“Seems to me we can laugh or cry. Right now, I choose laughter. Is that so wrong? You can’t control every situation, Felix.”
“Neither can you.”
“Touché.”
“I can’t lose you.” His voice was so heavy that she nearly caved, nearly cried.
“Not ready to trade me in for a younger model with bigger boobs?”
“I’ve never wanted anyone but you, Ella Bella. There is no one else for me. I should have told you that a thousand times a day since we met.” Felix mussed his hair. “Why didn’t I?”
“Hey, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I’m young, I’m in good shape. You heard the doc—I’m healthy. Apart from the defective heart. Honestly, I believe that getting home will be the best medicine. How are you and Harry getting on?” She coughed to cover up the wheezing. Hard to breathe after all those words.
Felix squirmed.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
“You should have told me Harry thought your pregnancy was planned.”
“Our pregnancy,” she said softly, then listened as Felix explained.
“Let me talk to him,” she said. “I’ll call as soon as I get my new room assignment.”
“No. This is my problem to sort out. I have to say, though, he outmaneuvered me like a pro.”
“He’s good at reading people. He always has been—ever since he was little. He probably picked up on some hesitancy.”
“And went for the kill?”
“Followed his instincts. Harry’s not shy about asking for what he wants or needs.” She turned her head away from those icy-blue eyes, from the perfect bone structure that made her husband a classic male beauty, from the expression that was a mirror of their son’s. Everyone said Harry resembled her, but that was because of the mop of dirty-blond hair. When you looked deeper, when you watched his mannerisms, he was all Felix. A child laughed outside her door, and she ached to hold her son.
Felix pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat. “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”
“The food’s crap.” I’m nauseated all the time, Felix. I can’t eat. “Tell me what Harry’s doing today.”
“I could go home and get him if you want me to, since there’s no school.”
“There isn’t?”
“Martin Luther King Day.”
She nodded. It was so easy to lose track of time in the twilight of hospital living. “No. Bad enough he’s seen me in the hospital once. I don’t want him stuck with images of me like this. Is he at home playing on the Xbox?”
“I believe Eudora’s giving him a cooking lesson.”
“Ah, so you’ve finally met our newest neighbor. Interesting, isn’t she?”
“She turned up like Mary Poppins and refused to move on.” Felix paused. “Harry seems to like her, though.”
“He helps her from time to time with odd jobs, carrying in groceries, that sort of thing.”
“He does?” Felix frowned.
“That’s how we met. Harry saw her unloading groceries one day and rushed to her aid. All very sweet.” Ella paused to catch her breath. “Of course, Eudora has a spine of steel and doesn’t need help with anything. But I do think she’s lonely.”
“She has a gun.”
“Most people in the South do, sweetheart.”
“She’s not some retired ax-murderer hiding out in a Durham neighborhood, is she?”
“Have you started watching Criminal Minds since I’ve been in here?”
“I don’t know anything about her, Ella. And she’s in our home, teaching our son to cook.”
“She moved in last spring. Had a huge historic home in Chapel Hill, but decided to downsize for her seventy-fifth birthday. My guess is that she came from old money. She’s a retired horticulturalist. Famous in her field. Single, and had a scandalous affair with a married Duke professor a few decades back.”
Felix looked horrified.
“She’s a good soul, and she’s alone. Since we started walking together in the mornings, I’ve gotten to know her pretty well.”
“Why did you never tell me about her?”