A Shattered Wife Read Free

Just a minute."
    "Mom! Are you still there?" William’s voice came
on the line, slightly breathless and evidently just as surprised as Beth.
    "Yes. William, there’s been an accident." Now that
he was on the line, she was unsure of what to say.
    "An accident?"
    "Yes. We’re at the hospital now. Your dad’s been hurt."
    "How bad is it?"
    "I don’t know yet. Will you come?" Martha hated
the pleading note that crept into her voice.
    William sighed heavily. "Sure, Mom, I'll be there as
soon as I can." Martha thought he sounded more annoyed than concerned.
That done, she waited for the doctor.
    It was nearly midnight when a slim, young doctor strode
purposefully down the wide hospital corridor into the waiting area.
    "Mrs. Landry?" he called, looking around at the
few people who were gathered there. Martha rose on unsteady legs, unaware of
anyone but the tired looking, bearded young man wearing a white coat over his
jeans. His soft voice and gentle blue-gray eyes were kind but weary. "My
name is Dr. Paul Newsome. I’m treating your husband."
    "Yes?" Martha asked, staring at the stethoscope
dangling from his neck.
    Dr. Newsome nodded quickly and said, "Your husband has
a broken leg and some slight hypothermia."
    Relief flooded through Martha, making her weak. Bill was
alive.
    "What happened?" she asked.
    "We really can’t be sure. I imagine he stepped in a
hole, maybe an old fence post hole, and fell. At least, that’s what the dirt on
his clothing would indicate."
    Despite the doctor’s reassuring posture, something in his
tone told Martha that there was more, news that he hadn’t given her yet. She
searched his lean face for some clue.
    Finally, he said, "The fall did some damage to his
spinal cord." He paused, took a deep breath, and then hurried on before
she could say anything. "Right now he is paralyzed from the waist down. It
may be only temporary. We’ll have to wait and see."
    The waiting area was deathly quiet.
    Martha did not respond except to hug herself as she tried to
process his words. The other women looked stricken, pale and disbelieving, as
if his diagnosis concerned their own husbands. No one made a move to comfort
her, though. She realized that she was swaying slightly, and reached for a
chair to steady herself.
    Paul touched her arm. "Maybe you should sit down."
    Martha wanted to do anything but sit down. "Can I see
him?" she asked. Her own voice sounded strange and far away.
    He nodded and smiled a little, his hair falling forward
casually with the movement. "Only for a few minutes, though. He’s been
heavily sedated. Follow me, please."
    Martha stared in disbelief when she saw the giant mountain
of a man lying flat on his back, helplessly attached to tubes and hoses. Her eyes
stung, and the smell of antiseptic made her sniff. With trembling fingers she
touched his thick, wavy hair, eyelids, and the familiar, broadly lined face.
She could not ever remember him being sick, and her heart ached.
    "I'm here, Bill. I'll always be here," she
whispered.
    ***
    William only got along well with his parents, especially his
father, when he was in Cleveland and they were in Virginia. His mother was
over-protective, always clucking over him like an old hen; she smothered him.
His father was overpowering, dominating. William Jr., built small like his
mother although he had the auburn hair and piercing blue eyes of his father,
never had any desire to follow in his dad's footsteps. After college, he moved
to Cleveland, established an accounting firm that was becoming quite
successful, married and fathered two children. He was happy there. Cleveland
was his real home. Visits to his parents were only obligatory ones.
    He arrived at the hospital at 2:00 a.m. and found his mother
sitting alone in the empty waiting room. Over her faded cotton dress, she wore
a cardigan sweater that was much too big for her. Sitting there, slumped over
slightly and pressing nonexistent wrinkles out of her dress, she looked twice
her age.