A Husband for All Seasons

He peered intently at her face, trying to remember her name. “Is it Vicky?”

She gave him a thumbs-up, a smile lighting her face. “Sure is. Vicky Lanham. Is there anything I can get for you?”

“I’m thirsty.”

She poured a fresh glass of water, inserted a straw and bent it. She put her hand behind his neck and lifted until his lips touched the straw. The water soothed his parched throat and the touch of her cool hand on his warm skin was comforting.

She lowered his head to the pillow and picked up her purse and jacket.

“I have to go to work this afternoon, so I need to leave now.”

“Are you coming back tonight?”

“You’re getting along very well. You won’t need any supervision that the nursing staff can’t give you.”

Chad closed his eyes, but opened them again quickly. The medication was making him sleepy, and he didn’t want Vicky to leave before he thanked her. Blinking he said, “Thanks for helping Mom and Dad. I know they’ve been upset by all of this. The pain medicine they’re giving me keeps me asleep so much of the time that I haven’t really had much time to think about what a narrow escape I had. It seems like the doctors found a donor very quickly, but I’ve been so out of it when they were here that I haven’t asked my parents if they know who it was.”

“If I’m in the hospital again before you’re released, I’ll stop in to see how you’re doing.”

The warmth of his smile brought a ray of light to a portion of Vicky’s heart that had been dark for a long time. How strange that she was here to help him and he had encouraged her.

As Vicky walked down the hallway, she lost the upbeat attitude she had displayed to Chad. Since his admittance to the hospital, scores of media representatives had been camped near the hospital waiting for the latest news about the football star. The surgeons had given daily reports of his condition and details of the serious injury were widespread. Seemed as if everyone in the nation, except Chad, knew what had happened to him.

Vicky had overheard a discussion in the hospital lounge not intended for her ears. She knew that Chad Reece was in for a sad awakening. When that happened someone would have to be around to pick up the pieces, and maybe, just maybe, she would be that someone. Up to this point, Vicky had drifted through life, but if she could help this man accept the disappointment he faced, it might provide a catalyst to deal with her own shattered dreams.

Chad woke from another nap when his parents entered the room, accompanied by his friend Lorene Saunders, carrying Amy, her two-year-old daughter. Chad stared when an orderly followed, pushing Perry Saunders in a wheelchair. Chad was speechless. In a few seconds he recalled his first meeting with Perry and Lorene several years ago.

He had met them before they were married, when he was a senior in college. That was the summer he had worked as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Jon Preston, his good friend and rising country music sensation. Chad had accompanied Jon to his gig in Woodston, Kentucky, where Perry was a professor at the local college. Lorene’s public relations agency had been contacted to promote Woodston’s bicentennial celebration. When she came to Kentucky to oversee the promotion, she and Perry were reunited for the first time in twenty years. Although they were twice his age, he had liked them at once, and they all became good friends. He was pleased when his parents also developed a liking for Perry and Lorene. The Saunders’s later moved to Southern California, where Amy was born. After that, Chad saw them infrequently, although they talked often by phone.

“Regular old home week,” he said. “Hi, Lorene. You’re as beautiful as ever.”

Lorene bit her curved lips as if she was trying to control tears that threatened to overflow. Her long black eyelashes splayed over her face, and she didn’t return Chad’s greeting.

Dark circles bordered her blue eyes and it seemed that Lorene had aged since he had last seen her six months ago. But Amy’s bright black eyes sparkled at Chad, and he believed the girl remembered him. He tried to lift his left hand to Amy’s outstretched one, but his hand seemed as heavy as lead. He let it drop back on the sheet.

Chad’s eyes scanned the four adults in the room. Did he imagine it or was there a guilty expression on their faces?

Attempting to believe that he was imagining things, Chad said, “It’s good of you to come to visit me. But why are you in a wheelchair, Perry?”

Perry Saunders was the most handsome man Chad had ever seen. Tall and slender, with a well-proportioned body, Perry had black onyx eyes and thick silvery-gray hair. His trim mustache added dignity to his high cheekbones and straight, prominent nose. But a gray pallor marked his face today and his hands were trembling. Next to his father, Chad admired Perry above all men.

“I’m all right, Chad. I’ll let your father explain.”

Chad glanced toward his parents, but they wouldn’t meet his eyes. Without analyzing his feelings, anger welled up in Chad’s chest.

“We’ve never hidden the fact that you were adopted,” his father stated, a tremor in his voice.

“No. That’s has never bothered me.” But even as he spoke, in light of what he now suspected, Chad wondered if the statement was really true.

“We’ve known who your biological parents were for several years. We didn’t tell you because you’ve always said you didn’t want to know. But if it hadn’t been for them, you might be dead now.”

Again Chad glanced around the room. His suspicions were true, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

“I still don’t want to know.”

“Why, Chad? It seems so unusual,” Lorene said. “Most people are curious about their family roots.”

“I don’t know exactly. I thought about it a lot when I was a boy, but as I grew older, it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe I didn’t want to admit that my birth parents didn’t want me,” he said, almost in a whisper.

Chad paused, and a chill seemed to have penetrated the room. The silence was deafening. Except for Amy, who was squirming in Lorene’s arms, no one moved. Almost it seemed that no one breathed. After a suffocating moment, Mr. Reece cleared his throat.

“You’d always said that you didn’t want to know, and frankly, we preferred it that way, too. I guess we wanted to feel that you were really ours. But when the surgeon said that your chances of recovery were low if you didn’t have a replacement kidney right away, we had to choose between your life and letting you find out your roots. Sometimes it takes years to find a donor with a matching organ. We didn’t want to lose you. We told your biological parents about your injury.”

Breathing deeply, as if he found it hard to reveal the past after concealing it for so long, Mr. Reece said quietly, “As soon as Perry and Lorene heard from us, they boarded a plane immediately, either of them willing to be a donor.”

Chad’s gaze sharpened and he studied each of the adults individually. His mother had covered her face with her hands. Lorene’s eyebrows had drawn together giving her face an agonized expression. Stewart Reece studied his son with curious intensity. A momentary look of pain crossed Perry’s face, and a wistful plea for forgiveness shone in his eyes.

Chad turned his head and closed his eyes. His heart beat erratically. Learning about his bad injury was a bitter pill to swallow. He had told his parents that he didn’t want to know anything about his origin, but surely after he met Perry and Lorene, he should have been told the truth. He felt betrayed, humiliated, and actually stupid that he hadn’t even suspected who his parents were.

When he opened his eyes, the Reeces had gone. Perry had wheeled his chair close to the bed and Lorene stood beside him. Under Lorene’s watchful eye, Amy was toddling around the room.

“We owe you an explanation, Chad,” Perry said.

He shook his head, and he couldn’t keep the tears from seeping under his eyelids. “I don’t want to hear it.”

He had idolized these two people. He didn’t want to hear a sordid story that would topple them from the pedestal where he’d placed them.

“If you don’t want to listen for yourself,” Lorene said, “at least, for our sakes, let us tell you what happened. We’ve waited years to ask for your forgiveness.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just leave me alone!”

“We are not leaving, Chad,” Perry said in a voice that brooked no argument. “You need to hear the truth—after that, if you don’t want to see us again, we won’t bother you. But we’ve waited for years to explain what happened. You are going to listen.”

Motioning to all of the tubes and medical equipment that held him immobile, Chad said bitterly, “I’m a captive audience, so I have no choice except to listen. But I promise you, I’m not going to like it.”

Chapter Two

Dreading the upcoming exchange, Chad squeezed his eyelids tightly to stop further tears, hardening his heart against Lorene’s pleading voice.

“The first time Perry and I had seen each other for over twenty years was in Woodston, Kentucky, where we first met you. We were college sweethearts who’d been engaged. Only once did we let our emotions get out of hand—the night you were conceived.”

For the next half hour, Chad listened to the rich timbre of Perry’s voice as he explained how through a misunderstanding and the stubborn conniving of Lorene’s father, he never knew she was pregnant. Lorene thought that Perry had abandoned her and didn’t love her. Perry was angry because he thought Lorene didn’t want to marry him and had moved away without leaving a forwarding address. Because of these misconceptions, they didn’t try to contact each other. They had remained unmarried because memories of the true love they had shared prevented them from having relationships with anyone else.

Every word they said was searing Chad’s soul with the deepest agony he had ever known. His heart searched for an answer.

God, why didn’t You let me die without hearing these things? I’ve always been happy. I had a good life. I’d rather be dead than to know that the four people I’ve loved the most have betrayed me. Why, God, why?

Their words were destroying one of Chad’s fondest memories, and he wished they would stop talking and leave him with a few pleasant memories of their association.