Chapter Fifteen #4
“Oh, I couldn’t agree more.” Imogene nodded vehemently.
“Jeffrey was decent enough looking, to be sure. But it’s that other stuff that was the aphrodisiac to young women.
We muddled through, however. Age has a marvelous way of mellowing one, doesn’t it?
In the end, we found great comfort in each other’s company.
The reward of perseverance.” Imogene picked lint from the towel.
“I admired him. Jeffrey was a brilliant man.” She stilled her hand and looked vacantly at the pool.
“Then came the Alzheimer’s. It’s a dreadful disease.
I hate it. It stole Jeffrey from me. Not all at once.
Bit by bit. It’s terrible to watch a luminous mind implode like a black star and not be able to do a single thing to stop it.
” Her voice broke and she reached for her water bottle.
Marietta felt her own eyes moisten at Imogene’s unexpected display of emotion. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am, too.” Imogene sipped water, then licked her lips. As she screwed the top back on the bottle, her voice grew thin. “That wasn’t the worst of it, though.”
Marietta leaned forward to hear her voice, which had grown as soft as a breeze.
“I did my best to care for him at Greenfields Park. I hired a full-time nurse. A nutritionist. Therapists. No expense was spared. I thought if I couldn’t cure the disease, I might be able to slow it down a little.
At the very least make Jeffrey comfortable and feel safe.
They get quite frightened at times, you know.
When they don’t remember things or get lost. These things I was prepared for.
There are loads of books published on the subject. I must have read them all.
“What I wasn’t prepared for were the small daily hurts.
” Imogene paused in recollection. “Jeffrey was a publisher, you know. Years back. He was a very fast reader. Had an extensive library. Reading was his world. I’d watch him as he sat and read.
He’d set the book down, then pick it up again a bit later and begin reading from the beginning.
Over and over. He didn’t remember what he’d just read.
It was painful to watch. Eventually he stopped reading altogether.
He couldn’t make sense of the words. A part of him died that day.
” Her lips trembled. “And a part of me died the day he didn’t know who I was. ”
“Oh, Imogene,” Marietta said with feeling.
She waved away the sympathy. “In the last two years, he deteriorated rapidly. You recall I couldn’t bring him here last summer.
Nor the Hamptons before that. He loved going there.
Loved the sea.” She smiled wistfully. “He would have liked it here, too. He’d have called the scenery primitive.
” She laughed at Marietta’s expression. “Jeffrey was a terrible snob, you know. If it wasn’t British, it wasn’t up to snuff.
” There was a small pause. “He was also fastidious about his personal habits. A spot on his cuff would drive him to distraction. So imagine the horror I felt for him when he dropped his pants in the middle of the front hall and relieved himself. He proceeded to remove the rest of his clothing and refused to put them on again. There was quite a struggle. He’d decided he liked being stark naked.
” Imogene laughed, but there was sorrow in it.
“I knew then that I’d reached the end of what I was able to provide.
He needed more. He had to go to a Memory Center. ”
Imogene adjusted her position in the chair, trying to find a comfortable spot.
When settled, she folded her hands on the table and looked at them.
“That place is his home now. The people who care for him are the ones who matter. They’re his family now.
There’s no place for me there. I’m no longer important to him.
He doesn’t even know me.” She brought her fingers to her cheek as though seeing the scene again.
“Driving away that morning, leaving him there . . . it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
” She looked up and her eyes were watery.
“I’ve lost my purpose. My rudder. I feel adrift. ”
Marietta rose to come to her side. She lay her hand on Imogene’s shoulder, felt the sharp bone beneath the towel.
“Of course you were right to come here. To Sea Breeze. Not only to Harper. But to Taylor. And to me. In time, you will find your strength again, but until then you need the comfort of family and friends. We’re here for you, my dear friend.
You belong here. With us. At Sea Breeze. ”
Imogene was listening, her eyes wide and vulnerable.
Marietta smiled with encouragement. “After all, isn’t that what a wedding is all about? The gathering of family. The sharing of stories. The linking of arms. For better or for worse.”
Imogene choked back a teary laugh. “Till death do us part.”
“Let’s not go that far! It’s a bit too close to home. Come dear, let’s get dressed. The girls are expecting us to be at our best. We mustn’t disappoint. The wedding must go on!”