Return III

Chapter 30

Prince's POV

"Hi, grandma." I say quietly, handing her the bouquet of pink daisies that I had just bought from the small flower shop around the corner. She smiles up at me as she takes the flowers and brings them to her nose and inhales their strong, sweet scent. 

"How lovely, Prince, thank you, sweetheart." grandma says and I smile and nod. 

"Put them in the vase there." she orders and I turn my head to look at the vase she is pointing at. My eyebrows furrow in confusion as I look back to her.

"But there's already flowers in that one." I say and grandma nods her head. 

"I know," she says nonchalantly. "replace them with yours." 

I press my lips together tightly and do as she says, where she proceeds to smile and thank me once again. 

"Where's all the other kids? Is just you here?" she asks and I nod, focusing on carefully sliding the bouquet into the slim vase. 

"The twins are at the courthouse with Taryn and dad," I say, turning back to her. "Natalie's getting adopted back into the family today, remember?" I ask and grandma hesitates at first, then nods. 

"How are you feeling?" I ask and she shrugs her shoulders. 

"Well I'm dying," she says softly. "I could be better."

My heart sinks at her words and the sounds of them slipping off her lips. It makes me sad that I won't know when my last time with her will be. I was even lucky enough to catch her on the day that she is actually awake and responsive; which isn't often.

"Where is Paris?" grandma asks as soon as I take a seat beside her bed. "I want to see Ellie."

"Ellie's with dad and Taryn," I say and grandma sighs. "And Paris is at school."

"Why aren't you at school?" grandma asks and I smile, glance down at the floor, and try not to cry. 

"I graduated, grandma." I say and she smiles. "Oh!" she says, chuckling. "I thought you were a senior!"

"Yeah, they let me go early." I explain. "I was ahead of everyone in credits so I got to graduate before everyone."

"Why wasn't I at the ceremony? I'm so awful!" grandma exclaims, face palming. I grab her hand and replace it back to her side, and look at her closely.

"There wasn't a ceremony, grandma," I say and she tilts her head in confusion. 

"What? Why?" she asks, then the confusion fades from her face and turns into seriousness. "Your dad and his brothers and sisters had graduation ceremonies. And so did me and Joe."

"It was just a small meeting with me and the principle," I explain. "he just congratulated me and handed me my diploma and sent me home."

"Are they gonna do that with Paris and the twins and Ellie?" grandma asks and I can't help but giggle.

"I don't know, grandma." I say and she smiles widely.

"You'll find out," she pauses. "I don't think I ever will." 

I release grandma's hand and look down at the floor. I try to keep from crying by thinking of other things to do or say that don't relate back to grandma eventually passing away. 

"Why don't you watch a little tv, huh?" I ask and she smiles and nods. 

"That would be nice, Prince." she says calmly and I give her a half smile. I grab the remote from her rolling tray table and point it at the small tv hanging from the corner of the room to turn it on. 

"What do you want to watch?" I ask and grandma shrugs. She lies her head back and sighs loudly. 

"Turn to the news, please," she says so quietly I almost don't comprehend her words. "I want to see if there's anything more about your dad or Natalie."

I simply do as she says, and scan the tv dialogue for which channel the news is on. I stay quiet until I find the correct numbers and she speaks once again as I type them into the remote and they appear on the screen. 

"This is how I keep up with you guys, by watching the tv." grandma says and I smile without looking at her. The channel switches from the game show that had been on previously to the news channel where a reporter is talking about a shooting that had happened in Florida last night.

"They're always talking about this stuff." grandma says as I sit back and focus on the tv. "Makes me upset, but I guess you can't control people."

Seeing this reminds me of when dad was shot on stage and makes me want to change the channel, but I don't want to upset grandma. 

Just then, the reporter says a few names that sound familiar, and grandma and I's focus goes immediately to the screen.

"Today is adoption day for the Jackson family- the fourth mystery child of Michael Jackson is being adopted back into her long lost family; what a shock, right?"

The reporter sitting next to the one who had just spoken smiles and begins talking immediately after the first is done.

"Yes, it very much is so, but we are happy that miss Natalie finally gets to be apart of the family she never knew about, so today is a very good day for the Jackson family."

The first beings speaking again.

"Eh, I could agree to disagree; the mother of the famous Jackson Five star is in the hospital due to a cancerous cyst in her bladder."

"How do they know that?" grandma asks and I shake my head.

"They know everything about us, grandma." I say quietly and she sighs.

"I better get going. I wanna go see the twins after their meeting." I say, turning to grandma and finding her with her eyes closed and chest slowly rising and falling. I stand from my seat and gently kiss the top of her head and caress the top of her hand and half smile.

"I'll bring them by later. Love you." I say, then turn the tv off and exit the room, carefully closing the door behind me.

I take my time leaving the hospital, taking in every sight as I walk down the wide hallway. Some of the nurses greet me with a large smile and a kind "hi, Prince!", and I do the same in return. Everyone here seems to know me, which isn't surprising because our family has been in and out of here very recently.

When I am finally outside, I walk to my truck and hop inside, accidentally slamming the door. I then press my key into the ignition, but I don't turn it. I just sit there and stare ahead at the small black Pontiac in front of me, thinking about whatever else could possibly go wrong right now. 

I then slam my hands on the steering wheel angrily and finally release the tears that I had been holding in for so long. I scream a few curse words, then gently rest my head on the steering wheel and allow myself to feel everything I had been pushing away for so long.