Look to the Rainbow (23 page)

     “Where are mine? He will be punished.”

     Tara spread the papers on the floor beside Mary Katherine’s photos. The same awful photo of she and Casey leaving the hospital and similar headlines, all boasting of an inside source. They each picked one up and read it.

     Mary Katherine said, “I cannot believe Debby did this. I’ll bet Bobby had no idea.” She peered at the photo. “When was this taken?”

     Casey said, “It had to be when we left the hospital the other night.”

     Mary Katherine turned to some of the other pages in the tabloid she held. Did people really believe anything they printed? She had not looked at one in so long that she found the content absurd and wondered how anyone could put any stock in anything they printed. Casey had apparently done the same she had, flipped through the magazine, and she found a hilarious alien abduction story. She had Tara and Mary Katherine laughing out loud as she read it, the story about Kel and Tara temporarily forgotten. Mary Katherine’s cell rang and she saw it was from Evan, checking in to see if she was okay. She knew it would take a clean bill of health for him to stop calling every two hours all day, and she hoped that was coming next week when they got the results of all her post chemo tests back. She told him about the tabloids and that she and Casey and Tara had moved on and were reading about aliens. Evan asked if Tara was upset. “We’re all just laughing at the tabloids right now,” Mary Katherine said. “And at least for the moment the only one who’s upset is Casey, because Kel didn’t send her flowers when he sent them to Tara and I.” They talked for a few more minutes and Mary Katherine hung up. “Finish up the scandal sheets ladies and powder your noses. Evan’s taking us out to lunch.” Tara was glad for the distraction. They kept conversation light as they drove to meet Evan at a bistro in downtown Georgetown. Evan was leaning against his silver BMW convertible when they arrived, a bouquet of flowers rested on the hood.

     Mary Katherine gave him a kiss. “Are those for me?”

     Evan said, “Nope. You already have flowers, and I’m sure, being from Kel, it’s an extravagant arrangement.” He handed the flowers to Casey and got a kiss on the cheek in return.

     It wasn’t until lunch was almost over that Evan asked Tara, “Are you really just going to walk away from a relationship with Kel?”

     “I’m not sure he wants a relationship,” she answered. And she wasn’t. So many mixed signals. His comments the day she left. He hadn’t called. But he sent her the same flowers his father used to give his mother and signed the card with love.

    “Do you?”

    “Yes, Evan, but only if its real and he wants it too.”

     “Kel doesn’t have casual relationships. If he had one with you, then it was ‘real’ and it meant something. If he didn’t want something long term, he would have ended it very quickly. In fact, he wouldn’t have started it at all.”

    “Then why did he say he couldn’t do it anymore? Why was being with me something that he didn’t want to deal with?”

     “I wasn’t there, so I can’t put that comment in context. I’m sure if you hadn’t left he would have talked to you about it when he came back.”

    Tara wanted to believe that Evan was right, but the truth was that she had left and neither of them had made any real moves to repair the damage. She wanted to talk with him, to look into his blue eyes, hold his hand, kiss him. But her feelings were still hurt, if she was honest, and she wasn’t going to make the first move.

    Evan paid the bill and rose to go back to the hospital. He kissed his wife and said to Tara as he left, “I just have a feeling this isn’t over yet.”

     The rest of the afternoon she and Mary Katherine worked on who she might contact and before the day was over she had a half dozen interviews. She declined to watch a movie with Evan and Mary Katherine and went upstairs. Alone in the guest room, she sat on the chaise lounge and considered throwing her pride out the window and calling Kel. She could just call to thank him for the flowers and then see what else he said. She took the phone in her hand and started to make the call, and then didn’t. Instead, she prayed for wisdom and his well- being and went to bed early.

     Kel set aside the notes John had left with him concerning their campaign stops for the next two days. That wasn’t what he wanted to think about. Instead, his thoughts kept drifting to Tara. He had half expected her to call when she got the flowers. Then he would have had an easy opportunity to apologize and perhaps talk about how to get their relationship back on track. Of course he could call. But not knowing if that was what she wanted, he didn’t. Instead he said a prayer for guidance on how to handle the situation with Tara, and went to bed.

Chapter Nineteen

     Evan and Mary Katherine sat in Ted Hunter’s waiting room and tried to act as if waiting for post chemo test results was just something they did every day. They weren’t doing a very good job of it. To say they were anxious was an understatement. Mary Katherine knew that it was worse for Evan because his medical knowledge of what could happen. She was glad to be a bit naïve as far as what the possible outcomes might be. Either way, they should know what her prognosis was in just a few minutes.

     They were ushered back to Ted’ s office and held hands as they sat in front of the desk and waited for him to come in. When he did he held a folder that held her films and test results. He sat down and greeted them. Mary Katherine tried to read his expression. He didn’t look serious, but neither did he seem happy. She told herself that he never had much emotion and gripped Evan’s hand a little tighter.

    “So, we got all your results back,” he said. “I’m giving these to Evan to look over, so there is no misunderstanding of what they say.” He handed Evan the folder. Evan took the CAT scans and held each one up to the light. He said nothing, just looked intently at each one and then read the lab reports in the folder. He put all the information back in the folder and handed it back to Ted. Mary Katherine’s heart was pounding in her chest.

     “No sign of cancer. As of right now we are saying you are a ‘cancer survivor’ instead of a cancer patient.” Ted finally smiled at her. “I know the chemo was tough on you, but I am very glad that we did it. It wasn’t absolutely necessary, given how well your surgery went, but my patients who elect to do a precautionary round generally have a more positive prognosis.”

    Mary Katherine took Evan’s hand again. “We’re done. I’m alright.”

    Ted laughed. “Yes. But you will need to see me twice a year and given that it was ovarian cancer, I recommend visiting your gynecologist twice a year also. If either you or Evan thinks you need to see me at any time, just call.”

    They waited until they got in the car before they both started talking at once. Evan leaned over and gave her a big kiss. “Let’s go somewhere you love for dinner. We need to celebrate.”

    “No. I’d rather takeout something fun, like sushi, and watch a movie, and then, who knows?” She tentatively ran a hand down the side of his face.

    “I like the sound of ‘who knows’,” Evan said.

     He took her home and went back to work. They agreed that she would choose the movie and he would bring the sushi and that he would call Ross and George, and she Casey and Tara. Tara had taken a position at the local Fox affiliate and had just gotten an apartment. Julia and Michael were in town helping her get it set up. Mary Katherine missed having her here, but it was nice to be able to be alone with Evan to celebrate being, at least for now, cancer free. She made a quick trip to get a video, selecting a romantic comedy and hurried home. She went to her studio and ruffled through some photographs she had printed two days before. They were photos she had taken with a tripod while she and Evan had been out on the sailboat so that she could be in them too. She selected one of the two of them that she particularly liked and went into the dark room to print a bigger enlargement. She chose it do it in black and white and when it was ready, took out her hand coloring pencils and added hints of color. Satisfied, she cut a stark white mat and found a carved black frame. She put it together and wrapped it and took it upstairs to the bedroom and placed it on the window seat. She noticed a piece of paper stuck behind the cushion and when she pulled it out, discovered that it was an old photo of Harry. It must have fallen behind the cushion the night they had the big fight, on the anniversary of his death. She took the framed picture and sat it on the floor and lifted the window seat and put the photo back in the album and snapped it shut quickly. This was
not
a day she wanted to go down memory lane and think of Harry. As she started to close the seat, her eye caught another album, one that Evan’s mother had put together of all of his running accomplishments. That was better. She lifted it out of its place, closed the bench and replaced the framed photo. She sat on the window seat, crossed legged, and opened the album. She wasn’t sure she had ever looked at it, or if she had , it had been a very long time ago. Here was Evan as a very young boy, holding a big trophy and wearing a medal around his neck. Pictures of him actually running races, newspaper clippings, ribbons, medals on red, white and blue ribbons. Race numbers. She was so caught up in reading about her husband’s running career that she didn’t hear him come in. He called her name.

    “Upstairs,” she said, still reading the article about his making the Olympic team. He stopped in the doorway, holding a bouquet of flowers and the scene was so much like the one on the anniversary of Harry’s death he wasn’t sure what to say. He hoped desperately that the scrapbook she was holding wasn’t full of pictures of her and Harry Thurston IV.

     “What are you looking at?” He still stayed rooted to the door.

     She looked up. “You. I found a photo stuck behind the cushion and put it away and I saw the book your mother made of your running awards. Come look.”

     He literally felt the relief flood over him. Thank God, on this day, after everything they’d been through together the last eight weeks, she wasn’t in their bedroom thinking of Harry. He handed her the flowers and she kissed him and they went through the book  and he told her about the races her remembered. The book ended with an article in the Annapolis newspaper about his making the Olympic team and there was a photo of him with his parents. It wasn’t missed by either one of them that it was the last photograph taken of Drake and Grace Jones.

     “I’m sorry I never got to know them,” she said softly.

     “So am I.”

     His eyes lingered on the picture for just a bit longer and he closed the book. He didn’t want to be sad tonight. This was a night to be happy. He set it aside.

    “Are we watching the movie while we eat or after?”

     She considered that. “While we eat. Let’s bring everything up here.” They went downstairs for the food and a bottle of champagne. She laughed when she saw he had even brought strawberry Hagen Das and her favorite treat, blueberry chocolates. She grabbed the DVD and they set up a picnic on the bed and put the movie on. It was one of their favorite things to do, eat in bed and watch movies. It was something they hadn’t done recently and she had missed their movie date nights. As they ate and watched the movie she couldn’t help but think that for all the conflict that had occurred in their bedroom over the last twenty years, so many more happy memories were in this room. Their best conversations had taken place here as they drifted off to sleep, playing and reading to the O’Brien children when they came to stay, planning vacations, rehashing her art exhibits. And, she thought, in this room over the last few weeks had been the greatest outpouring of true unconditional love she had ever seen, in the way that Evan had taken care of her and given everything he had to give to make her feel loved and comfortable and cared for.

     When the movie was over, she cleared the plates and took them downstairs and when she came back, she handed Evan the wrapped photo.