Chapter 21

I was sitting on a bench in the outdoor patio area of the Taitano Apartments which apartments my wife and I were now calling home. Lower middle class it was, but it did have a few of the luxuries that Henrietta and I appreciated. One of which, again, was our small but nice and tree shaded front porch mini patio.

It was new, well it looked, new the Cadillac Coup Deville that pulled up to the curb across from me. A teenager got out, noticed me, and came across the twenty yards of grassy sward toward me.

“Konrad Grimes,” I said. “I’m surprised.”

“Uncle John, how are you, sir?” he said. His tone was serious.

“Well, okay, and you?” I said. He looked down.

“My mom was considering asking you to come up to the house this past week or asking if it would be all right for her to come here. But...”

“But?” I said.

“Uncle John, my dad is in a very bad way. He may die. He had a kind of a relapse is what mom told me, us,” he said. “She and Selena are by his bedside right now. I was too, but Mom thought that you should be advised, her words, about stuff. So, she sent me to let you know.”

“Really,” I said. “That’s awful. I do hope he gets better. Tell your mother that if you will.”

“I will, sir,” he said.

“I see you are driving,” I said, nodding toward the car he’d driven up in.

“Yes, for some time now. That’s Dad’s car though, not mine. I don’t have one yet. Maybe when daddy gets better,” he said. I could see the boy was breaking up, but doing his best to hold it in.

“Okay, well, like I say Henrietta and I will be pulling for him. If there is anything I can do...” I left that hanging in the air. It was obvious that anything I could do was going to pale beside anything the Grimes clan could do. But, like they say, it’s the thought that counts.

“Can I ask, how are your mom and sister holding up?” I said.

He shrugged. “Mom’s crying a lot. Selena too. They kind of comfort each other I guess,” he said.

“And you? How are you holding up?” I said.

“Okay, I heard the doctor say that the next twenty-four hours would be the most critical. He was talking to mom, but I was just outside the door when he told her that. It was the stab wound that was close to the heart that the doctor is most worried about; it started bleeding again is what the doctor said.

“If you hadn’t stopped them from hurting him that night, he, my dad, would not have had a chance. Mom told me that,” he said. “I thank you, sir, for that. I really really thank you for that, so does mom and Selena. Really.”

“Hmm, yes, well anyone would have done the same,” I said. Well, it seemed like the right thing to say at the moment.

We talked for a few more minutes and then he left. I caught myself liking the boy, and that more than any of the rest of them, and that by a lot.

“How is he, Mom?” said Selena.

“Oh good, you’re back. He’s the same,” she said. “The doctor says another twenty-four hours should tell us more; but, the bleeding has been stopped.”

“Your ex-husband... ?” started Selena. “I mean does he know?”

“You mean your daddy, right?” said her mother.

“Yes, of course. I mean he has done so much for this family, all of us. But...” she started.

“Yes, so much,” said her mother. “And so much for me in particular.”

“Yes, but, I mean dad has always been my daddy. And now to have to change or have two daddies; well, it’s just real hard, Mom. It just is. I mean I know what he’s done for us, all of us as you say, I mean Mister Steele, I just don’t know.”

“Mister Steele! Are you serious, Selena. He’s your daddy. Yes, you do have two daddies, the one who raised you and the one who saved the lives of both your mom and the daddy that raised you. Oh, and whose sperm is responsible for you being born!

“I have not treated your daddy very well. My selfishness is really beyond belief. But, I intend to change that reality, and, I need you to rethink your attitude as well,” said Victoria.

“Okay, Mom, I know you’re right. I will do as you say,” said Selena.

The two women saw the woman coming down the hall toward them.

“Henrietta?” said Victoria, as the newcomer came up to them.

“Yes, hello to you, the both of you,” said Henrietta. “How is your husband doing if I may ask?”

“Uh-it’s kind of touch and go. The doctor said by tomorrow we should know more,” she said. “I have to say, I’m kind of surprised to see you.”

“Yes, well, John Michael is concerned about you and you too Selena. And of course Mister Grimes. Konrad came by and talked to my man and he asked me to come by and check on things. I guess the two of them talked for some length of time.

“John Michael would have come himself, but he is still not really able to get around too well. Once he gets his prosthesis it will be easier for him. But well, we’ve been told that that’s still a good three months off,” said Henrietta.

“Really?” said Victoria. “Well thank you very much for coming by. Hopefully we can all get together at some point. I mean in the near future. I mean once my husband pulls through,” she said, and then she started to break up. Selena went to her mother and held her.

Henrietta looked down. It was clear that the other wife was very much afraid that her husband might not make it.

Selena looked across the aisle at the other woman. “Thank you for coming by Missus Steele. It is appreciated,” she said. It was her polite, and formal, way of saying that she and her mother needed to be alone.