The House (6 page)

Plaintiff agrees to wife’s request for divorce. Plaintiff contests sale of house.

Three lines down.

Plaintiff states that house in question is the one and only home he and his children have known. Plaintiff wants to maintain house as a central meeting place for direct offspring and future generations that arise from his offspring
.

“The kids have their own homes.” Anna had lifted her head to Henderson. Edward’s request left so much unstated.

Edward fought the divorce by making the sale of the house his battleground.

Once more, Anna ran her fingers across the mahogany desk and beheld her reflection on the surface. The last year had sped by. She was speaking less and less to her children, avoiding their calls, and not returning their messages. Eventually, they stopped calling. She had called each of them in between directing the movers on where to replace the furniture. She had told them, “Your father has cancer.” She had explained the prognosis, then after their sighs, tears, and whimpers said, “I’m bringing him home day after tomorrow.”

Now caught by the reflection of her eyes on the desk, she wondered, What will I say when they arrive??

Chapter 7

Monday morning, Anna drove her car to the front of Berkeley General where Edward sat in a wheelchair and a hospital attendant stood beside him. The attendant opened the door and Ed ward, on bidding him goodbye, got inside.

Back at the house, Anna unlocked the door. Edward stepped inside. “Where’s the furniture,” he said on taking a deep breath. “It’s all here.”

“No, I mean the rental furniture.” He turned to her. “The stuff Elise installed for potential buyers.”

Anna wanted to ask how he knew about that. Instead, she headed for the kitchen. “I thought you might like some lunch. Are you hungry?”

“Not that much. The chemo leaves me without an appetite.” Ed ward went to the table and sat.

“But I thought Dr. Grimes stopped—”

“I begged him for one last round.” Edward met Anna’s gaze.

She pulled away, went to the refrigerator, and lifted out two beers. She took one to Edward. As she opened the second one, he looked puzzled. “I know you’re not going to drink that yourself,” he said.

“And why not?” Anna hated the smell of beer. Yet she’d always wondered how it tasted.
Did he drink beer with his women
? She turned the bottled up and took a swig. Her tongue went bitter. Frowning, she placed the cold, green bottle on the table.

Edward sat his bottle beside hers. “Enough for me too.”

“More effects of the chemo?”

“I lost the taste awhile back. Like a lot of other things.” His voice trailed off.

Startled, Anna took the bottles from the table and emptied them in the sink. “I’d better start dinner.”

“Did you have any plans for the day?” Edward asked. It was hardly past noon. He tapped the table.

“Not really. What about you?” Anna bent down and removed a pot from the cabinet beneath the range.

“I’m supposed to be dying.”

She lowered the glistening stainless steel pot onto one of two back burners of the range. “What would you like to do?”

“I feel tired, but not enough to—” Edward stood and turned to ward the sliding glass door. “I see you filled the pool.”

“I thought you might like to spend some time out on the patio. It’s early September. Indian summer is coming.”

Edward’s ruddy brown face glistened with vitality and hope. “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Bring me back here.
Why
?”

“I don’t know.” Those words would not suffice with someone as successful as Edward.

He pocketed his hands and stared at the floor. “Looks a hell of a lot different than when the children were here.” He returned to his initial subject upon entering the house.

“In fact, this whole place looks different from when ... “ Fifteen months had passed since Anna had changed the locks and instituted new rules.

“They’re coming next week,” Anna said. Edward lifted his head and met her gaze. “I told the children about your cancer. They’re coming home next Tuesday.” David was flying from Detroit with Theo coming in from Chicago. “Brad and Linda are driving up. They should arrive that afternoon,” Anna said. “Serine’s due in that night.”

“Why doesn’t Serine ride up with them? They live on the same side of the city.” Linda, Brad, and Serine lived in Los Angeles.

“Serine has a case that runs into the afternoon. She’s taking a flight that arrives in the early evening. Linda and Brad are leaving in the morning.”

“How is Linda?” Edward asked. “Have you spoken to her?”

“She’s fine.”

“And Brad?”

“You know Brad. He’s steady.”

“And everything’s okay with the billing service?” Edward asked.

“Most of his father’s clients are still physicians, but last I heard the company had entered a contract with a small hospital.” Brad’s father, Albert, a psychiatrist, had been the first to sign on for Brad’s medical billing service.

“That should help the business, particularly in these times.”

“Between Albert and his colleagues, Brad’s got a lot of contacts.”

Anna filled the pot with water. “Brad’s good for Linda.” She noted

Edward’s brightening demeanor. “I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

“Neither have I.”

“But I don’t worry.” Anna placed the pot full of water on the eye of the stove that was glowing red and warm.

“With all that’s been going on—” Edward grew silent. It was sad that they lived so close to their daughters and neither had much contact with them.

“But I don’t worry,” Anna repeated her words.

“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.