Promise Me Eternity (45 page)

“Guess.”

“Don’t you want to eat first?”

“No. First I’ll deal with you, then I’ll
eat.”

“You always have to have it your own way,”
she added with a giggle.

Chapter 100

_______________________

Throughout the time Simon was in prison, only
one person visited him regularly. That person was Edna Weiss, who
was there every Thursday at visiting time. She never missed. Dr.
Patterson was pleased to see her, but didn’t want her wasting her
time on him. He’d said this to her on several occasions, but she
couldn’t be persuaded. She’d answer, “I like coming to visit you
and as long as I like it, I’ll come.”

Simon slowly got used to the idea. He looked
forward to her visits as she was his only connection with the
outside world.

A year after she began the visits to the
prison, Edna’s husband died from a heart attack.

When she next came to see Simon, he comforted
her, knowing she was attached to him. Then he thought of
something.

“Listen, Edna, I have an idea and I hope you
like it. As far as I know, you’ve been living in a rented
apartment, right?”

Edna nodded.

“I don’t see why you should keep living
there, paying high rent. Why don’t you move into my house? It’s
better than it being empty.”

Edna resisted. “Oh no, Dr. Patterson. I can’t
do that.” She wanted him to rent it to someone else and earn some
money. “Think how much money you could earn in twenty years.” She
instantly felt bad for mentioning the number of years. She could
have said “in those years.” “I meant—”

“Money doesn’t mean anything to me. And I
don’t want to lease it to people I don’t know. I have a laboratory
in the basement and I don’t want anyone changing anything. Really,
I’d be more than glad if you moved in. What do you say?”

She thought about it for a bit, and then
nodded. “If you insist, even though …”

“Good, we have a deal. Now I can relax,
knowing someone will be looking after my roses. And I’d like to
suggest something else.”

“Yes?”

“How about we start calling each other by our
first names? We’ve known each other long enough, I think.”

Edna blushed. “I … I don’t know, I’ve kind of
gotten used to …”

“Let’s drop this barrier, shall we?”

She looked down. “If you say so, I’ll
try.”

“Good, I’m pleased. The next time you come,
you’ll call me Simon.”

One day Edna came in a flurry to tell him
that two men had rung the doorbell with a repossession warrant.
“Because of unpaid obligations to the bank, they said. They
searched your house and picked out something they could sell at
auction. They took your microscope. I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop
them. They were such big, strong-looking guys.”

“Don’t worry. What use is a microscope to me
when I’m in prison? The bank was only after what’s theirs. Now
they’ll sell it and if any money’s left, they’ll probably put it
into my account.”

“Good, I was scared the news would affect you
more.”

“I am a bit down, but not because of the
microscope.”

He told her he missed his colleagues and felt
bad not being of any use anymore. “Now that I’m not doing my job, I
miss it.”

Edna listened to him for a while and then
started talking herself. “I have a friend who works as a nurse in
the trauma ward. I’ll tell you something if you promise to keep it
to yourself.”

“Of course I will, who can I tell?” He gave a
sarcastic laugh.

Edna told him about the problems that had
occurred in neurosurgery after he’d left. “There was a huge scandal
in the hospital. A lot of talk. If I understood correctly, a young
surgeon had worked there for a while.”

“Yes, that was Jerry Duncan. What
happened?”

“This young surgeon was in a relationship
with the main anesthetist, right?”

“That’s right, with Dr. Anita Carter.”

“Well, after you left they hired another
experienced neurosurgeon. And he had an affair with the
anesthetist.”

Dr. Patterson nodded his head. “Not
surprising.”

“There are rumors about him walking in on
them when they were …”

“Yes?”

“You know, in bed.”

“Awful. And what happened then?”

“The young surgeon lost his mind and went
after his co-worker. They say he broke his jaw.”

Simon asked enthusiastically, “And?”

“The next day he quit. He said he was sorry
about everything and couldn’t work at the hospital anymore.”

“My God! And what happened to the new
guy?”

“He was on sick leave until his jaw healed.
Then he came back and is now living with the anesthetist.”

“That really is news.” He scratched his chin,
shaking his head. “Did you hear what happened to Jerry Duncan?”

“They say that he let himself go and is still
mourning for her. I don’t know anything else.”

“Poor Jerry.”

And that’s how he and Edna Weiss became real
friends. Simon looked forward to Thursdays, knowing that Edna would
visit him. Only once did she miss, and he was beside himself,
scared that something had happened to her.

Something had: She had been clumsy and fallen
down the stairs. Due to her sprained ankle she couldn’t visit him.
She wrote him a letter, telling him she was OK and would be there
the following Thursday.

Chapter 101

_______________________

Valerie Lawson was a simple, hesitant woman
who had stood by her husband her whole life. A year ago, he’d told
her that he’d fallen in love with his colleague Anita Carter, and
that pained her. Her first thought was to leave him. But she still
loved her husband and because she’d spent twenty years of her life
with him, she couldn’t imagine living without him.

At forty-one, Valerie was average-looking,
with a short, practical haircut, and thick, plastic-rimmed glasses.
She’d started letting herself go, putting on weight and dressing in
baggy clothes.

When she told her friend that her husband was
leaving, her friend gave her two options: “You can either accept
his decision and leave him, or you can fight for him and if you’re
lucky, he’ll come back to you.”

Valerie chose the second option. She held
Henry’s decision against him, but still decided to make the divorce
as hard for him as possible. Every time he brought up the subject,
she said she’d sign the papers but wasn’t feeling well at the
moment and would rather do it the next month.

The months went by and because Henry was
considerate, he didn’t insist, and waited for the right moment. But
within that time, Valerie changed. She lost the extra weight and
did aerobics. She worked out regularly because her friend had said
she had to feel beautiful and attractive to seduce her husband
again.

She also had plastic surgery. She got a
face-lift, had her lips and nose fixed, a breast enhancement, her
teeth whitened, and she also had laser treatment for her eyesight.
She didn’t dare think about the money she had spent on all the
operations, but when she took a look at herself in the mirror, she
cried with joy. Her previously average-looking face had become
pretty and unbelievably symmetrical. Before, her nose had always
bothered her and she’d found her lips too thin. Now an attractive
woman stood in front of her, without those hideous glasses. And her
breasts were pleasingly large.

“You think they’re too big?” she asked the
surgeon.

“I don’t think so. They’re just what you
wanted. You’ll have to get used to them.”

“They’re very beautiful, but ….” She cried
from happiness.

When her surgical wounds had healed and the
swelling had gone down, she picked up aerobics again. She also
visited a hair stylist at the beauty clinic. She had grown her hair
for months and it nearly reached down to her shoulders. The
hairdresser said, “You have very beautiful, strong hair, but a
lighter color would suit you more than the dark. It would make you
look younger and I also recommend a perm. You have a narrow face
and your hair needs some volume.”

Accompanied by a stylist, Valerie visited a
few clothing shops and was astonished when her acquaintance
recommended mainly light colors and tight-fitting outfits. “That
way you’ll emphasize your beautiful body,” was the reply.

Valerie felt uneasy. “Are you sure that’s
right for me, though?” Before, she’d preferred to wear dark pants
and loose tops and rarely wore light colors.

“More than sure.”

Valerie had told Henry she was taking a
vacation. Finally, the time came for them to see each other again.
They met in an elegant restaurant on River Lane. She was
deliberately late and even from a distance she could see Henry
wearily drinking his beer and checking his watch. She was wearing a
white silk pantsuit and her hair bounced as she walked toward him.
Her elegant stride in the high heels caused several men to look her
way.

“Hello, Henry. Sorry for being late,” she
said in a quiet but decisive voice.

Henry started, turned, and gave her a weary
look, which was immediately followed by astonishment. His jaw
dropped open and he stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.
Half-closing his mouth he let out a couple of strange sounds.
Finally he got up, took hold of her hands, and kissed her
cheek.

“My God, Valerie, is that really you?”

“Of course it’s me, who else would it
be?”

First pulling out a chair for her, he then
sat down. “I can’t believe it. Obviously you weren’t on vacation,
but at a beauty clinic, right?”

“Does that mean you don’t like the
change?”

“Just the opposite. My God, Valerie, you’re a
beauty. How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. I said I wanted to be
beautiful, they did the rest. They really can perform
miracles.”

He stared at her low neckline. “You also had
your breasts enlarged.”

She picked up her napkin and unfolded it in
embarrassment. “Don’t stare at them like that. Some of the guests
are looking at us.”

Quickly he checked who was looking. “You’re
right, but they’re not staring at me, they’re staring at you.”

She became serious. “So, where are these
papers I should sign?”

“There’s no rush, Valerie. We can deal with
them after dinner. Why don’t you tell me something about yourself
instead? What have you been up to lately?”

She told him she’d finally managed to finish
her psychiatry studies and that she’d gotten a job at the clinic.
“Tomorrow’s my first day and I’m already nervous. I’ll be working
with children.”

“Unbelievable. You surprise me. I thought
you’d never finish.”

“Neither did I. But I decided I had to a few
months ago. I had to do something.”

“I can’t get over it how much you’ve changed.
It’s as if I was talking to another woman. It’s still you, but you
look different and seem more confident.”

“Stop it, Henry. Tell me, what have you been
up to? How’s it going with Anita?”

“OK, nothing special. We’re expecting a baby.
Anita is excited about getting married.”

She gave him a sad look. “How come we didn’t
have children?”

“Maybe we postponed it for too long, who
knows. Anita and I didn’t plan it. I didn’t really want this and I
recommended an abortion, but she—”

“She wants to have you.”

“Let’s forget Anita now. Let’s talk about
something else.”

They reminisced about the old times when they
were happy and in love. They remembered the nice places they’d
visited and laughed at their adventures. When it was nearly eleven,
Henry got a call from Anita, asking him where he was. He told her
he’d be home soon.

“You need to go home. It’s not right, you
sitting here with you ex-wife,” Valerie joked. “Where are the
papers?”

Henry handed over her the papers with a heavy
heart. “You have to sign right at the bottom, Valerie. I’m sorry
about us.”

“Me too, Henry, me too.” She could barely
hold back her tears while signing the divorce papers with a shaky
hand.

Chapter 102

_______________________

Several tabloids reported on the magnificent
wedding between the plastic surgeon, Dr. Robert Miner, and his
police officer bride, Caroline. They got married on Golden Beach,
about a hundred miles from Medford. Robert Miner hired a yacht and
invited over a hundred people. Even the minister had to come from
Medford and marry them on the ship. The tabloids noted that there
hadn’t been such a lavish wedding for years.

The yacht drifted toward the mainland, and
dancing went on all night, until it reached the pier in the early
morning hours. The invited guests were tired but pleased with an
unforgettable night.

A white limousine was waiting next to the
boat for the bride and groom and it whisked them away to a luxury
hotel.

Caroline was full of energy in spite of the
long night. “You’ll see what I’m going to do to you when we get
into the room,” she threatened affectionately.

Dr. Miner’s legs began to shake.

She shone with pride when she looked around
the spacious rooms. “I never thought I’d get this lucky.” She
leaned over and kissed him.

“It’s all for you, honey. I’m not
stingy.”

“And that’s how it should be.” She stood up
straight. “I’m now officially your wife and everything should be as
I want it.”

“Yes, yes …”

“I warned you about my bossiness.”

“Of course, and that’s why I love you.”

“Off to the bathroom with you now, you silly!
You’re all sweaty from singing and drinking all night.” She checked
the clock. “You have exactly five minutes. If you’re late, you’ll
be punished.”