“I hope not, because I can’t have it any other way. Seriously? I think she knows I’m no longer a child. She’s not a prude.”

“If you’re sure...”

She left her suitcase standing by the closet door. “I’m sure. I’m going to go help her get comfortable and into that bed. Thanks for offering to bring up her bags. Then you can poke around.”

“I might get lost. Grace, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. At least not since I toured Hearst Castle.”

“Come on, it’s not that big. I think it’s under ten thousand square feet.”

“Right. Four houses. I should take a whistle in case I need to be rescued.”

“Don’t tease me about it, okay? I know it’s a lot of house.”

“I can see how something this big can be overpowering,” he said, looking around her bedroom. “I think it’s hilarious that you live in that little loft.”

“And love it,” she said. She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for carrying Winnie up the stairs. That was very gallant.”

“I saw a broken hip in her future if I didn’t. I’ll go get her luggage.”

“When the driver is here, he handles things like that. But he probably hasn’t even hit Eureka yet.”

“Well, you’ve got me. Maybe I’ll come in handy.”

* * *

Grace and Troy had their dinner in the kitchen. A caterer delivered and served gumbo, linguini, bread, tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella. Virginia took Winnie a tray and Mikhail joined her, leaving Troy and Grace alone.

They ate in silence while the caterer closed up containers and left them on the work island in the big kitchen to be placed in the refrigerator after they’d cooled. When she left, Grace put down her spoon. “This place isn’t going to work for my mother,” she said. “I admit, I was being a little selfish when I said we should find her a place near Thunder Point—I didn’t want to leave my shop, you, my friends...I knew this house was too big, the furniture and stairs difficult for an invalid, but until now I didn’t realize how right I was. This isn’t a good place for her now.” She shook her head. “If she doesn’t fall getting in or out of that bed...”

“You can’t leave her here without nursing help,” Troy said.

“I won’t. Virginia knows everyone. She’s like a personal concierge. That’s part of her job, knowing where to look, who to call.”

“Tell me what you’d like me to do while I’m here,” he said.

“I don’t know. I’ll spend tomorrow with Virginia and my mother. We have to pull together a plan. I better call Ray Anne and see if she’s making progress. This is more urgent than I realized.”

“Gracie, this is all going to be yours,” he said. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m going to figure that out. And then I’m going home, where there’s a life that’s not bigger than life.”

“Really, I don’t know how you can leave this.”

“Do you want it, Troy? All this house, all the upkeep, maintenance, work? All the space? All the responsibility? All the people?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “But, Gracie, it’s damned intimidating.”

“In what way?” she asked.

He was quiet for a second. “If you have all this, what more could you possibly need? What could I ever give you that you don’t already have ten of?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

* * *

Grace had to take on a house she’d never known, not really. It had never been her burden to make sure it was cared for or staffed—that had been something women like Winnie were bred and raised to do. And Winnie was dying.

No matter how much Winnie might want to be in charge, it was no longer practical. Virginia called Winnie’s neurologist, the man who initially diagnosed her almost four years earlier. Dr. Halstead came to the house in the late afternoon the very next day. Grace understood that house calls were not typical for him, but he’d known Winnie long before she needed his medical expertise—they had served together on several charity boards over the years. He confirmed that Winnie had hobbled along with her disease for longer than was typical; now it was a matter of finding a team who could help manage her quality of life. When asked how long that life might last, his prognosis wasn’t positive. It could be as short as a few months, as long as a year but more likely something in between. Now it was down to staying comfortable and taking advantage of her mental acuity, which would probably be the last to fail.

“I live up the coast in a very small quiet town,” Grace told him. “I have someone looking for a place for Mother so I can be on hand, where I can see her every day. I don’t want her to have to go to a hospital.”

“That’s the best way. Most end-stage ALS patients require a great deal of support, but there’s no way to reverse the disease.”

The first order of business was moving a smaller bed into Winnie’s room. Virginia contacted a home health care service and since Winnie didn’t go through insurance or require approval, she arranged to pay top dollar for a couple of experienced nurse’s aides who would start helping out immediately, taking the burden of her personal care off Grace and Virginia.

And Mikhail.

“You’re still here,” Grace observed. “When do you plan to return to your team?”

“I think, much later. They’re in good hands. If they choose other coach, so be it.”

“I’m taking her to Thunder Point as soon as I can,” she reminded him.

“Thunder Point,” he said with a shrug. “Not so bad.”

“Are you planning to stay with her, then?”

“I have nothing so important right now.”

He was the perfect distraction for Winnie. He wasn’t ready to retire, but he wasn’t a young man at sixty-six. “I had no idea Mother meant so much to you,” she said. “All the years you coached me, you ran interference between Mother and me. You’re the one that kept me working and her in line. I didn’t know you loved her.”

“Love? Not the love you know, pupsik. We understand each other. It could be my life closing, not hers. She would not turn me out. Is family. There should be one person who doesn’t hate me on the other side. I’m not long behind her.”