Abraham sat in his hospital bed reading a report that Alan had left for him earlier that morning. He found himself distracted by his wife, who sat in a chair next to his bed flipping through one of her fashion magazines. She had one leg crossed atop the other, the top one moving rapidly back and forth. She was angry, he knew. He also knew she would never admit it unless he asked her. This was the pattern with them, always had been, and always would be. Saralyn had been a spoiled child who grew up to become a pampered wife. It was too late to change the rules governing their relationship now.
Besides, she had always been a good wife to him and an excellent mother to Isaac. She’d been the perfect woman to have on his arm when he needed to impress a business colleague, and the perfect woman to share his bed when he needed to have his ego stroked. He loved her. He knew he always would.
“Okay, Saralyn,” he said, closing his file and placing it on his bedside tray. “What’s wrong?” She kept flipping through the magazine. “You have my full attention,” he said.
She closed the magazine and placed it on her lap. “You know what’s wrong,” she said. “That part of your memory wasn’t affected. What are you going to do about them, Abraham? This plan of yours isn’t working.”
“We have to give it time, Saralyn,” he said, already growing weary of the conversation.
She got up and came to the bed. “The price is too high. You almost lost Isaac over all this. You might lose him still.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, knowing his wife was given to hyperbole.
She perched on the side of the bed. “Isaac left MEEG when he found out about Deborah and Michael. He only came back because you were ill and he was needed at the company. I don’t see him staying there, not if he has to deal with Michael. The man hates him.”
“I’m going to convince Isaac to stay,” he said. “Maybe all he needed was a bit more responsibility.”
“Don’t kid yourself. Did Alan tell you Isaac and Michael got into a fistfight at the board meeting?”
He eyed her skeptically. “You’re exaggerating.”
“No, I’m not. Our son, who’s never been in a fight in his life, was rolling around on the boardroom floor fighting with Michael Thomas. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
“I can’t believe it. Not Isaac.”
Saralyn nodded. “That incident should tell you that it’s going to be impossible for the two of them to work together. You’ve got to come up with another plan, Abraham. This one is not going to work.”
“What was Michael doing at the board meeting?” he asked. “He’s not on the board.”
“I tried to make that point, but Alan, Leah, and Deborah basically shut me down. Michael even wanted to nominate himself for acting president and CEO of MEEG in your absence. The nerve of him.”
Abraham bit back a smile. He could relate to Michael’s audacity, though he’d never tell Saralyn. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened. Alan explained to him that he didn’t have a chance in hell of winning against Isaac because Leah and Deborah only had two votes and we had four. That bit of information seemed to put him back in his place.”
Abraham wanted her to see that Michael’s place was no different from Isaac’s but he knew she wouldn’t view it that way.
“I don’t know what more I can say, Abraham. Obviously, you don’t trust the boy or you would have given him a seat instead of giving the seat to his mother. If you don’t trust him, I don’t want him around.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Saralyn, and I’ll think about it.”
“You’d better do more than think about it,” she said. “You need to take some action. Have you thought about giving them a settlement of some sort? That would be a quick and easy way to get them out of our lives.”
Abraham studied his wife. At times like this he found her selfishness and self-centeredness very unattractive. “I don’t want them out of our lives, Saralyn. I want to get to know them.”
She eased up from the bed. “You’ve always accomplished whatever you set your sights on, Abraham, and usually on your own terms. Something tells me things won’t work out so smoothly for you this time. You’re going to have to make some hard choices.”
“What are you saying, Saralyn?”
She folded her arms and looked down at him. “Let me be perfectly clear. You have this unrealistic vision of your two families living together happily ever after. Well, it’s not going to happen. I’m never going to accept Leah and her bastards, and you’re wrong for even expecting me to.”
“Don’t threaten me, Saralyn,” he told her. “I don’t like threats.”
“We’ve been married thirty years, Isaac, and I’ve never threatened you and I’m not starting now. I’m only making you aware of the consequences of your actions. Pretty soon you’re going to have to choose between me and Isaac and them. You can’t have us both.”
“Why are you so unwilling to work with me on this?”
“Do you even hear what you’re saying? Do you know what you’re asking of me?” When he nodded, she added, “Why would you think I’d accept those bastards now when I didn’t accept them when they were children?” She picked up her magazine and her purse. “Write them a check, Abraham, and send them on their way so that we can get on with our lives.”
He watched as she stalked to the door and snatched it open. When it closed behind her, he began to do what he often saw his mother do but he had never taken up himself: pray. He knew he needed a miracle to get what he wanted.