“I’m all for going on vacation,” Isaac said, “but what I look forward to once I get out of here is making peace with the Thomases.”
“Please, Isaac,” his mother said. “The boy may not even give you his liver.”
“That’s his right, Mom, but it doesn’t stop him from being my brother, nor Deborah from being my sister.”
“Half brother and half sister,” his mother muttered.
“I want you to promise me something, Mom,” he said.
She eyed him skeptically. “What?”
“I want you to promise to try to get along with them. I know it’s a lot to ask, but we can’t keep going on the way we are. I can’t live in a family at war, and whether you like it or not, Michael and Deborah are my family, too.”
“After what Michael has done to you—”
“If I’m willing to put it in the past, then so can you.”
“I don’t know,” his mother said.
“I do,” he said. “There’s nothing Saralyn Martin can’t do once she sets her mind to it. Set your mind to this, Mom. Do it for me. There’s been too much stress and drama lately. All I want is peace.”
“Amen to that,” Abraham said.
“You all make it sound so simple,” his mother said, “but peace has a price.”
Chapter Sixty-Four
Abraham stepped out of Isaac’s hospital room for a few moments. He needed some space to clear his mind, his heart. While he was proud of the sentiments his son had expressed, he was concerned that Isaac was giving up. Like Saralyn, he also thought the boy sounded like he was giving his last words, and he was not about to give up that easily.
Just then he spotted the group he was looking for and strode directly toward them. Alan saw him first. Then Melvin, Leah, and his dear daughter, Deborah, turned in his direction. “I’m glad you all are here,” he said, meaning it. He stepped closer to Deborah and pulled her into a long, warm embrace. He whispered, “Especially you,” in her ear and felt her smile in return. When he ended the embrace, he kept her close. “Isaac is awake and talking,” he said. “You’re all welcome to go in and say hi.”
Melvin spoke first. “I’ll say a quick good-bye, then Leah and I are going to head out. It’s late but we’ve got to get started on getting those test sites set up at the church.”
Abraham nodded and shook the pastor’s hand. “Thanks for coming. It meant a lot.”
As Melvin walked back toward Isaac’s room, Abraham said to Leah, “It’s okay if you go in as well.”
She shook her head. “Maybe later.”
He nodded his understanding. Perhaps one day things would be better between her and Saralyn, but today was not that day. “How about you?” he asked Deborah.
“I want to see Michael first.”
“He’s coming here?” Abraham asked.
“It seems like it. Josette called a few minutes ago and said they were on their way.”
Abraham squeezed her shoulders. Maybe things would work out after all.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high yet,” Deborah said. “Michael doesn’t know about being tested for the transplant.”
Abraham’s hopes sank at the news. Deborah knew her brother better than anyone, and she was clearly skeptical about his response to being a donor for Isaac. “It’ll work out,” he told her, not wanting her to bear the burden of her brother’s decision. “If not Michael, we’ll find another donor.” He kissed her forehead. “I need to steal Alan away for a few minutes, if it’s all right with you ladies.”
After both women nodded, he said to Alan, “How about joining me for a cup of coffee?”
Alan looked at Deborah.
“Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”
With that, Abraham and Alan headed for the elevators to the hospital cafeteria.
“How are you holding up?” Alan asked when they were in the elevator.
“Still standing,” he said. “But not much more. I’ve fought my share of battles, but nothing like this. I’d easily and readily change places with Isaac. In a heartbeat.”
“I know what you mean,” Alan said.
Abraham turned to him. “You do, don’t you?” he said, remembering Alisha’s death. “How did you make it through it, Alan?”
“What other choice did I have? I couldn’t bring her back and I couldn’t go with her. I was left to go on without her.”
“She was a wonderful girl, Alisha,” Abraham said.
“I know.”
“I was wrong to start seeing her,” Abraham said.
“Let’s not do this now,” Alan said as the elevator doors opened and the two men stepped off and headed in the direction of the hospital cafeteria.
Abraham maintained his silence until they’d gotten their coffee and taken a seat at one of the tables in the hospital cafeteria. “I’m sorry I betrayed you, Alan,” he said. “I know you didn’t like my seeing her, given my marital status and her age. I’m sorry I refused to see the harm our relationship would bring.”
“It’s the past,” Alan said, sipping his coffee.
“Is it?” Abraham challenged. “Our relationship changed when you found out I was seeing her, and grew even more distant after her death.” When Alan’s eyes grew wide with surprise, Abraham added, “I may be a self-centered man, Alan, but I’m not blind.”
“You never said anything.”
“What could I say?” Abraham said. “I’m sorry I seduced your little sister? I’m sorry I broke her heart? I was too coldhearted to even think those thoughts. I kept waiting every day for you to leave MEEG or to beat me up or something, but you never did. Why?”
“Because she loved you,” he said simply. “As she lay dying, she asked me not to blame you. I’d never denied her anything, and I couldn’t very well start then.”
“I never knew.”
“There was no reason for me to tell you,” he said. “It was between me and Alisha.”
“You’re a better man than I am, Alan,” Abraham told him. “You always have been. At times I’ve resented you for it.”
“And there’ve been times when I’ve resented the way you take what you want without regard for the consequences. You did it with Alisha. And before her, you did it with Leah and those kids.”
“Well, it seems the consequences have caught up with me. The son I raised and loved needs a transplant, and his best donor may be the son I denied and ignored. What am I going to do, Alan?”
“You’re going to do what you set out to do,” he said. “You’re going to do right by all of your children.”
Abraham sighed. “Isaac doesn’t want me to ask Michael about being tested.”
“You have to,” Alan said.
“But won’t that make things worse between me and Michael?”
“It’s a risk you have to take.”
“And if he says no?”
Alan put down his coffee cup and met Abraham’s eyes. “That’s the price you have to pay.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Michael’s mood had certainly improved by the time they reached the hospital, so much so that it made Josette uneasy. Her husband had gone from being totally uninterested in helping Isaac to giddy at the prospect of being a donor match. He was up to something. She was sure of it.
She saw Deborah when she entered the waiting room. “Where’s Michael?” her sister-in-law asked, worry in her voice. “I thought you said he was coming.”
“Calm down,” Josette said. “He’s here. He went immediately to be tested. He’ll come here after he’s finished.”
“You told him about Isaac’s condition?”
She nodded. “Michael and I have a new pact. No more secrets, no more lies. I told him as soon as I hung up with you.”
“Well, you certainly took a big risk,” Deborah said. “What if he had chosen not to come?”
“Then he wouldn’t have come.” With the Thomases, she thought, the end seemed to justify the means. “I told you, no more secrets, no more lies. Michael’s a gro
wn man and I’m going to deal with him like he’s one. All this subterfuge has got to stop.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the lies and half-truths,” Josette said. “They may get you through the moment, but they don’t endure for the long run. Trust me, I know.”
“Well, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I was only trying to get Michael to come in to be tested. Knowing how he feels about Isaac, I didn’t think he would come. That’s the only reason I asked you not to tell him.”
“Well, I told him and he’s being tested.”
“Willingly?”
“I nudged him a bit,” Josette said, not wanting to get into details. “You know your brother.”
“I’m not sure I do. I hate to say this but I’m surprised he went for the testing.”
“This silly feud that Michael has with his father has got to stop,” Josette said, running her hands around her extended belly. “This is not the environment I want for my child.”
“I’m sorry, Josette,” Deborah said. “Things will get better. Maybe Isaac’s condition will draw us all closer.”
“I hope so,” she said, but she didn’t count on it. “I can’t live this way.”
“What’s up with you, Josette? You’re talking in code. Something’s bothering you. You may as well tell me what it is.”
Josette looked up at her sister-in-law. “Michael and I are taking a break from each other,” she said. “Until the baby is born.”
“Will you be staying with Mama and me?”
Josette had to chuckle. Given that her past efforts at leaving Michael had consisted of nothing more than a short visit to Deborah and Leah’s, she couldn’t fault her sister-in-law for thinking this time would be no different. “Not this time,” she said. “I really need to be alone so I can think clearly about the future for me and the baby.”
“You can’t be thinking about divorce,” Deborah said. “Not now.”
“Of course I’m thinking about divorce. I’ve been thinking about one since I found out Abraham was Michael’s father. Michael should have told me before he married me.”
“I know,” Deborah said. “Mama and I both told him to tell you.”
Josette shook her head. “That’s not good enough, Deborah. When Michael didn’t tell me, you and Leah should have. How could you let me marry him not knowing the truth? How could you?”
“It wasn’t our place,” Deborah said. “It was between you and Michael.”
“If you really believe that, I feel sorry for you, Leah, and Michael.”
“You feel sorry for us? Why?”
“Because you’re stunted as a family. It’s been the three of you against the world for so long that you don’t know how to make room for anyone else. Leah’s still alone after all these years, you flit from one old man to the next, and Michael married a woman he didn’t trust enough to tell the name of his biological father. If that’s not dysfunction, I don’t know what is.”
Deborah took a step back. “Well, you certainly have a low opinion of this family.”
“It didn’t start that way. I’ve loved you all from the beginning, when I thought I had been brought inside your circle. But I was wrong. Your silence about Abraham was proof that I was an outsider. Things haven’t been the same for me since I found out. Something inside me is broken, Deborah, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Leaving is not going to fix it,” Deborah said. “Running away never works.”
“I know it’s not the ideal answer, but it’s the only one I have now. I can’t live with a man I don’t trust and who doesn’t trust me, a man who cares more for vengeance than he does for his unborn child.”
“Michael’s not that bad, Josette,” Deborah said.
“He’s worse than you know. Michael has cheated on me, Josette.”
Deborah rolled her eyes. “With whom?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, deciding to keep Rebecca’s name out of it. She wanted peace, not to add to the family drama.
“Do you have any proof of this cheating?” Deborah said, pushing the issue. “You’ve been accusing Michael of another woman for months, and he’s said it’s not true.”
Josette gave up with a wave of her hand. “Look, I can’t talk about this anymore. I’m going to go in and see Isaac.”
“You can’t leave the conversation hanging like this,” Deborah said.
Josette nodded. “I don’t have anything else to say. I’m empty, Deborah. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. The only energy I have these days is for the baby.” She rubbed her tummy again. “She’s my focus.”
“And she needs her father.”
Josette shook her head. “She needs a father who will put her first, not a father who will sacrifice her on the altar of vengeance.”
“If you take her away from her father, she’s going to resent you when she grows up.”
Josette smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said. “My daughter will know who her father is. I just pray history doesn’t repeat itself and he doesn’t ignore her until she’s an adult. I hope my leaving will give Michael a chance to think about me and the baby, and how important—or unimportant—we are to him. He’s got to show me that he’s man enough to be a husband and a father. Right now all I see is a petulant little boy. I didn’t sign up for babying a husband and a newborn. I won’t do it.”
She leaned over and kissed Deborah’s cheek. “I’d never cut you all out of my baby’s life. I want her to know her grandmother and grandfather, her aunt and her half uncle. I want her to have a supportive and loving family.”
“No family is perfect, Josette.”
“I’m not asking for perfection, Deborah. I just want the basics of love and honesty, someone who treats me with compassion and respect, someone who knows how to forgive, someone who values family above vengeance. Without those, what do you really have?”
Chapter Sixty-Six
I’m gonna be a match, Michael thought as he walked out of the Cancer Center, where the donor match tests were administered. I just know it.
“Michael?”
He turned and saw Alan heading toward the center from the opposite direction. This has to be an omen. “What are you doing here, man?” he asked.
“I could ask you the same,” Alan said. “I’m surprised you agreed to be tested.”
“Be tested? I’m praying I’m a match.”
Alan eyed him skeptically. “You’re praying to be a match? Now that’s a bit much.”
“Don’t you see how perfect it would be if I were a match? We couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. Forget waiting for Josette to deliver the baby and trying to invoke some obscure clause in the MEEG bylaws. If I’m a match, I’ll have Abraham and Saralyn exactly where I want them, groveling at my feet to save the life of their precious son. Who said there was no God?”
“What are you planning?” Alan asked.
“It’s all contingent on the results of that test. If the results indicate that I’m a match—which I’m confident they will—I’m going to have Abraham and Saralyn make me an offer I can’t refuse.” He chuckled. “Or I could make them an offer they can’t refuse. Don’t you love it?”
Alan shook his head. “I knew you hated them,” he said, “but—”
“But nothing,” Michael said, pointing a finger in Alan’s chest. “A few months ago you came to me with a plan to take down Abraham Martin, remember? I didn’t come to you. I signed on to hit him where it hurts, to give him a dose of his own medicine.” He dropped his hand from Alan’s chest and rubbed his chin. “How’d you put it? Yeah, show the big man that he can’t get away with hurting people. Well, we’ve had the perfect way of doing that placed in our laps. Don’t you see?”
“I can’t do it,” Alan said. “I can’t use Isaac’s illness to bring Abraham down. He’s already down. I want a fair fight.”
“You haven’t been paying attention to how the old man works, have you? There
’s no such thing as a fair fight. You fight to win, by any means necessary, or you lose. It’s that simple.”
Alan looked at him as if he had two heads. “You know what, Michael? You may not have been raised in Abraham’s home but you’re definitely his son. You’re more like him than Isaac is. In fact, you’re exactly like him. Look at yourself. Standing in a hospital, hoping to hold the keys to a man’s life in your hands so you can use them to take vengeance on your absentee father and his wicked wife.”
Michael’s lips tightened. “He’s going to pay for what he did to me and my family. I thought you wanted him to pay for what he did to your sister.”
“I did. But the funny thing is, I think he’s paying for it now. We can’t bring him down any lower than he is now, Michael. He knows there’s a good chance that Isaac’s life lies in your hands. His past has finally caught up with him. He needs the son he deserted to save the son he cherished. But he knows that even asking the deserted son for help will only widen the gap between them that he’s been trying to bridge. He’s at his lowest point, Michael. The game is over and everybody lost. It’s time to call it in.”
Michael folded his arms across his chest and gave Alan a look of disdain. “I always knew you were a weak man. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken you so long to avenge your sister’s death. Instead of taking Abraham down, you remained his flunky. Your sister is probably rolling in her grave.”
Alan smiled, seemingly unmoved by Michael’s taunt. “My sister is resting peacefully. That’s something we have in common, Michael. Sisters who sleep easy because they always look for the best in others. Sisters who love us unconditionally. The sledgehammer that these weaker women hold over our heads is that their love comes with expectations. They expect us to be bigger than we are because that’s how they see us. It would have hurt my sister had I brought Abraham down, but it would devastate her to know that I used Isaac’s illness to do it. I never wanted to see that kind of disappointment in her eyes. I don’t want to imagine it now that she’s dead. You don’t want to see it in Deborah’s.”
Sins of the Father Page 26
