in the skybox. The room was full of people who’d known Gram and Pop, and Dax had had a photo of his grandparents framed and hung on the wall above the bar. I’d quietly asked the bartender to make a Manhattan and find one can of PBR to set under the photo, and when Dax saw the tribute, he’d smiled.
Before the game started, the Storm players took the field and stood in a long line, holding their helmets while the stadium announcer read a statement they’d written. “The Storm would like to acknowledge the passing of Eleanor Connor, owner Dax Connor’s grandmother. She was their biggest fan and most ardent supporter, and she will be missed. Today, the Storm would like to dedicate the game to her memory and would ask that their fans donate to the library fund they’ve set up in her memory. It was an honor and a privilege to know Gram Connor, may she rest in peace.” As the announcer finished, every member of the Storm team raised his helmet toward the bright-blue December sky and looked upward as the fans burst into applause and jumped to their feet.
“See? How could they lose?” I whispered as I turned to see Dax staring out at the field with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
The game was an exciting matchup between two extremely competitive teams, and the Saints proved to be formidable opponents. During the first half, the Storm scored two touchdowns and the Saints quickly tied the score each time. At the half, both teams ran off the field into their respective locker rooms as the crowd roared. At the start of the second half, Nick sent Johnny Riggs back in, but when he took a hard hit late in the third quarter, he was quickly replaced with McKenzie. The two quarterbacks bumped fists as they traded places, and I watched as McKenzie took control of the huddle and called the play.
The Storm pressed forward toward the goal line, but the Saints stopped them before they could get within scoring range. Neither team scored in the third quarter, and as the fourth quarter drew to a close, it looked like the game would end in a tie. On the sidelines, I could see the defense huddling together as McKenzie and his offensive line took the field for the last time. As they settled into formation, the defensive players formed a circle and began clapping in rhythm as they repeated a cheer we couldn’t hear up in the skybox.