By the time they arrived home three hours later, Paul was spent. The break from reality he and Hope had enjoyed was but a distant memory, obliterated by the more pressing reality of his mother’s deteriorating condition. Naturally, Alex and Jenny wanted to hear everything the doctor had had to say, and after Marion was tucked into bed for a nap, Hope did most of the talking for him.

“Fuck,” Alex said on a long exhale, summing up the situation rather succinctly.

“So what does this mean?” Jenny asked.

“I don’t know,” Paul said. “Maybe it’s time to look into a permanent solution on the mainland.”

The comment was met with resounding silence.

“We knew it would get to this point eventually,” Paul said.

“Yeah, but we didn’t think it would be this soon,” Alex replied.

Jenny took hold of his hand, cradling it between both of hers.

“If I may…” Hope said.

“Please,” Alex said. “Speak freely. You have to know by now how much we value your opinion.”

“While the doctor painted a rather dismal picture, none of it is going to happen tonight or tomorrow or even next week. We can keep doing what we’ve been doing for the time being while you explore your options.”

“That’s true,” Jenny said. “It took two years for her to get to this point. The next stage isn’t going to happen all at once.”

Their comments brought a small measure of comfort to Paul because they were right.

“Let’s get through the wedding, and then we’ll start to look for places on the mainland,” Paul said. “We can take turns going over to visit her. We’ll figure it out like we always have since this began.”

Ethan, who’d been watching a movie in Paul’s room, came bounding into the room, looking for his mother. He’d been clingy since she returned, which Paul could tell she loved. She scooped him up onto her lap and put her arms around him, kissing every part of his face that she could reach. He squealed with pretend outrage, but he loved the attention.

“I’d better get him home to start his homework,” Hope said. “We can talk more about all this after the wedding.”

“Thanks so much for everything today,” Paul said with the warmest smile he owned. “You saved me in there with the doctor.”

She returned his smile, but he noticed it didn’t quite reach her eyes the way it normally did. “I’m happy to do anything I can to help.”