An Unforeseen Turn of Events

Chapter Thirty-Three

At 7 PM, work was finished and she could go home, but Christine still lingered around the office, making sure her files, pens, and notebooks were all in place. She would have vacuumed the carpets if she could have, but the maintenance man does that in the morning and the vacuum was locked in the utility room.

Tonight was THE VISIT. She and Daniel were going to tell his parents about his illness after dinner. Christine was sure his parents were already anxious ever since Daniel called them and said they were going to pop up at their house tonight.

He had already called his brother Seth. His brother was extremely distraught but swore he would let Daniel break it to their parents himself. Daniel offered to go over his parent's house alone but she insisted on accompanying him for support.

As she straightened the chairs in her office for the tenth time, Christine wished she would have let him go alone.

What the hell was I thinking? she thought. Being with her in-laws in normal times was stressful enough, but seeing them upset would positively cringe-worthy.

She remembered her mother Fran reprimanding her about being selfish when her parents found out she was pregnant all those years ago. They were never the same since and have kept a cool distance from her. She sat down and put her hands over her face, her elbows on her desk, as she remembered all that went down eighteen years ago. Years afterward both her parents suffered health ailments. Five years ago they retired to Florida. When the twins were younger, they used to stay with her parents for one week every winter. Christine would visit once a year. Upon seeing how well she had brought up her twins, her parents had become somewhat more relaxed and healthier, yet she detected long-simmering resentment toward her. Yet her relationship with them continued to be frosty; it lacked the close bond she had with them when she was growing up.

Now they've got to hear about this. Christine shrank deeper in her office chair just thinking about it.

But she was not to remain in her private agony for long. Her desk phone rang.

"Do you have to work late?" Daniel asked in a timid voice.

"Daniel, I told you I had to today, don't you remember?" she said, biting her lip as soon as the words came out. Daniel had more than enough on his mind now.

"Christine, I'm going to my parents by myself."

Christine sat up, trying to object but she couldn't find the words.

"You don't have to go," he continued. "It's all right. In fact, I think it would be better if I went alone."

"But, but...," she began.

"You've been wonderful, but I think this is above and beyond the call to duty. You go out and have a relaxing meal. I ordered a pizza for me and the kids. This is something I'd rather do alone and I don't think it's fair to put you through it—especially after a long workday. I rested all day. I'm prepared."

She felt bad, but the relief inside her was palpable.

"Are you sure?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

"Definitely. I love you."

"I love you too."

Hanging up the phone, Christine let out a heavy breath, as if she had just run a marathon.

Christine didn't mind eating by herself once in a while. The dinner specials at Legal Seafood in Chestnut Hill came to mind. Why not indulge in a healthy gourmet fish meal tonight?

"What do you think's going on?" Judy asked her husband. "Daniel sounded so serious on the phone."

Harry couldn't keep his hands or feet still. "I don't know. One of the kids? His marriage?"

"Oh, God forbid something like that, Harry!" Judy snapped.

"What? Don't tell me the shiksa's grown on you, eh?"

"I just don't want there to be any major disruptions in their lives. They do make a darling family, I must admit," Judy placed her palm to her cheek. "If they did get divorced, we wouldn't get to see the twins much." She shook her head and turned away. "That would be too much for me to bear."

Harry was silent.

"After all, I consider them my grandchildren and they think of us as their grandparents."

Harry nodded grimly.

"Oh my God, Harry!" Judy's voice raised an octave as she clutched her hand to her stomach. "Daniel has lost some weight lately and he isn't heavy to begin with! Do you think it has something to do with his health?"

Harry did not want to admit it, but he had noticed his son's weight loss with consternation. When he asked, Daniel denied that he was dieting. Not that he had any need to; Christine was a big advocate of exercise and would sometimes manage to drag him to jog with her. His new job at the marketing start-up seemed to be going well. Then again, he knew his son got agitated if he wasn't earning a steady income.

Life is strange, Harry mused to himself as he sat down in his recliner. Daniel had always been the superior student, yet his younger son Seth, who struggled to get B's, had an easier time in the job world. Being a successful sales representative for a computer tech company, Seth earned the Salesman of the Year award quite a few times. He knew it surprised all of them that Seth earned more money. But then Harry remembered what had happened to Daniel in his senior year of college. That threw all of them and it wasn't even Daniel's fault.

Why do these unexpected catastrophes happen in life? Harry couldn't help wondering. Especially on such a straight arrow like Daniel?

Harry then thought of his best friend who had a son with autism. He remembered his friend crying to him that the son had to go into a home: he would get violent and he and his wife could no longer care for him. As Harry tried to comfort him, he thanked his lucky stars he never had to deal with something like that.

Thank God both my sons and grandchildren never had those problems. He glanced at Judy sitting in her chair and wringing her hands. I don't think we could've dealt with that.

But Harry knew they hadn't gone through life unscathed: memories of Daniel being accused of raping that college girl sent chills up his spine. They managed to get through that by a hairbreadth. He reflected that their lives were never the same after that.

Anything could go wrong.

Harry shook his head in an effort to dispel his mind of these horrifying thoughts. He turned to Judy and was about to try to calm her when the doorbell rang.

"Hi, Daniel! Come in! Come in!" Judy rushed to the door, opened it, and gave him a hug and kiss.

After kissing her, Daniel stood wooden in the hallway.

"Come on in, son. You know your way around here. How are you and the family?"

Harry and Judy waited expectantly, holding their breaths. Daniel struggled to get his words out.

"The family's fine," he said slowly in a soft voice. "How are the two of you?"

"We're fine, no complaints," Judy said while reaching to take Daniel's coat.

"No one wants to hear 'em anyway," Harry quipped.

No one laughed at his joke. An eerie silence filled the room.

'What about you, Daniel? Is there something wrong?" Judy asked faintly, staring intently at her son and massaging her arm.

"Maybe we ought to sit down," Daniel suggested, looking down.

"No, I want to hear it right now. What's wrong, Daniel? You're keeping us in too much suspense!" Judy spoke in a shrill voice.

"I've been seeing Dr. Sherman. I've got an illness." Daniel said in a low voice, looking down at the floor.

Judy staggered and Harry reached her before she fell. Harry felt his stomach drop and fought feelings of his world crashing down; he had to tend to Judy first.