Part 24 (1/2)
Wil shook his head. Why had she come? he wondered. Out of hate, spite, or curiosity?
”Get up off your knees, Wil.”
He found himself obeying.
She stood on the opposite side of the bed, facing Wil.
”You look like s.h.i.+t.”
Wil sought escape by looking down at his father.
”Can you hear me?”
”Yes.”
”Not you, idiot. I'm talking to your dad. Think they could close his mouth? He looks a bit demented with his lips parted like that.”
”He's a vegetable.”
”Keith has always been an old turnip.”
Shut up! Get out! Stay away from me!
”Where are you placing him?”
”In his old bedroom, of course.”
”You're taking him home?”
Wil nodded.
”Why?”
”I'm going to take care of him myself.”
”Too late. May as well pa.s.s him on to a health care provider. Or is the cost a problem?”
”I want to take care of him.”
”I can set up a trust fund for him. We'll find an exceptionally good nursing home and move on with our lives together.”
”No!”
He faced her steady glare. She softened and turned back to look at Keith.
”I'm sure Dad would feel better in a home.” Her hand reached out and stroked Keith's gray hair. ”He hated you, Wil, and from what I have observed, the feeling seemed mutual.”
”Not true,” Wil mechanically replied.
”Stop this stupid denial.” She leaned over Keith and blew a few fine hairs off his forehead. ”You don't want to see your son come home with the welts from my whips, the bites from my teeth, and the slashes from my canes. Do you?”
Wil watched his father's body twitch and shake. Immediately he ran from the room, calling for a doctor.
When he returned to the room, he saw Marie bending over his father, whispering and licking his ear. Wil reached out to grab her shoulders, but his hands were scorched by her icy skin.
”Seizure!” he heard from behind him. People pushed and shoved until he found himself in the hallway, watching Marie heading for the elevator bank. Her mauve dress fluttered around her calves. Her high heels tapped out the retreat.
A nurse's hand pulled him back toward his father's room.
”Your father has had a seizure. The doctor isn't sure what brought it on, but given your father's unstable condition, it's unlikely that he'll be able to go home with you for a while. Have you thought about a nursing home? They could give your father twenty-four-hour-a-day care. It will be impossible for you to do the same.”
”He's coming home.”
”Not a very wise choice, but it's certainly your decision.”
The nurse took the same path as Marie and ended up getting on the same elevator. They smiled at each other. Neither spoke.
”d.a.m.n you!” he shouted as the elevator doors shut.
Chapter 41.
”Remember when we were translating Venus in Furs?”
Sade nodded while removing his banded-collar navy linen s.h.i.+rt. He had removed the black sheets from the windows of the cabin tonight. Instead of illumination by candlelight, the moon would spray ghostly shadows on the two lovers.
”I got a book of my own.” Her hand dipped into her red canvas bag and pulled out a thick newspaper. Playing magician, she slid a blue-colored, large-format paperback from within the pages. Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns, shouted the t.i.tle in white letters. Cecelia giggled.
”I've been studying this book,” she said ominously.
”And?” The child learned faster than he had thought she would.
”And I have a special surprise for you.”
”Will it hurt?”
Cecelia nodded sagely.
Sade tossed his s.h.i.+rt to the floor and quickly undid his black leather jeans. He carefully shed his outer layer of animal skin, paring down to his own white flesh. Alerted, his c.o.c.k stretched forward and out toward the scantily clad teen. Her skimpy white shorts and halter top barely covered her loins and the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
Cecelia tucked the book under one arm and again reached into her canvas bag. This time she pulled out a new clothesline still wrapped and sealed.
”I shall demand your full cooperation, sir.”
”Or...”
Confused, she hesitated. Suddenly she exchanged the position of the book for the rope. Quickly her fingers brushed across the multiple Post-its indexing the book.