Chapter 7: The Morning the Truth Spoke
Eleanor Hale was sitting up when Marcus arrived at Mercy General at eight-fifteen the following morning.
She was pale and her hands trembled slightly against the white blanket, but her eyes were clear.
Clearer than Marcus had seen them in months.
Dr.
Renner stood at the foot of the bed reviewing the overnight chart.
Patricia sat in the chair by the window, hands folded, watching the door.
A woman Marcus didn't recognize sat near the wall — fifties, dark blazer, a legal notepad open on her knee.
"This is Carol Marsh," Dr.
Renner said.
"She's an elder law attorney.
I asked her to be present."
Marcus nodded.
He pulled a chair to his mother's bedside and sat down.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Tired," Eleanor said.
"But here." She looked at him steadily.
"Which is more than I expected yesterday."
"Mom." He took her hand.
"I need to ask you some things.
And I need you to tell me the truth, even if you think it will upset me."
She didn't look away.
"Ask."
"Did you ask Audrey to speak to Dr.
Webb about your medication?"
A pause.
Long enough to mean something.
"No," Eleanor said.
"I didn't know she was in contact with Ellison.
I haven't spoken to Ellison in four years."
"Did you ask Audrey to file a power of attorney amendment naming her as your decision-maker?"
Eleanor's expression shifted.
Something old and sad moved through it.
"She brought me a document to sign about three weeks ago.
She told me it was a routine update to my health directive.
That it just clarified who to contact if I couldn't speak for myself." Her voice was steady but quiet.
"She didn't read it to me in full.
I asked her to and she said it was standard language, nothing to worry about."
Carol Marsh was writing.
"Did you read it yourself?" Marcus asked.
"My glasses were on the other side of the room.
Audrey said she'd leave it for me to review later." Eleanor paused.
"It was gone by the next morning."
Marcus looked at Dr.
Renner.
Dr.
Renner looked at Carol Marsh.
"Eleanor," Carol said, leaning forward slightly, "do you understand what that document would have authorized, had it been filed and certified?"
"Marcus explained it to me this morning," Eleanor said.
"Before you arrived." She looked at her son.
"She would have controlled everything.
My care.
My accounts.
My home." Her voice didn't waver, but her grip on Marcus's hand tightened.
"I would have had no say."
"You still have full say," Marcus said.
"The certification letter was never filed.
Webb hasn't submitted it."
"Yet," Darnell said from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Darnell stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
He held his phone out toward Marcus.
"Webb's attorney contacted the probate court this morning at seven-fifty a.m.
They requested an emergency certification hearing.
Filed under Eleanor's name." He looked at Carol Marsh.
"Can they do that without her present?"
"Not if she contests it," Carol said.
She was already writing faster.
"Eleanor, I need you to authorize me to file an immediate objection.
Today.
Before that hearing is scheduled."
"Tell me where to sign," Eleanor said.
Darnell's phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
"What?" Marcus said.
"Audrey just arrived downstairs." He looked up.
"She's at the reception desk.
She's telling them she's Eleanor's medical proxy and she needs immediate access to her room."
Eleanor's hand tightened again.
Marcus stood.
He looked at Patricia.
"Stay with her.
Don't let anyone in except Dr.
Renner and Carol."
He walked to the door.
"Marcus," his mother said.
He turned.
"Don't let her talk her way out of it," Eleanor said.
"She's very good at that."
May you like
"I know," he said.
"So am I."
