Page 87 of Healing Fate

“This way,” I finally said.

The three of them followed closely behind me. A block away, Dad groaned.

“Come on. I know where they’re headed.”

“The nursing home?” Mom guessed.

“That would be my guess,” he admitted.

Sure enough, their combined scent led me in that direction and just before the building came into view, I saw him walking slightly hunched to one side while holding her little hand. The two of them made quite the odd pair.

“Grandpappy!” I yelled as they stopped and turned to me.

“Doc!” Vada smiled and waved.

Lucy ran ahead and grabbed her up in her arms.

“Are you okay? You scared us. You can’t just leave without telling Mommy.”

“Sorry. Grandpappy Doc take me to see Nanny Doc.”

“Nanny Doc?”

“Tabitha, my mate.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, and I knew from the tone of her voice that she had thought my grandmother was dead.

Truth be told, sometimes it was easier to believe she was.

Six years ago, Nanny had taken a fall, causing severe head trauma. Even her wolf hadn’t been able to heal her. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, she’d never even been able to shift and try. She didn’t talk and barely acknowledged us, but in her eyes, I could still see her trapped inside her own body. It made it all the harder to watch as her aging body decayed at an alarming rate.

The hardest part of all was knowing that when her time ended, she would take Grandpappy away with her. It was like a double-edged sword, wanting to end her suffering while knowing how much life and energy was still left in him.

“Are you okay with this?” I whispered to Lucy. “She’s not well.”

I tried to explain without using the words and hoping she understood me. Seeing my Nanny wasn’t easy on any of us, but my concern was more for Vada. She was just an innocent child and while I suspected she’d seen death firsthand before, I didn’t want to subject her further.

“It clearly means a lot to him. It’s fine,” she assured me.

“Come on Vada, let’s go see Nanny Doc,” Grandpappy announced as he took her hand in his and continued on their adventure.

Lucy

Chapter 21

From the way they had mentioned her, I honestly thought the woman was dead. My wolf was still on edge from the adrenaline rush of finding my daughter missing,

Vada was okay though and in a weird way it was sweet that the old man wanted to show her off as his own.

Having a real family was going to take some getting used to.

Lorraine and Mallick had gone way overboard for Vada at their house. I still couldn’t believe they had managed to buy and setup all of that stuff in just a day. It was insane and far more than I would have done for her myself.

After time with the Raglan, things didn’t seem quite so important to me. People mattered more. It was why it had been so devasting when my own family had rejected us the way they had.

Micah’s family wasn’t them, though. I was going to have to constantly remind myself of that, but it was true. I appreciated the efforts they were going to more than I could ever put into words, even if it was a lot.

Micah and I followed Grandpappy into the nursing home. He waved a few people along the way and stopped to introduce Vada to the nurses at one of the stations. It was cute how they all fussed at her.