For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
—Luke 12:34
“Xavier,” Avis said when she came to the glass storm door and saw her husband standing there. She cracked open the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you. I brought you these.” Dr. Holden held up a bouquet of roses.
Avis looked at the flowers. “So I see.”
Dr. Holden smiled as he lowered the roses down by his side. “So are you going to let me in or what?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“On how long you’re planning to stay. Five minutes? Ten? Maybe an hour or two since you came all the way from Birmingham to Jacksonville, Florida.”
“Avis, I love you. You know that.”
“I guess that means a whole day. Whether you love me or not has never been the question.” She opened the door wider. “I suppose the question is: is love enough to survive two relationships?”
Dr. Holden stepped inside. “Two relationships?”
“Yeah, two.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand. There’s no one else other than you.”
“Me,” she said as she walked toward the sofa and sat down, “and your work.”
“I work for you and our children. All of this has been for our family.” He came over, placed the flowers on the table in front of her, and sat down next to her. The house was quiet; he knew the children had to be gone. “It’s always been about us…our family.”
She scooted over so their bodies wouldn’t touch. “It may have started out that way. But somewhere down the line, it seems you fell more in love with your work than with us. Me and you…you and the children…us.” She shrugged. “I just don’t know about us anymore, Xavier. But I do know that, as for me, I’m tired of being alone.”
“But you’re not alone. I come home every night to you. I bring my money home to you. We’ve built a family together. Me and you. I thought things were fine.”
“See, that’s my point. Things aren’t fine. When you’re not around because you’re working nights and practically every day of the week, what exactly do you think I’m doing? Then when you do get home, you’re too exhausted to do anything except fall asleep wherever you happen to land at the time.”
He looked into her eyes. “I know. I get it.”
“You get it? What do you mean, you get it?”
“I get what it feels like for me when you’re not around, and I get what it must feel like for you when I’m not there. It doesn’t matter that I think I’m doing something noble by working hard for my family in order for us to have more things…life’s finer things—”
“Yeah, things,” Avis said. “Xavier, here’s a news flash for you. We don’t care about things. I’ve never really cared about things. I care about you. I care that our children really need you in their lives. We want you, not more things.”
“I know. I told you. I get it. I’ve always heard the scripture, ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul,’ and I always applied it to the spiritual side of life. What I get now is: I can work day-in and day-out for the rest of my life to acquire more things, but without having someone to share those things with, it doesn’t mean a thing.”
Avis looked into his eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to see. We have a nice big house, but you’re hardly ever there. We drive around in nice cars to nice places, but you can’t go because you’re always working. The children miss you so much. You’re really a wonderful guy, but when you don’t spend time with them, how will they ever know? I miss my friend; I miss doing things with my friend. I miss laughing about nothing. I miss fixing a meal the way we used to back when we were praying just to be able to pull something together in order for us to have something to eat. I miss you.”
Dr. Holden took the palm of his hand and placed it softly on Avis’s cheek. “I love you.”
“I told you, Xavier; I already know you love me.” She leaned her face more into his hand as she closed her eyes. “That has never been the question.” She sat up straight, then gently moved his hand to his side. “So, how long until you have to go back? I’m sure there must be some crisis needing your immediate attention and you just flew in to quiet this one. I wouldn’t doubt if you don’t have the plane standing by—even as we speak.”
Dr. Holden stood up without saying a word, leaned down and kissed her hard, then headed toward the door. He turned around and looked back with a real sadness on his face.
Avis reluctantly looked up at him. “Precisely what I thought,” she whispered.
“Avis, I really do love you. I do.”
Avis looked away from his loving gaze. And without another word, Dr. Holden walked out the door. As Avis sat wiping away the tears that had begun to fall, she heard the door as it softly closed.
Five minutes later, there was a banging at the door. “Excuse me, Sweet Woman,” Dr. Holden yelled. “But would you be so kind as to open the door for me. I sort of have my hands full.”
Avis got up and walked to the door. “Xavier?” she said with a puzzled look on her face. “But I thought…” She wiped the tears off her face.
“What? That I’d left. Oh, you don’t understand. I’m planning to spend time with my family, uninterrupted time, in fact, for the next three weeks.” Dr. Holden walked through the now fully opened door carrying one large suitcase, a duffle bag on his shoulder, and a garment bag. “Whatever my family wants to do, I’m here for them.”
“I don’t understand. What about your patients? Your practice? All the folks who need and depend upon you? Those ‘can’t-do-without-you-Dr.-Holden’ patients?”
Dr. Holden set the suitcase and the duffle bag on the floor, then took the garment bag and laid it across the arm of the sofa. He walked back to Avis, lifted her face up by her chin, and said, “Well, I suppose they’re just going to have to learn how to cope without me, because the next few weeks are reserved exclusively for me and mine.”
His eyes began to dance as she blushed. “I told you, Sweet Woman; I get it. I…get…it. I’m not about to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to me, other than accepting Jesus into my life, of course. Dear Sweet Woman, you mean more to me than all the money, all the houses, all the fine cars, and all the fine name-brand clothing….”
Avis smiled. “Well, let’s not get too carried away. I like my name-brands now.”
Dr. Holden leaned down and gently placed a kiss on her lips. “I’m all yours, Mrs. Holden. So there. Now what are you going to do about that?”
Avis smiled as she looked deep into his eyes. “Oh, I believe I have a few ideas, Dr. Holden. After all, you are a real doctor, you know. So we wouldn’t have to play doctor.” She let out a slight laugh. “I still can’t believe you actually came all the way down to my mother’s to see me. Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve been anywhere that wasn’t work related?”
He kissed her hard again and hugged her like he never wanted to let go. “I know. But this is just the beginning.”
Avis hugged him just as tightly back. Dear God: I pray, let him really mean it this time. Let him really mean it.