Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? by Erica Orloff

Author:Erica Orloff [Orloff, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, General, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373895359
Google: j4JD2csuekIC
Amazon: 0373895356
Publisher: Red Dress Ink
Published: 2005-10-01T07:00:00+00:00

19

Lily

W hile it wasn’t “time yet,” I discussed with Dr. Morris how, if it got really bad, I wanted to die at home. I had become a walking medical dictionary. Ductal, in situ, carcinoma…invasive, stage four, the words could spill out of me at will. I told Dr. Morris that I would let him know when I’d had enough treatment—or he would. When and if fighting became pointless, I would have hospice care at home. I was planning ahead, which was never my strong suit. But spontaneous and cancer didn’t seem to be two words that sat well together. So next I visited two lawyers.

The first lawyer was my family attorney, Harry Conklin, a sweetheart of a guy who’d known me since my father died and we had to settle the estate. Harry always wore bow ties to the office. He possessed quite a collection, including a light-up one for Christmas, one with orange pumpkins for Halloween and a red, white and blue one for the Fourth of July. Good lawyer jokes abound—you know the ones about how they’re all sharks, but Harry reminded me of the kind of lawyer you’d picture in a sleepy, little town. Sort of like Andy Griffith as Matlock, minus the Southern drawl.

As soon as I got sick, I had contacted him. Harry drew up a durable power of attorney, naming Michael, of course. I also told him I wanted to come back to discuss my estate, which amounted to a house with a leaky roof, a dog that snored and two children—one a petulant teen that I sometimes wondered if I wanted to take care of.

Without telling anyone, after a month of chemo, I had an appointment with Harry to draw up a will. The children would have to go to David, he had said over the phone, but I wanted to name Michael their legal guardian anyway. There was always a chance Spawn wouldn’t want them. I considered it, actually, more than a chance. Because though David might, in his narcissistic heart, actually love his kids, Child Bride did not.

But in my heart, I knew my wishes aside, I probably didn’t stand much legal chance of naming Michael. Still, I showed up to my appointment with the Bow Tie King, determined to make him see it my way.

“Lily,” Harry hugged me tightly and ushered me into his office, which had that moneyed “clubby” feel of rich burgundy leather, brass and a banker’s lamp on his desk casting a soft green glow.

I settled into a leather chair that seemed to swallow me up amidst its two massive arms, and I smiled at him.

“Harry…the cancer’s kicking my ass. Now I don’t want you getting all blubbery on me. I’m here because I want a living will. I do not want to be hooked up on machines should things go terribly wrong.”

I watched him remove his glasses in a tired gesture and rub his eyes. My father had been the hard-drinking sort who loved his family and hated lawyers, doctors and priests.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.