Grace lets out a shaky breath. “I never got to say goodbye. I never thought I’d have to. The doctor’s updates were always so upbeat. I sent everything he asked for, anything that might help with her treatment. All the audio recordings I made. The flowers. Nothing reached her. It was just entertainment for Viv.” Grief, pain and fury ravage her pale face.
I suppress the rage seething in my belly and hold her tightly, since this moment is for her to grieve and try to find a bit of consolation.
“Is she the one who took my money, too?” she asks.
I close my eyes for a moment, wishing I had better news. “Yes. She created a fake payment site, and you basicallydeposited two thousand dollars a month into her account.” The urge to beat Vivienne the way I did her brother was overwhelming when I saw the report. She’s lucky she doesn’t have a penis—otherwise, I would’ve put her in the hospital.
“We can get her for that, can’t we? Even if her pretending to be Dr. Blum isn’t a crime?”
“Yes. Impersonating a medical professional, identity theft, fraud, unjust enrichment—the list goes on and on. And Dr. Blum said he’d file suit. Ares is taking the case, pro bono. He’s dying to destroy Vivienne for you.”
“Thank you.” She wipes her tears. “Your family’s been so kind.”
“Not my family.Ourfamily, Grace.” I hold her tighter.
More tears fall from my wife’s wounded eyes, soaking my shirt and sending a searing ache all the way to my heart. “I just wish I’d known sooner. At least early enough that I could’ve taken the ashes. Karie told me they cremated her and scattered her ashes in Baltimore near Johns Hopkins. Why would anybody do that? Why would anybody think Mom would want to be in a place where she was confined by illness? Karie said they didn’t want to tell me Mom passed because it was the day before I was supposed to take the LSAT for Viv.”
“What?”
Grace’s face crumbles. “Karie threatened to withhold payment for Mom’s bills if I refused, and instead of doing the right thing, I said okay. I just feel like I’m being punished. If I’d said no, they wouldn’t have had a reason to not tell me. Then at least Mom’s ashes wouldn’t be scattered all over Baltimore. There aren’t any of her favorite flowers or the green fields she loves—loved so much.”
Hearing her blame herself for others’ wrongdoings shreds my heart. I wish we’d met earlier. I wish I’d been kinder. Perhaps gone with her to the emergency room two years ago. Called andchecked up on her periodically to offer to help so she wouldn’t have been blackmailed. Or ended up devastated like this.
“I don’t even know what all the sacrifice was for,” she says, choking on her tears. “Mom said good things happen to people who try hard and do their best, but…”
I run a soothing hand over her back as more of her tears soak my shirt. “I know it sounds whimsical, but I think your mother sent you to me that night two years ago.”
Grace tilts her face to look at me, her cheeks glistening.
“You said she never woke up. But she might’ve known you’d need somebody by your side. Do you know I wouldn’t have been where I was that night if it hadn’t been for a family dinner I was forced to attend? Normally I’m too much of an asshole to give a ride to some girl who looks like a drowned rat. But that day, somehow I felt compelled to make an exception and be nice. Then I ran into you at the bar over a year later. There are nearly four million people in Los Angeles. What are the chances that we’d run into each other again when we didn’t know each other’s names or remember how we looked? What are the chances I would have still kept your number and called you? And there’s the baby. I’m fanatical about birth control, but here we are. What are the chances that all these things happening to one couple?” I wipe the tears from her face. “Probably billions to one, Grace. If this isn’t fate, I don’t know what is.” I kiss away the sorrow and desolation in her eyes. “I was destined to find you and love you.”
She expels a tremulous breath. A fresh wave of tears falls from her puffy, red-rimmed eyes. Her nose is pink, and her cheeks are flushed. And she will always be the most beautiful woman in the world.
“This baby”—I put a protective hand over her belly—“and I will be your family, Grace. We won’t be able to replace your mother—nobody could—but you’ll never be alone. I promise.”
“How can you? No one knows when it’s their time,” she whispers.
“I’ll quit the cigars and alcohol. Exercise more. Cut back on the bacon. I’ll make sure I outlive you.”
A ghost of a smile passes over her teary face. “But then you’ll be alone.”
“Only for a little bit. I don’t think destiny would be cruel enough to keep us apart for long.” I kiss her. “I love you, Grace Lasker, my miracle, my fate.”
“I love you too,” she whispers fiercely, crying harder.
I hold my wife while she lets everything out in tears.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Grace
“I want to go home.” My voice is hoarse and rough as I tell Huxley.How long did I cry?No idea, but I feel completely wrung out. No regrets, though—something feels lighter and cleaner in my heart.
Part of me will always grieve for my mother—the lonely death and having her ashes callously abandoned in Baltimore. Karie said she scattered the ashes, but I know better.
When Huxley spoke of how we managed to meet and come together despite the odds, it feels like some being out there is watching over me. I lost Mom, but gained Huxley and our baby. I scan the hospital room, the countless bouquets and get-well balloons and teddy bears, coming to rest on a couple of giant fruit baskets with a note saying,You just get better while we avenge you.
I have brothers- and sisters- and cousins-in-law who care. Jeremiah and Ted try their best to act as surrogate parents as well. The latter is quite unhappy that he’s in Nice to meet with some distributors and new faces he’d love to cast in his next film, rather than in L.A. “You just tell that husband of yours what you need, and if he doesn’t deliver quick enough, let me know. I’ll spank his ass for being unworthy of my daughter.”
