Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Maria
I woke up the next morning feeling groggy, hungry, and irrationally pissed off.
Mario and Juliet were asleep on chairs next to my bed, but Adam was nowhere to be found.
I stretched, trying to get my bearings.
I’d been up on and off most of the night because nurses and doctors kept checking on me, taking blood and other nonsense, but even though I’d been drugged, I was lucid enough to remember I hadn’t seen Adam. And he wouldn’t have left my side unless something had happened.
“Jules.” I whispered her name, reaching over to nudge her with my hand.
“Mom!” Her eyes popped open.
“Shh.” I motioned to Mario, who had his head back, snoring.
“How are you?” she whispered.
“Fine. Where’s Adam?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. He left late yesterday, saying he needed to clear his head, but never came back. And he’s not answering his phone.”
“What did he do?” I asked, glancing at Mario.
She made a helpless little gesture. “I’m not sure. Vaughn gave me Cliff’s Notes.”
“I swear, I’m going to kill him.” I closed my eyes and counted to ten.
“Mom, you’re not supposed to stress?—”
“You think I can ignore the fact that one of you said or did something to hurt my husband just because the doctor said so?”
“You just had a stroke…”
“And I’m going to have another one if I don’t get some answers. Mario!”
He jumped, startled awake.
“Where’s Adam?” I asked him.
“How would I know?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Why?—”
“Knock it off.” I glared at him. “Tell me exactly what was said.”
“I simply pointed out your differences. And how it would impact you going forward. Frankly, Ma, I think?—”
“I don’t give a shit what you think. Find my phone, Jules.”
“Mom, you’re?—”
“Either be helpful or leave.” I gave her the same look I’d been giving her since she was a child. It didn’t work quite as well these days, but she got the point.
“Just call him,” she responded, digging around in my purse until she produced my phone.
“It’s dead,” I said, tossing it on the nearest surface. “Give me yours.”
She obediently handed it over.
I knew her lock code and opened her contacts. I found Adam’s name and quickly hit the button to call him. As I’d anticipated, it went to voicemail, but I wasn’t messing around.
“It’s me,” I said when it beeped. “Using Juliet’s phone because mine died. I don’t know where you are or what you’re thinking, but we’re married now. We may not have done it in a church, but I’m positive our vows mentioned in sickness and in health. I’d like to think one mini-stroke didn’t send you packing. Where are you, Adam?” I softened my tone. “I love you. You know that, right? Anyway, get your butt back here.”
I disconnected and looked at Mario. “You and me, we’re going to talk. But first I have to pee. Can you help me, Jules?”
“Should I call a nurse?”
“No. I want you to help me and then call your husband to ask him if he knows where his father is.”
“Mom, this is for the best,” Mario said. “Seriously, how can you not suspect he’s after your money?”
“Because he signed a fucking prenup!” I snapped before closing the bathroom door behind me.
I took a moment to breathe, knowing I was stressed and angry and all the things I wasn’t supposed to be right now.
But this was my life .
My future.
And as much as I’d suffered when I’d lost my husband, Adam had suffered more. He’d lost his wife and son once, and then again when she’d died and Vaughn refused to talk to him. Adam had spent decades alone, and even though I wouldn’t have necessarily made the same choices he’d made, hindsight tended to be twenty-twenty.
So I planned to be cognizant of choices I made going forward.
Despite what my children might think, I hadn’t made the decision to marry him lightly. I knew what I wanted, so they were going to have to get with the program.
I did my business and washed up, running my fingers through my hair and using some toiletries I found to feel human again. I was still a little groggy from the meds, but I didn’t have time for that.
“Vaughn hasn’t been able to reach him,” Juliet said as I came out of the bathroom.
“Maria.” Dr. Schoen came in and I nearly groaned with frustration. My health had waited fifty-six years; it could wait a few more hours.
“Good morning.” I managed a smile as Juliet helped me back into bed.
“You’ll be happy to know all the tests came back negative, so I think you’re on the mend, beyond the things we discussed yesterday.”
“Can I go home?”
“You can leave the hospital, but I’d like you to wait one more day before getting on a plane. Just to be safe.”
I nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done.”
He went on for a few minutes about diet, exercise, and following up with my doctor in Florida, agreed to let me have breakfast, and finally he was gone.
“Sit,” I told Mario.
“Ma, you should be resting.”
“I am resting.” I pulled up the covers and leaned back. “Now, let’s have a discussion about money. Do you know how much you’ve cost me and your father?”
He didn’t reply, probably because he did.
“My first divorce was… messy.”
“Oh, yes. And your second marriage was expensive. As was the Porsche you desperately wanted to recover from your third disaster.” We’d started calling his marriages disasters.
“I know.”
“Listen to me, son.” I sat up and waited for him to look at me. “I know about your argument with Dad.”
“What?” His face paled. “How…”
“Your father told me,” I said softly. “Right after it happened. He called me to talk about what was going on with the two of you because he didn’t understand. And because we talked about everything. That’s how marriage, a true partnership, works. You think I didn’t put two and two together? You and your father fought, and a few hours later he had a heart attack and died. It’s not hard to surmise that it’s been eating at you.”
He looked away, his shoulders drooping.
“Mario, your father loved you. He wasn’t mad, he was worried. He didn’t die because you argued.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know. He died because he smoked from the time he was sixteen, ate too much, didn’t exercise, and basically never took care of himself. If it wasn’t the fight with you, it was going to be an argument with a customer or after we had sex or some other time that mildly taxed his very weak heart. Period. It was not your fault.”
Mario didn’t respond, merely continued staring off at nothing.
“This sudden overprotectiveness you have with me, it’s not necessary. Yes, I need to take better care of myself, but we all do. You could lose thirty or forty pounds, and Tony’s right behind you. We’re Italian. We cook and eat and fight and talk with our hands.” I waved mine around to emphasize my point. “We’re also stubborn, but that ends now. We’re all going to start paying attention to our health, working fewer hours, and enjoying life more. Especially me, since I’m getting older. And whether you like it or not, Adam and I are married.”
“But…he’s not like Dad,” he whispered.
“Of course not. I’m not replacing your father. That would be weird.” I paused. “I never would have looked at another man if your father was still alive. You know that, don’t you?”
Thankfully, he nodded, or I probably would have jumped off the bed and strangled him.
“But he died. And I’m only fifty-six. I don’t want to be alone for the next twenty or thirty years. I like having a companion. A friend. Someone to talk to late at night. To travel with, wake up with in the morning... it’s lonely being alone.”
“He served prison time.” He wasn’t going down easy, but his voice and body language had changed, so I knew he was at least listening.
“He did. For something he didn’t do. He took the fall for someone else. But it doesn’t matter. He signed a prenup and it was his idea. He’s not after our money. He’s a good man, Mario. A man your father would have liked. And I’d like it very much if you’d give him a chance.”
“I don’t need a father.”
“He doesn’t need a son.”
The room was almost eerily quiet as he ruminated on everything I’d said. I could see the moment he began to let go of the guilt and bitterness because his body seemed to relax and he dropped his head. “I’m sorry, Ma.”
“I know.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Find out where my husband is.”