Some Came Desperate: A Love Saga (28 page)

       “Final clearance through you for use?”

       “Not me, no.”

       “Oh, no,” Delia said.  “Never him.  He’s much too important to concern himself with the help, don’t you know that much already, Ethan?  Because if you don’t I’m afraid for you.  You’ll be like a fish out of water or, even better, a fish in a tank of sharks.”

       Simone looked at Nick, expecting him to say, ‘now, Delia, that’s enough,’ or something equally firm but friendly.  But he didn’t say a word.  He merely sipped his vodka and kept his eyes trained on Ethan.  Too trained, it seemed to Simone, as if he was trying his best not to look anywhere else.  At her, for instance.

       “Anyway,” Ethan said, trying to smile away the tension, “I did want to talk to you about that partnership.”

       Delia started coughing, which caused Ethan to roll his eyes, as if he knew she was trying to put on her drama queen act to full effect, given that he’d decided to take her advice.  But when he realized her coughing had not ceased, and not only her nurse had reentered the room but Nick, too, was by her side, he immediately stood up.  Delia was hunched over, having a coughing fit, and Nick was down on his knees holding her in his arms.  The nurse was preparing some medicine to give to her, and when she made it ready, it was Nick who had to lift Delia up in order for her to take it.  But the coughing would not cease.  It was then that Nick lifted Delia into his arms and began to carry her from the room.  He turned around very slightly, said, “excuse us,” to Ethan and Simone without looking at either one of them, and left the room, the nurse hurrying behind him. 

       When they were gone, and the trail of coughing could be heard going up the stairs, Ethan sat down and Simone leaned back on the sofa.  Both thrown by what they’d seen.  “Boy,” Ethan said, especially affected.  “You never really know what people have to go through, do you?  I heard his wife was a handful, I mean, lawyers talk, you know, but I never dreamed that she’d be so. . . difficult.”

       “Did you know she was in a wheelchair?” Simone asked him.

       “Yeah, I knew about that.  But I just thought she just couldn’t walk.  I never thought she was so ill.  She looked so frail.”

       “Yes, she did.”

       “And the way she talked about Mr. Perry.  It was as if she hated him.”

       Simone noticed that too.

       “And he’s so devoted to her.  He’s always been.”

       Simone looked at Ethan. 
That’s what you think
, she wanted to say.  “What happened to her?” she said instead.

       “Car accident.”

       “When?  Recently?”

       “Oh, no.  It was years ago.  Seven years ago, to be precise, just after the 2000 election, when they were trying to decide if Bush or Gore won Florida.”

       “What?” Simone said, stunned, her heart ramming against her chest.  She remembered that time, too.  It was the time that she allowed Nick to make love to her.  It was the time that she thought was the beginning of her new life, only to be the beginning of the end of any wonderful life she thought she was ever going to have with Nick Perry.   “What happened?” she asked Ethan again, as if his previous explanation left more questions than answers.

       “I told you, a car accident.”

       “And it paralyzed her?”

       “From what I’ve heard, yeah.  I was a brand new attorney then and anything about Nick Perry was big news to us newbies.  And this was big news all over the courthouse.  They said she had gotten a call from somebody claiming that Mr. Perry was with another woman.  She raced out to catch him in the act, I suppose, but she was driving way too fast for the conditions and she lost control.  Her car, some fancy European deal, a Mini-Cooper I think, flipped several times and landed in a ditch.  She was penned inside.  She was conscious long enough to give them Nick’s cell phone number and they called him that night.  They said he got to the hospital so fast they thought he’d flown in.  They said he felt so guilty, so ashamed that he had been with some other woman while the love of his life nearly died, that he never left Delia’s side.  And they were married within days after that.”

       Simone sat in total amazement.  She remembered the phone call.  They had made love, had laid in bed talking, and was about to talk about their life to come.  About marriage.  He had already told her that he couldn’t live without her.  He had already made clear that she would be a part of his life for the rest of his life.  It was all just formality from there, as far as she was concerned.  Then that blasted phone of his had rung.  And he answered it.  She assumed it was from the office, he was always getting calls from Mark Grier or somebody else at his office, so she went to the bathroom.  She remembered the panic in his voice when he yelled for her.  He had to go, he’d said, and he was already dressed and ready.  She remembered how he held her at shoulder’s length and seemed unsure when she said she understood that he had to leave.  “Do you?” she remembered he had asked her, and she thought even then how strange a comment that was.  Of course she understood.  He was an important attorney handling important cases and sometimes he had to go.  Only it wasn’t about a case, but about Delia.  His Delia.  The woman he had been with for so many years.  That was why he came to her that very next morning and announced his marriage to this mystery woman.  She nearly died in that car wreck and he knew he wasn’t about to leave her. It was Delia.  Delia all along.

       Nick returned long after the sound of coughing had disappeared behind closed doors and both Ethan and Simone had been sitting in silence, both with their own thoughts. 

       Ethan stood up on his arrival.  “Is everything all right, Mr. Perry?”

       “Yes,” Nick said, looking shaken, his shirt sleeves rolled up, “it’s fine.  She’s fine.  Just another one of her. . . unfortunate episodes.  But sit down, please.”  He sat down, too.  “I’ve been informed that dinner will be served very shortly.”

       “Oh, Mr. Perry, you don’t have to go through with that.  We completely understand.  You don’t have to–”                                                   “Don’t be ridiculous,” Nick said quickly.  “I invited you for dinner and that’s what we’re going to have.  My wife is sick, and she gets sick, and it is what it is.  If I stopped every time she became ill, then I would get nothing done.  She’ll be all right. We have a wonderful team of nurses working with her, and doctors on the ready.  She’s fine.  But thank you for your concern.  Now,” he said, rubbing those hands together again, trying to become that gregarious person he never was again, “you mentioned a partnership?”

       Ethan again moved to the edge of the sofa, yet Simone could feel Nick’s eyes now trained on her.  And her heart wanted to cry out to him.  He didn’t leave her all those years ago because he was the cold-hearted player she had taken him for.  But he had to leave her because he couldn’t leave Delia.  Not like this.  Not after he’d been with her for so very long in good health.  What good man would leave her in bad? 

       But then Simone thought about Delia, and how Nick was wrong not to tell her that he had another woman on the horizon to begin with, before they went from friends to lovers.  And that, in and of itself, kept her from breaking down and singing Kumbaya with him just yet.

       “I was thinking,” Ethan began, “that a partnership would definitely be the salient point here.”

       “Aha.”

       “Would take it over the top for me.”

       “I thought we discussed this already.”

       “We did.  But I’m a little concerned that if we don’t get it agreed to now, who knows, it might not happen.”

       Nick crossed his leg, his drink resting in his hand.  “What might not happen?” he said as he finally turned his full attention to Ethan.

       Ethan swallowed hard. “The partnership.”

       Nick stared at Ethan before speaking, as if he was sizing him up.  “Did I not tell you that if you worked hard and proved your mettle that you could very well be in line for a partnership?”

       “Yes, sir, but—”

       “Then why wouldn’t it happen?  Do you not plan to work hard?”

       “Yes, sir, but what I mean—”

       “Do you not plan to prove your mettle?”

       “Of course I do.  I was just. . .”

       Nick exhaled.  “You were just listening to my wife.”

       Ethan nearly melted in shame, Simone could feel it.  Then he tried to smile it off. “Well, yes, sir.  She seemed to think that I should hold out for a better deal.”

       Nick smiled, but it was a smile laced with bitterness.  “Understood.”

       Ethan exhaled.  “Thanks.  And listen, I wasn’t trying to offend you, I was, I guess I was just. . .”

       “Holding out for a better deal.”

       Ethan grinned.  “Right.  But I won’t keep you guessing any longer, Mr. Perry.  I feel like a striptease over here.”  Nick laughed.  “So, the answer is yes, sir, if you still want me with P & A, then I’ll be happy to join up.”

       “Even with no guaranteed partnership?”

       “Even with that, yes, sir.”

       “Wonderful.  My lawyers will get with your lawyers and we’ll get the deal done.”

       Ethan laughed.  “Okay.”  Then his cell phone began ringing.   He looked at his caller ID.  “Ah, I need to take this.”

       “The study is through that door,” Nick said, gesturing toward the back, and Ethan, answering the phone, hurried for that study.  Nick leaned back, staring at Simone. 

       Simone’s nervousness caused her to began talking.  “He’s excited,” she said.

       “Is he?”

       “Very.  I think it’s what he wanted all along.”

       “Good.  I’ll be glad to have him onboard.  He appears to be a very devoted young man.”

       “He is.  To his clients.  Just like you used to—.”  Simone said this before she realized what she was saying.  She looked at Nick. 

       “Simone,” he said, a frown creasing his face, as he sat his glass on the low table and went and sat beside her on the sofa.  Her entire being felt overwhelmed by his mere presence, his smell, his very aura.  She tried to compose herself, although she was undeniably shaken by this sudden move, and it took her a moment to even look at him.  When she did, her heart hammered against her chest.

       “Thank-you for coming,” he said, looking down at her chest and then back into her eyes.  That sensual act alone caused her to blink.  “I didn’t expect to see you.”

       “Didn’t expect to be seen.  Not here.”  She frowned.  “Not like this.”

       He looked into her eyes.  “My wife?”

       “Yes.”

       He nodded, as a sadness seemed to overtake him, and he looked forward.  “I didn’t expect to see you.”

       “You said that already.”

       “But when I saw you last night, with Graham, I knew I had to try.”  He looked back at her.  “Are you dating him now?”

       She stared at him.  What a thing to ask, she thought.  “Excuse me?”

       “I’m not trying to. . . , I was just. . . concerned.”

       Now Simone was confused.  “Concerned about what?”

       “You.  As always.  I don’t want to see you hurt.”

       Her mouth nearly gaped opened.  He didn’t want to see her hurt?  Him?  The one who had hurt her? 

       “Don’t look so stunned, Simone.  You know how much I cared about you.”

       “I know how much you hurt me.  I know that real well.  As for the caring part?  That’s certainly debatable.”