We All Fall Down

Chapter 43

Rick

It was me who called her.

Technically, it was she who called me when she returned home after running out of money. Once she realized we were gone, she marched over to the Leonard's house to find out where we were. In an attempt to avoid a meltdown, Ted told her what happened, and she called the hospital. I told her not to come, that we were going to be fine and back home in no time, but she insisted. That was her way.

As much as I wanted to be angry that she showed up, there was a comfort to the cadence of her voice, the smell of her shampoo mixed with the outdoors. Ben tensed from his corner of my room, wholly overwhelmed by the events over the last couple of days. I watched his skin pale and his lip tremor and wondered if he had felt the relief as well when she left.

She'd burst into my room first...

"Riiiiick!" she sang, whirling in as though she'd never abandoned us. She flinched at the sight of me, then quickly recovered, "Oh, Rick what mess have you gotten yourself into now?"

"I told you, I'm fine. You shouldn't have c—"

"I'm sorry to intrude," a soft voice echoes from behind Patrice. I watch as she freezes and turns on her heels as if on a lazy susan.

"Well, you have, so now what?" Patrice retorts.

The woman tilts her head and twists her face, "Well, my daughter is down the hall in surgery. Your son just saved her life." The room became very quiet as an elderly man shuffled in behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

Patrice sucked in a breath, beaming with pride as she shimmied and replied, "Of course he did, my son is a wonderful person."

"He's also related to my daughter," the woman became stone, eyeing Patrice like a lioness on the prowl.

"Th-that's not possible," I choked from my bed, my tongue like a dried slug in my mouth. I thought I would have more time to work out how to handle this.

"It most certainly is," the woman countered. "and you are our daughter's biological parents." As she made that declaration, it was clear she'd only pieced together the puzzle moments ago.

Patrice, for the first time in all the years that I'd known her, was speechless. However, she swiveled back to face me in the most eerily calm way that I felt my skin heat with her piercing gaze. "What is she talking about, Rick?"

I knew she would never forgive me, but I accepted the loss of her so long ago that it hardly stung when she stormed out. Becky's anger at me had hurt more. Two wounded spouses longing for years to have someone love them as deeply as they loved in return. But in keeping my secret, I'd betrayed Becky, and it's another sacrifice I had to make to set things right. That secret had festered and created this cancer that's killing me.

I look up at Ben who straightens in his seat, his eyes fixed on me. "John is not to know about this."