Hilda really ought to take a good look in the mirror before playing the childhood-sweethearts card with Jasper.
Grandma Nora stared at the scattered photos on the floor. Her vision blurred, darkening at the edges, and her legs nearly gave out beneath her.
Then, without warning, Vivienne's voice shifted to something soft and coy.
"Jasper, you're finally here! This woman barged in out of nowhere, throwing her age around and making a scene. She keeps insisting you're her granddaughter's husband."
Grandma Nora forced her clouded eyes open as wide as they would go. She shifted her stiff body, and the moment she saw Jasper, she reached for him on instinct.
"Jasper, dear."
But this man who had once sat at a hospital bedside holding Hilda's hand and promising to love her granddaughter for the rest of his life now stood frowning at the old woman. "What are security doing? How did they let someone like this in?"
He stepped on the photo beneath his shoe.
"Get her out. My wedding is in a few days. I won't have some stranger ruining Vivienne's mood."
He turned to leave. Behind him, something hit the ground with a heavy thud, followed by a chorus of screams.
Jasper's pupils contracted. He whipped around.
He moved toward her on instinct, but Vivienne caught his arm.
"Careful, Jasper. What if she's faking it to shake us down for money?"
A few employees wandered over to check. Vivienne tugged at Jasper's sleeve, her voice a playful whine. "Come on, just let them call 911. That's enough."
"Unless you're really staying behind for Hilda's sake and leaving me here alone?"
Jasper shook his head immediately. "Of course not."
He took Vivienne's hand and smiled. "Let's go. It's the birthday girl's day. The sky could fall and I wouldn't leave your side."
That day, Hilda had been like a lost child. She didn't know where Grandma had gone or what had happened. She didn't understand how the old woman who was supposed to be discharged that morning was dead by afternoon.
All Hilda remembered was how bright the hospital lights were, so bright the hallway blurred. She ran after the stretcher, legs burning, the taste of blood rising in her throat.
She collapsed to her knees outside the operating room, desperate for a shoulder to lean on for the first time in her life.
By the time she realized what she was doing, the call to Jasper had already gone through.