Chapter 5 - VICTOR CAME TO MY NEW ROOM
Victor discovered where I had been moved the following afternoon.
He arrived in a wheelchair with an orderly behind him.
I had instructed the hospital not to allow Rita in.
I had not yet blocked Victor.
Part of me needed to hear what he would say.
He dismissed the orderly.
Then stared at me.
“You changed the locks.”
“Yes.”
“You revoked the power of attorney.”
“Yes.”
“Sarah.”
He sounded offended.
Not ashamed.
I almost admired the audacity.
“You gave Rita my house key.”
“It’s our house.”
“No.”
His face tightened.
“Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You photographed private documents.”
“They were under my hospital bed with my address on them.”
He lowered his voice.
“You don’t understand the plan.”
“Explain it.”
“It was estate planning.”
“For Rita?”
He hesitated.
Caught.
“Rita has been helping me manage things.”
“Does she also help you sleep?”
Victor looked away.
There it was.
No denial.
I felt something inside me close.
“How long?”
“Sarah, you’ve just had major surgery.”
“So have you.”
“We shouldn’t do this now.”
“You started it now.”
He glanced toward the door.
Then softened.
“I was scared.”
I nearly laughed.
“Of kidney failure?”
“Yes.”
“And that made you sleep with Rita?”
“It made me realize life is short.”
The cruelty of that sentence almost took my breath away.
I had shortened my own healthy body to give him more life.
And he was using mortality to explain why he betrayed me.
Victor continued.
“I didn’t know whether I would survive long enough to fix anything.”
“So you promised her my house.”
“I was trying to create security.”
“For whom?”
Silence.
“Not me.”
He looked at the oncology envelope beside my bed.
“What is that?”
For the first time, I felt something ugly.
I wanted to hurt him.
Wanted to tell him.
Wanted to watch fear appear.
Instead, I picked up the envelope and placed it in my bag.
“Not your concern.”
He looked stunned.
For almost thirty years, everything about my body had been available to him.
Appointments.
Tests.
Fears.
Now something belonged only to me.
Victor reached toward my hand.
I moved it away.
“Go recover.”
“Sarah.”
“The kidney is yours.”
His face changed.
May you like
I continued.
“The house isn’t.”
