“I guess we’ve both been busy.” Edward met her gaze.
Anna’s hand stilled from shaking salt onto the surface of the water in the pot. The divorce proceedings, underscored by her effort at trying to sell the house, had consumed her life for nearly a year and a half. She slid the saltshaker back into its hole in the spice rack, then returned to the refrigerator and took out the roast, a bag of carrots, and two bunches of broccoli.
“What’s that you’re making?” Edward walked to the counter.
“A roast with vegetables.” She closed the refrigerator door.
Again Edward glanced through the sliding glass doors. Sunlight beamed from the surface of the pool. The air of anxiety that had swarmed about him seemed less palpable. Anna’s chest swelled with emotion.
“It’ll be nice sitting out on the patio in the afternoons.” Edward had spent little time in the house that he had fought to keep her from selling. She walked to the sink and turned on the water.
“I think I’ll go and lie down.” Edward stood then giving a slight cough started for the stairs.
“I did it because it was the right thing to do,” Anna called out. “Me, bringing you back here.”
Edward turned around. She beheld his familiar smile that reflected only half its usual glow.?
Chapter 8
Oakland International Airport was crowded Tuesday morning when Anna arrived to meet David. As she stood waiting for him, an old friend chanced upon her.
“Anna?”
She turned on hearing her name. “Doris? Doris Martin?”
The woman smiled and embraced Anna. Both women had served as class mothers for Theo’s third grade at Joaquin Miller School. “How are you doing?” Doris relinquished Anna and stepped back.
“You look wonderful,” Doris said.
“Same for you.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Doris said. “But that’s another story.” The sunlight pouring into the airport highlighted the brownish-red tint of Doris’ hair. Anna presumed it was dyed. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for my son, David. Theo’s coming too, later this after noon. He lives in Chicago.”
“Oh, my,” Doris said, “he must be what, thirty, thirty-one?”
“He’s thirty-one.”
“That’s right. Theo was only a few months older than Adrian. And what does he do?”
“He’s in advertising. He has his own firm. It’s small, but doing well.”
“That sounds exciting and diligent.” Doris smiled. “It’s hard working for yourself.”
“Yes. It is.” Anna thought of Edward and all the miles he had logged in traveling around the world. “And Adrian, how’s he doing? Where is he?” she asked.
Doris’ face slid into a carefully contained somberness. “He died last year.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Doris shook her head. “It was for the best.” Anna frowned trying to understand how that might be. “He was—” Doris started, and then her eyes brightened. Feeling a tap upon her shoulder, Anna turned around. Towering above her was David.
“David.” Anna coolly greeted her eldest child. Thoughts of the lawsuit he had proposed against Henderson and the papers he’d filed in seeking to declare Anna mentally incompetent receded to the back of her thoughts. “How was your flight?”
“Early and crowded. I upgraded to first class. Though I couldn’t tell the difference.”
“Still—” Anna turned to Doris and said, “You remember Doris Martin?”
“Adrian’s mom.” David smiled and extended his hand. “Adrian was in the same grade with Theo. How’s he doing?”
Doris exchanged a look with Anna.
“He’s fine,” Anna said.
Doris appeared relieved. “But not as well as you or Theo are doing.” She opened her arms and gave David a long hug. Anna’s heart ached for Doris’ loss.
“Where are you living now?” Doris said to David.
“Detroit.”
“Oooh.” Doris gripped her arms and rocked back and forth as if to warm herself. “It’s cold up there.”
“And the summers are scorching. That’s why I’m thinking about moving back here.” He gave Anna a quick glance. Anna shuddered. David moving back to Oakland? She wondered what Heather, his wife of seven years, had to say about that.
“I’ll let you get your things,” Doris said to David, and then to Anna, “We can chat later. Call me sometime. I’m in the book.” Again, she embraced Anna, this time lightly.
Anna and David went to the baggage carousel. “I’ll bring the car around while you wait for your bags,” Anna said. Painfully cognizant of Doris’ loss, she reached up and kissed David.
“It’s good to have you home.”
Traffic was light on Highway 88o, unlike at the airport.
“How’s Dad doing?” David asked before Anna could thank him for coming.
“He seems strong,” Anna said. “But then, you know your father. He’s not one for complaining.”
“About certain things.” David leaned back in the seat and stretched his legs forward.
“Are you comfortable? The button’s on the side. You can push your seat back,” Anna said.
David slid his seat back.
Anna drove along with David’s presence warming her—evidence that she had done something right. She refused to think about the
lawsuit he had filed. However harsh and misdirected, David’s actions paled in comparison to the death of Doris’ son, Adrian. The Martins had divorced a decade earlier. Anna wondered if Adrian’s death had been related to their split.
“So what’s this I hear about you moving back here?” she asked. “I’m going to do it.”
“What does Heather think?”
David grew silent, interwove his hands, and closed his eyes. Minutes later, Anna said, “You haven’t answered my question about you and Heather.”
“Heather’s already out here,” David said. An only child, David’s wife was from Santa Rosa. “She, Josh, and Emily are at her dad’s.” Josh and Emily were David and Heather’s children, ages four and three. “Heather’s father’s dying of cancer.”
Anna’s hand trembled upon the steering wheel. Heather’s mother had died a week after Heather’s birth. After three days of labor with a torn placenta, infection had set in and spread throughout her body. That Heather had survived evidenced a miracle.
“She’s been out here for the past six months,” David explained. “I’ve been flying back and forth every other weekend.”
“You never called. Why?” Anna was bewildered and disappointed that David had been traveling so close to Oakland and never stopped to visit.
She exited off of 88o onto Highway 24.
“You and Dad were busy with the divorce—” David stopped short. “Still, I could have gone with you sometime to help Heather with the kids.” Anna’s concern intensified. Her grandchildren had been so close.
Time was precious. Upon entering her fight with Edward for the divorce, Anna had withdrawn from the children. There had also been Inman.
David said, “Emily was in pre-school before Heather left. Some times I take them back with me.”
“Is everything okay with you and Heather?” Anna resumed her questioning.
“Heather’s been worried about her father. He’s all she has. It’s obvious he won’t make it.” David breathed in. “She’s depressed. And, when you called about Dad ...” David turned toward the passenger window.
Anna reached over and patted his knee. “We’re going to get through this.” She sighed. “We’ll make it,” then, “We have each other.”
Arriving home, Anna went upstairs and looked in on Edward, who was resting in the bedroom they had once shared.
“He’s asleep,” she said after coming back downstairs. “I’ll get lunch ready for when he awakes.” She went into the kitchen. David followed her.
He sat at the counter as Anna removed roast beef, bread, and mayonnais
e from the refrigerator and brought them to the surface between them. She started making sandwiches as David watched.
Anna completed the first sandwich and placed it on a plate and sat it before him.
“I’m sorry about suing Henderson,” David said. “I don’t think you’re mentally unstable.”
“Did you conclude that before or after I decided to take care of your father?”
“I knew it all along.”
“Then why the suit?”
“Because he needed you. I do, too. We all do.”
Anna lifted another piece of roast beef and proceeded to make a second sandwich. David’s attention followed her.
“Did you hear what I said?”
Anna sliced into the roast beef. Her eyes began to sting. The meat before her became blurry.
Edward entered the kitchen. David stood. Son and father eyed each other. Then Edward extended his hand and David rushed to embrace him.
Anna finished making the sandwich and rinsed the knife. “It’s ready,” she said of the sandwich. Holding back tears, she returned the ingredients to the refrigerator and slipped from the kitchen.
Anna entered Theo’s old bedroom where she was now staying, closed the door, and went to the bed. She could not bring herself to sleep with Edward. Yet old fires burned.
A knock arose from the door. She turned from where she was sitting as it opened.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Edward asked on entering.
“I just needed to change. Besides I still have to tidy up Linda and Brad’s room.”
Edward came around and faced her. “The room is fine.” He reached out and attempted to touch her cheek.
“I’m sorry.” Anna pulled away and whisked past Edward to the bureau.
Edward drew near as she slid open a drawer. “You never told me exactly why you wanted the divorce. The papers said irreconcilable differences, but ... “
Anna’s face ran hot with anger and with sadness. Nearly a year and a half had passed since the night she has asked for the divorce and Edward had refused. She couldn’t believe they were discussing this, first why she brought him home, now the divorce.
“I thought you might have understood. All the women. You never at home. You weren’t happy.”
“But why did you wait so long? Serine had been gone for a decade.”
“You thought I should have left sooner?” Anna whipped around. The conversation was devolving into a quagmire of confusion.
“I’m just asking why last year? Why the—”
“I’m not the one on trial here,” Anna said. “You should be glad that—”
“Dad, Mom,” David spoke from the hallway. “Linda just called to say—” David entered the doorway. Surprise registered on his face when observing Anna’s things settled about the room and laid upon the bed, evidence that she had sleeping in Theo’s room. “I guess Theo will be sleeping in my room like we did as kids.”
Anna lowered her head in an attempt to avoid David’s gaze. He turned to Edward standing somber, then left the room.
“I’ll go set the table,” Edward said.
After a momentary silence, Anna started past him. “You need to rest,” she said.
“In a couple of months, I won’t be able to do this.” Edward reached after her. “I don’t want to go to bed until I have to.”
Anna felt weak at the brush of his hand. His choice of words strummed her heart. I don’t want to versus I won’t.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. I got myself into this mess.” Edward pocketed his hands and kicked his bare feet at the floor.
“You think you’re being punished?”
“Why shouldn’t I be? Look what I put you through. And my children.”
Anna turned away and began reorganizing the clothes in the open bureau drawer. “It’s just something we’ll have to get through.”
“I don’t doubt you’ll get through it. Nor that you’ll stay strong for the children. You’ll make sure they’re okay. I know that,” Edward said.
She leaned toward him. You should have taken better care of yourself and not traveled so much. Her thoughts listed everything that Edward had done wrong. She resumed her business of rear ranging the disarray of clothes. Organizing and making sense of life’s chaos was what Anna did best. The madness of what she was doing absorbed her.
“I’ll miss you.” Edward’s voice cracked.
Anna’s hands fell still.
“I’ll miss you, too,” she whispered.
Cognizant of what she had said, she slowly turned to face him. Edward had left the room.?
Chapter 9
Linda and Brad arrived while David had returned to Oakland Airport to pick up Serine. “I wish Serine had come up with you guys,” Edward said as he grabbed Brad’s hand and pulled him into an embrace.
He then kissed Linda. Anna was surprised that Linda didn’t flinch. Rather, she embraced her father and whispered, “I love you.”
When all was settled, Anna, Edward, Linda, and Brad sat around the kitchen table.
“So, Dad, what medications are you taking now?” Linda was in tent on discussing the business at hand.
“Nothing,” Edward said. “The chemo failed.”
Brad took Linda’s hand. With her other, she lifted her father’s palm. Anna grew tense.
“It’s going to be okay,” Linda said. “We’ll get through this. And so will you.”
“For me, that means dying.”
“That time’s not here yet,” Linda said. “Until then—”
“The roast is almost ready.” Anna jumped up and went to the kitchen area. Sliding on her mittens, she opened the oven door, and removed the broccoli casserole.
“Need some help?” Brad joined her.
“The roast is done. I’ll start the vegetables as soon as David arrives with Serine.”
Anna pointed to the microwave, wondering what was keeping her younger son.
“When’s Theo coming?” Brad looked at his watch. “It’s seven o’clock.”
“He said he’d be here by dinner. I told him we were eating at eight, but you know Theo.” Anna caught sight of what she considered Brad’s judgmental look about Theo and his tardiness. Still Brad had been good for Linda. Anna held no doubt that Brad Oliver loved her elder daughter.
Brad slid onto the stool at the bar.
“How’s Linda?” Anna said.
Brad swiveled around to Linda and Edward at the table across the room. The two were in deep conversation. “She cried the entire night after you called with the news,” Brad said. “Two days later, she saw her old therapist.”
“She hasn’t had to go back until now?” Anna asked.
Emotion drained from Brad’s face, a mask taking over as if to shield his subdued anger. “Linda hasn’t been in therapy for over five years.”
Anna pulled out a drawer and lifted a knife. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Perhaps if you called more.” His words were soft, but firm. “I’m sorry about that, too.”
“Linda’s been worried about you.” Brad drew close. “She tries your cell phone constantly.”
“I didn’t want her or any of you to feel compelled to choose sides.” Anna hadn’t spoken to Linda in more than nine months, three months after she began divorce proceedings.
“We’re all adults. And Linda was worried.” Brad remained with his topic. “Eventually, she got a hold of Elise. She told us you were fine, that after moving into the apartment you only had the cell phone. Linda wanted to come up and see how you were, but I told her you needed some space.”
Again Brad shifted around to Edward and Linda at the kitchen table by the window and sliding glass door opening onto the patio. Linda was holding Edward’s hand. He was speaking low and soft, his eyes searching as she listened intently.
“It’s horrible that it took this for you to call,” Brad said. “We’re not just here for Edward. We came for you, too.”
The kindness
and civility of her son-in-law’s words made Anna want to scream.
The doorbell rang. She went to the foyer, opened the front door, and saw no one. On her return to the kitchen, she heard voices. Serine was stepping through the entry of the sliding glass door with David following close behind as Brad slid the screen closed. David and Brad greeted each other with a hug. Anna’s youngest child rushed to Edward who was sitting at the table with Linda. Edward stood and embraced Serine and held on to her for a long time.
“I’m going upstairs to freshen up,” Linda said.
Serine took Linda’s seat at the table.
“I’ll help you get the bags out of the car and take them up to the room,” David said.
The two men headed out the back door to Brad and Linda’s car. Anna marveled at how cooperative the children were. Like other grade-schoolers, those younger and less experienced in life’s trials, Anna’s children had bickered at the slightest notion of life’s injustices. Many a benign comment made by one sibling was blown out of proportion and caused the Manning household to become a war zone. Anna had spent much of her time directing her children’s behavior, and micromanaging their actions. David, don’t judge your sisters. Theo, don’t pick on Serine. Linda, it’s not that way. No one’s angry with you, Serine. Sibling rivalry between David and Theo hadn’t been an issue. Rather David and Theo had established a united front toward their younger sisters. At times, Anna had wondered if David and Theo had felt overwhelmed, three women to two of them. If Edward had been home more often ...
A hand landed on her shoulder. “Need any help?” David was back from taking Serine’s bags upstairs. Anna shook herself free from her last thoughts.
“I’m fine.” She crafted a smile.
“Brad’s upstairs taking a shower,” Linda said upon joining David in the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”
Anna walked to the sink, turned on the faucet and then squeezing some dishwashing liquid into her palm, brought her hands under the stream of soothing, warm water.
“Like I was telling Brad earlier, everything’s ready. The vegetables are in the— “ She turned to the microwave then hesitated in her moment of thought, I need to turn up the temperature on the water heater.
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