Read Quiet As It's Kept Online
Authors: Monique Miller
Quiet As It's Kept (14 page)
Chapter 16
It took almost two and a half weeks for Will to recuperate enough from his accident to be able to function on his own. Phillip and Shelby had been true friends, helping them out with meals, watching the baby and transporting Will to and from the doctor when Morgan was out of sick days and vacation days from her job.
Morgan hadn't wanted to accept help from Will's friends, but she'd had no choice when she had to return to work. Will knew how uncomfortable she had been with his friends' help. He was glad when he was able to literally stand on his own two feet again and regain control of the management of the day-to-day activities in their home.
Ever since the accident, something Phillip had said had been bothering him. Phillip had said that the brakes hadn't failed, but there had been a baby's toy lodged under the brake. For the life of him, he couldn't fathom what Phillip could have been talking about. There was no way a toy could have been in his car and could have rolled underneath his brake. He'd thoroughly cleaned out his car, detailing it.
The police had the toy at the police station, but Will hadn't had a chance to go by and pick it up. He didn't know why, but he didn't want Morgan to pick the toy up. She hadn't mentioned anything about the toy, and he hadn't brought it up to her either. Morgan had handled the paperwork for the car accident while he was recuperating. As soon as he could, he'd ask Phillip to take him over to the station to pick up the toy.
A couple of other things kept nagging at the back of Will's mind as he waited for his body to heal; things like his wife looking up information for life insurance companies, and the day he slipped on the slick floor in the kitchen. There was no way Mop & Glo alone would have made him fall that hard on the floor. Then he remembered the bottle of vegetable oil that was stuffed in the bottom of the trash can.
It was out of character for Morgan to clean the house, and especially for her to clean and mop the floor. It was also out of character for her to go on a morning stroll with the baby. She hated the outdoors. Another thought crossed his mind: what if he had fallen and broken something that day in the kitchen? Or what if he had fallen and hit his head, becoming unconscious?
Will shook his head, wondering why he was having such dismal thoughts about his wife, the love of his lifeâthe woman he had prayed for and the one God had blessed him with. Was he crazy to think that his wife would try to hurt him? It was as if he was in a movie.
It had been weeks since he'd been able to log on to the computer to check out jobs and surf the Internet. He figured that the job he was supposed to have interviewed for on the day of the accident had already long since been filled. When he searched for job openings with the company, he no longer saw it listed. He drafted a letter to send to the company explaining why he hadn't made it to the interview. He didn't want them to think he wasn't a professional, and if another position opened up, he didn't want his no-show to be the reason that they wouldn't give him the opportunity to possibly interview again.
Today was the first day that Will found himself alone without help. Morgan had gone back to work, and so had Phillip and Shelby. He felt assured that he could handle things, including the care of the baby, by himself. He still didn't feel 100 percent, but he was glad that Morgan was now pitching in a little more whenever she did get home from work, especially when it came to watching Isaiah. So in the evenings he often found himself going to bed way earlier than he used to before the accident.
He still had some pain medication, but he only took it when his pain became unbearable. His chest felt better, but there were times when he still got back spasms. It was suggested that he go to a chiropractor, but he hadn't yet made the call to make an appointment, knowing that, again, he would have to find a sitter for the baby. He just couldn't see asking Phillip and Shelby to take more time out of their busy lives and work schedules to do so, and it would be weeks before Morgan accrued more sick and vacation leave.
Isaiah had been handling the entire ordeal pretty well. He'd been acting like his normal happy self, and today was no different. Will made sure he was as careful as possible when it came to handling the baby, especially when he walked up and down the stairs with him. This morning, Will made sure to bring anything and everything he thought he might need for Isaiah downstairs, so that he would not have to continually go from the first floor to the second floor.
On a normal day before the accident, Will and Isaiah's schedule had been pretty regular. Now the routine was the same, but it took a lot of energy out of him. Not to mention that Will's sleep schedule was off. So whenever possible, when he laid the baby down to sleep, Will took the opportunity to take a nap as well. He hoped that in the coming days he would feel back to his old self.
It bothered him that the police officers said that a toy had caused his accident. He wanted to know just what toy it was to see if he recognized it. He was tired of waiting for the right time to ask for a ride over to the station to view the actual toy.
Will got an idea, and made a phone call to the police station. He found out which officer was the one to respond to the accident, and talked with him. He asked what the toy looked like and if there were any pictures of the toy. The officer told him that pictures of the accident had been taken, and that he could e-mail them to him.
After giving the officer his e-mail address, Will waited for almost an hour before the officer sent them. When he opened the attachments, Will saw just how badly his SUV had been totaled, and again thanked God that his life had been spared. When he opened the attachment that showed the toy under the pedal, he couldn't tell at first what it was, but the next attachment showed him without a shadow of a doubt what kind of toy it was. Will couldn't believe his eyes.
The toy that had caused his brakes to fail was the same one he had carefully packed in Isaiah's baby bag the day of the accident. Will distinctly remembered packing the toy in a side pocket of the bag, which zipped securely. It was the new toy Isaiah had yet to play with. For the life of him, he could not understand how that toy could have rolled out of the baby bag, which had been sitting on the passenger seat.
He tried to think of scenarios that would warrant the toy falling out of the baby's bag or rolling under his brakeâbut he couldn't think of a single one. Then he tried to remember if he had indeed left the zipper open on the bag. He thought about whether it was open when he gave it to Morgan at the mall, but then he remembered that he had not given Morgan the bag at the mall. Morgan had gone to his truck to get the bag.
Then he wondered if Morgan had taken the toy out to look for something and maybe just hadn't put the toy back. That was the only scenario that made any sense, the only logical explanation. To put his mind at rest, he would have to ask Morgan about it when she got home.
Later that evening, after they ate a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Will approached the subject of the toy from the accident. “Hey, did you see the pictures from the car accident?”
“No. I heard it was pretty bad. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to see them. It was bad enough seeing you all banged up in the hospital.” Morgan stood and removed her unfinished plate from the table.
Will continued talking as he got the feeling that Morgan was trying to close their conversation about the car accident. “They said there was a toy lodged under my brake.”
“I know, that is horrible. I know I've had a CD fall under my foot, and I've dropped my cell phone before and it's fallen under my legs, but neither had caused me to not be able to drive.” She walked back into the dining room. “You sure were lucky that you weren't hurt worse.” She picked up her glass. “Are you done with your food?”
“Yeah,” Will said.
She picked his plate up also and walked back into the kitchen.
“And from the looks of things, it is a miracle that no one else on that highway got hurt either.” Will shook his head. He waited for Morgan to return to the dining room, but heard water running in the sink instead.
He rose from his seat and joined her in the kitchen. “Can I ask you a question?”
Morgan began washing the dishes. “Yeah. What?” She didn't turn in his direction, focusing on the dishes.
“That day of the accident, when you got Isaiah's baby bag out of my SUV, did you pull anything out of it, or look around in it?”
“No, I just grabbed it and came right back into the mall. Why?”
“Because, the toy that was lodged under the brake pedal was one I packed in the baby's bag before I left home.”
Morgan stopped washing the dishes. “Oh, my. So it must have fallen out of the bag and rolled under the brake pedal.” She shook her head.
“That's the thing. I packed that bag and I am sure I zipped all the compartments up, especially the compartment with the baby's toys. You know I don't want germs getting on things that he puts in his mouth.”
“Well, obviously you didn't zip it if one of the toys rolled out.” Morgan rinsed her glass off and placed it in the dish drainer.
“Morgan, can I ask you something else?” Will didn't quite know how to broach the subject he was about to bring up, but did it anyway.
“Yeah, what?” She took Will's glass, washed it, and placed it in the dish drainer. Then she picked up one of the dinner plates and started washing it.
“Are you trying to harm me?”
Morgan stopped cold, then turned to stare at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I'm just asking. I know that bag was zipped up, and I can't think of any way that toy could have ended up under my pedal other than human hands putting it there.” He wanted to be completely wrong about what he was saying. He wanted Morgan to be completely mortified that he would even ask her such a thing, but instead she looked as if she wanted to choke him for asking it.
“I can't believe you would even think that I would want to harm you. You get in an accident and you think it's my fault. They must have you on some pain medication that is making you loopy.”
“Come on, Morgan, what am I supposed to think? I look on the Internet and see that you've been looking at companies that sell life insurance,” Will said to see what her reaction would be.
“I told you I was looking for dental insurance.”
“That's what you said, but that is not what the history on the computer showed. There wasn't one company that offered dental insurance,” Will said.
“Right, that's why I told you that I couldn't find anything. I don't do searches much and I couldn't find what I was looking for so I just stopped.” Morgan raised her hands as if pleading with him to understand what she was trying to tell him.
“What about the oil on the kitchen floor?”
“What oil?” Morgan turned her attention back to the plate, washing it as if it had grime stuck on it.
“I found a bottle of vegetable oil in the trash can that day you said you'd used something new to clean the floor. And the slickness on the floor didn't feel like any cleaner. It felt like oil.”
“Okay, okay, Will. I had spilled some oil on the floor that morning and obviously I didn't do a good job cleaning it up. I didn't see the need to mention to you that I'd spilled some oil. So I made a mistake. Everything turned out fine.” She rinsed the plate off and placed it in the drainer, then emptied the sink of the dishwater. “Look, I am not going to stand here and let you continue to accuse me of trying to harm you. Why would I want to do that anyway?” The syrupy sweetness she'd exuded at the hospital had returned. She closed the distance between them and put her arms around him. “Why, honey? I would never harm you. I love you too much for that. I am just hurt that you would even think that.”
Will wanted to believe her, and started having second thoughts. Maybe he hadn't completely closed the baby's bag. And maybe she didn't know how to use the right search words on the Internet. And maybe, just maybe, there was a possibility that she had spilled oil on the kitchen floor and there had been a little residue still left.
Maybe he was blowing everything out of proportion, and the stress of not working combined with the accident had him thinking crazy thoughts. “Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you of trying to harm me. I just want to make sure we are okay. I guess the stress of everything has taken a toll on me, too.”
“Honey, I understand. Why don't you go ahead upstairs and relax for a few minutes, and I'll be up there as soon as I change Isaiah and get him ready for bed.” She kissed him on the forehead, then on both cheeks, and on his lips.
It had been a while since they had been intimate. Will loved having his wife back in his arms. “Okay, baby.”
He did as she said and got comfortable on his bed. Then a few minutes later he heard Morgan enter their bathroom. Next he heard the water in the bathtub being run. He felt his hand being tugged.
“Come on in here with me, Mr. Tracy.”
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