“I guess it is,” Eve said. “And Eliza?”
“Yes?”
“All of Cookie’s clothes are from a consignment shop. Even her shoes.”
“Wow,” I said
We went back to where Cookie was sitting. Ted returned with Judy. Her arms were filled with magazines and newspapers. Ted passed out the water bottles.
“Sorry, Cookie, no Evian. Just Dasani.”
Cookie took the bottle from him and mumbled, “Thanks.”
“You know, there’s a VIP lounge with a television and Internet access,” Judy said.
“We might be more comfortable there because there are sofas and club chairs,” Ted said.
“And it’s stocked with snacks. The minute I realized that your donor is a doctor, I pulled a few strings, and y’all are very welcome to wait there,” Judy said.
“Why not?” Cookie said. “These chairs are terrible for the old bony derriere.”
“She said it was old, not me!” Ted said. “Come on, Cookie.”
Ted outstretched his hand to Cookie and she got up, taking his arm. I wouldn’t say she actually sneered at Judy Linder, but she held Ted’s arm in a proprietary way, sending a message that Ted was hers. But Cookie was too late. Ms. Linder had moved in for the kill. We were all walking down the hall, following her to the new lounge.
“Eliza? Ms. Linder is going to have dinner with me next week. Isn’t that wonderful?”
I thought Cookie would faint. But it only took a few seconds for her to recover.
“What? But Clarabeth hasn’t been—”
“Dead long enough?” Ted said. “Cookie, at my age, I don’t want to spend what might be the last year of my life in mourning. Clarabeth wouldn’t want that for me either.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m going to wait until Carl is out of the woods, of course. But here’s my news. I’m going to spend eleven months out of the year on cruise ships. I’m going to see the world!”
“What?” Ted said and stopped dead in his tracks. “Why?”
“Because it’s cheaper than moving to Bishop Gadsden.”
Bishop Gadsden was a very nice retirement community in Charleston.
Cookie went on. “And life here has become intolerably dull. Cruise ships can be so glamorous! Broadway entertainers! Black-tie dinners! My accountant did the math for me.”
“That’s insane,” Ted said.
“It most certainly is not! A lot of people are doing it now. It’s all the rage,” Cookie said. “I just listed my house with Carolina One. When it sells, I’m going to buy a little one-bedroom condo on the harbor in Mount Pleasant and it’s sayonara, baby! I’m spreading my wings!”
Eve and I exchanged looks of surprise.
Sayonara, baby?
“This is the first I’m hearing about it,” Eve said.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Well, what the heck? I think it’s a great idea,” Ted said.
“So do I,” I said.
“Sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing for you,” Ted said.
“Well, if I had a reason to stay, I would,” Cookie said.
Eve and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
The sign on the door of the VIP lounge said Hollings Society Room. Senator Fritz Hollings was something of an icon in contemporary South Carolina politics, having served in the United States Senate all my life until his recent retirement. There were wings of buildings, schools, dormitories, parks, and all kinds of spaces named for him. I imagined that there was a substantial price tag that came with the privilege of membership in the Hollings Society.
We went inside. It was as beautifully decorated as it was serene. Big leather sofas and club chairs provided several sitting areas. There was a conference table with twelve chairs and two large-screen televisions. The lounge had a Pullman-type kitchen and a bathroom. I thought, if this just had a bedroom and a better kitchen, I could live here.
Ms. Linder assured us that as soon as Carl was in recovery someone would let us know. My boys and Daphne made a beeline for the refrigerator.
“It’s only water,” Luke said.
“But there are apples and bananas over here,” Daphne said.
“This drawer has a ton of pretzels and potato chips,” Max said. “But if you eat this stuff you clog up your arteries and wind up here getting bypass.”
Judy Linder laughed and said, “Well, we have to stay in business, you know.” Everyone looked at her with surprise. “I’m kidding! I’m just kidding! Golly! This is how conspiracy theories get started, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Max said. “Actually, that was pretty funny.”
“Thank you,” Eve said. “This is so nice of you to let us be here.”
“It’s our pleasure!” Judy Linder said and went toward the door. “Ted?”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be expecting your call.”
“Of course!” he said.
If I’d only had a superhero’s extrasensory vision, I would’ve been able to detect the steam billowing from Cookie’s ears.
We made ourselves comfortable and time passed. I looked at my watch. Carl had been in the operating room for almost three hours. I said a prayer for him and one for Adam, holding my beads from Greece and drank another bottle of water.
Ted, Max, and Luke, who had been deep in a powwow on the other side of the room, approached me and sat down.
“What’s going on, gentlemen?” I asked.
“You should be very proud of your sons,” Ted said.
Max and Luke grinned and I said, “I am! I’m very proud of my boys. Why are you telling me this?”
“We’re coming home to take over Dad’s business until he’s well,” Luke said.
“And I’m coming out of retirement until Adam is back on his feet and ready to resume his duties,” Ted said.
Cookie butted in and said, “Well then, you’re not coming to the Galápagos with me.”
Ted looked at her like she was off her rocker.
“Ted, thank you. Boys! You can’t do that!” I said. “You’re both supposed to graduate in May!”
“I got a special leave,” Luke said. “All of my professors said I could make it up in summer school and still graduate, but I’ll walk with the next graduating class in January. If I want to walk.”
“I don’t know,” I said and thought it didn’t seem right to yank Luke out of Atlanta like that.
“I got a family emergency dispensation, but I wasn’t as lucky with my professors about course work,” Max said. “Premed is a special kind of hell. But if I go back in June, I can graduate in December.”
“Are you boys sure you want to do this?” I said.
“One hundred percent,” they both said.
I wanted to weep with joy. These were good boys. I had raised really good boys.
The door of the lounge opened again and in walked JJ and Tasha.
“Oh, my God!” I said. “I can’t believe you’re here! I was going to call you, but everything happened so fast!”
We all hugged and kissed.
“I wasn’t going to let you go through this without Tasha and me!” JJ said. “What are families for?”
“How did you even find out about Adam?” I asked.
“Kiki called me and told me the whole story. How else? She was very worried, and so is Aunt Anna. I decided that we should just get on a plane and come give you some support.”
“Oh, JJ! Thank you! Thank you so much. And Tasha, thank you too. I’m so happy you’re here. I want you to meet Cookie and Eve.”
“So! You’re Cookie?” Tasha said. “You look just like I thought you would.”
“Oh? And how’s that?” Cookie said.
“Gorgeous! And you’re Eve! You look just like your beautiful mother!”
Cookie and Eve liked nothing better than a compliment. Who didn’t?
JJ said, “So what’s the story? Is Adam still in the operating room?”
“Yes, and he still has a few hours to
go, I think,” I said.
“But the doctors expect a good outcome?” JJ said.
“Yes, but Adam’s going to have a long recovery in front of him,” I said.
My boys had been standing by politely waiting for their chance to say hello to their aunt and uncle.
“Uncle JJ?” Luke said.
“My God, you’ve become a man! Look at you! All grown up!” They hugged and then JJ turned to Max. “And look at you! You’re an adult!” Then they hugged.
“Thanks, Uncle JJ, it’s so good to see you.”
“Well, when our cousin Kiki called me from Greece and told me what was going on I looked at Tasha and said, ‘We have not been doing a good enough job for Eliza and her family. We get so wrapped up in our own stuff that it’s ridiculous. We’re going. Start packing.’”
“That’s exactly what happened. And I decided something, Eliza. I’ve been a lousy sister-in-law and aunt to these beautiful boys. Ever since I went on the board at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, all I do is go to meetings. I’m in my car driving back and forth to Boston four times a week! It’s ridiculous. We’re going to see each other more often. And I want Luke and Max to visit us too. I’d love to take them to the big city and show them all around. Have you boys ever been to Boston?”
“Not since we were little,” Luke said.
“He’s right. We must’ve been what? Five?” Max said. “Can we go to a Sox game?”
“Absolutely!” JJ said.
JJ and Tasha settled into a sofa with bottled water and a magazine and we all resumed the wait. We talked about Greece and Kiki and how amazing and historical Corfu was. I showed them all my pictures. And then came the news about Carl.
“He’s in the recovery ICU,” the doctor said. “He did just fine and we don’t expect any complications.”
“Can I see him?” Eve said.
“She should let the man rest,” Cookie said.
“Hush,” Ted said. “That’s her husband.”
Cookie pressed her lips to one side of her mouth, looked at JJ and Tasha, rolled her eyes, and shook her head as if to say, he thinks he knows everything.
The doctor said, “As soon as he’s awake, we’ll come get you.”
“And my husband? Adam Stanley?”
“I think they’ll be winding the surgery up shortly. I’ll come let you know, or someone will.”
There was nothing left to do except continue to wait.
Someone came to get Eve. Carl was awake and asking for her. She left Daphne there with Cookie and went to see him. Two more hours went by. We had sandwiches from downstairs and the kids got pizzas. We watched CNN and then I Love Lucy reruns. We talked, played cards, and paced the floor.
Then Ted came to me and sat down.
“I’m sorry for what I said, Eliza. I was so worried I couldn’t think straight.”
“It’s okay, Ted. It really is.”
Finally, word came that Adam was in the recovery ICU as well. I broke down in tears—tears of gratitude, tears from stress, and tears of exhaustion. Ted gave me a giant hug and so did the boys and JJ. We were all so relieved. And so grateful.
About forty-five minutes later a nurse came to lead me to his room. He was in an ICU room right next to Carl. Our whole group went there together. Everyone stood outside the plate-glass window while I went inside.
There he was, stretched out in his bed, attached to more monitors then I thought could possibly be needed by just one person. But his eyes were open, and although he was still groggy, he was awake. The joy I felt was indescribable. I leaned over him.
“Hi!” I said in a whisper.
“Hi,” he whispered back.
“Sweetheart,” I said, “you’re going to be all right.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” I said. In my heart, I had forgiven him for everything.
“It was Carl?”
“Yes. He was your donor.”
“Gotta let the son of a bitch take me on the tennis court, I guess,” he said and smiled again. In fact, it seemed like neither one of us could stop smiling. Adam’s color was improving by the minute and I was happy, no, overjoyed, to see it.
“Nah,” I said. “Just buy him dinner.”
“I’m gonna live, Eliza.”
“Yes, Adam Stanley, and we’re going to live happily ever after.”
He drifted off to sleep, still smiling. Where he went when he dreamed I did not know. But I could tell by the look on his face that it had to be somewhere beautiful. We were a family again. Given a second chance to be happy and productive and in love because of Carl and Eve’s generous hearts. I had so much to tell Adam. But the updates could wait for another time. It was the time to heal.
chapter 21
eliza
2010
Adam’s illness had terrified us. Carl’s gift had purified us. It was as though he had taken us by the hand down to the River Jordan and baptized us. A group baptism and an exorcism. All our devils were gone. We resumed our rightful places with each other with renewed vigor and deepened commitment. There was nothing like staring death right in the eye to wake us up. Everyone around us could see the changes in us, especially Ted, which Adam and I appreciated.
“I’m so glad to see y’all worked things out,” he said one night when we had him over for dinner with Judy.
Ted and Judy had become quite the pair, and Cookie just hated the hell out of it.
Carl recovered quickly and went back to the business of saving children’s lives. As we knew it would, it took Adam longer to regain his energy and strength. I was his home nurse. I saw that he got up and walked in the first days he was home. I took him to all of his doctor’s appointments and had all of his medications ready for him to take when the time came for another dose. And I kept his spirits high by reading to him, watching feel-good movies, and discussing the events of the day. And I began and ended each day with a positive attitude. How well a person heals has as much to do with attitude as anything else.
During that spring, Ted and the boys did a wonderful job of getting all those houses finished on time for the Boeing employees, with Adam consulting from the sidelines and me paying all the bills. Slowly, slowly Adam became himself again. He was so grateful to all of us for the parts we played in saving him and putting him back together again. Carl, naturally, received the largest share of the gratitude pie.
I was in touch with Kiki all the time. She was overwhelmed with joy to hear of the success of Adam’s transplant, and the fact that Carl had been the donor was incredible to her.
“Now that’s a true friend,” she had said.
“Yes,” I said. “It is.”
Adam and I were planning a trip to Greece in August, with Carl and Eve as our guests. JJ and Tasha were coming too. And, in a moment of oh, what the heck, Ted and Judy decided to come along.
Kiki said, “We cannot wait to have all of you here with us! What wonderful news! Mother will start cooking the minute I tell her!”
“I can’t believe I have to spend a week with JJ and Tasha,” Adam said.
“Don’t you dare complain,” I said, and that was the end of that.
I was so happy to have my boys home with me. I wasn’t lonely at all. And no one ever heard a peep from me over having mountainous laundry to do or more mouths to feed. They loved being home too.
“I never realized how much you did for me until I had to do it all myself!” Luke said.
Max said, “Duh.”
Suddenly it was summer and we literally had to push Max and Luke out of the house and back to college. They didn’t want to leave us. Maybe they were afraid Adam would take on too much too soon and that something might happen to him. For the first time in their lives they’d had to reckon with the fact that they wouldn’t have us forever.
I was making waffles one morning in May, happily stirring a compote of blueberries in a pot to pour over them. They were at the table with Adam, drinking coffee and reading their fa
vorite morning newspapers on their iPads. Another sign of their adulthood.
“You know, Dad,” Luke said, “I could just stay here and we could run the business together.”
“You need your degree,” he said.
“Oh, come on,” Luke said. “I’ve been training for this job all my life.”
“You need your degree,” Adam said again in his most serious parental voice.
Luke mimicked him in an even deeper voice, saying, “You need your degree.”
Max laughed, then Luke laughed too.
“I think Luke’s got the picture, Dad,” Max said.
“Good,” Adam said.
In May, Adam got the okay from his doctor to resume full-time work, and it was time for the boys to go. They went back to Atlanta and Raleigh and Cookie embarked on her first cruise.
Cookie was testing her plan to live on cruise ships for the rest of her life. It didn’t work out exactly the way she hoped it would.
“She came home yesterday and said she’d never met such inhospitable people in her entire life,” Eve said. “She told me she’s suing the cruise company and she wants her money back.”
“Good grief! What happened?” I said.
It was a couple of weeks later, and we were having a barbecue at Ted’s house. Carl and Eve had come for the weekend and were staying with us. We were standing in Ted’s backyard watching him baste four racks of baby back ribs. Judy was bringing potato salad and mac and cheese but had yet to arrive. And I had brought my grandmother’s photo album and all my pictures to show them so they would have an idea of what to expect when we got to Dassia.
Eve said, “Well, you know Cookie. She had it in her head that she’d meet fascinating widowers from around the world who would find her allure irresistible.”
“She forgot to pack her allure,” Carl said to Adam. “You want another beer?”
“Nah, thanks. One’s plenty. Gotta be good to my new liver,” Adam said.
“Oh, Cookie, Cookie, Cookie. Tell me more,” I said.
“Don’t you know, I had to squeeze the truth out of her, but it seems those widowers from around the world were there. But they brought women with them who were half Cookie’s age, which she didn’t like one little bit.”
Same Beach, Next Year Page 27