The best way to focus on the present was to enjoy a beautiful day at the beach with Delilah and his family. It had been ages since they all hung out at Breezy Beach and enjoyed fun in the sand and surf. Delilah, looking stunning in a one-piece white suit, tossed a Frisbee with him away from the crowd, then walked along the stretch of beach with him and collected sea shells. Mac adored her exuberance. Each time she found a pretty shell she let out a squeal of delight. He ended up with both of his hands full of seashells as they headed back to their towels.
Being with Delilah at the beach with his family present was a debut of sorts for their relationship. He couldn’t hide it any longer from his family that they were a couple. Nor did he want to. If every single last Donahue wanted to be in his romantic business, he would bear happily bear the scrutiny. Delilah had looked relieved when he had told her earlier about how he’d sworn his brothers to secrecy several weeks ago about their relationship.
“So, it was because you didn’t want your family in our business?” she’d asked with a look of worry emanating from her eyes.
“Pretty much,” he’d said. “Do you think I wanted my sisters-in-law to pester me with questions? I figured you told Sarah, but I really wanted us to figure things out before we received the Donahue family interrogation.”
Delilah had laughed. “That bad, huh?” She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.
“You don’t know the half of it,” he had said with a shake of his head.
By the time they made their way back to their towels, half of the family was swimming out in the ocean.
“Hey. Your phone was ringing like crazy,” AJ said. “I wanted to answer it for you, but Mom said no way.” AJ made a face. Mac reached out and tweaked his nose.
“Mom was right,” he said, picking up his nephew and hoisting him on his shoulder. He spun him around a few times, much to AJ’s delight. When he put him back down on the sand, AJ cried out, “Again! Again!”
“No!” Maggie cried out in a sharp voice. “He’ll get dizzy and throw up. He always gets nauseous when he gets spun around too much.”
“That’s Brandon. He used to get sick when we were little. This is AJ,” Mac explained.
“I’m AJ, Grandma. Don’t you remember?” AJ asked. He looked frustrated and sad. At his tender age he had no real understanding of dementia, even though Rose and Brandon had explained it to him on several occasions.
Maggie’s face held a confused expression. “I-I don’t know,” she said. She looked around her. “Where’s Alec? Alec!” she cried out. There was a desperation in her voice that made him wince. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop her outburst. So far, his father was the only one who had consistent results with calming her down.
Alec quickly moved toward her, his gentle voice instantly soothing her. Mac let out a frustrated huff of air. This illness was baffling to the extreme. Everything had been fine all afternoon with his mother. Then, like a random summer storm, she’d gotten confused, then irritable. Sundowning is what the experts called it. Generally it happened later in the day as the sun went down, but oftentimes with his mother he had noticed it happening in the late afternoon.
Mac pulled AJ into the crook of his arm. “Don’t be sad, AJ. Grandma is just sick. Her memories aren’t always reliable.”
“Dad says it’s our job to remind her,” AJ said in a soft voice. “To jog her memory.”
“That’s absolutely right,” Mac said. “We’re her memory keepers.”
AJ let loose a stunning smile. “Memory keepers. I like the sound of that.”
Brandon beckoned him from the water. “My Dad wants me to come in. I’ll be back,” AJ shouted before he raced down to the water to join his parents and a few of his aunts and uncles.
“I love that kid,” Mac said to Delilah as he reached down and picked up his phone from inside his boat shoe.
“Who’s been burning up your phone trying to reach you?” Delilah asked from behind him.
A quick glance at his phone revealed seven missed calls from Parker. Seven! It wasn’t like his cousin to blow up his phone. Mac turned around and faced Delilah. She was now standing next to Layla and they were cooing over baby Faith, who was covered up in a baby tent with a big floppy hat protecting her skin from the sun’s rays.
Mac frowned at his cell phone. “It was Parker. He called me seven times in a row.”
Delilah walked over to him without skipping a beat. “Call him back. What are you waiting for?” she asked, a hint of impatience in her voice. “This could be important.”