Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Andi was reviewing final plans for an upcoming wedding at the hotel when the phone rang. “Andrea Walsh,” she answered as she looked over the menu the bride had chosen.
“Yes, hello, this is Clare Harrington.”
The contract fluttered from Andi’s fingers and landed on the desktop. “Hello,” she said when she’d recovered her senses.
“I’m sorry to call you out of the blue this way, but I was wondering, could you maybe come by here to see me? I’d come there, but they’re not letting me venture out on my own yet.”
As her heart raced, Andi hesitated. “Of course. When would you like me to come?”
“The sadists they call therapists are done with me by three. Would four work?”
“Sure, that’s fine. I’ll be there.”
“Thank you,” Clare said and ended the call.
Andi sat back in her chair and wondered why Jack’s wife would want to see her, of all people.
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” she said and went back to the contract but gave up a few minutes later when she’d read the same sentence for the fourth time.
Andi enlisted one of the hotel’s drivers to take her into town. She’d given up driving when she couldn’t push the seat back any farther and still reach the pedals.
The driver pulled up to the front door of the rehabilitation center and promised to wait for her in the parking lot.
“Thank you, Tom.”
He held the door and gave her a hand out of the car. “My pleasure, Ms. Walsh. You take your time now.”
“Don’t have much choice there.”
Inside she asked for Clare at the reception desk.
The nurse pointed the way down a long hallway. “Last room on the right.”
“Figures,” Andi muttered as she waddled to the room and knocked on the door.
Clare called for her to come in.
On first glance, Andi decided Clare looked just as she had in the pictures around the house but seemed more fragile after everything she’d been through.
Her hair was longer than in the photographs and was still a rich blonde.
But it was her eyes that caught Andi’s attention.
They were the same dazzling blue as Maggie’s and Kate’s.
And just as Andi had been taken aback by Jill’s striking resemblance to Jack, she could see Kate just as plainly in her mother.
“Thank you for coming,” Clare said.
As Andi sat across from Clare, she hoped she’d be able to get herself out of the low chair. “It was no trouble.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
Andi laughed in spite of the tension in the room. “I’m like a hot-air balloon these days.”
“When are you due?”
“September twentieth. Two months to go.”
“I’m sorry to drag you away from your work, but I wanted to meet you. I needed to meet you.” Clare looked down at her hands as if she were nervous after summoning the other woman in her husband’s life.
“I understand.”
“My daughters speak highly of you.”
“They’re wonderful girls. You should be very proud of them.”
“Maggie showed me some of her sign language. It’s impressive.”
Andi nodded in agreement. “She’s as good at it as I am. She’s been so great with my son, Eric. They all have.”
“My recovery has left you in a terrible spot, and for that I’m sorry.”
Astounded by Clare’s generosity, Andi said, “You have nothing to apologize for, Clare. I heard about what happened to you. I can’t imagine someone threatening my son like that. I’m glad to see you’re doing so well now.”
“I was up on crutches earlier today and even took a few steps.”
“That’s wonderful.” Andi paused, choosing her words carefully. “I know it must’ve been awfully difficult for you to hear about me and the babies. I want you to know you don’t need to worry about me. I won’t interfere with your family.”
“Jack will want to see the babies and your son.”
“I’d never stand in the way of that, but I won’t be lurking on the sidelines.”
Clare crooked an eyebrow. “Won’t you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“You’re in his heart, Andi. I can see that in his stricken expression whenever your name is mentioned. You won’t be on the sidelines. You’ll be right in the middle of our lives.” Clare spoke frankly and apparently without malice.
“I’ve seen him once in three months, and it was for ten minutes. He wanted to know how I was feeling. I haven’t spoken to him other than to coordinate his visits with Eric. I’m hardly in the middle of his life.”
“You underestimate him if you think he can walk away from you and your children and go back to the life we had together like you never happened. That’s not who he is, but I probably don’t have to tell you that. Besides, the life we had is gone now anyway.”
“You don’t know that yet. You have to give it some time. Your family’s been through so much.” Andi didn’t know why she was trying to convince Clare to give her marriage a chance. It seemed like the right thing to do.
“I could give it from now until the end of time, but he won’t stop loving you, and every time he leaves my house to see your children, I’ll have to wonder if he’s coming home to me because he wants to or because he has to.
I don’t want a husband who’s so loyal he’ll spend the rest of his life living with me because he promised he would when he’s in love with someone else.
After all that’s happened to me, I want more out of the rest of my life than that. ”
Andi’s racing heart slowed to a crawl. “What’re you saying, Clare?”
“I want what I had. But since I can’t have that now, I’m letting him go.
Maybe you two will work things out. Maybe you won’t.
” Clare shrugged. “I’m getting out of here in another month or two and going home.
I have my girls, and someday maybe I’ll go back to work.
I don’t know. I’ll be all right, though. ”
“I don’t know what to say,” Andi said, flabbergasted.
“I’m glad you came and we had the chance to meet.”
“I am, too.” Andi struggled to her feet, overwhelmed by their conversation and Clare’s strength. “I wish we’d met under different circumstances. We might’ve been friends.” She extended a hand to Clare.
Clare took her hand and squeezed it before letting go. “Maybe someday we will be.”
“Take care of yourself, Clare.”
“You, too. Good luck with the delivery. I hope it goes smoothly for you.”
“Thank you.” Andi waved good-bye from the door and replayed their conversation on the long walk back to the car.
Clare’s generosity had been astounding. Andi had expected Clare to insist she never see Jack again, and she would’ve understood that.
The one thing she never could’ve imagined was Jack’s wife stepping aside.
Andi’s heart gave a happy flutter at the thought that maybe, just maybe, there might still be a chance for her and Jack after all.
Clare was working on a simple needlepoint sampler the occupational therapist had given her when Jack arrived at her room. He stood in the doorway for a minute and watched her. “Look at you go,” he finally said.
“Oh, hi. Come in. I’m making a mess out of this.” Seeming frustrated, Clare pushed the needlepoint aside.
“You’ll get the hang of it again.”
“I was standing up on crutches today.”
“That’s so great. I can’t believe how far you’ve come in such a short time.”
“I’m feeling every muscle, believe me.”
“I’m sure you are. I got your message. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. I was working in Boston today and then got stuck in traffic on the way home. You said you wanted to see me?” He came to see her just about every evening lately, but she’d called to make sure he came that night.
“Have a seat.” She invited him to sit next to her on the small sofa and reached for his hand. “I have a theory,” she said with a smile.
“And what’s that?” He was relieved to see the Clare he’d once known reemerging little by little.
“Do you know why we stayed together all those years when it seemed like everyone we knew was splitting up?”
“I always thought it was because we loved each other,” he said, not sure what she was getting at.
“Yes, but it was also because neither of us ever wanted anyone or anything else. We were completely content with each other. That’s not the case anymore, is it?”
As her words sank in, he looked down at the floor. He couldn’t deny that when he lay awake, night after night, it wasn’t his wife he longed for but the dark-haired beauty who’d stolen his heart the first time he ever saw her.
“I met her today.”
His gaze whipped up to meet Clare’s. “You did? How?”
“I called her and asked her to come see me. I like her. I didn’t want to, but I do.”
As he tried to imagine Andi and Clare engaged in a civilized conversation, he remembered Jill once saying almost the same thing about Andi.
Clare took a deep breath. “It’s over for us, Jack.”
“But—”
She held up a hand to quiet him. “You aren’t to blame, and neither is she.
The man who attacked me is the one to blame.
I see that now. But we can’t change the simple truth that you love someone else, and since I won’t ask you to choose, I’m deciding for both of us.
I’ve already contacted Coop and asked him to start the process,” she said, referring to their friend and attorney.
“I’ll file, so no one can ever accuse you of leaving me for her.
I won’t have anyone belittling what we had together by dragging you through the mud. ”
“You had a busy day while I was in Boston,” he said, astounded. “So that’s it? That simple?”
“Not simple at all. It hurts like hell, but it’s the only thing I can do. I can’t spend the rest of my life with someone who wants to be somewhere else, even if you’d spend every day pretending otherwise if that’s what it took to do the right thing. I know you’d never leave me, so I’m leaving you.”
“Without even giving me a chance?”
“Would it matter? A year from now, will you feel differently about her?”
He shook his head as he realized she’d made up her mind. “What’ll we tell the girls?”
“The truth—that too much time has gone by, too much has happened, and we couldn’t go back. They’ll understand. They lived it.”