Broken Wings

by Weis, Alexandrea

  Chapter 14

  It was a few days after the last of the workmen had finally left when Bob arrived. His silver Mercedes-Benz 550CL coupe pulled up in front of the house as Pamela watched from outside of the newly renovated barn. She opened the barn door and called to her new volunteer.

  “Mattie, why don’t you finish up with feeding all of the babies,” Pamela said as she observed the young blue-eyed girl clutching a baby squirrel lovingly to her chest.

  Mattie and three other volunteers had shown up with the rest of the workers. They had been sent by Delgado Veterinary Technician Program after Daniel Phillips had phoned the college looking for volunteers to come to the facility and lend a hand. The volunteers had arrived right in time for the brunt of the spring baby season. As the workers had been finishing up around the place, more and more calls began pouring in from people who had found baby animals and read about her facility in the Times-Picayune. She had learned from the journalist who had written the article that Daniel’s pictures, and the story about Pamela’s facility, had been published by the Times-Picayune at the behest of one Clarissa Patrick.

  As Pamela walked over to Bob’s car, she watched as Rodney scurried out from underneath the house and ran to her side. When she went up to greet Bob, Rodney decided to tag along.

  His venomous words from their previous encounter were still ringing in her head as she approached him. She nodded to him as she fought to keep her voice calm. “What are you doing here, Bob?” she asked.

  Bob removed his expensive sunglasses and inspected the facility. “You’ve been having a lot of work done around here. I can’t believe this is the same place,” he said, sounding surprised. “It really looks good, P.A.” He glanced over at her and frowned. “I guess this is because of all your new patrons, huh? I heard that Val Easterling and Lance Beauvoir have been singing your praises all over town. Must feel pretty good to have all those high-class connections.”

  “The renovations were made by one sponsor. Daniel hired all of the workers to come out and fix up the place. He even got me a few volunteers from the Delgado Vet Tech School in the city. Not something one would expect of a con man out to use me to swindle rich people, is it, Bob?”

  He shook his head and placed his hand on his hip. “I know you’re mad at me, and you were right, I did interfere in your affairs, but…I wanted to come out and tell you that I’m sorry. I was hoping you would let me explain about what happened with Daniel and me.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “All right, I’m listening.”

  He sighed and took a moment before he finally spoke. “I did have Daniel investigated and he does have a past, Pamela, there’s no denying that. But he has only had one previous arrest for assault and those charges were eventually dropped. Apparently, the man does have some issues.”

  “He’s not the only one,” she snarled. “So why lie to me? Why hurt me like that?”

  “I was jealous. Can you blame me? You know I have always cared about you and to see you with that guy holding hands and…well, I just couldn’t take it.”

  She rubbed her hand across her forehead as the disgust rose inside of her. “And the incident in the bar?”

  “A misunderstanding. He thought I was shoving Kay around but—”

  “Kay?” she interrupted.

  “My receptionist. You met her that day you came to the office.”

  Pamela snickered as she thought of the perky blond she had seen at his office. “She’s a little young for you, Bob.”

  Bob grinned and lowered his gaze to the ground. “We were having a drink after work. We got a little hammered and got into an argument. Daniel jumped in and then he hit me.”

  “What was the argument about?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”

  “But I can guess,” Pamela admitted as she stared at him. “She wants you to leave Clarissa, right?”

  Bob said nothing, but Pamela knew he didn’t have to. She had already figured it all out on her own.

  “What really happened the night you went to his place?” Pamela asked, still leery of her ex-husband’s intentions.

  “I got his address from the police report filed after I pressed assault charges against him. I went over to his place and told him to stay away from you. I threatened him and said I would take away your facility if he ever went back to you again. Said I would pull out on the mortgage and cause you to default on the loan. Then the bank would be forced to repossess the property. I told him if he cared about you, he wouldn’t want you to lose everything.” He gave her a weak smile. “I wanted to protect you. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  “So why are you telling me all of this now?” she asked, more than a little confused by his confessions.

  “Clarissa left me right after the party,” he mumbled as he turned away from her. “She wanted me to end my relationship with Kay, but I refused. It hadn’t been working out between me and Clarissa anyway.” He paused and turned back to Pamela. “She was always jealous of you, you know. Every time I would bring up your name she’d go ballistic, but after the party she changed. She told me when she was packing her bags that she thought you were a better person than me. She said she had been wrong about you.”

  “Is that why she had the article placed in the newspaper?”

  Bob nodded. “She wanted to make it up to you. She thought some press would help you.”

  Pamela put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I still don’t understand, Bob. Why are you here?”

  He let out a long breath as his eyes explored her face. “I want us to start over, Pamela,” he softly said. “When I saw you with that guy at the party, I knew I had lost you. I never really stopped loving you, I just got distracted.”

  “Distracted?” Pamela tried not to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me. All the years of crap you put me through when we were married, and now you stand there and say you want me back? Why? Because you saw me with another man, and finally realized I don’t need you anymore? Is that why you want me back Bob?”

  “Pamela, don’t do this,” his voice instantly filled with anger. “Don’t make me beg you to come back to me.”

  “You don’t need to beg, Bob. The answer is no. I don’t want you back now or ever. Do you think I could go back to a selfish bastard who ran around on me and then dumped me when I needed him most?”

  “You still need me, Pamela,” he said in a harsh tone. “My name is on the mortgage to this property and all it would take is one call to the bank to shut your facility down.”

  She took a step back from him. Her stomach recoiled at the sight of the man. “What are you saying, if I don’t go back to you, you’ll take away my facility?”

  He put his sunglasses back on and smiled at Pamela. “Think about it, P.A.,” he said, his voice suddenly cheerful. “I can give you what you want and you can give me what I want.”

  “I’m still sick, Bob. What do you want me around for? Sympathy?”

  “I need a wife who will look good and keep quiet. I don’t need another Clarissa in my life. I can’t take a chance on ending up with a woman who stands out in a crowd and embarrasses me with her stupidity and tantrums. I need people to see me with a refined and educated woman. You always made me look good, P.A.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to calm the flood of revulsion surging inside of her veins. “And if I don’t agree?”

  “I tell the bank to remove me from your loan, and all of this,” he waved his hand at her house, “will disappear.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  Pamela reflexively curled her hands into fists but did nothing.

  Bob turned back to his car. “Don’t take too long to think about it, Pamela. I’d like to put out the word that we’re getting back together before Clarissa files for divorce,” he added over his shoulder. “That will really give all of those society friends of hers something to talk about.”

  Pamela watched as Bob’s silver Mercedes headed down he
r gravel drive. All the joy she had been experiencing over the past few weeks with the re-birth of her facility instantly fizzled out of her. She felt sick to her stomach at the prospect of becoming Bob’s trophy wife. She would be the first wife coming back to him to hide the shame and gossip his divorce from Clarissa would inevitably bring. But who would blame him for a divorce when the object of his desire was really the only woman he had ever loved? Even the hard-hearted society set he ran with would melt when they heard his tale of reunited lovers.

  Her stomach lurched upward at the thought of being with Bob again. Suddenly, she had to run to the side of the house to vomit. Just as she was steadying herself against the house, Carol’s green Nissan Sentra made its way down the drive.

  When Carol saw Pamela leaning against the house, she ran from her car to her friend’s side.

  “Are you all right?” Carol asked, sounding slightly panicked.

  Pamela pushed herself away from the house and stood up straight. “I’m fine. I just felt sick all of a sudden.” She placed her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes.

  “You don’t look good. You’re awfully pale.” Carol placed her arm about her waist.

  “I think I must be coming down with something,” Pamela admitted as she let Carol help her to the front porch.

  “Would this spewing response be a result of Bob’s visit?” Carol asked as she eased Pamela down on the steps. “I saw his fancy car pulling onto the road when I turned into the drive.”

  Pamela placed her head between her knees and took a few deep breaths. When she looked up, Carol was still hovering over her.

  “Bob came over to tell me that he and Clarissa have split up. Clarissa found some kind of new respect for me after the party and that’s why she made sure the article about my facility appeared in the newspaper. She wanted to help me.”

  “And that made you sick?”

  “No.” She paused and shook her head. “Bob told me he wants me back.”

  Carol frowned. “Now that would make me sick.”

  “And he said if I didn’t come back he would call the bank and have his name removed from my mortgage.”

  “Jesus, then the bank would call the loan,” Carol hissed. “What a prick!” She paused and stared at Pamela. “So what did you say?”

  “No, of course!” she shouted. “What in the hell did you think I would say?”

  “I was just checking. That man has always had a strange hold on you.”

  “Well, not anymore!” Pamela hollered.

  Carol watched as some of the color returned to Pamela’s angry face. “We’re going to have to find some way to get Bob’s name off that mortgage.”

  “I could apply to refinance,” Pamela said, thinking out loud.

  Carol rolled her eyes. “You have no sustainable income. Annual donations are not income and you have no assets to speak of. With this economy, banks are making getting loans very tough. You wouldn’t stand a prayer.”

  Pamela placed her head in her hands. “I’ve got to find some way of making a lot of money quickly so I can rid myself of Bob permanently.”

  “What’s the rush?”

  Pamela looked up into Carol’s pale blue eyes. “Bob didn’t exactly take no for an answer. Either I agree to go back to him or he will shut Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Center down.” Pamela felt a wave of dizziness overtake her and grabbed at the porch railing.

  Carol became alarmed when she saw Pamela quickly turn a pale shade of gray. “All right, enough of this,” she ordered as she helped Pamela to her feet. “I’m putting you to bed,” she insisted as she pulled Pamela to a standing position and wrapped an arm about her waist. “And then I am calling Dr. Derbois,” she added with a scowl.

  “I’m not going to bother my rheumatologist with the flu,” Pamela protested as she let Carol help her up the porch steps.

  “You’ve been doing too much around here with all these renovations and taking in new animals. I know when you are getting run down, and trust me, you look run down,” Carol said, practically carrying Pamela in through the front door. “I can sleep in the guest room for a few nights, until you are better,” she asserted, placing Pamela on the couch.

  “What about your job?”

  “I can work out of here for a day or two. All I need is my laptop and phone line to handle my accounts.”

  “And Ian?” Pamela worriedly asked.

  “He can come over and see me here just as easily as he can see me at my place,” she replied, shrugging. “Besides, Ian likes it here. He likes playing with all of the babies.”

  Carol fussed around Pamela as she pushed pillows behind her head and covered her with a blanket. And as Pamela half-listened to Carol’s worried clucking, she thought of another man who had also loved playing with the baby animals. And within minutes, the pain that had been plaguing her joints all day disappeared, only to be replaced by a more uncomfortable ache deep inside of Pamela’s heart.

  * * * *

  Two days later, Pamela was driving her old white Ford pick-up into New Orleans to meet with her doctor. The pains in her body had not eased and the nausea would come and go. Fearing something worse than her usual discomforts, Carol had called Pamela’s doctor to ask for an immediate appointment. Pamela had refused at first to go, but Carol had been very insistent.

  “What if it is your kidneys again?” Carol had questioned the day before. “You felt nauseous and achy then, too. You know Dr. Derbois told you to call him the moment those symptoms returned. He said you cannot afford to take any more chances with your kidneys or you will end up on dialysis.”

  Pamela had waved off Carol’s concerns. “It wasn’t that bad. I had some problems with my kidney function but after a few weeks of medicine, everything was fine. I’m sure that’s all there is to this.”

  “Just go and see the man,” Carol had demanded. “Please do it for me.”

  And that was why Pamela was driving the sixty miles to Touro Infirmary in uptown New Orleans. She loved Carol and did not want to see her worry. She also secretly wanted Carol out of her house. She thought it funny that she could share her home with so many animals and not feel the slightest bit of intrusion, but have one close friend move in and it was as if she were living in a college dorm again.

  Dr. Martin Derbois’ office was located across the street from Touro Infirmary and he had been Pamela’s physician for several years. As she waited in the austere exam room for Dr. Derbois, Pamela felt that uneasy sense of dread most people feel when visiting a doctor’s office. There were always other places people would prefer to be, but as her good friend and former EMT partner, Scott Corbin, had always told her, the human body does not come with any warranties, so regular maintenance is mandatory.

  “Hello, Pamela,” Dr. Derbois said as he walked into the exam room, carrying Pamela’s thick chart.

  He was a slender man with a receding head of gray hair, thick glasses, and small brown eyes. He was dressed in a simple pair of slacks, dress shirt, and tie. Never one to wear white coats, Pamela always thought the man looked more like someone who should be teaching schoolchildren rather than a physician. He took a seat on the chair in front of the exam table and gazed up into Pamela’s face.

  “So what’s going on?” he asked in a mild-mannered tone.

  Pamela began a short description of her symptoms and added a brief discussion about the stress of the renovations going on around her facility. She had made a mental note earlier to skip any reference to Daniel. She figured the stress of Daniel’s hasty departure was probably better suited to a discussion with a psychiatrist rather than her rheumatologist.

  “Well,” Dr. Derbois began after reviewing all of her symptoms. “Let’s get some blood work and a urine test and see what we find.” He examined her face. “You do look pale and may be anemic, as well. That could be causing some of your fatigue and dizziness, and it is pretty common with lupus. Any fever, night sweats, or chills?”

  Pamela shook her head. “Just the
weakness and nausea.”

  “Back pain or pain with urination?” he questioned.

  Pamela shook her head again. “No, not this time. I had the back pain last time when my kidneys bothered me, but I haven’t noticed anything other than the usual aches and pains.”

  Dr. Derbois stood up and felt the lymph nodes in her neck, checked her throat, and listened to her heart. He then tapped on her back looking for tenderness near her kidneys, but Pamela reported no pain with his examination. He sat down in his chair, picked up her chart again, and made some more notes.

  “And when was your last period?” he inquired.

  Suddenly an unexpected dread grabbed at Pamela’s insides. “What does that have to do with anything? This is my kidneys right?”

  Dr. Derbois gave a nonchalant nod of his head. “With your history I would suspect so, but I just want to cover all of my bases. Do you remember when you had your last period?”

  Pamela remembered perfectly. “March 5th,” she said doing the math in her head.

  “You’re four weeks late,” Dr. Derbois said. “Is there a reason to suspect this may be something other than your kidneys, Pamela?” He asked with a hint of concern.

  Pamela’s heart started bounding in her chest. She had never considered that possibility. “There was only this one time. But it can’t be that,” she argued as she raised her eyebrows.

  “You and I both know it only takes one time, Pamela. I’ll just go ahead and add a pregnancy test to your lab work to make sure that is not what we are dealing with.” He paused and gave her a worried glance. “But if you are pregnant, you’re going to have to figure out some options here.”