Chapter 47: How Do You Do It?

September 26, 1985, Rutherford, Ohio

It took me several seconds to recover, and then I pulled open the glass door. Elizaveta and I stepped into the Property Division office.

"Hi, Mike," Mrs. Vogel said.

"Hi, Mrs. Vogel," I replied. "Hi, Holly."

"Mike," Holly said coolly.

From the tone of her voice and the look she gave me, I was sure she knew that I knew she was the 'other woman'. By the same token, her mom's warm greeting indicated she had no idea that her daughter was involved in an adulterous relationship with my dad. The situation had the potential to become a disaster of even more epic proportions if everything was revealed in the office. I seriously considered turning around and leaving, but that might raise all sorts of questions and lead to the very outcome I was hoping to avoid.

"We were in Rutherford for an appointment and thought we'd stop in," I said. "Is my dad available?"

"One moment," Mrs. Vogel said. "I'll check."

She picked up the phone and dialed my dad's extension. He answered, and she let him know that Elizaveta and I were up front asking for him. There was a brief silence before my dad responded.

"You can go on back," Mrs. Vogel said.

"Thanks."

Mrs. Vogel buzzed us through the gate, and Elizaveta and I walked past Holly, who gave me a cold stare but said nothing. I removed my ryassa and hung it in the coat closet, then we walked down the hall to my dad's office. We went inside, and I shut the door.

"Hi, Dad," I said.

"Mike," he said stiffly.

"I love you," I said. "That's all I came to say."

I turned back to the door and grasped the knob to open it.

"Mike, wait," my dad requested.

I turned back to face him and waited for him to talk.

"How is school going?" he asked.

"Fine. A bit unnerving at times, both in anatomy class and at the hospital, but otherwise, everything is going well, at least education-wise. How are you?"

"OK. I suppose I owe you an apology for avoiding you."

"I forgive you, and it's forgotten. This probably isn't the place to talk, but I simply couldn't let things continue as they were. Call, and we'll be more than happy to meet you anywhere, anytime."

"Thanks, Mike."

"Just remember we love you," I said.

He smiled and nodded, and Elizaveta and I left his office. I took her hand and led her out, retrieved my ryassa, said 'goodbye' to Mrs. Vogel, and then went down the stairs to the first floor. When we walked out of the building, I saw Holly Vogel on the sidewalk, and it was clear that she was waiting for us. There really was nothing for me to say to her, and I didn't want to do anything that closed the door I'd just opened, even if the opening was small.

"Mike," Holly said as we approached, now sounding nervous.

"I don't really think I should talk to you," I replied. "But don't worry, your little secret is safe with me."

Elizaveta and I kept walking towards my car, though Elizaveta stole a glance over her shoulder.

"She's standing there staring at us," Elizaveta said quietly.

"Let her," I replied. "There really isn't anything we can do that would help at this point, though we sure could make things worse."

"It's all going to come out, isn't it?"

"If my dad contests the divorce, yes."

We arrived at my car, and after I helped Elizaveta into the passenger seat, I removed my ryassa and got into the driver's seat. I started the car, and pulled out of the parking spot I'd backed into, and drove past Holly, who was still staring at us, turned onto the street, and headed back to the center of town.

"What do you think he'll do?"

"If he wants to maintain peace at work, he'll come to some kind of agreement with my mom. To be honest, the best solution is just to sell the house and divide the assets, though I'm not sure how his pension works. I hope that's what he elects to do, but until I talk more with him, I have no idea what he's thinking. And he may not be willing to share what he's thinking."

"You did what you said you were going to do."

"There really wasn't anything else to do," I replied. "Any other approach would likely have caused him to react badly, which would have closed off any possibility of talking to him. That said, I don't know if he'll actually call or not."

"It seemed as if he will."

"Yes, but you heard what I said about work not being the place to talk. I'm sure he agrees, and he might have simply said what was necessary to get us to leave."

"Wait! You think he may have been patronizing you?"

"It's certainly possible. I'm certain he wanted to avoid a confrontation, and telling Mrs. Vogel he didn't want to see me, especially with Holly there, might have raised questions in Mrs. Vogel's mind, and who knows where that might have ended. The same goes for being polite to us in his office — it doesn't raise potentially dangerous questions. I'm sure everyone knows he's been sued for divorce and that adultery was listed as the grounds, but they don't know who the adulteress is, and the last thing he wants is anyone to ask questions."

"So we wait?"

"Yes. We wait."

September 27, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

"How did things go yesterday?" Clarissa asked when we got our morning coffee on Thursday.

"About as well as could be expected," I replied. "Dad said he'd get in touch."

"That's a good thing! Why don't you sound happier?"

"Because he may have said that just to avoid a confrontation in his office. We'll see what happens."

"Ugh. How was your visit with Doctor Mercer?"

"I had a good talk with her about the ethical issues and about stress. We also spoke about Angie, and Doctor Mercer asked me to call Angie once every two weeks and see her once every two months. I just need to have a conversation with Father Stephen to coördinate."

"She's over you, finally?"

I shook my head, "No, she still wants to make love with me, at least according to Doctor Mercer. But Angie knows she can't, and she blames the doctors and the State of Ohio for creating the situation. Doctor Mercer didn't say it, but I surmise Angie understands, at least as far as she can, why I married Elizaveta. One thing Doctor Mercer did say was that within Angie's reality, everything makes sense, even if it doesn't make sense to us."

Clarissa laughed softly, "No ill meant to Angie, but TELL me about dealing with someone like that!"

I chuckled, "My internal logic doesn't always make sense to you, either. I could say the same for the entire female population! Though I blame hormones for that."

"Ours cause emotional swings; yours cause injury!"

I nodded, "The 'Evel Knievel' patient."

"If he'd been older than seventeen, beer would have been involved. In fact, beer and testosterone are a lethal combination!"

"They never were for me," I protested.

"No, yours was just testosterone poisoning, resulting in numerous losses of virginity!"

"I got better."

"No, you didn't! You just found a permanent outlet! And one sanctioned by the Church!"

"And your point is?" I smirked.

"Still enjoying your pussy cat?"

"Affirmative!" I grinned. "A statement which shall be true until I draw my last breath!"

"Ready for today's anatomy lab?"

"I reviewed this morning," I replied. "One thing is sure — I'm not going to skip study group very often."

"I was more concerned about how you felt about dissecting a female breast."

"Not good, but it's something I have to do."

"Can you imagine the groups with males when we get to the pelvic region?"

"I do NOT want to even think about that!"

"I'm right there with you, Petrovich."

We walked back into the building and made our way to the lecture hall, where, as usual, we watched a video of what we were about to do and listened to a lecture on the anatomy of the chest. Once the lecture was completed, we moved to the lab, and our team performed the necessary dissections, with all six of us being uncomfortable cutting into Caitlin's breasts. When the lab finished, we headed to the locker rooms for showers, then had lunch. After eating quickly, Peter and I went to the steam room to relieve our stress, then rejoined the girls for our Practice of Medicine class.

After class, I headed home before our night out with the gang. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant, then went to see Agnes of God.

September 28, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

"Mike, I'm sorry to interrupt," Elizaveta said while our group was studying, "but your dad is on the phone."

"Go, Petrovich!" Clarissa said. "We'll take our break."

I got up and went to the bedroom to take the call.

"I'll set out the lemonade and cookies," Elizaveta said.

I closed the door to the bedroom and picked up the handset.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hi, Mike. I'm going to give your mom an uncontested divorce."

"OK."

"OK?"

"OK. You led with that, so I'm assuming that means you're going to continue your relationship with Holly Vogel."

"You know?"

"Mom hired a private investigator after someone saw you with Holly and then told me about it."

"Thank you for not making an issue at work."

"You're welcome. Holly tried to talk to me outside, but I felt speaking with her could only cause problems."

"You aren't going to ask why?"

"I'm in no position to judge, Dad. I also promised myself that if you would talk to me, I'd listen to whatever you had to say. And if that's talking about the weather or some new bridge the county is building, or medical school, or the Reds, then that's what we'll talk about."

"How do you do it, Mike?"

"I love you, Dad. No matter what, I love you. Just as I love Mom. Just as I love Liz."

"I wish we'd talked more while you were growing up, and I'd understood you better."

"Me, too. But nothing prevents us from talking now."

"How's your mom?"

"She's OK. She's at Grandpa Mikhail's house."

Telling him she was moving in with Paul and Liz didn't seem like something I should reveal.

"Is there anything at the house that belongs to you or that you want? I'm going to put it on the market."

"I brought all my things to McKinley when I moved out, and I know Liz took all of her things. I'll come by to collect any photo albums or other keepsakes that Mom didn't take if you don't mind. Liz and I will figure out how to divide the photos and stuff so both you and Mom have some."

"OK."

"And let's get together, Dad. My schedule is rough because of school, but we could have dinner next Thursday or Friday night."

"Let me call you early next week, please."

"Call anytime, Dad. I love you."

"Thanks, Mike."

We said 'goodbye', and I went back to join my study group.

"Baby steps," I said to Clarissa. "But good ones."

After study group finished, Elizaveta and I ate our evening meal, then headed to church early so I could speak with Doctor Evgeni.

"It's an interesting dilemma," Doctor Evgeni said after I explained the situation, albeit without naming Vickie. "That said, things are far different now from the 60s when an out-of-wedlock pregnancy was a huge social scandal. That said, the Church has always dealt with it as something that occasionally happens, and for us, the alternative of terminating the pregnancy is simply not countenanced unless the mother's life is in actual danger. There were a few cases of out-of-wedlock pregnancy when I was younger, and nobody blamed me for knowing in advance of it being revealed publicly."

"And the fact that I'm a deacon?"

"I think you'll find that you'll be given the same benefit of the doubt as any priest would — that you are in no position to reveal anything said to you in confidence, though you wouldn't have the 'confessional seal' to refuse to speak to the police or testify. Well, that is, so long as you didn't advise a young woman to have an abortion."

"But knowing about it? When her parents didn't?"

"A trickier situation, but I ran into something like that after that terrible Supreme Court ruling. Medical ethics didn't allow me to say anything, and when the girl's parents later discovered she'd terminated her pregnancy, they came to me demanding to know why I hadn't told them she was pregnant. The young woman was seventeen, so she was legally an adult, at least with regard to her activities, and she hadn't been abused and hadn't been raped, so my hands were completely tied. They still haven't completely forgiven me, even ten years later."

With that story, the exact problem presented itself because I could work out, with some reasonable certainty, exactly who the 'young woman' in question was. If I was right, she was happily married and had two children. That convinced me that Doctor Evgeni also could very likely work out who I was speaking of, given the limited number of girls in the age range.

"In the end," he continued, "you must maintain your medical ethics, or you'll be dismissed from medical school or lose your license. Vladyka is well aware of that, and will make allowances. My advice is that if you encounter this kind of conflict in the future, you ask for a social worker, Family Services, or a psychiatric consult.

"Put it in their hands to determine if it should be reported to the authorities. Fundamentally, you can never, ever go wrong doing that, and nobody will criticize your judgment if you have reasonable suspicions. And remember, this only applies to patients. If you discover abuse outside your medical vocation, then you're required to follow the bishop's directives."

"Thanks, Doctor Evgeni."

"I think, at this point, Mikhail Petrovich, you should call me Evgeni Vladimirovich or simply Vladimirovich. The tradition is to only call your supervisors by their titles, but your peers by their names."

"I'm not yet your peer," I replied.

"Eh, close enough!" he said with a smile.

"Thank you, Gena Vladimirovich!"

We shook hands, as an embrace while wearing my cassock would have been inappropriate, and then I went into the altar. I joined Father Nicholas in the Vestry and let him know that I'd spoken to Doctor Evgeni, then asked if I could speak with him after Vespers, to which he agreed. An hour later, we went to his office while Elizaveta went home with her parents. I explained what Doctor Mercer had said about Angie and confirmed with Father Nicholas that it was OK to simply work through Father Stephen as I had in the past, and he agreed.

"So, about your dad?" Father Nicholas asked.

"The door appears to be open, but I need to be very careful not to have it slammed in my face."

"That makes sense. What exactly did you say?"

"When we stopped at his office, just a greeting, then I told him I loved him and wanted to talk. He called this afternoon. I was very, very careful not to criticize or condemn him and promised just to listen to anything he had to say. He let me know that he's not going to contest the divorce. I also let him know that I know who his, uhm, girlfriend, I guess, is. I didn't make an issue of it because it's fairly clear he intends to continue to see her, and getting on his case would close off the avenue which was just cleared."

"It's a fine line between counseling and condoning, which, I think you learned from the situation with Liz, might be hard for others to see."

"Maybe so, but in the end, I love my dad just as I love Liz. Shunning never made sense to me, and while I know there's a biblical warrant for excommunication, Dad excommunicated himself. I'm going to my brother to help him see his sin, but he isn't willing to stop any more than I was. In a sense, it's akin to my gay and lesbian friends who come to church from time to time. I need to act out of love, not sit in judgment. That said, I will talk with my dad about it when he's ready to hear me. That's not now."

"I wasn't saying it was, Mike; I was just saying appearances may cause some people to look askance. I think your approach is correct. When the time is right, encourage your dad to speak to Father Herman. I'll call Father Herman and let him know you're in touch with your dad but that your dad isn't ready to receive spiritual guidance. How did you leave things with your dad?"

"I asked him to have dinner with Elizaveta and me next week, either Thursday or Friday. He's supposed to call me early in the week to make arrangements. I'll keep you posted."

"Good. How are you doing otherwise?"

"OK, I think. There's a bit of stress, but between my morning runs with Elizaveta, the steam room at the medical school, and coming to church, it's reasonably under control."

"And your friends?"

"Are all handling it OK, though I'm a bit worried about Sandy. She's always been more susceptible to stress than most of my friends at Taft. I mentioned it to her boyfriend, and we're keeping an eye on her. I think the biggest problem all of us have is lack of sleep and lack of free time."

"If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

"Of course! I would like to do confession during the Great Canon tomorrow."

"We could do it now, if you want."

"Elizaveta is expecting me home; tomorrow would be better."

Father Nicholas nodded and smiled, "OK."

I received his blessing, then headed home.

"Did you drive fast, husband?" Elizaveta asked when I arrived home.

"I followed all applicable traffic laws!" I teased.

"You would!"

I laughed, took her into my arms, and kissed her. She squealed when I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the bedroom. Fast.

October 1, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

"Doctor Gibbs is in Exam 2," Nurse Ellie said when I came out of the locker room to begin my Tuesday afternoon ER observation.