by Lynn Murphy
“Kel was completely in love with her. But a lot of things happened and by the time she died, the marriage was in trouble. I could sit here and tell you stories all night, and I can say without questions that I was never terribly fond of her, but I really think you should hear what happened from Kel.” Molly turned to Lily. “Don’t you think so?”
Lily said, “I do, especially given that she’s involved with Kel herself. Alise , bless her heart, just never quite fit in this family.”
She understood that they didn’t want to talk about Alise, but Lily did pull out an album that had several photos of Alise, including some pictures of Kel and Alise on their wedding day and with Jim and Janet when they were babies. Alise had been stunningly beautiful, exactly the kind of woman you would expect Kel to married to. In the photographs they looked like a Hollywood golden couple, all beautiful and perfectly matched.
She was more confused than ever.
“Janet,” Kel said, trying to keep his voice down, “I’m sorry, but you can’t get married that week-its right in the middle of the convention.”
“Daddy, I’m having trouble booking the church. That’s the only free weekend this summer.”
“Then you’ll have to get married this fall instead. And please try to work around the election-I might be busy then too.”
“That’s not funny Daddy.”
“Baby please just try to work around the things I’m committed to, okay?”
“Fine.” Janet hung up the phone.
Kel ran a hand through his hair and consulted his watch. He had five minutes before his next speech. His phone rang again and he hoped it wasn’t Janet throwing out another date. Instead it was Tara.
“I have five minutes. I wish I had more,” he said in answer.
“Everywhere I go there’s a camera in my face. What am I supposed to do?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I really am, but right now I don’t have time to figure that out.”
“When are you coming home?” Was she about to cry?
“In three days. I’m sorry Tara, but I really have to go.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“I wish I had more time.”
She was crying. “It’s okay.” The connection ended.
John had come looking for him. “Everything all right? It’s time for your speech.
He walked toward the stage in front of a large audience and the only thing he wanted to think about was getting through it and being done for a while. He was looking forward to some time at home
Chapter Twelve
Evan came out of an examining room and stopped at the nurse’s station and asked a complete blood count to be taken. The receptionist called him to the phone.
“It’s Dr. Hunter,” she said.
“Ted I’ve got about five minutes, what’s up?”
“I need more than five minutes. Can you walk over to my office, now?”
“What’s this about?”
“I have some radiology films for Mary Katherine I’d like for you to look at.”
Mary Katherine had gone in for a physical earlier in the week. She hadn’t mentioned any tests.
“I’m on my way.” He handed the phone back to the receptionist. “I have an emergency, can someone else cover for me?”
“They’ll just have to wait for Dr. Wilton.” Evan was often called for consults, they were used to passing his patients on to whoever was available. The ones who specifically wanted to see him always rescheduled.
Dr. Hunter looked grim as Evan was ushered into his office. He handed Evan the CT scan results. Evan held each one up to the light. For just a moment, he was certain his heart stopped beating. He sank into the closest chair, the film still in his hand. He somehow found his voice. “Stage two ovarian cancer?”
Hunter nodded. “That was my diagnosis. I’m sorry Evan.”
Evan closed his eyes. “Does she know?”
“I was going over to tell her, but I wanted you to see these first. I’m getting the feeling that you didn’t know there might be a problem.”
“No. But that’s Mary Katherine. She would have waited and broken the news herself.”
“We didn’t catch it as early as I’d have liked, but if we go ahead and take care of this we’ve got a good chance of having a positive outcome.”
Evan took a deep breath and found the strength to stand. “Okay.”
The exam room door opened and Mary Katherine looked up. “Well, I don’t know who you are,” she said to Dr. Hunter, “but you’ve brought Evan with you, so whatever the tests said, it must be bad.”
Evan said, “Darlin’, this is Dr. Hunter.”
“I’ve only heard my husband mention one Dr. Hunter and he’s in oncology. So the two of you are here to tell me that I have some kind of cancer.”
Evan reached for her hand and she took it and held it tightly, but that was the only sign of anxiety.
Dr. Hunter sat beside her and said “Mary Katherine you have stage two ovarian cancer. What I’m recommending is a complete hysterectomy and a then chemo. We’ll do biopsies following the surgery and then decide how many rounds of chemotherapy you’ll need. Because ovarian cancer can be very aggressive, I’d like to go ahead with the surgery on Friday morning.”
“That’s awfully fast.”
“As I said, ovarian cancer is aggressive. The sooner the better, and I’m sure you need to talk to Evan.”
“Evan?”
“I think you should go ahead with the surgery on Friday.” She saw real fear in his blue eyes and tears he was fighting to hold back.
“What time Friday?” she asked.
Ross walked back into the dining room and took his place. The family looked at him expectantly. “Mary Katherine has ovarian cancer. They’re doing surgery Friday morning.”
No one seemed to know what to say. “Shouldn’t someone go to be with Evan?” Skip asked.
“I already told Evan I would be there.” Ross reached over and took Casey’s hand as she was crying silently. “I’m leaving in the morning. Are you going with me Case?”
“Yes.”
Skip said, “I’ll take you Dad. We can be there in an hour in the plane.”
John said, “Kel?”
“Of course we’re going John.”
Mary Katherine opened her eyes. Evan was talking quietly with Ross and John and Kel. She stretched out her arm and found his hand.
He leaned over her and said “Hello darlin.’” She smiled. It was how he always answered the phone when she called. He kissed her.
“Did the surgery go okay?”
“It went as expected. We should have the biopsy results tomorrow.”
“I just woke up and I’m sleepy.”
He kissed her again. “Then sleep. Are you okay pain-wise?”
“I’m okay.”
She closed her eyes again. Evan walked Ross and John and Kel to the door.
Ross said, “Do you need us to stay?”
“No. We’ll be okay. I do appreciate you being here last night and this morning.”
“Call when you get the results.”
“I will. Keep praying?”
Ross gave him a hug as Skip and Casey came down the hall. “Of course.”
“Mary Katherine ever wake up?” Skip asked, handing Evan a cup of coffee.
“Yes, and went back to sleep.”
“But she’s okay.” Skip had always been close to Mary Katherine.
“For now, she’s okay,” Evan said. “Are you okay Skip? I was a little preoccupied last night.”
“I’m getting better Evan. Don’t worry about me right now.”
Reluctantly they said goodbye. In two days John and Kel and Skip had to be back on the campaign trail and they had to leave, whether they wanted to or not. Evan and Casey went back in Mary Katherine’s room and talked in hushed tones until Mary Katherine woke again.
Tara thought it must have been the shortest two weeks of her life. The photographers had continued to
hound her, but it was easier when Kel was with her. They kept more of a distance and seemed to bother him less than they did her. He didn’t give them anymore shots of him kissing her, but there were photos of her watching him play a polo match, of them strolling downtown holding hands and having dinner. For the most part they time they had spent together had been private. They had taken countless walks in the moonlight, eaten by candlelight at his house, watched videos and spent hours talking. Tonight they were having dinner in what everyone referred to as ‘the tree house,’ a glass and rock atrium like structure under one of the tall weeping beeches on the grounds of Molly and Ross’s house. It was strung all through with tiny white Christmas lights. There were cushioned benches all around and a table set with an elaborate picnic. Kel told her that his parents used to picnic under the tree and when grandchildren had come along his mother had asked him to design a playhouse for them under the tree where her husband had proposed. The girls, he told her, had often had slumber parties and tea parties here and more than one romantic dinner had been consumed here by various members of the family.
“It’s like something out of a fairy tale, “ she said. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’m told my nephew Seamus his brought at least twenty girls here for dinner,” Kel said.
“Is he a lady’s man then?”
Kel poured her a glass of champagne and passed it to her. “He is charming, intelligent, and an outstanding athlete. John and Kimberly adopted both their children, but Seamus is definitely looks like an O’Brien physically. Girls have always been interested in him, and none of them ever seem to mind at all that he’s deaf. Probably because he doesn’t.”
“I noticed that he speaks very well.”
“He does, considering he’s never been able to hear. I think lip reading is harder for him, but it doesn’t make him stand out. There are times when we all resort to signing.”
They continued talking as they ate and then sat on one of the comfortable benches and looked out over the ocean. She hadn’t brought up the article about Alise, although she had told Bobby she was working on it. Debby had painted a picture of the perfect marriage, ending tragically. But their time together had been so nice, she hadn’t wanted to spoil it and she hadn’t wanted to talk about him being with someone else.
“Everything here is so beautiful,” she said.
“Yes,” he said, looking at her instead of the view, “it is.”
He took her face very gently in his hands and pulled her close. Her arms went around him as he kissed her and she was totally caught up in his embrace. He didn’t act like a man who was grieving his late wife. He was very much in the present, kissing her and making her just a little dizzy with the intensity of it. At that particular moment, she wanted nothing except to be right there, secluded from the world, passionately involved with Kelly O’Brien.
“We’re going to have to go somewhere else,” he said. “Preferably with other people. If we stay here all by ourselves I’m going to let this go too far.”
She pulled away from him ever so slightly and smiled. “I think I would go right along with you.”
“Tara, I am falling in love with you. And I think it’s safe to say that I am completely attracted to you in a physical sense. But this is happening at the worst possible time.”
“Just because it isn’t easy, doesn’t mean it isn’t right.”
“No, it doesn’t, but it’s going to get a lot harder in the next few months. You were almost at the breaking point a couple of weeks ago with the press.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“While I’m gone I want you to think about what life with me would really be like. Particularly if I win the White House. But I’m not just talking about what my job might be either.”
“Do you mean could I handle you being diabetic ?”
“It was a problem for Alise. And given my history, I am realistic about the fact that I’ll probably have problems in the future.”
“I talked to Evan. I know what the risks are.”
“Then what you need to do is decide whether you want to follow my dream with me.”
He stood up and pulled her to her feet and then wrapped his arms back around her and kissed her again, every bit as passionately as he had before. She closed her eyes and responded in kind until he broke away from her and said “We are going up to the house with Ross and Molly right now.”
She laughed and blew out the candles and took his hand and walked back to the house, certain, at least for now, that Debby had not given her the accurate story.
Chapter Thirteen
Evan helped Mary Katherine up the stairs. She was already feeling the effects of her chemo treatment. Only by sheer will power had she kept from throwing up before they got home. As nausea overwhelmed her, so pulled away from Evan and just made it to the bathroom before she was violently ill. Evan knelt on the floor beside her and held back her hair and caressed her shoulder until she was done. She started to get up to go back to the bedroom, but instead, Evan sat down on the floor and pulled her into his arms.
“We should probably stay here for a little while,” he said as she relaxed against him. He was right, she was throwing up again within five minutes. She collapsed in his arms again totally exhausted. He rested his head on top of hers and stroked her hair.
“Will all my hair fall out?” she asked.
“Maybe, maybe not.”
His voice was soothing and so was the strength and comfort of his arms as he held her. She had been told many times in the past that his bedside manner had a calming effect on his patients, she had come to believe that in the last few weeks. Since the moment she had been diagnosed he had been a pillar of strength and comfort, surpassing even the usual gentleness and concern that he had always given her. She lay there letting him be the strong one and even dozed off for a few minutes. She woke up when she began feeling nauseated again.
“Is everybody this sick? Is that normal?” She was wondering how anyone could stand multiple rounds.
“The general consensus in the medical arena is that if you aren’t sick it isn’t working.”
“Then I must already be in remission,” she tried to joke and then was promptly sick again. Totally spent, she started to cry. Evan picked her up gently and carried her into the bedroom and put her on the bed. He stretched out beside her and she moved closer and cried some more.
“You’ll be okay darlin’, you will,” he whispered. “Close your eyes and try to rest.” He had said that Harry might never have loved her as much as he did and for the first time she considered that he might be right. She couldn’t picture Harry in Evan’s position right now. As much as it hurt her to admit it, Harry had been lacking in some of the stronger points of character that Evan possessed.
“Evan?”
“Yes darlin’?”
“I’m sorry things haven’t been better…physically.”
He laughed a little. “Trust me, that’s the last thing on my mind right now.”
“But I do wish I had treated you better.”
He said, “Let’s keep things present tense, okay? You can change our physical status anytime you want to. I’ll be here whenever you decide to. I’m not going anywhere.”
But I very well might be, she thought. She was suddenly willing to do anything she could to stay alive. How could she leave Evan? He gave so much of himself to everyone he loved, but who would take care of him if she died? Her thoughts wandered as she lay there fighting not to be sick again to the early days of their marriage. They had quickly discovered nether one of them could cook but Evan was worse off than she was in that regard; he couldn’t even make a decent cup of coffee and relied on Starbucks each morning. ‘Thank God for Sutton Place Gourmet’ he had often said. She had learned to cook a little, but all of their favorite take out places knew them on sight by name. She also remembered the first Thanksgiving when one of her aunts had asked Evan what holidays had been like for him before his parents died an
d Evan had gotten a pained look on his face and said that he couldn’t remember. When Charlotte had pressed him to explain that he had excused himself from the table and she’d found him in the hallway, holding his chest and gasping for air. She had been afraid he was having a heart attack and asked him if she needed at call 911 but he had said no, and managed to get out that he was having a panic attack. For five horrifying moments she watched him trying to get a full breath and then, finally it was over. He told her that he could remember nothing about his parents, except identifying their bodies and burying them. She had known they were both dead, but he had never shared the story with her before She had led him to her father’s study by then and closed the door and he told her how his parents, on their way to see their son off to the Olympics, were killed in a fiery car crash in which their bodies were burned beyond recognition.
“How,” she has asked him, “did you identify them?”
He pulled a pair of golden wings out of his pocket inscribed with his father’s name; she knew they were Drake Jones’ Blue Angel wings and that Evan was seldom without them. “They were completely untouched by the fire.” He had lifted her left hand, the engagement ring on her finger had been his mother’s. “So was this.” He confessed that the images he could remember were so horrible that he still had nightmares of them. “If I could think of something else, I would. But there’s nothing else I can recall.”
She had gone through the boxes of photographs and letters in the attic and contacted every person for whom she could find a name and asked them to send a letter sharing memories of his parents. Little by little, some of it had come back to him, but he still almost never spoke of them. In fact the only time he talked with anyone about them was when Molly’s parents were present. She had told Col. Jennings that she thought it might be too painful for Evan but he had kindly told her that Evan needed to remember them and it wasn’t possible for him to be around the son of his closest friend and not talk about him.
How could she leave him with all the ghosts of his past to haunt him? What would her death do to him? She had no choice. She had to be there for Evan.