Page 21 of Raymond's Forever

“No. By the time it came to start the treatments, six different doctors said that it wouldn’t help, because it was so aggressive. They gave her three months, and she lasted six. She passed away a week after Opal’s second birthday.”

“I’m so sorry,” Amelia said, and wiped her tears, but reached out and laid her hand over his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“This next part might make me sound like a bastard, but I did what I did because I felt like I had to do it, or I would lose my ever-loving mind. I got into a routine. First, Mom and Grandma said that I had to hire a nanny for Opal, I refused. Then they said that I needed to turn custody of her over to them. Again, I refused.” He shook his head as he remembered that time in his life. “They told me that being a widower, I wouldn’t be able to take care of Opal properly. I proved them wrong. Later, I’ll tell you how petty I was to my own mother, but that’s later in my story. Anyway, when Ciara was alive, Opal went to daycare twice a week, I talked to them, and was able to enroll her all five days. I got her up every single day, fed her, dressed her, and got her to daycare. Then I’d go into the office. I’d leave to go pick her up, then go home, cook dinner for the two of us, and play withher afterward. Later, I would help her with her homework.” He sipped his wine and got up to rinse out the glass. He leaned his hips against the counter to continue his tale.

“Just before Opal turned five, Dad got sick. He too had cancer. During Ciara’s bout with the disease, Mom tried to tell me what to do, by not listening to the doctors and forcing the chemo on her.”

“That wouldn’t have worked, it might have prolonged her life for a month or two, but if it was as aggressive as you said, it wouldn’t have helped. And she would have been miserable the entire time.”

“I know, that’s why we opted not to do it. By aggressive, I meant she had breast cancer, and within two months, it had spread to her other breast, her liver, and her kidneys.” He shook his head when Amelia swore. “We made her as comfortable as possible, and kept her home to be with Opal as much as we could. The only professional services we used was Hospice. The three of us were all together as a family when she passed at home.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be, anyway, Dad’s cancer wasn’t as aggressive as Ciara’s, not that I’m comparing, but for the next ten years it was hell for them.”

“How?”

“The chemo helped with the first diagnosis, then a few months later, they’d find it someplace else. He and mom threw everything they had at the cancer. For ten years, he was in and out of chemo or radiation. Toward the end, he barely weighed a hundred pounds, and he wasn’t mentally there. I don’t want to say dementia, but he barely recognized mom, let alone me, Opal, or his parents. He stopped working five years into the treatments. Anyway, I know it was petty of me, but I felt so angry that they refused to listen to the doctors. After Dad’s funeral, Iforgot what was actually said, but I do remember that it pissed me off. I turned to Mom and told her that maybe she should check herself into a home if she couldn’t even cook herself a meal. I didn’t talk to her for a good year after that. I know it was stupid and petty, but she had said something to her friends that she would never be like me and give up.”

“Wow, so all that chemo probably did prolong his life, but if it kept coming back in different areas of the body, then it wasn’t really helping.”

“That’s what I told her, but she told me to mind my own business. During all this, I was still working at the firm, and Grandpa hadn’t retired yet, though he was pushing seventy. Around the time Opal was five. I started dating a woman, that lasted less than two months.”

“What happened?”

“We were in my home, Opal was doing her homework at the kitchen island, just like she did every night, I was at the stove, cooking our dinner. Jesus, I forgot her name now, but she kept telling Opal to go to her room. When Opal asked why, she said that children should be seen and not heard.” He shook his head and snorted a laugh. “Then she had the audacity to show me brochures she had gone out and gotten to send Opal to boarding school after we got married. This was only after two months of dating, and in those two months, it was only five dates. If memory serves, that particular day was the first time I introduced her to Opal.”

“Holy shit, sorry for swearing, but what the hell? More importantly, what did you do?” She shivered when he grinned.

“I looked her dead in the eye and told her that it was lucky that I would never ask her to marry me, then I escorted her to the front door, told her to leave, and shut the door in her face. I never heard from her again. Oh, I failed to mention that during this time, my taking over the firm was being transitioned.”

“Let me guess, she thought that because you would now own the firm, then you were making the big bucks, and she could have you bankroll her lifestyle?”

“Yeah, pretty much. When I went back into the kitchen, I didn’t make a scene, I finished cooking, and helped Opal with her letters and numbers. Later that night, after her bath and story, as I tucked her into bed, I apologized to her for bringing that woman in our lives. I told her that I would never put any woman before her. For the next three years, we were a team, and we made our lives work. After dinner and tucking her into bed, I would work in my home office. It worked for us.”

“Until when?” she asked quietly. “I feel something happened.”

“It did, nothing bad, at first, I’m talking years, almost fifteen years, things were good. Let me back up. When Opal was eight, I met Melissa. She had a three-year-old daughter, Amber, from a previous relationship. She wasn’t married to him. We dated for two years, and when the girls were ten and five, Melissa and I married.” He shook his head as he remembered that time. “If I’m being perfectly honest, it was amazing. The four of us blended so well, it was like we had always been a family. There was no sibling rivalry between the girls, Melissa didn’t try to force herself as a mother figure onto Opal, and I didn’t force myself to be a father to Amber. It all came naturally, we were a perfectly blended family,” He looked at the floor, and even with his head bent, Amelia could see the anguish on his face.

“What happened to make it not?” she asked softly. When he picked up his head to stare at her, she sucked in her breath at his expression. “Jesus, Raymond, what the hell happened?”

“Greed,” he answered in one, blunt word.

CHAPTER 9

Amelia roseto take her empty glass to the sink, rinsed it, set it aside, and got them both a bottle of water from the refrigerator. She settled back in her chair, and studied him. When he remained silent, she asked quietly, “What happened?”

He scrubbed his face, and sighed heavily. This time, he walked back around the island and sat in his chair to face her. “As I said, the four of us blended perfectly, no fights, no animosity, no power struggles, nothing. Melissa worked part-time, and the money from her job was hers to do with as she wished. I paid all the household expenses, and whatever events the girls wanted to participate in. After Opal graduated from high school, she went to one of the local colleges. Don’t tell me how I knew, but she wasn’t happy. I never kicked her out, but I asked if she wanted to live in the dorm to get the whole college experience.”

“Did she live in the dorm?”

“Yes, however, she hadn’t picked any real major. She went in under the general studies umbrella. That’s how I knew she wasn’t happy, but I didn’t call her out on it. Opal and I had such a relationship that I knew when she was ready to tell me,she would. She lasted for two complete semesters, and she even made the Dean’s List each time.”

“So, even though she was unhappy, she didn’t let it interfere with her studies?”

“Correct. Two weeks after coming home for the summer, she actually came to my office at the law firm to talk. She sat there and told me about her feelings, and what she really wanted to do.”

“What was that?”