When she was done with her workout, she showered and changed. As she headed to her car, a woman called out to her. Linda turned around and saw that Susan Humphrey was coming her way. Linda smiled, “Hey Susan. How’ve you been?”
“Not too good, to tell you the truth.”
Linda was surprised at the woman’s candor. She’d known Susan for a few years. Her children attended school with Kivonna and Susan’s husband was a member of the city council, so they were often at political functions together. But they had never really been close personal friends. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Linda said.
“Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush,” Susan said, “How did you kick the booze?”
“What?” There was no way Linda heard this woman correctly.
Susan held up a hand. “I’m not trying to get in your business or anything.” She sighed and then continued. “You see, I’ve been drinking for a long time. I thought I could handle it, but it’s finally taken a toll on my marriage… and, well, Harry left me.”
Linda felt naked and exposed standing in the parking lot with a woman to whom she’d never confided a single thing. “How did you know?” was all she could say.
“Oh, don’t worry; I’m not sure if others in our circle noticed, but you and I have the same problem… or at least had the same problem, so I noticed, just like I can tell that you must have kicked the habit.”
“You’re right,” Linda whispered as if at any moment a gang of reports were going to rush over to her and ask her to admit that she had hit Terrell Anderson while driving drunk.
“Can you help me?”
“All I can do is tell you what worked for me. Are you interested?”
Susan nodded.
“Great. Would you like to grab lunch or something?”
During lunch, Linda told the woman how her father-in-law had prayed and read the Bible to her while she was suffering through alcohol withdrawal. But Linda didn’t want to make the situation sound like it had been a walk through the park. A little prayer and Bible reading and presto… she was cured. “Abstaining from alcohol is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
“But you did it,” Susan cheered.
“It’s only been a few weeks. I have to guard against drinking every day. But I think I know of a way that we can help each other.”
“That’ll work. I’m game for whatever you want to do.”
A few days later, Linda was in the kitchen going over the dinner menu for Eric’s grand affair that would take place the following Thursday evening. She had sent out special invitations to the individuals on Eric’s list. Every one of them had been high dollar donors to his campaign for mayor, and Eric was hoping to win their support for his campaign for governor. And Linda intended to make it an evening they wouldn’t soon forget.
“I am not a fan of asparagus, but I love the way you fix it, so include that on the menu.”
“Yes, ma’am. I was thinking I’d make that potato soup that Mr. Morrison likes for the appetizer. Will that be okay?” Maria asked.
“Your potato soup is wonderful.” Linda jotted that down. “What about the meat?”
“We can do Cornish hen or what about steak and lobster?”
“I think I like the Cornish hen with garlic mashed potatoes and the asparagus.”
“If we’re going to do the garlic mashed potatoes, maybe I should fix a cauliflower or broccoli soup?”
“Either one is fine with me. I haven’t tasted a soup of yours that I didn’t want to get seconds and thirds of.”
Maria laughed. The phone rang and she walked over to the wall phone and answered it. “Morrison residence, may I help you please?” The caller said something and then Maria said, “Can I tell her who’s calling?”
“Who is it?” Linda asked, anxious to get back to her dinner menu.
Maria turned towards her and said, “Terrell Anderson, ma’am. He wants to speak to you.”
The shock registered on her face before she had time to mask it. She stood and stepped away from the counter. “I’ll take it upstairs.” She began walking out of the kitchen, but then turned back and said, “Can you please prepare three of your best desserts, so I can have Eric sample them and make the dessert decision?”
“I’ll get it done right away.”
“Thanks, Maria. And for dinner tonight I’d like some of your fabulous lasagna and garlic bread.”
“I thought you were on a diet?” Maria inquired good naturedly.
“I eat right all day long, so that I can still partake of the wonderful meals you prepare,” Linda told her as she walked out of the kitchen.
Once she was in her room, she took a deep breath, picked up the phone and advised Maria to hang up. “Hello, this is Linda Morrison.”
“This is Terrell Anderson. I just wanted to call and give an update on my progress, so you can quit trying to pump the nurses for information.”
“Excuse me… I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”
“Mrs. Morrison, this facility has caller ID. They know that someone from your house has been calling asking questions.”
She opened her mouth to protest her innocence again, but she’d just read in her Bible something about a liar not being able to tarry in God’s eye sight, and that knowledge stopped her cold. “I was concerned about you. I just wanted to make sure your leg was healing.”
“And I called to answer your questions, but first I need you to answer a few questions for me.”
She was wringing her hands as she said, “Ask away.”
“I keep having these images of the crash. They’ve been giving me a headache because I don’t understand them. So, this may sound crazy, but were you driving the car that hit me? I know the police said it was your gardener, but…”
Linda went completely still. Eric was going to stop waiting for her to divorce him… this information would propel him to just go ahead and divorce her himself. But wait, this was her moment, her chance to be free from the guilt she had locked away . She lowered her head and confessed, “Yes, it was me.”
When the line went silent, Linda rushed on. “Terrell, I need you to understand that I was unconscious after I hit you. I didn’t run from the scene of the crime. Some people who wanted to help me pulled me out of the car and drove me home.”
“That’s it!” Terrell yelled. “That’s the dream I keep having.”
“Are you okay, Terrell?”
He lowered his voice as he said, “I didn’t understand it, but I kept seeing this man pulling a woman out of a car and placing her into another car. When that car drove off, a man ran over to me and told me not to worry… he was calling an ambulance. I was going in and out of consciousness myself, so I couldn’t even remember the man’s face.”
“That was Michael, my gardener. He didn’t mean any harm, Terrell. He was just trying to help. His son pulled me out of the car, and then Michael took my place at the crash site.”
“Had you been drinking or something? Terrell asked in an accusatory manner.
Shame filled her very being, she wanted to run from the truth, but it was ever before her. She felt a strength coming from somewhere and she knew it had to be God helping her walk through the fire. “Yes, Terrell, I had been drinking that night.”
“Are you crazy, lady? You could have killed me.”
“I know, and I am so sorry for that. If it helps matters any, that accident helped me to stop drinking.”
Again he tried to calm himself as he said, “One more question… did you pay for my rehab?”
“I asked my father-in-law to do it. He’s a very giving man.”
“What about your husband, why didn’t he fork over the money for my rehab?”
“Look Terrell, you have every right to be mad at me. I’ll take the blame for it all… I’ll even go down to the police station and straighten everything out if you want me to, but my husband had nothing to do with this. It’s not his fault that I chose to drive while I was
drunk.”
“You’d really go to the police and tell them the truth about what happened that night?”
Nodding her head, she told him, “The only thing that has stopped me from doing it so far, is that I know my acknowledgment would hurt my husband. But you deserve justice for what happened to you… so if that’s what you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
Surprising her he said, “Look lady, don’t sweat it. My mom told me that you came to the hospital to check up on me. And I kind of figured you were my anonymous donor – rehab is going great by the way. My leg should be a hundred percent in another month or so.”
“Oh Terrell, I’m happy to hear that.”
There was an awkward silence and then Terrell said, “Well just so you know, you can call my room directly the next time you want to check on me.”
There was so much she wanted to say at that moment, but she could only manage a “Thank you.”
He hung up.
For the past several weeks, the news had been filled with stories of Terrell’s great athletic ability, but that day, Linda received a glimpse of the young man’s great compassion. He knew she was the reason he needed rehab in the first place, and even though he was a little angry, his voice held no crimination. Without saying it, Linda knew that Terrell had forgiven her for what she’d done to him.
She didn’t understand what God was doing, but Linda felt that God’s hand was all over the situation. She looked heavenward and prayed, “Lord, thank You for your grace and for allowing Terrell to forgive me. All I ask is that You show me how to make this right for Terrell without losing my husband in the process.”
She went back downstairs and straightened up the living room, dining room and family room. They paid a service to come out and clean twice a month, but other than that, Linda took care of the house. When she finished, she left the house to pick Kivonna up from school.
Kivonna ran to her car when she pulled up. Linda smiled at the sight of her daughter. Just a few weeks ago, the child hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near a car that her mother was driving. But she had regained Kivonna’s trust. How she wished that Eric was as easy to convince as his daughter.
“How was school today, pumpkin?”
Kivonna scrunched up her nose. “Mean o’ Ms. Farley is making us do definitions with our spelling words.”
Linda laughed. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. I had to do definitions when I was in grade school, too. But you know what?”
“What?”
“When I took my exams to get into college, knowing those words really paid off.”
“All right,” Kivonna said as if she was agreeing to get a tooth pulled. “I’ll do it and then I’ll get into a good college, too.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Mom?”
“Yes, baby?”
After a bit of hesitation, Kivonna asked, “Are you and Daddy getting a divorce?”
Linda tried to keep her eyes on the road, but that question alarmed her. “Why would you ask that?”
“Well, my friend Lisa said that after her parents started sleeping in separate rooms, they divorced and then slept in separate houses all together. Is that going to happen to you and Daddy?”
“I sure hope not.” She took her right hand off the steering wheel and squeezed Kivonna’s shoulder, trying to bring comfort to her. “Your dad and I love each other very much. But sometimes adults don’t see eye to eye on everything.”
“He’s still mad about your drinking, you mean.”
She wasn’t going to lie to her daughter. She was tired of all the lying that had been going on around them lately. “That and some other things. But I believe we will work through these issues. I’m praying every day for my marriage; you can help me pray if you want to.”
Kivonna smiled and leaned back in her seat. “Grandpa always says that prayer is the answer for everything that ails you.”
“He’s right, baby.”
Once they arrived home, Linda and Kivonna grabbed a snack out of the kitchen and then went into the family room so that Kivonna could do her homework, and Linda could answer any questions the child might have. When they were done with homework, Linda allowed Kivonna to watch some cartoons while she went and set the table for dinner.
When Eric came in, the family sat down for dinner. Linda noticed that for the last week, Eric had been getting home by six-thirty so that he could have dinner with them at a reasonable hour. She noticed, but didn’t say anything.
“Lasagna, huh? One of my favorite dishes from Maria,” Eric said as a generous helping wasplaced in front of him.
“I know,” Linda told him. “You’ve been working hard for this city and on your campaign, so I thought you deserved a treat tonight.”
He smiled at her, but then quickly looked away.
“Who wants to say grace?” Linda asked after making sure everyone had their plates and then sitting down.
“I will… I will,” Kivonna raised her hand.
Eric and Linda laughed at Kivonna’s eagerness. “Go ahead baby-girl,” Eric said.
Kivoona steepled her hands and prayed, “God bless Mama and Daddy. Help them to like each other again and bless the food we are about to receive… amen.”
Linda turned her face to her plate, too afraid to glance at Eric after the prayer their daughter just prayed. They ate in silence and then Kivonna asked if she could go play in her room.
As Kivonna got up from the table and Linda watched her child walk upstairs to play alone, she was tempted to feel sorry for herself and Kivonna. If she had been able to have another child, Kivonna wouldn’t have to play by herself. But then she reminded herself that she had been an only child and played by herself most of the time when she was a kid. She’d even made up an imaginary friend… Linda got away with a lot of mischief by blaming things on poor little Betty.
“What are you smiling about?” Eric asked.
“Oh nothing much. I was just thinking about how I handled being an only child.”
“Growing up, there were days that I wished I had been an only child.”
With a bit of regret in her voice, Linda said, “I’m learning to find peace in what I have.”
That statement was huge for Eric. For years, he lived with a woman who didn’t seem to care that he and Kivonna were in her life, she preferred to mourn the children she didn’t have. “What brought this on?”
Linda stood and started collecting the plates off the dinner table. “It’s my new attitude,” she told him with a bit of pep in her step.
“Here, let me help,” Eric said as he stood up and took his plate to the kitchen. He scraped the plates into the garbage bin, while Linda loaded the dishwasher.
“So how was your day? Linda asked as they walked out of the kitchen heading for the family room.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Of course. You do a lot for this community; I love hearing about your work.”
With his chest puffed out, Eric sat down and told Linda about his day. Once they finished talking about his responsibilities as mayor, he also told her about the plan Darien came up with to increase his name recognition across the state of Ohio. He told her they planned to use Joel’s foundation to help people struggling with mortgages and to provide loans to small businesses.
“Those are good things that will help a great deal of people, Eric.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming on.”
From the day Linda began helping Susan get over her addiction to alcohol, she began thinking just how many other people she could help if Eric would allow her to lead an organization for recovering alcoholics and their families. She would need money to start such an organization and she’d hoped that Eric would allow her organization to receive funds from his foundation. She hadn’t had the nerve to ask him yet, but since he’d already decided on ways to spend the money, Linda figured that she’d better speak up, before there was nothing left. “I do want to talk to you about something.”
&nb
sp; “What’s up?”
“Well, I-I was wondering i-if you’d like to fund an organization that I want to start?”
“What kind of organization?”
“I want to help recovering alcoholics and their families deal with the issues they will face while in recovery.”
Eric glared at Linda as he exploded. “Absolutely not! What do you think AA is for?”
“AA didn’t help me, Eric. It was God and your father. I want to tell the world about the method I found for getting sober.”
“So I suppose you think everybody has the money to hire a nurse to sit with them while they detox?”
“No,” she said reasonably. “But they can have a family member or friend stop by and check on them.”
“Just when I thought you were finally turning things around,” he shook his head and then told his wife, “You do that, and divorce or not… I will throw you out of this house.”
“Alrighty, then.” She stood up, straightened her pantsuit and looked directly at her husband. “I love you dearly, Eric. But you’ve got one more time to threaten to throw me out of my own home. Do it again, and I guarantee that you won’t like what comes next.” She walked out of the family room, fuming. She needed to read her Bible like a fish needed to swim. But as she was headed to her room to spend some quality time with her Lord, Linda thought, It will be a long time before Eric slaps his lips on another lasagna in this house.
Chapter 10
Was the woman trying to ruin him on purpose? She knew very well that if she broadcasted to the world that she had been an alcoholic while he was trying to get his campaign for governor up and running – that would be it for him. Eric had brooded around the house for a week after Linda had asked him for money to start an organization that would end his political career.
He’d wanted her to react to his moodiness, tell him that she couldn’t take it anymore and that she would never again even think about doing such a crazy thing. But Linda just floated around the house as if she didn’t even notice how upset he was.
The woman confused him, she bewildered him, but at the same time she had ignited a fire within him that he thought had died long ago. For about a year now, he’d been her husband in name only. Now he wanted to change that, but he just didn’t know if he could trust her with his heart again.
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