Ninety Days
Chapter 08 - Ninety Days
Arthur had severe congestive heart failure.
Medication might slow it, but his cardiologist estimated he had months, not years.
Eleanor sat beside him in the clinic, holding the same hand she had held beneath the orchard bridge.
Arthur tried to make a joke about finally having an excuse to avoid exercise.
Eleanor did not laugh.
They had already lost fifty-three years.
Now time was asking for more.
Arthur wanted to withdraw from the legal conflict.
“If I disappear again, your children may stop fighting you.”
Eleanor turned on him.
“You do not get to decide that leaving is love.”
Arthur nodded slowly.
She was right.
For the first time in their lives, they chose the same direction.
They planned to marry.
Not because death was near, but because fear had stolen the first wedding and they refused to let it steal the second.
Claire and Lily supported them.
Michael agreed to prepare a prenuptial agreement proving Arthur would receive no claim to Eleanor’s assets.
Eleanor also revised her will.
Richard and Susan would still inherit, but not the way they expected.
A third of the estate would fund a foundation for women separated from children through coercive adoptions.
A third would go to Richard and Susan equally.
The final third would pass to Claire and Lily as Grace’s share.
Eleanor believed this was fair.
Richard called it punishment.
Susan called it proof of incapacity.
Their attorney requested an emergency hearing to stop the marriage.
The judge ordered a medical evaluation.
Eleanor passed every test.
Still, the court delayed its decision for thirty days.
Arthur’s condition worsened during the second week.
He was admitted to Millbrook Memorial with fluid around his lungs.
Eleanor spent each night beside him.
Then she collapsed in the hallway.
Doctors diagnosed pneumonia and dangerously low oxygen.
The couple ended up in adjoining hospital rooms.
May you like
When Arthur learned Eleanor had been admitted, he asked Michael one question.
“Can a hospital bed be moved?”
