An Unforeseen Turn of Events

Chapter Ten

Christine was amazed she actually welcomed returning to work Monday morning.

That's what a dinner at the in-laws does to me, she mused. But I made it through. The shiksa made it through.

Daniel got a call from his doctor early in the morning and he swore up and down, backwards and forwards, that his tests were fine—she had nothing to worry about. Christine smiled to herself-- after work, she was going to stop at a Jewish bookstore in Brookline and buy a Bible—or a Torah, as they call it when she attended Saturday services at her in-law's temple. She will make him put his right hand on the Torah and swear that everything went well with his tests.

Having never been married before, Christine pondered if this was the usual behavior of husbands when they are undergoing crucial medical tests and don't want their wives to worry. Were they all pretty much like this, or was Daniel some kind of saint?

By the time she finished work and was driving home, Christine continued to feel exhilarated, as if she were floating in the clouds. She smiled as she drove through the harrowing Boston traffic: she could not believe she had gotten so lucky to find Daniel.

Upon reaching home, she waved to the gardener who was inspecting his flowers. He waved and smiled a large, toothless grin. Her neighborhood friends joked he had a crush on her and would observe her comings and goings whenever he was outside pruning his garden. Christine would only laugh but admitted to herself that it still felt good to be admired even though she was no longer twenty-five. She exercised and followed a strict diet regimen to maintain her svelte figure, determined to look her best.

Daniel's car was already parked in their driveway.

Christine walked through the door.

"Hi, honey. How was your day?" she rose her voice so he could hear her from the kitchen.

As usual, Daniel was getting all the ingredients ready to help prepare dinner. The twins had not arrived home yet. Tim was at basketball practice and Trudy was training with her cheerleading squad.

"I'm fine. How about yourself?" Daniel said as he tossed the salad.

Christine couldn't help noticing the worry lines on his forehead. The upbeat tone in his voice seemed forced.

"How have you been feeling? Are you still tired? Have you lost any more weight? "she asked as she kissed him.

"No, I'm feeling all right. My weight has stayed the same," he said as he took great care tossing the vegetables.

"Is everything OK on the job?"

"Oh, we're courting a fussy client. Making all kinds of demands. Nothing's quite right. I wish I could pay him to take his work elsewhere."

"Hmm, I know just what you mean. I've had my share of prima donnas at the modeling agency. And then there are the young women who plead with me to believe they're the next Heidi Klum."

Daniel nodded in acknowledgment and stopped tossing the salad. He sighed. "After dinner, I'll do some paperwork and then I could use a good movie. I'll have to find out what's on tonight."

Christine ruffled his thick dark-brown hair and leaned toward him. "At least your tests came out fine. It's great to have something less to worry about."

With that comment, Daniel turned and stared at her blue-green eyes.

"What?" she asked, shaking her head. "You swore to me everything was fine. She giggled nervously. "I've even thought about buying a Torah so you'd swear on it these tests were over."

"Only one more test and that's to check that I have the proper white cell blood count," Daniel said, "Then I should get the clean bill of health."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Christine couldn't help noticing he looked thinner and he struggled to keep his eyes open. She took her husband's arms to stop him from tossing the salad and said in a whisper, "Daniel, what aren't you telling me?"

Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head. "I just want to be sure there's something to tell you. I don't want to scare you unless there's really something to worry about. Lately I've been feeling fine, so there's no reason to think otherwise."

Christine felt so pained and depleted that she had to plop down on a kitchen chair. She sincerely believed they had turned a corner. The erasure of the mysterious illness that had planted seeds of joy to her existence vanished and the specter of dark clouds hovering over them returned like a sunny day turning to rain and gloom.

They said nothing for a while. His head drooped down and she covered her face with her hand. Finally, she faced him and said, "When are you going to tell me exactly what's going on? When are you going to tell your family?"

"Listen, I feel better and I remain optimistic that everything's fine, he replied. "I'm not worried and you shouldn't be either."

"Daniel, I'm certainly not a child. Husbands and wives are supposed to confide in each other," she pleaded with him.

When he made no reply, she lowered her head and said, "Let's order a pizza. I don't feel like cooking tonight."