Chapter 17
Leah’s fairytale world shattered completely three weeks later when she answered her phone, and this time it was Caleb calling with bad news. Alan had suffered a massive stroke; and she was listed as his medical proxy. Derrick came home and found her sitting on the porch in tears.
“What’s the matter, babe?”
“When am I going to be rid of him, Derrick?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Alan. He’s had a stroke and has been placed on a ventilator and I’m his medical proxy.”
Derrick stroked her hair. “I can’t tell you to go or stay. That has to be your decision.”
She sniffled. “If it were up to me I’d tell them to pull the plug, but I don’t want that on my conscience if there is the possibility that he can recover. And this definitely delays the divorce.”
“Stop agonizing about the divorce, Leah. It will happen.”
“That’s easy for you to say because you’re not married to a monster. I want to be rid of him—now!”
“That can’t happen now, because the man is in a hospital hooked up to machines.”
“And if I was truly the bitch he believes I am, I would sign the DNR and watch him take his last breath.”
“Don’t say that, Leah.”
Anger and frustration warred within her, and Leah bit her tongue because she wanted to scream at Derrick not to tell her what she could or could not say. “I’m not going anywhere tonight. I’m going to call Caleb and let him know I’ll drive up tomorrow.”
“Is he in New York?”
“No. He’s in Richmond. Aron is flying down on a redeye.”
“If it wasn’t the tourist season I would go with you.”
“Even if it was off-season I still wouldn’t want you to go with me. I told you before I don’t want you involved.”
“But I am involved, Leah, because I’m involved with you. You can’t ask me to be there for you during the good times and shut me out when they’re not. You need to make up your mind before we go any further in our relationship.”
Leah froze. “What are you talking about?”
“Did it ever dawn on you that maybe one of these days I’d like for us to be married?”
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. “But I told you I don’t want to get married.”
“Why, Leah? Wait. You don’t have to answer that. Because you think I’ll turn out like the monster you’ve spent thirty years with, and if he hadn’t beaten the hell out of you, you’d still be with him.”
“That’s not fair!” Leah shouted.
“Sorry, babe. You should realize by now that sometime life isn’t fair.”
Leah knew she had to get away from Derrick before she said something she would later regret. Why couldn’t he understand Alan Kent was a problem of her own making and she had to solve it on her own?
She went into the house to pack a bag and hoped it would be for the last time.
* * *
This time Leah did check into a downtown Richmond hotel before driving to the hospital. She found Caleb and Aron half asleep on chairs in the private room where Alan lay motionless, his head bandaged and a machine regulating his breathing. When Aron opened his eyes, she noticed they were bloodshot.
She beckoned to him. It took several seconds for him to push off the chair and join her outside the room. Leah rested her hand on his arm. “Go home and get some sleep. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He ran a large tanned hand over his stubble. “Are you sure, Mom?”
“Yes.” She waited for him to pick up his carry-on and leave, then she took the chair he’d vacated.
“You’re here.”
Leah stared at Caleb. He didn’t look as exhausted as his brother. “When did you get in?”
“Yesterday afternoon. Aron was in court, so he didn’t get my message until late.”
“How did you find out that he’d had a stroke?” Leah knew she was asking a lot of questions, but she needed to know what to prepare for as Alan’s medical proxy.
“Apparently he was golfing and had complained of a headache. Someone at the country club found him on the restroom floor and called for medical assistance. One of his golf buddies called the house, and the housekeeper gave him my number. Before leaving after Grandma’s funeral I gave her my card and told her to call me if Dad needed me for anything. After you left he’d begun drinking heavily until he could hardly stand upright.”
“Your father needs to go into rehab, Caleb. He’s an alcoholic.”
“I know that, Mom, but when I questioned him about drinking so much, he nearly bit my head off.”
“He can’t drink now.”
Caleb stretched out his long legs. “How long do you plan to stay?”
“As long as it takes, one way or the other.” Leah paused. “I find it odd that he didn’t change his medical proxy when he canceled the credit cards with my name.”
“He probably didn’t think about it. Dad always believed he would live as long or even longer than Grandma.”
Leah snorted under her breath. “Your grandmother didn’t drink and watched her diet, while your grandfather smoked and was a heavy drinker, and died in his late fifties.”
“It appears as if Dad did not have a good role model.”
Leah wanted to say to Caleb, “Like father, like son.” Alan and his father were mirror images of each other in temperament and lifestyle. “Why don’t you also go home and get some rest. I’ll be here for a while.”
“Where are you staying, Mom?”
“At a hotel. And please don’t ask me to come to Kent House. If Alan doesn’t make it through this and if he didn’t change his will and I inherit the house, then I want to give it to you and Aron along with what he inherited from his mother.”
“No, Mom. You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do, because I’ll never live there again. The house is over six thousand square feet and large enough for you and your brother to have separate apartments with a dedicated staff of employees.”
“Will you come and visit if we do decide to live there?”
“Of course. I just don’t intend to live there again.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t think too long, Caleb. I just might change my mind and donate it to the city as a museum.”
“You can’t do that. It’s our home.”
“It was where you grew up. New York is now your home.”
Caleb smothered a curse under his breath. “I have to talk to Marisa about this. And you know you’re being manipulative.”
“Am I?” Her expression mirrored innocence before Leah turned her head to conceal a grin. Caleb’s willingness to talk to his fiancée about possibly relocating from New York to Virginia would be a win-win for her and them. She would get to see her son and potential grandchildren more often, and they would inherit property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Yes, and you know it. I suppose I could join the family practice, but aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? Dad’s still alive.”
“I said it is a possibility if your father didn’t change his will. And if he did, then we’ll have to wait and see.”
Leah didn’t want Alan to die but to recover so she could go through with the divorce and get on with her life. And she did not want the responsibility of determining whether he lived or died.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hang out with my mother a little longer.”
She patted his arm. “I’d like that.”
* * *
Leah felt like a hamster in a cage running around and around on the wheel until it collapsed from exhaustion. She went from her hotel room to the hospital room and then back again. She hated herself for passing herself off as the supportive wife sitting at her husband’s bedside while praying for his recovery. They did not know it wasn’t for her but for her sons.
After a week she ordered them back to New York and promised to text them if there was a change in Alan’s condition. It was now more than a month since she’d checked into the hotel, and she informed the front desk that she would occupy the suite until further notice.
Leah missed Coates Island, her book club friends, and she missed Derrick. She’d resorted to texting him rather than calling because whenever she hung up she was close to weeping. She called her mother and unloaded to her about Alan’s assault and her subsequent decision to file for divorce. Madeline volunteered to come and be with her during her current crisis, but Leah reassured her she was staying strong and had committed to stay until there was a change in Alan’s condition. After six weeks, he was moved to a section of the small private hospital where patients were afforded a personal waiting area for their visitors.
When outdoors, the heat and the summer humidity sapped Leah of her energy so she’d made it a practice to go from her air-cooled hotel suite to her air-conditioned car and the air-regulated hospital. She’d just left the hospital to return to the hotel when she got a call from the hospital. Leah reversed direction and when she walked into Alan’s room it was to silence. The machines monitoring his vitals had been turned off and when she met the doctor’s eyes she knew it was over. Alan Stephens Kent was gone.
* * *
Leah hadn’t told Derrick she was coming back, and when she walked into the house ten days later on a Sunday afternoon he stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. She noticed his face was leaner, and there was puffiness under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping well.
“You’re back.”
She nodded. “Yes, I’m back. And to stay.”
“What happened, Leah?”
She closed her eyes. “He’s gone. Even if he’d been able to breathe on his own his health was so compromised that he would’ve required around-the-clock care.”
“It’s over, darling.”
Leah reached for his hand, threading their fingers together. He kissed her forehead, and she struggled not to cry. She’d left the man she loved to sit vigil by the bedside of one she wanted to hate, but couldn’t, while he’d continued to punish her because he refused to be a loser.
Derrick released her hand and picked her up. “You look as if a strong wind would blow you over. I’m putting you to bed, then I’m going make something for you to eat. After that you can tell me your long story.”
“I need to take a shower.” She needed to wash off the smell of the hospital. What she couldn’t do was erase the memory of the hours she’d spent sitting at the bedside of the man who’d continued to control her when she was forced to play the devoted wife.
“You can shower later. But first you’ll eat.”
Looping her arms around his neck, Leah rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her up the staircase. She was aware she’d lost weight because she’d found herself eating one meal a day. She also had a problem falling and staying asleep.
“Don’t put me on the bed. I want to take off these clothes.” Derrick left the room while she stripped down to her underwear. She opened the drawer where he kept a supply of T-shirts and put one on. After washing her hands and splashing water on her face, she climbed into bed. The lingering scent of Derrick’s cologne wafted to her nostrils, and she knew for certain that she was home.
Leah hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until she felt Derrick tug on her arm. “Wake up, babe.”
She sat up and adjusted a mound of pillows behind her back before he set a tray on her lap. He’d made a mushroom and sausage omelet, crispy home fries, and a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream.
“Thank you. It looks delicious.”
Derrick sat at the foot of the bed. “I’m going to watch you eat everything on that plate.” The instant she put a forkful of egg in her mouth Leah realized what she had been missing: a home-cooked meal. She ate everything on the plate and sipped the chocolate, licking the cream off her lips.
“Feel better?”
Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the leather headboard. “Yes.”
Derrick moved off the bed to take the tray. “I’ll be right back.”
Leah was wide awake when he returned, removed his jeans, and got into bed with her. “You don’t know how many times I wished he would stop breathing, but then I prayed for forgiveness.”
“Don’t beat up on yourself, babe. Believe it or not, you are human like the rest of us.”
She smiled. “I always wanted to be Wonder Woman.”
“Even superheroes are vulnerable to something.”
Leah wanted to tell Derrick she was only vulnerable when it came to Alan. She’d wanted to become a divorcée, but Alan had flipped the script and now she was his widow.