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I’d forgotten how much the stroke had disabled my father until the moment we arrived in the Park Avenue penthouse and he was waiting at the door in his wheelchair, his face still slightly droopy on the one side, his hand sitting rather lifeless in his lap. He had an electric wheelchair and controlled it with his good hand, driving up to the front entry with a big smile on his face.
It sent a jolt of fear through me at the thought of how close he had come to dying while I was so far away across the ocean, but I tried not to show how bad he still looked in my face or demeanor.
“There you are, my girl,” he said, tears in his eyes.
“Daddy,” I said, my voice catching. I bent down to kiss him on the cheek and as I did, I vowed to myself to never move away again.
I kissed Elaine and Drake said his hellos. As we rolled our bags into the front entry, I thought to myself that Manhattan was my home. It had been my family’s home for years. I loved it there and felt no need to go away. Drake and I would go on a honeymoon, of course, and maybe a holiday in Africa at some point, but I wanted to start my own family and put my own roots down in the city. I lost my mother far too soon to cancer. I couldn’t imagine losing my father and being so far away, regretting that I hadn’t spent more time with him. That was one of Drake’s biggest regrets – that he and his father hadn’t been closer.
I didn’t want to make the same mistake.
“Let me get that,” Drake said and took my suitcase, wheeling it down the hallway to the bedroom I’d grown up in.
“Come dear,” Elaine said and motio
ned to the living room. “I’ll make some hot tea and we can visit before you two go to sleep. You must be exhausted after that flight. Sixteen hours! I can’t imagine…”
At that moment, I felt completely exhausted. It would be an effort to sit with them and socialize but I did want to see how my father was doing, listen to him speak and watch him.
I plopped down onto the sofa and my father parked his wheelchair beside it, turning to face me. Drake must have been using the washroom for he didn’t return right away. My father and I spoke together while we waited for Elaine to bring the tea.
I filled him in on the flight and he told me about his latest round of rehab and how they were building up strength in the side of his body that had been partially paralyzed.
“It will take some time, months or so I’m told, but I should be able to walk again with a cane or walker. I’d prefer a cane, but I’ll take what I can get.”
“I’m just glad to see you getting around. You look good, Daddy. How do you feel?”
He stuck his chest out and hit it with a fist. “Like a million bucks. Us old Marines don’t give up so easily. It’ll take more than a stroke to do me in.”
I smiled and finally Elaine brought in the tea and Drake returned from whatever he was doing. He held out a small gift bag and handed it to Elaine.
“For you,” he said and smiled. “Just a little something from Nairobi I bought before we left.”
I was as surprised as Elaine for I hadn’t seen him buy the gift but he must have done so on the way home from the hospital.
“Oh, Drake, how thoughtful,” Elaine said and opened it. Inside was a bottle of curry spice from one of the markets we used to visit. She held it up for us all to see.
“It’s a special mix of tamarind, cumin, coriander and cardamom. Especially good with beef and rice, or so I’m told.”
“Thank you,” she said and went over to kiss Drake on the cheek. “I’ll look up a recipe and use it one night soon.” She handed it to my father, who looked at it closely through his half-eye reading glasses.
We talked for close to an hour about the last month we spent in Nairobi, about my father’s rehab program and about my plans for finishing my Masters. Drake yawned and seeing him made me yawn as well, but I hid it behind a hand.
My father must have caught it for he turned to me, a frown on his face.
“You two go to bed if you’re so tired,” he said. “Good Lord, don’t feel a need to entertain us. We can talk tomorrow over breakfast.”
“I don’t know about you,” Drake said and turned to me, “but I could use a nice warm bath and then right to bed to sleep.”
“Sounds like heaven,” I replied. “I’ll go start the bath.” I stood up and kissed my father on the cheek and then gave Elaine a hug when she stood up. “Good night.”
We all said our goodnights and I went back to my bedroom and into the ensuite bathroom to run a bath for us. I poured some bubble bath into the water and soon the tub was filled with nice aloe scented bubbles.
I stripped off my clothes and got in after Drake did and lay back in his arms, the warm water rising up around us. We sat in a pleasant silence for a few moments and then decided on a plan of action for the first week.
“We’ll stay here for a few days, get the apartments aired out and then we can move to my place in Chelsea while we renovate 8th Avenue. The tenant downstairs has given notice so now’s as good a time as any to convert the two apartments into a single two story unit. I’ll contact an engineer I know to come out and draw up plans.”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said and yawned once more. I got out of the tub and pulled a bathrobe on that Elaine had been nice enough to have ready. One for each of us hung on the back of the bathroom door. “I don’t know if I can even keep my eyes open long enough to brush my teeth,” I said when I turned to the vanity and opened my makeup bag.
