To Have and to Hold by Fern Michaels

Author:Fern Michaels [Michaels, Fern]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The stream of postcards, letters, and Hallmark greeting cards during the following months was constant. Kate’s voice sizzled over the long-distance wire to the tune of three to four hundred dollars a month. She and Gus were friends, staying in touch on a daily, sometimes twice-daily, basis. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day for either of them to make the three-thousand-mile trip to visit. On recommendations from previous customers, Kate found herself traveling to San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Nevada to quote prices and secure more work than she could handle. A second office in Los Angeles was being considered. On the East Coast, Gus Stewart was up to his hips in a crime investigation that threatened, according to the FBI, to go on forever.

“This friendship is costing me a great deal of money,” Kate muttered as she scanned her latest phone bill. “Good Lord, I couldn’t possibly have talked $533.12 worth in one month!” She looked around uneasily, to see if anyone had heard her comment. Della was busy folding laundry and Ellie was swimming her daily laps. Donald was propped up in the hospital bed in the family room so he could see out into the garden.

In the four months since her visit to New Jersey, Donald’s health had deteriorated alarmingly. Della steadfastly refused to sign him into a nursing home and insisted on taking care of him herself. At Kate’s insistence he had been moved to her house so she and Ellie could spell Della. A home health aide came in at nine in the evening and sat with Donald through the long night.

Della looked up from the pile of sheets she’d just folded. “He knew me for a little while today, Kate. He looked right at me and said, ‘You’re getting skinny, old girl.’ ”

“He’s right,” Kate said worriedly. “We need more help. We’re both so tired we can hardly stand up. I know you want to be the one to do for him, I do too, but we have to be realistic. If we wear ourselves down, we won’t be any good to Donald. I’m as worried about you as I am about him. None of us has the energy to eat anymore. Look at us! We’re skin and bones. I haven’t been to the office in three weeks. I’d breathe my own life into Donald if I could, you know that, Della. If it came right down to it, I think I’d give my life for that man. But he wouldn’t want this, and we both know it. Decisions are called for here, and you and I have to make them.”

“But, Kate, he knew me today,” Della said, her dark eyes filling with tears.

“And he knew me two days ago,” Kate said quietly. “Look at him, Della, at all those tubes and machines. If he were able to, he would rip them all out. Donald had such dignity. I think we should let him go. We’re being selfish. We have to think about Donald, not ourselves,” Kate said, wiping her eyes.

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