The nurse didn’t even blink, “Fine. We’ll try later.”
“The fuck we will,” Henry muttered as she swiftly walked away, tray of lunch in hand.
“Dad,” Declan said. “Was that necessary?”
“She’s always pressuring me,” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed. “I don’t like it. I told you to let me fire her.”
“She’s doing her job,” Declan pointed out. “Despite you treating her like shit. You’re lucky she doesn’t quit. I would.”
“Yeah, well,” Henry said. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“I know,” Declan said, leaning forward. “I don’t. I’m sorry to give you a hard time. Just let her take care of you. That’s all she wants to do. Don’t take your anger out on her. Hell, take it out on me if you want. I deserve it.”
“No,” Henry shook his head. “You’re a good son.”
“I’m not a good person though,” Declan sighed, sitting back against the chair again. “You know; I saw Charlotte yesterday. She’s in town.”
“Charlotte?” Henry asked. “Sanders? From college?”
“Yep,” Declan said. “Our paths have crossed yet again.”
“You know,” Henry sat up a little bit. “You never really told us why you ended it with her. You really loved that girl, didn’t you?”
Declan nodded, “Yeah. I did.”
“So, why?” Henry asked. “Too young?”
Declan shook his head, “No. It wasn’t that. It just wouldn’t have worked out.”
“Why, because she’s not from here?” Henry asked. “You never cared about that shit. Much to my chagrin.”
Declan laughed, “Yeah. That’s true.”
“You know,” Henry said. “I almost broke up with your momma when we were engaged. Did you know that?”
Declan shook his head, “No. I never knew that. Why?”
“Well, your grandma wasn’t a big fan of her. Said she was too… What was the word she used? Whimsical. That and she said your momma was too quirky. That she thought too deep.” Henry laughed at the memory. “As if that’s a bad thing, to have depth. Said I should pick someone simpler. But no. The thing she didn’t like about your momma was the thing I loved the most. Anna was complex. Beautiful. She took things to heart. Too much to heart.”
Declan had never in his life seen his father cry, but Henry DeGraff had tears in his eyes, “I let her down in the end. Really, it was me who she shouldn’t have picked. I was too hard on her. Tried to mold her into what I wanted. Who could take that?”
Henry’s lip quivered and Declan did the closest thing to hugging his father that he’d ever done - he placed a hand on his gaunt shoulder.
“Dad,” Declan said. “It’s not your fault. Momma was sick… She wasn’t well. People don’t do what she did because of just one thing or one person. You can’t blame yourself. I’ve spent plenty of time thinking of what I could have done differently, or what warning signs I missed, but it’s all a waste of time. In the end, I don’t think there’s anything we could have done to keep her from making the decision she made. Sometimes the world is just too much for a person to handle.” Declan was trying his best not to cry. Not now. “But I know she’s okay, Dad. Wherever we go after this, whatever happens, it’s a place where she can be okay again. The pain of living inside her head is gone. She’s free. And she’s waiting for us. You know that?”
Henry nodded, “It’s the only thing that gets me through this cancer shit. That and the narcotics.”
********
Henry drifted off after that. After watching his father sleep for a while, Declan walked out to the carriage house to have a moment alone and drown himself in nostalgia.
Once Charlotte left Charleston years ago, Declan could never bring himself to go back into the carriage house. Even now, as he entered it 10 years later, he swore he could still smell her in the curtains, in the sheets. He walked into the room and he could see the apparition of her leaning over the vanity in her underwear, putting on lipstick, yelling at him to stop ogling her ass.
But you’re so beautiful, he would have said.
God, he still loved her. His muscles hurt from the pain of missing her. The previous night was both a dream and a nightmare. Running his hands up and down her body had been a piece of heaven returned to him.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, the same bed on which he’d first made love to her so long ago. There had to be a way to fix all the wrongs.
Fate had conspired to have them physically collide with each other. Twice. One collision could be dismissed as something random. A second felt more like grand design.
Declan had tried to forget about her through booze and a buffet of other women, women who couldn’t come close to equaling the intensity of his passion for her. None of it worked.
He couldn’t let her leave this city without one more chance.
Ten Years Ago…