Part 26 (1/2)

Vince suspected that his grandson was a regular surfer at certain web cam sites and other cyber locations. And it wasn't necessarily the real-tune world of naked cavorting women that kept Donny glued to his computer screen. It could just as well be video of a newborn giraffe from the San Diego zoo or a D&D gaming room that had caught his obsessive-compulsive attention.

After making it clear to Don that they'd be back in the morning to make sure he took his medication, Vince and Charlie hit the road.

”I understand why Tony doesn't come to visit very often,” Charlie said now. She sighed. ”And I thank G.o.d every day that Don doesn't want us to visit more than once a week.” She looked at Vince. ”Am I a bad person for thinking that?”

Vince smiled at his wife. ”No, you are absolutely not.”

”Hmmm,” she said, clearly not agreeing with him.

”Maybe you shouldn't go back tomorrow,” he said. ”I know how much it gets to you. And then, you know, that upsets Donny. It kind of feeds on itself. You're upset, so he gets upset, which makes you even more upset, which et cetera, et cetera. It's the same thing with Tony when he comes. Hey, Don told me just today that Tony's been emailing him lately.”

One of Tony's biggest difficulties had been accepting that he and Don were never going to have a traditional father-son relations.h.i.+p. He'd dropped completely out of Donny's life for a while.

Vince had been glad to hear that Tony was making an effort at having some kind of relations.h.i.+p with his son, and that he was astute enough to attempt to fit it into a format, like email, that Donny could handle without a lot of additional stress.

Although it was entirely possible that this contact from his father had been the straw that broke the camel's backa”or the straw that made the camel flip out and stop taking his meds, as it were.

”And you were going to tell me this about Tony... when?”

Oh, danger, danger, Will Robinson! Sweet Charlotte was looking for a down and dirty fight.

”Right after we got into the car,” he answered. ”Which is right now. Which is when I just told you. It's good to hear, isn't it? Although, to be honest, Donny didn't seem particularly excited. Could be the meds. He was moving pretty slow. Remind me to ask him about it again in a coupla weeks, when he's up to speed.”

”He's never up to speed,” Charlotte said darkly.

”Up to his speed,” Vince corrected himself.

”How do you do it?” she asked him. ”How do you just sit there and accept him exactly as he is, without ever letting it get to you? You don't get angry, you don't get upseta”you know, I can count the number of times you've lost your temper on my fingers. Nearly sixty years and ... It's really starting to p.i.s.s me off, Vincent.”

He laughed at those words coming out of this woman's extremely proper mouth. Unfortunately, she hadn't said it to be funny.

”And you know what else? I'm getting good and tired of shouting all the time,” she informed him tightly. ”We have plenty of money. Will you just go and buy some hearing aids, for goodness sake?”

This wasn't about his hearing or alleged lack thereof. It was about Donny. It was about how hard it was for Charlotte to acknowledge the fact that their grandson was never going to have the kind of life they'd always dreamed he'd have, back when he was a wide-eyed, sweet-faced ten-year-old. He was never going to have a family. He would most likely never find the kind of love and companions.h.i.+p they themselves had shared for all these years.

It was a difficult thing to come to peace with and accept.

”I think Donny's okay, Charles,” he told her now. ”I think he's okay with his life. He likes being alone. And the Internet allows him to be social on certain levelsa”levels he can deal with, with limits he can handle. When he's taking his meds and his biggest anxieties are under control ... he's okay. I would even dare to suggest that he's happy.”

She was silent for the rest of the ride home. But when he pulled the car into their driveway, she asked, ”You really think he'd be better off if I didn't go tomorrow?”

”I wouldn't say better off,” Vince told her as they climbed out of the car. ”He loves you and he knows you love him. But I do think it might help keep him calmed down right now, while he's still unstable.”

Charlie nodded. ”I'll go, but I'll stay in the car.”

Her reason for going along tomorrow might've been so that she wouldn't feel completely helpless and unnecessary when it came to a.s.sisting Donny. She'd be there in case Vince turned out to be wrong, and Don did need her.

But he would bet big dollars that her real reason for wanting to go was so that he wouldn't have to drive over there alone.

Vince unlocked the kitchen door, holding it open for her. ”Okay,” he said easily. ”That sounds like a good plan.”

”I'm going up to take a bath,” she informed him as she headed for the stairs.

”Charlotte.” He stopped her. ”You have seen me angry more than ten times.”

She thought about it. ”No, I don't believe I have.”

”When Upstairs Sally brought home that guy who lost his wallet...?”

”That was the first time,” she said. ”But even then I think you were more upset than angry. But all right. It counts.”

”How about when Tony was fifteen and he came home completely drunk and threw up on the brand-new living room rug... ?”

”Oh, yes. Two. And threea”when Lexie was in that car accident, and that nurse wouldn't let you into the emergency room,” Charlotte said. ”That was very impressive.”

”When Wendy lit the back deck on fire.”

”That's definitely four.” She couldn't keep from smiling. ”Although I think even though you yelled, you were secretly impressed she'd managed such an accomplishment.”

Vince grinned. ”How did she do that without lighter fluid?”

”You also got good and mad at the high school when the band director was laid off,” Charlotte said. ”That's five.”

”I was angry when you wouldn't marry me,” he told her.

”No, you weren't. You were hurt.”

”I was angry, too,” he told her. ”I just didn't broadcast that fact.”

”Well, that doesn't count, because you didn't come across as angry.”

”Well, I was.”

”Well, you should have shouted, then,” she countered. ”Even if I let it count, that's only six times.”

”There were definitely others.”

She gave him her Oh, yeah? look. ”Name 'em.”

”Well...”

”Hah. You can't.”

”Sure I can.” He was angry a lot during the war. Surely he'd lost his temper more than once during those first few weeks he'd met Charlotte, when he was staying in her home. ”I knowa”I was angry that day you came home and told me that Senator Howard was going to Hawaii, and that you'd been told to clear his calendar.”

Charlie and the other secretaries had been ordered to contact everyone who had an appointment with the senator and reschedule. After waiting all that time, he was going to be shut out.

”No,” she said now. ”You weren't. You got a little grim, but...” She shook her head.

”If I remember correctly, there was an awful lot of yelling going on that day.”