CHAPTER 32

Relieved by Leanne’s willingness to help him, Don breathed a sigh of relief. He placed an order with a rental company to send a crib with mattress, a high chair, playpen and walker to Leanne’s home. He had located her new address when he had gone online to get her telephone number listed with her real estate agency.

He had planned his departure to Philadelphia for a Sunday afternoon flight, and Leanne had said that he could drop Jay off early that afternoon on his way to the airport.

He had purchased a cooler for the jars of baby food, crackers that the child liked, as well as a few of his favorite toys.

He placed a few sets of shirts, coveralls, a pair of shoes and some socks, along with toilet articles into a small overnight bag. He included pj’s, three packages of diapers, plus baby wipes. He bought milk and apple juice on his way to Leanne’s Sunday afternoon. He made an addition to the list, car seat, that he’d have to leave with Leanne.

It was a pleasant, sunny day when he arrived at Leanne’s home that afternoon. She opened the door almost as soon as he got to the front door, an excited wiggling baby in his arms.

“Leanne!”

“Hi, Don. Give him to me!” she said as she reached for the chubby, smiling baby.

“My, he’s an armful!” she said as she took the child.

Don agreed. “He is that. But, Leanne, don’t you look great!”

“You think so?” she smiled over her shoulder as she walked into the living room with the baby.

“My goodness, you’ve lost some weight, and it looks good on you! And your hair, I like the way you’re wearing it, soft around your face. You look like a young…”

“Don’t say it, Don,” she said and laughed. “You know my age.” She turned to the baby. “Well, how are you, young man?”

Jay gave her a bubbly, wet, toothless smile.

“I think he’s beginning to teethe,” Don observed, wiping the baby’s drool away with a tissue.

“Let me bring in his things. Did the rental company deliver…”

“Everything came and is all set up. Not to worry,” she reassured him.

He brought in the supplies he had put together for Jay, as well as the car seat. He and Leanne talked a few minutes about their children, and Don said how much he regretted not being more closely involved in their present lives.

“That may change, Don. You never know, as the saying goes. Keep hope alive!”

“What else can I do?”

“Just be patient.”

* * *

As he drove to the airport he thought, How could I have been such a jackass? What I lost was unimaginable. Can I ever get it back?

Greene Airport in Providence was a user-friendly facility familiar to Don, and he had no difficulty finding a parking space to leave his car. He had a nonstop flight to the city of Brotherly Love and was relieved to be able to get a taxi to his hotel.

He hoped that the two days of the conference would be successful. If nothing else, it would remove him from the painful site of the horrible crisis in his personal life. One thing he knew for certain, the change would give him peace of mind, a feeling he needed. What was in Jay’s future? That bothered him the most as he realized, like it or not, he had already bonded with the child.

One thing he knew, he had to put a call in to Frank Jones. The lawyer would help him file for an annulment or divorce, and also help him with Jay’s adoption. He hated to think of it, but adoption seemed the only way out. There was no way he could care for a child.

As soon as he reached his hotel room, he put in a call to Leanne.

“Any problems?” He was very anxious about the burden he had placed on her.

“Are you kidding?” she laughed over the phone. “What a delightful child! He’s a pleasure to care for, so easy. We’re doing fine. Not to worry.”

“I’m going to give you the number here at the hotel. You do have my cell number, don’t you?”

“Don, don’t worry. All systems are go. Relax.”

“Good. I should be back Tuesday night. My plane lands at eight, so I should be back by nine.”

“Don, the child will be in bed asleep. You can plan to stay over. You can use Curtis’s room.”

“But won’t that be an imposition?”

“Not at all. As a matter of fact, I think it would be easier for everyone.”

* * *

He had no difficulty retrieving his car from the parking lot. Within minutes he was on his way to Leanne’s house.

She had left the driveway light on, as well as the front door light. And to his surprise, she opened the front door, almost, it seemed, the moment his foot hit the step.

“Let me show you where you’ll be staying, get you settled.” She led him upstairs to Curtis’s room, where he dropped his bag and then to Jane’s room nearest to hers, where the baby was sleeping. They both tiptoed into the room, checked to find him sleeping soundly.

“He’s always been a good sleeper,” Don whispered as they left the room. Leanne nodded in agreement.

“Here’s the bathroom,” she pointed out as they walked down the hall.

“Here is my master suite, at the end of the hall, but I can hear Jay quite easily if he starts to cry.”

“Just let me drop my jacket.”

Walking down to the kitchen, Leanne thought how unfazed she was by her ex-husband’s presence in the same house. But she also knew full well the marked change her life had undergone. What now? Where do I go from here?

She had two set glasses on a silver tray and was getting wine from the refrigerator when Don appeared. He had shed his jacket and tie, and his white shirt was open at the collar. He seemed relaxed and comfortable.

“This is a nice house.”

“I like it,” she said. “It’s just enough for me, especially with the kids away at school. It’s not too much for me to handle.”

“Good. And the kids, doin’ okay? I don’t hear much of anything from them. I understand why, of course, but I do care,” he said soberly.

“It’s been hard for them, but both are level-headed and have accepted the changes in their lives. I’m proud of them.”

“I am too, Leanne, and I know that you deserve all the credit for that.”

“All I did, Don, was to keep reminding them that you are their father and nothing can ever change that.”

“Wish I could…change things, that is.”

“Don, all we have, any one of us, is this moment. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here. So what we do with the moment we have, that’s what matters. I try not to dwell on the past, can’t change it, and I attempt to strive for a good future, with the help of the Lord.”

He tipped his glass in a salute to her.

“You always were a positive, practical thinker.”

“Works for me,” she smiled, returning his salute with her own glass of wine.

For a few moments each was quiet, sipping their wine.

Finally Leanne spoke.

“Your conference, was it successful?”

“It was. Some new modalities, new treatments that are being advanced, as well as promising methods of early diagnosis for Alzheimer’s were presented.”

“There does seem to be quite a bit of public funding for research. So all in all, it was a worthwhile session? I’m glad you could go.”

“Thanks, Leanne, for helping me.”

“It was a pleasure having such a sweet, lovable child in the house. What do you plan to do if his mother does give him up?”

“I have thought about putting him up for adoption…I don’t know. The strangest thing, Leanne, is even knowing that he is not my biological child, I’ve bonded with him. Was there when he was born, cut the cord. I do feel responsible for him.”

He poured a little more wine into his glass, questioning Leanne with raised eyebrows, asking her if she wanted a refill.

She shook her head.

“I can imagine how you feel, Don. It is in your nature to be a caring person. That’s why you’re such a good physician, why your patients love you.”

“Kind of you to say that.”

“It’s true.”

She watched him sipping his wine, remembering the many happy times they had shared at the day’s end with small talk and wine. Those had been happy, satisfying times, and she realized that despite the anguish and turmoil she had suffered, she wanted that time back. Don was the only man she had ever loved. There would never be another.