My mother was a good woman, but she was easily blinded by love. I heard stories about how my dad cheated on her, even before I was born, yet she stayed with him for far too long. Growing up, I’d watch her go on dates with all sorts of men, some treated her right, and others didn’t. I noticed that the guys she liked most were the ones who were smooth talkers and outwardly romantic.
I understood where she was coming from, as much as it drove me crazy. I knew what it felt like to be lonely. I also knew how good it felt to be wanted by someone you were attracted to. I know that if I heard some unflattering information about Daniel at this stage, it would be hard to hear. You always want to believe the person you love is right for you.
That’s why I felt so responsible for making sure their relationship ended. If my mom was unable to see past his false charm, then it was up to me to help her see. I just didn’t know how I would do this.
I spent days in a funk, thinking and worrying about my mom’s relationship, as well as my own. Things were even starting to become strained between Daniel and me. We used to be so affectionate with each other, all the time. Now, most nights we went to bed with nothing more than a peck on the lips. At times, I wondered if the struggle was worth it. Terry was a tough opponent and many times I thought about surrendering to him. If my mom was happy, maybe I didn’t need to be happy, too.
Things got even worse when I received a text message from my mom after hearing nothing from her for a few days. Apparently, she was letting me know that she was off to Miami for a few days with Terry, as a honeymoon of sorts.
This pissed me off for a multitude of reasons. First, she was basically being held in isolation from Daniel and me. If we were in no position to talk to her about the mistake she made, then she would only fall farther for him.
Also, she had always worked so hard to support her family. Times were tough for my mom, but now that I was out of the house, she was finally able to start saving for retirement. She still rented a small apartment, even though she dreamed of having her own home with a garden again. Suddenly, Terry comes around, and she decided that she had time to leave town for an undetermined amount of time. I wanted my mom to have time to relax, but it was such a departure from her normal routine.
Finally, I knew that Terry had little money of his own. Daniel didn’t get into specifics, but I knew that he gambled away much of his savings. After he lost his house, he moved in with Daniel until he got help for his gambling addiction and got back on his feet. If I had to guess, they were vacationing on my mother’s dime and he was using her for a place to live. It was just so devastating to me because she didn’t have the money to be taking care of more than one person.
The stress became too much for me, and I started feeling ill again. I didn’t want to bother Daniel about it because he was stressed out too. He had been neglecting some of his business duties in order to spend more time with me. I didn’t want to take up any more of his time with my problems. If his business suffered because of me, I would never forgive myself.
So, I downplayed my symptoms. When he asked if I was feeling okay and taking care of myself, I lied and told him that I was feeling great. Unfortunately, day after day, I was becoming more stressed out. I was showing symptoms of another episode, but I didn’t even want to admit that to myself. I just wanted to be normal again.
Then, the inevitable happened. I was trying to work on a paper and I started getting terrible auras. I stood up to get my medicine, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground.
I don’t remember anything that happened, but I knew I had a seizure. I felt absolutely horrible and I had a terrible pain in my head.
I touched the side of my head where the throbbing pain was coming from and my fingertips came into contact with warm, sticky blood. I felt so weak that I could hardly stand up, so I pulled my sweatshirt sleeve up to my head and pressed it into the small wound. Then, I lay on the floor, hoping that Daniel would be home soon.
Eventually, I regained enough strength to pull myself off the floor and go to the bathroom. In the cupboard, I found some gauze to press against my head. For a doctor, there was a surprising lack of first aid equipment in the house.
Then, I rested on the bed, careful not to get any blood on the pillows. I waited until I knew that Daniel would be getting ready to come home before I texted him.
I had a seizure this afternoon. I must have fallen and hit my head. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but I thought I’d give you a heads up in case you had some extra supplies for the bleeding to bring home for me.
He responded a minute later.
On my way.
When he got home, he was noticeably frustrated with me. I knew better than to hide my symptoms or wait to get medical attention, but we were in a difficult spot. I didn’t have a new doctor, and I didn’t want to trouble him.
“I’m sorry,” I whined when he walked into the bedroom with an exasperated look on his face.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I don’t know,” I sniffled. “I didn’t want to make things harder on you.”
“Do you know what would really make things harder on me? If you died. I cannot have something bad happen to you. What if you had another seizure? What if you hit your head harder than you did? I don’t give a shit about my practice or my reputation if I can’t have you. Let me see your head.”
He climbed onto the bed and removed the blood-soaked gauze.
“I’m going to have to give you a few stitches. Just hold tight.”
As he numbed my scalp and sewed my skin back together, he spoke to me in a soothing voice, trying to distract me from the pain. As awful as I felt, it also felt good to be taken care of in such a loving way. When he had me all cleaned up, he performed a quick exam.
“Obviously, what we’re doing now isn’t working for you. You’ve had more episodes in the past month than you’ve had in the past year. You’ve got to start taking better care of yourself.”
“It’s hard to when there’s so much on my mind.”
“I know,” he frowned. “Any luck getting through to your mom?”
I shook my head.
“We need help, and I think I know who can assist us with that.”
I sighed. We had done nothing but toss around wild ideas for weeks. Simply sitting down with my mom had yet to work out. Cornering Terry and threatening to expose him was too complicated, given that Terry was rather elusive. We had even spoken to divorce lawyers, but they all said that they couldn’t do anything if the marriage was legal and consensual.
All of these roadblocks led us to ultimately put our plans on the back burner. I knew that we were running out of time. I had even slept at my own apartment a few times when things got tense between the two of us. We had to act quickly, or else our relationship would certainly suffer.
“Who could possibly help us?” I asked, resting my head back on the pillow as Daniel checked my pulse again.
“Someone who has been through this before—someone who knows all of my dad’s weaknesses. I had a feeling I’d take you to meet my mom someday, but I didn’t think this would be the reason. Anyway, I’m going to give her a call and see if we can pay her a little visit tomorrow. Did you have any weekend plans?”
“Nope,” I said, butterflies filling my stomach. Daniel must have felt a change in my pulse.
“Are you nervous about meeting my mom?” he grinned.
I scowled playfully at his teasing. “Of course, I am! How could I not be afraid to meet her? You’ve always spoken so highly of her. What if she doesn’t like me?”
Meeting parents always made me nervous. First impressions were so important, and I hated the idea of anyone not liking me for any reason.
“I guarantee she’ll like you. Besides, mutual enemies always strengthen relationships. You rest up, I’ll give her a call and then I’ll be back to check on you.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for taking such good care of me.”
; “Of course. I need you to be healthy. We have our work cut out for us.”