The Right Life

“Mr.
Rainey?” A very low female voice woke
Mort from his sleep. “Mr. Rainey,
someone is waiting for you.”

Mort rubbed
his eyes and reached for his glasses, which he had put on the metal tray next
to Alex’s bed. He didn’t need to ask
who was waiting for him. He eased
himself away from Alex, extremely careful not to wake her.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “Let her sleep?” he asked.

“Of
course,” the nurse answered.

Mort took a
quick side trip to the bathroom before going to face his one time arch
nemesis. Once out in the ER’s waiting
room, he spotted Ted right away. Here
we go…

“What the
hell happened?” Ted asked gruffly.

“Well, you
know, Ted, I’d love to know that myself.
Could you not be, well, ‘you’ for a moment and have an adult
conversation without spitting out accusations?” Ted face reddened in anger, but he didn’t say a word.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “Sit down, please.”

“Mort…”

“Before you
start to blame me for anything else, let me inform you that I am happily
married, have a beautiful daughter and another is on her way.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> I had no idea Amy was coming here, and,
quite frankly, no desire to see her.
She called me twice without letting me know who she was, then just
showed up on my doorstep yesterday during my daughter’s birthday party.”

“My wife
went into false labor – it was a fluke that I even saw Amy.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Did you talk to the doctors?”

 <>

Ted
nodded. “She’s banged up, but she’ll be
O.K.”

“Did you
talk to the police?”

“She
wouldn’t trykillkill herself,” Ted said defensively.

“I just
told you what I was told.”

Ted shot
Mort a look that made his blood run cold.
“Why did she come to you anyway?”

Mort
sighed. “I don’t know.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Well, she gave me a reason, but God help you
if it’s true.”

“Me?”

“Are you
trying to take my money now too, Ted?”

Ted
actually looked puzzled. “What?”

“Amy said
that you want to move and that you want the money from the house to…”

“Move?style="mso-spacerun: yes"> We’re not moving, Mort, and I sure as hell
don’t need your money.”

“I knew it
was an excuse,” Mort mumbled.

“What was
that?”

Mort cocked
an eyebrow. “I said I knew that was an
excuse. Were you apathetic about the
baby?”

“Baby?”

“Yeah,
baby. She said that she lost your baby
and…”

“She was
pregnant?”

Mort rolled
his eyes. “I really don’t think that
she’d lie about that, but you mean she didn’t tell you?”

Ted’s
demeanor changed. “No.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> We’re supposed to get married in two weeks…and
she came here to find you and told you about my baby?”

“I don’t
know what she’s doing, Ted, but I can’t worry about it.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> My wife needs to go home and stay in bed for
the next month – I have other concer…”

“Why did
she come to you?”

“I don’t
know! She certainly didn’t want to come
to me when she had me…”

“Mr. Milner?”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> A doctor approached Ted.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “She’s awake now.” Without another word to Mort, Ted went to Amy’s room.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Mort, went back to Alex’s, far more than
eager to leave the hospital. style="mso-spacerun: yes">