Rediscovering Love - A Billionaire Romance Novel (Romance, Billionaire Romance, Life After Love Book 5)

by Nancy Adams

  “Can you write in the numbers of the clock?” the doctor asked when she’d finished the hands.

  She continued to glare at the paper, her expression becoming more and more frustrated. Eventually she looked up at the doctor and, with a doleful face, she shook her head and said she couldn’t.

  Soon it was all over, Juliette doing well in some tests, worse in others. The doctor reseated himself behind his desk and Juliette and Jules were once again sitting side-by-side in front of him.

  “Well, I can confirm that Juliette is suffering from some form of dementia. However, until I get a blood analysis I can’t confirm what type. I also need to ask a few questions first.”

  “Sure,” Juliette muttered, feeling apprehensive after the test.

  “How much alcohol do you consume on a daily basis?”

  “I don’t drink at all anymore. Not since David.”

  “Okay,” he said, noting it down. “Are you on any medications at the moment?”

  “None.”

  “Okay. What about nutrition, do you eat plenty of vegetables?”

  “Of course. I have a five-year-old boy in the house, I have a responsibility to him to eat healthily.”

  “Okay. I could check your breathing, heart, blood pressure, etc. But I think we’re all good. I’m going to take a blood sample for analysis, just in case it’s something else. Although I’m almost certain it isn’t. Now, do either of you have any questions for me?”

  “Yes,” Jules broke in, an agitation in him. “How long is this gonna take to…well, you know…how long have I got her for, doc?”

  “With each patient, dementia is different and therefore evolves at different rates. I’m going to ask you to bring Juliette back in two weeks and then again in another two weeks after that. I’ll keep doing tests at those sessions and that way I can map the disease’s progress. In the meantime, keep an eye on Juliette and report to me any concerns you may have.”

  “Do I need to be with her all the time? Because I have a job.”

  “I’m afraid that at the moment, my advice to you is that Juliette needs to be supervised at all times. Not directly—she can still be trusted to do things she did before—but someone needs to make sure she doesn’t wander off again or hurt herself if she gets confused with something. Do you have relatives, friends or neighbors that could perhaps assist you in this?”

  “I think so. We have a neighbor who’s friends with Juliette.”

  The whole time they spoke about her, Juliette gazed blankly ahead of her into space, their voices like echoes emerging from a deep well. She felt herself fading out of existence as they talked around her and it was all bringing the fog pluming into her head, spreading through her brain and making her wonder why she was sitting in the room she was.

  “Now, once I get her test results from the sample of blood I’m going to take, I’ll be able to medicate the condition.”

  “There’s medication she can take? Will it fix her memory?”

  “It won’t fix it, Mr. Lee. But it will slow down the confusion and allow her to think a little more clearly.”

  “Oh! that’s excellent.”

  Jules flashed a glance at Juliette, a grin on his face, and added, “You hear that, my love. They may have some pills ta help ya.”

  But she didn’t answer him. It was then that he noticed how terrified she looked, her eyes dull and her face white.

  “You okay, Juliette?”

  She turned sharply to him and burst out with, “What did he say was wrong with Danny?”

  Jules felt a dreadful pang in his heart and his face went very sad.

  Stretching his hand over hers, he softly said, “This isn’t about Danny. It’s about you forgetting things.”

  “I don’t forget things. We came here because the boy’s sick. It’s because he keeps getting sick all the time.” She turned her dejected eyes to the doctor and asked, “Is he going to be okay? This illness, he will get rid of it, won’t he? It’s not serious, he’s just a sickly boy.”

  In the face of this, the doctor felt lost for words and stuttered, “I don’t know what…eh…”

  Jules took her softly by the cheek and turned her swollen eyes away from the doctor and toward him. When their eyes met, Jules looked deep into her and said, “Juliette, Danny’s gone. He died over twenty-five years ago. We’re in here about your memory loss.”

  “No,” she let out with a frown, pulling her face out of his grasp.

  She stood up sharply and glanced hurriedly around the room, a look of absolute confusion in her features, unable to grasp where she was, no memory of even getting there. Jules stood up with her and placed his hands upon her shoulders, trying his best to calm her.

  “No…I—” she mumbled. “I thought…Oh!”

  She gingerly sat back down and her face became less panicked.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when she was sat.

  “That’s perfectly okay, Mrs. Lee,” Dr. Smith said. “Shall we get that blood sample now?”

  For a moment she was silent. But before long, she turned her eyes to him, smiled and said, “Sure.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  When Jules pulled up at the trailer after the doctor’s, he ushered Juliette inside and then went to fetch David from Gwen’s. He knocked on the door and Gwen invited him inside, where David was in the lounge watching cartoons with Randy and Casper.

  “What’d they say?” Gwen inquired the moment they were in the kitchen.

  “She’s got dementia.”

  “Oh my!” Gwen exclaimed softly. “That’s terrible, Jules. How she taking it?”

  “I’m not sure. She had a slight turn in the doctor’s place and she’s been pretty quiet ever since. She didn’t say a word on the car ride back.”

  “They say how bad it’s gonna get?”

  “They don’t know yet. They need to see her again in two weeks and see where she’s at then. The doctor took a sample of her blood and he’s gonna telephone with the results in a day or two.”

  “You wanna sit down?”

  “Nah, I gotta get back to her with Davey.”

  Jules called David’s name and the moment the boy heard it from the lounge, he came sprinting in and threw himself into Jules’s arms.

  “Papa!” the boy cried out from within his grasp.

  Looking up from Jules’s belly, he asked, “What did the doctor say about Momma?”

  “They said that they need to do more tests and then they’ll know what to do. But for now we have to be extremely nice to Momma and not stress her out.”

  “Okay, Pa,” Danny said.

  Jules turned to Gwen with a smile and said, “Thanks a lot, sweetie. I really appreciate you helping us out today.”

  “Jules, you ain’t gotta thank me. You and her been nothing but good to me since you moved in. You looked after my boys and me. It’s only right I do the same. Otherwise what kinda person am I?”

  Jules merely grinned heartily at this. For the two years they’d lived next door to Gwen, Jules had known very little about her. Because of her husband’s awful behavior around the trailer park, she felt too embarrassed to look folks in the eye and therefore locked herself away. However, that wasn’t to say she was rude or offish with people. She had always smiled at Jules and Juliette, and the Juliette always did her best to engage the young mother in conversation. Now that she was free of the fetters of her despotic husband, Jules was seeing a bright light emerge from Gwen.

  “Well, we better be goin’,” Jules said to her. “David, what do you say to Gwen?”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Mathieson.”

  She beamed brightly at him and replied, “As always young man, it has been a privilege.” Then, turning to Jules, she added, “Okay. Y’all give Juliette my love and tell her I’ll be over a little later on when I get the boys to bed.”

  “Will do, Gwen,” Jules said as he ushered David out of the door.

  Once they were out, they made their way back to their trailer, where they found
Juliette sitting glumly at the kitchen table, gazing into space with a sad expression. However, the moment she saw David’s little face peeking in through the door, her sadness dissolved and a bright smile lit up her features.

  “Momma!” the boy exclaimed as he came in and threw his arms around Juliette’s frame.

  Her mood immediately warmed with his touch and she placed her arms around him, nestling her face into the crown of his head.

  “You good, my love?” Jules inquired as she held David.

  Looking up with gleaming eyes, she answered in a sad voice, “I’m okay now.”

  After that, Jules got David ready for dinner while Juliette cooked them some reheated chili from the day before. Once Jules had gotten David ready, which basically meant supervising him to make sure that he washed himself properly and picked fresh clothes, Jules left him in his bedroom to get changed and called Jose to inform him of the developments.

  “Hey, Jules,” Jose answered.

  “Hey, kid. I got some shitty news. It looks like Juliette’s got dementia for sure.”

  “Oh man, I’m sorry.”

  “Well, what I guess I’m saying is that I’m gonna need to be out of things for at least another week. However, I can help you put the new staircase in at the Jameson place on Thursday for a couple of hours and I’ll help you with the new loft hatch on Friday. I know this is really bad on you, kid, but I got no choice. I need to keep an eye on her.”

  “Man, it’s all good. We’re at least four days ahead anyway, so it’s no sweat if we lose some time. But I am concerned with what happens after a week. You gonna be good then?”

  Jules groaned slightly.

  “I don’t know, kid. And that’s my honest evaluation of things. I got a couple of neighbors who could look after her while I’m away, but I feel bad for putting it on them. Plus, there’s David too. Someone’s gotta be there for him.”

  “Ain’t there nothing the quack can do for her?”

  “He talked about medication, but basically it just gets worse from here.”

  “Ah Jules, man. That sucks! I feel for you. Look, don’t worry about work for the next week. Help me with the stairs and the hatch and I’ll get my cousin Ricardo in. He’s not quite you, but he’s good enough and he’s outta work at the moment. It’ll cost us, but he’s cool.”

  “That’d be awesome, kid.”

  “You just focus on your woman.”

  “Thank you, Jose. I owe you one.”

  “No sweat. Be safe.”

  “You too, kid.”

  When Jules put the phone down, he walked into the kitchen to find that dinner was cooked and Juliette was serving it.

  “Smells wonderful, my love,” Jules said as he came around the back of her, took her by the hips and kissed her neck, making her smile.

  “It’s only leftovers, you old fool. No need to go all gooey on me.”

  “But your leftovers are as good as anyone else’s freshly cooked food.”

  “You old charmer,” she giggled.

  Soon they were all sat down eating together and a somber mood pervaded the table. Jules and David worried about Juliette and both watched her secretly for any signs. Juliette felt their eyes all too well and wondered herself if she would slip up. She felt much better at the moment, but felt that any level of stress would only bring back the mist.

  After dinner, Jules and David cleaned up while Juliette sat at the table.

  “You sure you don't want me to do anything?” she asked.

  “Not at all,” Jules replied. “You made the dinner, we clean the dishes. It’s only fair.”

  “We gotta treat you like a queen, Ma,” David said from the sink as he stood on a chair and did the washing up.

  “A queen!?” Juliette exclaimed playfully.

  “Yes, Ma. If we treat you good enough, your memory will get better. Pa said we gotta make sure you ain’t stressed, so if we treat you good enough, you’ll get better.”

  Juliette smiled at him with so much sadness in her eyes that a teardrop fell from one of them. She felt such delicate sweetness and compassion coming from the boy. Such utter empathy and feeling. He had once again shone a pristine light onto Juliette and she thanked God she had him there with her.

  Her heart sank, however, as doubt struck it with a blow. What if I forget him? she asked herself. What if one day I see no more in him than I do in the kitchen table? What if I look into his blue eyes and get nothing? What do I do when those two loves of my life over there slowly turn into strangers?

  Juliette began sobbing, and when David noticed her, he turned to Jules, who had his back to it all, and tugged on his shirt. The father turned to the boy and David nodded in Juliette’s direction. On seeing his love crying at the table, Jules’s heart sank as low as her own. He dried his hands and came over to her, placing his arms around her and cradling her weeping head into his stomach. David also came over and placed his arms around his forlorn mother.

  “Don’t cry, Momma,” the boy cooed softly. “Me and Pa will always look after you.”

  “I’m so scared, boys,” she cried. “So very scared.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The morning after the uproar, Sam was sitting in his kitchen contemplating calling Claire. The thought of speaking to her while Jess was in the house put him off though. Plus, he wanted to give Claire a little space. Before he’d gone to bed the night before, he’d texted her asking if she was okay and she texted back to say she was. No more. He took the curt manner of the text as a sign that she needed time to think through this latest turmoil. He was dreadfully embarrassed for her and worried about how she had taken it all. He couldn’t help but picture her eyes the last second she’d looked at him. There was such hurt in them and they haunted him all night while he had tossed and turned in bed.

  In fact, he hadn’t even really slept a wink all night, and his restless mind had been fraught with musing. It wasn’t just Claire either. He felt terribly guilty on the subject of his daughter too. After Claire had left, he had held Jess on the floor for at least ten minutes while she wept bitterly, and he awaited her at breakfast with a mixture of anxious trepidation and pure dread. Not once had she been so angry at him. Not once since he had first held her in his hands when she was born had Jess looked at him in such an accusing manner as she had the night before. She had looked at her father with spite and a supreme disappointment. Everything that he wished would have stayed secret from her was known. Everything he wanted to save her heart from knowing had struck it a bitter blow. He had no idea how he would explain things to her, and no idea if the girl would ever accept Claire knowing that she had been her father’s mistress while her mother lay dying.

  Regarding Jenna, he also felt low. Never in his life would he have wanted to hurt her like this. He had never imagined in a million years that she would walk through the door with Jess like she had last night. Earlier that day, he had called her to arrange them meeting up in L.A. the following evening. On the phone she had been rather brief and he had put it down to her suspecting that this was the end. Never would he have guessed that at that moment she was with Jess, about to board a flight to New York. When they had shown up, he had been angry with Jenna. It had caught him off guard and—like anyone who’s ever been caught off guard before—it vexed him. But after thinking it through in bed last night, he realized that he couldn’t be upset with her for anything, even lashing out at Claire. He had injured Jenna greatly and had no right to feel injured in any way himself. He did, however, wonder what would come next from her. When she had darted her fiery eyes at him before storming out, he had seen terrible scorn burning in them.

  While he read the Financial Times and drank coffee, Sam heard footsteps and, looking up, saw the sullen figure of Jess walking into the kitchen. It was the first time he had seen her since last night when she had pushed him away and marched off to bed, having cried everything out of her on the floor.

  “Good morning,” Sam said softly to her.

  She didn�
�t reply and merely flashed her angered eyes at him, going over to the fridge to get herself some juice.

  “Jess, we’ve got to talk. I need to explain things. I have to explain things.”

  Jess turned to him and said, “I don’t want to talk. Maud will be here later and I’m going back to L.A. with her. I don’t want to see you ever again.”

  Sam frowned and replied, “That’s a little overdramatic, even for a ten-year-old.”

  “Well, it’s true. You lied to Jenna. You lied to me. And worse, you lied to mommy.”

  Sam shuddered at this last indictment, his mind cast back to the day he told Marya and her haunting reaction, losing the last of her senses to the disease.

  “I told your mother,” he said frankly.

  Jess stood stunned for a moment, gazing incredulously at him.

  “You told her!?” she exclaimed.

  “Look, just sit down and let me explain. Please, I’ve never hidden things from you, it wasn’t what your mother wanted. She believed in being open. I myself would prefer things that don’t directly concern you be kept away from your ears, but because of last night you’re now privy to things that you shouldn’t really know and I feel I need to explain things.”

  “Like you being a huge cheat?”

  “It’s not that simple, Jess. You’re only ten and think the world is always black and white, but it’s not. Sometimes it’s gray. Please just sit down and let me explain everything.”

  Still looking at him with steely eyes, Jess took a stool and seated herself at the opposite end of the breakfast table.

  “Okay then, tell me,” she said, folding her arms and glaring at him.

  Sam took in a deep breath and began, “When they first told me and your mom that she was going to die for sure, we immediately moved her from the Cliff Face to Denver Hospital. You remember that, right?”

  “Yes. We stayed at the hospital. That’s where I recognize that woman from.”

  “Anyway, at the hospital when I was feeling very low, I met Claire. You say you remember her.”