Ed was in the room when Lorraine received the phone call.
His wife's cheery greeting of "Hello, this is Lorraine Warren," was background noise at best. Ed hadn't even noticed the stretch of silence that followed while he continued to read the newspaper until he heard what sounded like a choked gasp. Looking up, he saw Lorraine leaning against the wall, her back turned toward him.
"When did she…" Lorraine couldn't seem to get the last word of the sentence out, so she rephrased it to "When did it happen?"
Setting the paper aside, Ed stood from his seat and walked over. The hand that was not holding the phone was clutched tightly around her midsection, as if Lorraine was trying to hold herself together as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. The sight troubled Ed immensely; clearly something horrible had happened. Not wanting to interrupt the conversation (though at this point it was only one way), Ed put a supportive hand on her shoulder.
Finally, Lorraine mumbled "Thank you for letting me know,", gave a half-hearted goodbye, and hung up.
"Honey," Ed said gently as he placed his other hand on her shoulder, "Who was that?"
Lorraine seemed to have to force her words out. "The hospital," she replied. "It was about my mother. She…she…"
Unable to contain her emotions any longer, Lorraine began to cry as Ed gently guided her into his arms. "I'm sorry," he said, rubbing her back as she sobbed into his chest. He didn't know the specifics, but he knew Lorraine was very close with her mother. Whatever had happened, she needed him now, possibly more than ever before.