Chapter 16 #2
It was the reason for the behavior that’d ruined his marriage and cost him his job and his relationship with his parents.
What the hell kind of tumor caused all that chaos?
A few minutes on Google taught him about benign meningiomas that often formed on the frontal lobes, causing changes in personality, irregular social behavior and loss of inhibitions, among other things. If left untreated, they could become life-threatening.
He had no way to know if that’s what Gabriel had, but it must be something like that if he’d had it so long and was now going to die from it.
He felt sick for Isla and her poor kids. What a heartbreaking situation for them.
Julian realized he was rubbing the area over his heart, which ached for her. While she finally had an explanation, it had come with a terminal diagnosis.
Mattie buzzed his desk phone to tell him his client had arrived for their nine o’clock meeting in conference room four.
“I’ll be right there.” He tried to shake off the emotional turmoil, reminding himself that Isla’s tragedy had nothing to do with him. They barely knew each other.
Perhaps this was the sign he’d needed to rein this thing in before it got further out of control.
He was a big believer in signs from the universe and had rarely ignored one as blatant as this one.
There was a reason he’d steered clear of romantic complications his whole life, and this situation had become as complicated as it could get.
He stood, stretched, grabbed his notes for the client meeting and took his coffee with him when he left the office, nodding to Mattie as he made his way to the conference room to get on with his day.
Isla had been awake all night, reliving every minute with Gabriel from the day they met to the devastating hospital visit.
Even though everything made sense now, it didn’t change anything for her or the kids.
Their lives had been nearly destroyed by a battle they hadn’t even known they were fighting.
If only he’d listened to her years ago and sought medical attention for the wild personality swings, everything could’ve been different for them.
Maybe he’d known it was something awful, and that’s why he’d ignored the troubling symptoms.
The last few years ran through her mind like a horror movie with occasional glimpses of the true love that’d once made him essential to her.
His disappearances, the unpredictable moods, the violent outbursts, the cutting words…
Without the resources to change their circumstances, she’d been forced to adapt within the hellish bubble of their dysfunctional marriage.
In the days since she’d left the home they’d shared, she’d felt like she was coming off a years-long bender, sobering up for the first time to meet her new reality as a single mother of two young children who’d be looking to her to figure out a way forward for all of them.
Coming down from the endless heightened state of alert, always gearing up for trouble she couldn’t see coming until he was right in front of her, would take time and patience.
It would also take time to stop blaming herself for things that’d been so far outside her control.
No, she couldn’t have left sooner, because she hadn’t had thousands of dollars sitting around to make it possible to leave—and she’d refused to let her brother bail her out of a situation he’d told her not to get into in the first place.
No, she couldn’t have called the police, because then she’d have had to fear he’d be released and come right back home, looking for vengeance.
She’d been trapped in a nightmare, and no amount of Monday-morning quarterbacking or learning the true cause of his actions would change what’d been a terrifying reality for her.
She got up with the kids, went through the usual motions of snuggling and soothing and making breakfast for them when her heart had been shattered into a million pieces. As soon as she was sure Mrs. V would be awake, she called her.
“Oh, hi, honey. I was going to call you this morning to see how you’re doing. I miss having you right next door.”
“Something has happened.” She filled her friend in on what she’d learned at the hospital.
“Good Lord. All this time, and he had no idea?”
“No, because he refused to see a doctor. My theory is that he was afraid of what they might say. It had to be terrifying for him.”
“I never thought I’d feel sympathy for him after everything he’s done, but here we are.”
“I know. Same.” She tried to contain the sob that snuck out anyway. “It’s so terribly sad.”
“I’m coming over. I’ll stay with you and the kids for as long as you need me.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Let me help, Isla. You need some space to breathe, and you can’t do that with two little ones clinging to you. I want to help.”
“I’d love to have you here with us.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Thank you so much.”
“I love you all, and we’ll get through this together. I’ll see you soon.”
Isla was so thankful to her friend for realizing she was drowning.
At some point over the last few years, Mrs. V had become like a mother to her and a grandmother to the kids, and she needed someone to lean on right now.
Her parents had been gone so long, she barely remembered what it’d been like to have them around.
Thanks to Mrs. V, the aching loss was a little less painful than it’d been before she’d come into Isla’s life.
True to her word, Mrs. V arrived an hour and a half later, pulling a suitcase behind her and carrying grocery bags.
The kids shrieked with delight at seeing her and showered her with hugs and kisses that made the older woman laugh with delight. “Did you guys grow a foot since I last saw you?”
“We can’t grow that fast!” Theo said, laughing.
Isla was so relieved to see her friend and to hear her little boy laugh. She wiped away new tears that refused to quit, even as she tried to hide them from the kids.
“Mommy is sad,” Theo said.
“I know, sweetie,” Mrs. V said. “Sometimes even mommies get sad, but she’ll be okay because we love her so much, and we’ll take very good care of her, right?”
“Right!”
After Theo ran off to play with his toys, Isla sat with Mrs. V on the sofa, holding her hand and resting her head on the other woman’s shoulder.
“I still can’t believe this news,” Mrs. V said. “I’ve been reeling since you called.”
“I know. It’s hard to believe.”
“How do you feel about him calling his parents and going home with them?”
“I think it was the right thing. I’d rather not have the kids witness his decline, and after everything that’s happened, I’m not sure I’d have it in me to care for him like that.
I mean, I’d do it if he’d wanted me to, but he made it clear he didn’t.
I’m kind of glad I don’t have to. And just saying that out loud makes me feel horrible and guilty. ”
“Don’t feel guilty. Even though we know why now, that man still put you through a hellish ordeal, and knowing the reason doesn’t change the reality you endured. You owe him nothing.”
“I met his parents for the first time last night.”
“Doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know about how you were always fighting a force bigger than you?”
“I guess so, but it’s still so shocking and devastating that he’s going to die. Like he’s actually going to die.”
“I’m so sorry for all of you. It’s a terrible tragedy, but Isla, I want you to hear me on this. He let this happen to himself by ignoring everyone who pleaded with him to get help. Even I did once.”
“You did? You never told me.”
“Because it went in one ear and out the other, but I begged him to think of you and the kids and do whatever it took to get well for you guys.”
“What did he say?”
“That he was fine and didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said it would be best if I minded my own business.”
“Ugh,” Isla said with a grunt of dismay. “I’m sorry he spoke to you that way. He knew what you mean to me and the kids.”
“Did he, though? Who knows what he understood or didn’t understand?”
“That’s true.” She released a deep sigh. “Thank you so much for coming. I feel much better now that you’re here.”
“I’ll stay for as long as you need me.”
“That’s apt to be a minute.”
“Luckily, all my minutes are mine to do with as I please, and right now, I want to be right here with you and our babies.”
“Love you,” Isla whispered.
“Love you more.”