The Family That Arrived Too Late
Chapter 02 - The Family That Arrived Too Late
Richard entered first.
He was fifty-two, successful, perfectly dressed, and furious.
Diane followed.
“Tell me this isn't what it looks like,” she said.
Thomas leaned back against his pillow.
“It looks like I married Eleanor.”
Richard laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You can't be serious.”
Eleanor quietly removed her hand from Thomas's.
She suddenly felt like an intruder.
Thomas noticed.
He reached for her again.
“Don't.”
The word was directed at his children.
Richard pointed toward the envelope.
“What is that?”
Thomas looked at Eleanor.
“Keep it.”
Richard stepped closer.
“Dad.”
“Keep it,” Thomas repeated.
The nurse moved toward the bed.
Thomas's breathing had become faster.
Eleanor immediately forgot the argument.
“Thomas, slow down.”
Richard tried again.
“You're sick. You're on medication. You don't know what you're doing.”
Thomas turned his head.
His eyes were tired.
But clear.
“I know exactly what I'm doing.”
Diane began crying.
“Mom has only been gone four years.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I loved your mother for forty-six years.”
“Then why her?”
The question wounded Eleanor more than she wanted to admit.
Thomas answered.
“Because loving your mother doesn't mean I stopped having a life when she died.”
Silence filled the room.
The chaplain quietly excused himself.
Richard looked at Eleanor.
“You should leave.”
Thomas opened his eyes.
“No.”
“Dad—”
“My wife stays.”
It was the first time Eleanor heard him call her that.
My wife.
Richard stared at his father.
Then he looked at the envelope again.
“You have no idea what you've done.”
Thomas gave a faint smile.
“No, Richard.”
“I finally do.”
That evening, after everyone left, Eleanor opened her purse.
The sealed envelope was still inside.
Across the front, Thomas had written four words.
FOR ELEANOR. OPEN ALONE.
She did not open it.
May you like
Not yet.
But someone else was already looking for it.
