Free Red Red Wine (Tastes of Seduction) by Jess Dee Page B

was missing, but she wasn’t sure what or whom.”
    Tori’s hand, the one that had been caressing his chest, ceased moving. For a long moment she was quiet.
    “Your mum has dementia?”
    “Alzheimer’s.”
    “That sucks.”
    “It does.” Andrew had gotten used to the blankness in his mother’s eyes, the lack of recognition when he walked into the house. He’d also gotten used to the times she’d mistakenly thought he was his father and called him Harry. It left him feeling wretched whenever he saw her, which was every day. “What made it harder is my dad has always insisted on looking after her. From the day she was diagnosed, he swore to be there for her. To keep her at home, with him. But this last stint in hospital…” Andrew grimaced. “It showed us we have to make alternative plans.”
    “What happened to your mum while your dad was sick?”
    “She stayed home. I hired a team of nurses to care for her. But the strangers in the house threw her, and she was more confused than usual. More angry. She…” Jesus, how did he explain his mother’s tendency to wander? “She walked away from them a few times. And just kept walking. Out the front door, down the road, and she was gone.”
    Tori gasped. “A nurse lost her?”
    “Once. I found her at the local park hours later.” Dressed in her pajamas. Suffice it to say that nurse had been dismissed the same night. “The second time, the nurse—” a different one, “—followed her, just to see where she went.”
    Again Tori looked up at him. “Where did she go?”
    “To the bus stop around the corner. But she never boarded any of the busses. Just sat there watching as they stopped and drove off again.” The nurse had thought his mother instinctively walked to the bus stop, the same one she’d used for the last twenty-odd years, but once she got there she had no idea what to do next or how to get back home.
    “God, Andrew.” She touched his cheek. “It must break your heart.”
    He nodded. “Scares the crap out of me too.”
    “Are you happier now that your dad’s back home?”
    “No.” He frowned. “He’s not strong enough to look after her and certainly not to go chasing after her next time she decides to take a walk.” The stress alone could kill his dad. “We had a chat, my old man and me.” A long, serious chat that had left Andrew exhausted and his father devastated. “We decided it was time for them to move to a home.”
    Even as he said it, he felt sick. His mother had always abhorred the idea of an old-age home, something his father had taken to heart when he’d sworn to look after her. But both Stafford men could see the problems inherent with that choice now.
    Much as they hadn’t liked the decision they’d come to, it was the only logical one.
    “I’m so sorry. I know that can’t have been easy for either of you.”
    It had been an impossible decision, and even harder to convince his father it was the right one.
    “That was the easy part.” Well, kind of. “Visiting the homes in the area was…hell. Seeing what’s available for the elderly. And walking through the facilities.” The stringent smell of disinfectant and other odors he didn’t want to think about had turned his stomach.
    He burrowed his face in Tori’s hair, inhaling deeply, filling his nose with cinnamon and spice. And yes, all things nice.
    So appalled had Andrew been by what he’d seen, he’d looked into opening his own old-age facility. He’d done extensive research into retirement homes but eventually had to concede that he simply did not have the knowledge or experience in either health care or the elderly to open a home.
    “Did you find somewhere for them to go?”
    “Yeah. After looking for a long time.” And promising to donate a ridiculous amount of money so the facility could build a hydrotherapy pool. The donation ensured his parents would jump the queue on a very long waiting list.
    Andrew hated flashing his wealth, but when it came