Read Here in My Heart: A Novella (Echoes of the Heart) for Free Online Page A

shouldered his bag.
    “It’ll take me two trips to get everything into my Jeep,” he said, keeping up the positive vibe between them. “And I want to shower first. Those pads always make me feel like I’m sizzling in a roaster, even in November. I’ll be a few minutes behind you.”
    He left, turning his back on the things he’d wanted to tell her for years. Things that didn’t matter tonight. He walked out of the gym and toward the men’s locker room, ignoring the impulse to explain how far he’d come since she’d really known him.
    She still wanted space. He threw his duffel onto the bench beside one of the curtained-off showers. He wasn’t heading to his childhood home until he was sure distance was exactly what he could give Dru.

Chapter Four

    “Can I get you something to drink?” Dru asked half an hour later.
    Brad still hadn’t made it to his grandmother’s house. Which meant Dru was the only one staring at Horace Baxter as if he’d lost his mind.
    The distinguished lawyer with the carefully trimmed white beard sat in an overstuffed Queen Anne chair in the Douglas parlor. To his right perched a still-regal-looking elderly woman, hooked up to the perpetual IV of pain medication and fluids she’d been prescribed at Harmony Grove.
    “I think vodka is in order.” Vivian’s tone was as self-assured as ever. Her words were strained, but crystal clear.
    She seemed smaller somehow, propped up on the cushions of the red velvet couch that had always dominated the overdecorated room. But even in the loose gown and robe Vivian had worn for her trip from the hospice center, she’d accessorized with the pearl earrings and necklace that were her trademark. Her vintage purse sat on the table at her elbow. Her crazy collection of cuckoo clocks ticked perkily on the walls around them, still marking time. Two days ago, Dru had promised to keep each one going after Vivian moved to her room at Harmony Grove.
    “Vodka should mix just fine with your morphine drip.” Dru headed for the kitchen to pour her benefactor a glass of water from the filtered pitcher in the fridge.
    “The nurse said to keep myself comfortable until she returns to fetch me.”
    “Comfortable, Vi.” Horace’s drawl was flawless Southern gentleman. “Not comatose. If being here is hurting that much, we should think about—”
    “Dying slowly hurts,” Vivian said. “The rest is just melodrama.”
    Her trademark honesty made Dru smile, even as she lost her grip on the water glass, barely keeping it from crashing to the ground.
    “Shoot!” Water seeped into her sweatshirt and dripped onto the floor at her feet.
    “Want a hit?” Vivian asked. When Dru returned with the glass, Vi was stroking the IV line running from the pole beside her to the veins in her hand, as if she were petting a cat. “You’re as nervous as a deer on the first morning of hunting season.”
    “The girl’s worried about you,” Horace said. “She didn’t expect you to be here to—”
    “To deal with my own business?” Vivian coughed. The scratchy sound had grown progressively rougher over the last month. She took the glass of water from Dru. “To deal with my own grandson? It’s still my life, even if my days are numbered.”
    “But why put yourself through this so late in the day?” Dru asked. “Brad could have driven to the hospice center hours ago, instead of coming to the Y first. You and Horace would have already finished with him, and you could be resting.”
    “Except I wanted to see you and Bradley together. Getting myself here on the sly, my dear, was the only way I could be sure I’d have you both in the same place at the same time. I knew you’d see my grandson safely here if you thought I was too ill to deal with my lawyer myself.”
    “So you lied.”
    “I’m entitled to a final manipulation or two, before I kick.”
    “Yes, you are.” Horace’s tone had grown suspiciously gruff. He walked to the couch and sat beside Vivian. He