The Jade Emperor

by Suzanne Jenkins

  Giving him a peck on the cheek, Lisa walked up the driveway to her apartment under the watchful eye of her brother, who didn’t drive off until he was sure she was safe.

  Chapter 10

  Feeling high from their walk around town, Lisa’s plan for a foray into the kitchen to get a snack wasn’t the first thing on her mind, as it usually was. Looking at the clock, she’d call her mother instead.

  Stripping off her sweaty athletic wear, she took a quick shower, getting into sweatpants. Grabbing her phone, she lay on the bed, her back up against the pillows. Kelly answered after the first ring.

  “Hi, honey, how are you doing? How was work today?”

  Launching into a brief rundown of her day before divulging Lee and Steve’s romantic moment in the parking lot of the Clock Hotel, Lisa wanted to get the pleasantries out of the way so she could tell her mother what Steve was up to.

  “Now you tell me about your day,” Lisa said. “How’s everything going at the hospital?”

  “Well, I took a leave of absence. Family leave, they call it now.”

  “Mother, I’m stunned,” Lisa said. “I don’t think I’ve ever known you to take a sick day, let alone a leave.”

  “Saved up all that time for this, I guess,” she said. “I have about six months’ worth of paid time off banked that they legally have to give me. It’s more like two years, but I lost most of it.”

  “Will you go back then?”

  “No, I don’t think I’m going to. It’ll be too painful to have to explain to everyone that at my age, my husband left me for another woman. It’s my pride, I guess. But also, I want to start enjoying my life. Karen and I are talking about moving to Algonac next summer.”

  “You mean leave us?” Lisa asked, uncertain if she was ready to let go of her mother, too.

  “Just for the summer,” Kelly said. “Then you can all join us on your vacations.”

  “Whew! You had me worried there for a minute. I guess it’s time to stop taking my mother for granted.”

  “I don’t feel taken for granted at all, at least not by my children,” Kelly said.

  “Mom, I have something to tell you,” Lisa said, feeling her way carefully.

  Not sure if this would be welcome news or more heartbreak for her mother, she’d stop if Kelly asked her to.

  “Oh, well, go ahead.”

  “It’s about Dad,” she replied. “Should I go on?”

  “I suppose so,” Kelly answered. “What more can there be?”

  “Not much, except he took Lee to Chicago tonight, for the weekend. Ben and I thought you should know in case you needed Dad for anything.”

  Not replying right away, Kelly thought about the night her father died, how Karen had called in a hysterical state of mind and needed Kelly to come to the hospital so she wouldn’t be alone with him. Steve refused to drive her, saying he didn’t know what the big deal was. “Just drive, already,” he’d said.

  Or when she went into labor with Alice, she couldn’t find him; he didn’t answer his pages at work, so she had her neighbor drive her to the hospital. Steve didn’t show up at the hospital until an hour after Alice’s birth.

  “How’d a trip to Chicago come about?” Kelly asked, her voice soft, calm, false, the knowledge that she and Steve hadn’t left Dearborn together in twenty years making the news hurt that much more.

  “Evidently, Titan’s wife is in the end stages of MS, and he called Lee to tell her that if she wanted to see his wife alive, she’d better come now.”

  “Oh, how sad,” Kelly said, emotions welling up. “Poor Titan. It’s weird, but I feel a sense of, I don’t even know how to describe it. Kinship, almost.”

  “Mother, Ben and I said the exact same thing. But the truth is we can’t do anything for Titan and his wife or for Lee, or even Dad for that matter.”

  Closing her eyes, listening to Lisa talk, Kelly understood that what her daughter said was so true. Why did it take this heartbreak for her to accept that she wasn’t going to change Steve, ever? All that wasted time, hoping he’d see the light.

  About the same time Ben arrived home after dropping Lisa off, Steve and Lee pulled into a Burger King right off the interstate in Kalamazoo.

  “Do you want to go inside?” Steve asked.

  “No, let’s go through the drive-thru,” Lee answered. “I want to hurry.”

  After picking up their dinner, he pulled into a parking space that overlooked the street.

  “When we do things like this, I pretend we’re teenagers, eating at a drive-in restaurant like they had in the old days.”

  “Baker used to take me to drive-ins,” Lee said. “But I didn’t like that. I wanted to go to a real restaurant.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Lee,” Steve said, handing her a burger in a box. “I’ll take you to a restaurant tomorrow.”

  “No, I like what we do. We busy tonight, so this is good. I didn’t mean now. I meant then. Baker was lazybones,” she said, a sneer on her face. “He liked fast food and TV.”

  Confused, Steve thought that was exactly what Lee liked, but let it pass. It was easy for him to be close to Lee in the newness of their relationship; Steve was patient with her as he had never been with anyone else before. She felt strongly about certain things, but once she voiced her opinion, that was it. Unlike Kelly, who’d hint and manipulate him to get what she wanted, Lee came right out and told him. They ate in silence, watching the cars come and go, and suddenly, Steve had a flash of heat; didn’t Ted Baker just die?

  “What happened to Ted?” Steve asked, hoping the question wouldn’t upset Lee.

  “He die,” she said.

  “I know that. But what did he die of?” Steve asked.

  “He got fat. I beg him every day, ‘Watch what you eat; you eat too much.’ But he don’t listen to me. I make good Vietnamese food. Lots of vegetables.”

  She pronounced vegetables, bedgtibles. Steve struggled with her criticism of the dead man for a moment, and then he understood she was angry that he’d ignored her warnings.

  “Baker have all his weight here,” she said, patting her stomach. “All that fat close to his heart. Not good.”

  “Did he have a heart attack?”

  “Yes, a heart attack. On my kitchen floor.”

  “I’m so sorry!” Steve said, appalled. “How long ago did it happen?”

  “Right after New Year,” she answered. “Right after Tet.”

  “This year?” Steve asked, stunned.

  Ted Baker wasn’t even dead a year yet. Guilt over being with the dead man’s wife surged through Steve. It didn’t feel right, being disrespectful to a fellow soldier - forgetting his own alive wife was just three hours away.

  “Why’d you tell Titan about me? I mean, it wouldn’t have made any difference if you’d allowed him to go on thinking Ted was his father.”

  “I wanted him to find you,” she said simply. “I don’t know how to use the computer.”

  “But wasn’t Titan upset?”

  “Why you ask so many questions?” she asked. “Let’s get going. We still have a couple hours to Chicago.”

  Gathering up their trash, Steve’s mind was running fast. Not normally a stewer, something bothered him about the speed with which Lee had pursued him after Ted Baker had died. Not wanting to upset her, he’d be careful questioning her since it was clear she’d already had enough. However, she refused to talk about it for the remainder of the trip no matter how he approached her.

  Not the most astute man, Steve knew enough about human nature to realize questioning Titan about the timing of the search for Steve while his wife was on her deathbed might not be wise, as well. He’d evaluate the situation further when they arrived in Illinois.

  They arrived in Chicago after midnight due to getting lost once they crossed the city limits; the Friday night traffic going into the city was horrendous. Staying calm in spite of it, Steve parked the car a block over from Lee’s house. With no off-street parking available at her house, and th
e street packed with parked cars, he’d have to make trips to unload the car. A little annoyed at it - a little comparison to his comfortable bungalow with abundant parking - Steve bit his tongue to keep from complaining, exhaustion and frustration not a good combination for healthy communication with Lee. If the luckless Kelly had been responsible for his inconvenience, he wouldn’t have hesitated to let her have it verbally, another indication that Lee was the right woman for him.

  Once he moved all the bags from the trunk to the porch, he started hauling everything inside. For some reason, Steve had assumed Ted Baker’s house would be a fabulous urban oasis, unattainable for someone like Steve Boyd. Discovering it was simply a workingman’s house in a middle-class neighborhood increased Steve’s self-confidence.

  The interior of the modest brick home was even more surprising; neat as a pin, the place was just the wrong side of cluttered, knickknacks from Southeast Asia abounding. Recognizing mementos of Vietnam, he found it comforting rather than discombobulating. Focusing on their past was the perfect present atmosphere to share with Lee.

  “Wow, this is exactly the right house for you,” he said, looking around.

  In the living room, all the furniture was covered with heavy clear plastic that was beginning to yellow. More treasures from her homeland decorated the tables and shelves, things he remembered seeing in the village markets, handcrafted mementos and souvenirs.

  “Do you like it?” she asked, smiling.

  “Very much. It’s perfect for you,” he said.

  “House of Kelly Boyd too plain,” she said, smug.

  “Don’t worry about Kelly,” Steve replied, pulling her close again.

  “Stevie, you hug me too much,” she said, squirming away. “I put these bags away now.”

  But Steve just laughed her off, knowing she expected pursuit if he wanted her attention.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he murmured in her ear.

  The long weekend began with love in Ted Baker’s former bed, the bags forgotten.

  ***

  The harvest moon casting eerie shadows across their bedroom, Liz Boyd was wide awake. The few hours of respite she had that evening - owed to Ben and Lisa pushing baby Nicole around town - had worked its magic and the baby was sound asleep. Lying in the bed with her hands folded across her stomach, looking up at the ceiling, worries for her husband’s family, now her own, filled her mind. Karen was like a mother to her, and after going through Eve’s death by Karen’s side, she felt the pain Karen was feeling, watching her twin sister through the devastation of infidelity.

  “Ben, are you awake?” she whispered.

  “No,” he moaned. “Well, now I am. Why aren’t you asleep? Your daughter is out cold and you should be, too.”

  “I’m worried about the family,” she said, rolling over to face him. “And I’m sorry I woke you. I feel like we have to do something for your mother.”

  “The only thing we can do is be available to her,” he said. “She claims there’s nothing to do for her now, but things are going to get worse before they get better.”

  “Ugh. Why do you say that?”

  “Well, Lee has liver cancer. Steve didn’t come out and say it, but I had the feeling that he feels obligated to care for her. Those were his words. ‘She was there for me when I needed her. I want to be there for her.’”

  “Oh, wow. I wonder if your mother knows,” she replied, yawning.

  “I don’t know. She clammed up like a shell when I tried to talk to her.”

  Lying on his back, it was Ben’s turn to watch the lights play on the ceiling. Liz’s steady breathing was a clue that she’d fallen asleep, but Ben had absorbed her worry. He wouldn’t be able to sleep for the next hour, thinking about his family, hoping Lisa had made it through the night without feasting, that his mother wasn’t lonely and miserable, even that his dad and Lee had made it safely to Chicago.

  “Thanks, Liz,” he whispered.

  ***

  Saturday morning, Kelly brought a cup of coffee back to bed. A lazy, peaceful feeling permeated every cell of her being. The house was clean; that Friday night cleaning spree had persisted, especially after hearing that Steve and Lee were going away for the weekend. What would it be like for him to miss an entire weekend of television watching? Maybe he’d watch it at Lee’s house. But she didn’t think so. She saw Steve in the thick of the sickroom activities, helping Lee and Titan take care of Titan’s wife, running errands for them, even carrying the sick woman to the bathroom; not very likely, but in a fantasy, anything is possible.

  Flipping to a scene from the past, she thought of poor Karen, the anguish of losing her life partner, Eve, and Steve never crossing the threshold of the apartment or acknowledging her grief. He didn’t go to the funeral or offer his condolences. Why’d everyone let him get away with it? Why did she?

  Sipping coffee, she pushed the curtain aside to look out the window; snow had fallen in the night and now the sun was shining bright. Why’d they let Steve get away with ignoring the family? He was so selfish, and in time, Kelly began to believe the excuses she made for him until it was no longer an issue that his rude, apathetic behavior was better off left at home, in the basement, where it couldn’t hurt anyone.

  Suddenly, a wave of guilt flowed over her. She shared the responsibility for their misery; if she’d insisted he get help, he might have left her long ago, but the disastrous influence he had on everyone would have been minimized, and he might have actually found happiness much sooner than this. Yes, she knew her pride and stubbornness were to blame, just as much as his untreated depression, and it hurt, his lack of love. Shaking her head, it wasn’t lack of love. He didn’t love her, period. Absence of love.

  The weekend stretched out ahead of her with no concern about Steve. She could come and go as she always did, but he wouldn’t be holed up in the cellar, like a mole. Checking the time, it wasn’t too early to call Karen, who answered on the first ring.

  “Are we having breakfast together today?” she asked.

  “You aren’t going to believe this, but I have a date for coffee,” Karen replied. “And I didn’t have to go to the lesbian dating service to get it.”

  A brief flood of disappointment washed over Kelly, who’d never make plans on a Saturday morning because of the longstanding breakfast date with Karen. Maybe she was overly sensitive because of Steve’s departure, so she reeled her emotions in.

  “Who? What? When?” Kelly asked, determined to support Karen. “How exciting!”

  “Your daughter’s partner actually introduced us over the phone last night. She’s a friend of Maxine’s. Another cop. Younger than me by twenty years, but she’s a dog lover and doesn’t have any hobbies but reading. That sounds like a match made in heaven.”

  “I’m so excited! Call me as soon as you can. I guess I’ll run, and then I’m cleaning out the man-cave.”

  “Maybe you should wait,” Karen said, worried her sister might be jumping the gun.

  “For what? He’s in Chicago with his girlfriend for the weekend. If that’s not a swan song for a marriage, I don’t know what is.”

  “Okay, well, you’ve got a point. I’ll help you carry that horrible recliner out to the curb when I get home.”

  “I’ll encourage him to take it to Lee’s house. It will be my one contribution.”

  “Ha! You are wicked, my twin. Talk to you later!”

  Karen’s exciting plans did not inspire Kelly. The few minutes of joy having coffee in bed should have given her were quickly ruined by her negative thoughts, feeling sorry for herself that everyone had someone, and she was all alone. The very act of thinking positively was what had made all of those years with Steve possible. But it had been different because he was there, in the basement.

  That morning, just one week after Titan had appeared on her doorstep, she made a decision to try to continue to look at the positive, at least for that day. Although her pride had taken a beating, she wasn’t going to let Steve’s abandonment ru
in her life. It was never an option anyway, because he didn’t have that much control over their life together.

  Taking her empty coffee cup back into the kitchen, she didn’t realize she was chanting a little prayer, thinking of Steve, and then of Lee, somewhere in Chicago. Protect them, protect them, protect them.

  Chapter 11

  The plane was full of boys, skinny, a few with acne, most of them right out of high school. For Private Augustus Boyd, after four months in basic training and a few more doing combat training, this was his second plane ride, and he was excited. As he sat back in the seat with his eyes closed, the relief he felt after the scene his wife and mother had made at the airport was indescribable. Although he was afraid of war, the departure from his family was welcome and diminished some of the terror of dying.

  The first stop, Fairbanks, Alaska. The commercial jet had to refuel, so passengers were free to get off the plane and walk around the airport. After the Detroit airport with its restaurants and shops, Steve was disappointed, even with the gigantic stuffed polar bears posted on either side of the entrance.

  “What did you expect? Eskimos?” his father had asked.

  The next stop was in Japan; that airport Steve found even more disappointing. The last leg of the trip, the chatter among the men as they played cards and watched a movie was deafening. Then the pilot made his announcement as they floated above the China Sea.

  “We’ll be landing in Saigon in five minutes,” he said. “Welcome to Vietnam.”

  Silence settled over the plane as dread filled the hearts of its passengers. Steve stretched over to look out the window, surprised to see the lights of an urban area below. It wasn’t until that second that real fear spread through him, all cocky thoughts of his wife as a ball and chain - a phrase he’d just uttered not an hour earlier banished - and he longed to be home with her, getting into bed to watch the eleven o’clock news and Johnny Carson.

  Disembarking in retrospect had been done in an orderly fashion, but at the time, Steve and the other young soldiers were panicked, trying to listen for their names being called, worried about becoming separated from their group, and following directions.