A Husband for All Seasons Read online

  Chad woke from another nap when his parents entered the room, accompanied by his friend Lorene Saunders, carrying Amy, her two-year-old daughter. Chad stared when an orderly followed, pushing Perry Saunders in a wheelchair. Chad was speechless. In a few seconds he recalled his first meeting with Perry and Lorene several years ago.

  He had met them before they were married, when he was a senior in college. That was the summer he had worked as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Jon Preston, his good friend and rising country music sensation. Chad had accompanied Jon to his gig in Woodston, Kentucky, where Perry was a professor at the local college. Lorene’s public relations agency had been contacted to promote Woodston’s bicentennial celebration. When she came to Kentucky to oversee the promotion, she and Perry were reunited for the first time in twenty years. Although they were twice his age, he had liked them at once, and they all became good friends. He was pleased when his parents also developed a liking for Perry and Lorene. The Saunders’s later moved to Southern California, where Amy was born. After that, Chad saw them infrequently, although they talked often by phone.

  “Regular old home week,” he said. “Hi, Lorene. You’re as beautiful as ever.”

  Lorene bit her curved lips as if she was trying to control tears that threatened to overflow. Her long black eyelashes splayed over her face, and she didn’t return Chad’s greeting.

  Dark circles bordered her blue eyes and it seemed that Lorene had aged since he had last seen her six months ago. But Amy’s bright black eyes sparkled at Chad, and he believed the girl remembered him. He tried to lift his left hand to Amy’s outstretched one, but his hand seemed as heavy as lead. He let it drop back on the sheet.

  Chad’s eyes scanned the four adults in the room. Did he imagine it or was there a guilty expression on their faces?

  Attempting to believe that he was imagining things, Chad said, “It’s good of you to come to visit me. But why are you in a wheelchair, Perry?”

  Perry Saunders was the most handsome man Chad had ever seen. Tall and slender, with a well-proportioned body, Perry had black onyx eyes and thick silvery-gray hair. His trim mustache added dignity to his high cheekbones and straight, prominent nose. But a gray pallor marked his face today and his hands were trembling. Next to his father, Chad admired Perry above all men.

  “I’m all right, Chad. I’ll let your father explain.”

  Chad glanced toward his parents, but they wouldn’t meet his eyes. Without analyzing his feelings, anger welled up in Chad’s chest.

  “We’ve never hidden the fact that you were adopted,” his father stated, a tremor in his voice.

  “No. That’s has never bothered me.” But even as he spoke, in light of what he now suspected, Chad wondered if the statement was really true.

  “We’ve known who your biological parents were for several years. We didn’t tell you because you’ve always said you didn’t want to know. But if it hadn’t been for them, you might be dead now.”

  Again Chad glanced around the room. His suspicions were true, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

  “I still don’t want to know.”

  “Why, Chad? It seems so unusual,” Lorene said. “Most people are curious about their family roots.”

  “I don’t know exactly. I thought about it a lot when I was a boy, but as I grew older, it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe I didn’t want to admit that my birth parents didn’t want me,” he said, almost in a whisper.

  Chad paused, and a chill seemed to have penetrated the room. The silence was deafening. Except for Amy, who was squirming in Lorene’s arms, no one moved. Almost it seemed that no one breathed. After a suffocating moment, Mr. Reece cleared his throat.

  “You’d always said that you didn’t want to know, and frankly, we preferred it that way, too. I guess we wanted to feel that you were really ours. But when the surgeon said that your chances of recovery were low if you didn’t have a replacement kidney right away, we had to choose between your life and letting you find out your roots. Sometimes it takes years to find a donor with a matching organ. We didn’t want to lose you. We told your biological parents about your injury.”

  Breathing deeply, as if he found it hard to reveal the past after concealing it for so long, Mr. Reece said quietly, “As soon as Perry and Lorene heard from us, they boarded a plane immediately, either of them willing to be a donor.”

  Chad’s gaze sharpened and he studied each of the adults individually. His mother had covered her face with her hands. Lorene’s eyebrows had drawn together giving her face an agonized expression. Stewart Reece studied his son with curious intensity. A momentary look of pain crossed Perry’s face, and a wistful plea for forgiveness shone in his eyes.

  Chad turned his head and closed his eyes. His heart beat erratically. Learning about his bad injury was a bitter pill to swallow. He had told his parents that he didn’t want to know anything about his origin, but surely after he met Perry and Lorene, he should have been told the truth. He felt betrayed, humiliated, and actually stupid that he hadn’t even suspected who his parents were.

  When he opened his eyes, the Reeces had gone. Perry had wheeled his chair close to the bed and Lorene stood beside him. Under Lorene’s watchful eye, Amy was toddling around the room.

  “We owe you an explanation, Chad,” Perry said.

  He shook his head, and he couldn’t keep the tears from seeping under his eyelids. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  He had idolized these two people. He didn’t want to hear a sordid story that would topple them from the pedestal where he’d placed them.

  “If you don’t want to listen for yourself,” Lorene said, “at least, for our sakes, let us tell you what happened. We’ve waited years to ask for your forgiveness.”

  “I don’t want to hear it. Just leave me alone!”

  “We are not leaving, Chad,” Perry said in a voice that brooked no argument. “You need to hear the truth—after that, if you don’t want to see us again, we won’t bother you. But we’ve waited for years to explain what happened. You are going to listen.”

  Motioning to all of the tubes and medical equipment that held him immobile, Chad said bitterly, “I’m a captive audience, so I have no choice except to listen. But I promise you, I’m not going to like it.”

  Chapter Two

  Dreading the upcoming exchange, Chad squeezed his eyelids tightly to stop further tears, hardening his heart against Lorene’s pleading voice.

  “The first time Perry and I had seen each other for over twenty years was in Woodston, Kentucky, where we first met you. We were college sweethearts who’d been engaged. Only once did we let our emotions get out of hand—the night you were conceived.”

  For the next half hour, Chad listened to the rich timbre of Perry’s voice as he explained how through a misunderstanding and the stubborn conniving of Lorene’s father, he never knew she was pregnant. Lorene thought that Perry had abandoned her and didn’t love her. Perry was angry because he thought Lorene didn’t want to marry him and had moved away without leaving a forwarding address. Because of these misconceptions, they didn’t try to contact each other. They had remained unmarried because memories of the true love they had shared prevented them from having relationships with anyone else.

  Every word they said was searing Chad’s soul with the deepest agony he had ever known. His heart searched for an answer.

  God, why didn’t You let me die without hearing these things? I’ve always been happy. I had a good life. I’d rather be dead than to know that the four people I’ve loved the most have betrayed me. Why, God, why?

  Their words were destroying one of Chad’s fondest memories, and he wished they would stop talking and leave him with a few pleasant memories of their association.

  “When you came to town with the Jon Preston group, we both suspected that you were our child for you looked exactly like Perry did at that age. Then we learned that you were adopted—and that your parents were the Reeces—and little doubt r
emained.

  “Perry was determined to tell you that we were your parents, but I didn’t think it was fair to the Reeces. I’d given you to them, and we agreed to say nothing. But the Reeces knew my name. And when we all met at your last college game, they knew who we were. They volunteered to let us share your life, and we’ve been grateful for that.”

  Through clenched teeth, Chad said, “Shouldn’t I have had a say in that? I was old enough to make my own decisions. Was it right to treat me like a child?” Even as the words left his mouth, Chad realized he was acting childish now.

  He heard Lorene’s quick intake of breath, and he knew he had hurt her. Shattered by his own physical and emotional injuries, he had the desire to hurt someone else. If he lashed out at others, that might ease his own hurt.

  But he didn’t think he could ever forgive either set of parents for deceiving him.

  In all fairness he had to admit he had always told the Reeces that he didn’t want to know. So why did he suddenly feel as if the whole bottom had dropped out of his world?

  He made no gesture to stop them as Lorene picked up Amy, and his biological family left the room.

  Chad didn’t see Perry or Lorene the next day, nor did Vicky Lanham show up as he had hoped. His parents spent the day in the room with him, but fortunately he dozed a lot. Apparently aware of his mood, they didn’t force a conversation.

  The surgeon came in late afternoon.

  “You are doing great,” he said, “and so is Mr. Saunders. Your body is accepting the transplant remarkably well. There’s no reason you can’t live a perfectly normal life, if…” He paused and again Chad sensed deep compassion in the doctor’s voice and eyes.

  “If?” Chad prompted. “If what…?”

  “If you give up contact sports,” the doctor said bluntly.

  “I’d rather die,” Chad said without hesitation. “Football has been my life since I was a kid.”

  “I know,” the surgeon said. “I’ve seen you play. You play with your whole heart, and I can understand how you feel. I know what it would mean to be told I could never perform another operation. I’m only telling you the truth. You might play out the rest of your NFL contract and never have another accident, but I doubt very much if the management will let you do it. Even if they wanted to, it’s too great a risk, and probably no one would insure you.” He squeezed Chad’s hand. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

  The surgeon shook hands with Stewart and Betty, wagged his head sadly and left the room.

  “Please go away,” Chad said to his parents. “I don’t want to talk to anyone now.”

  “I don’t think you should be alone, son,” Mr. Reece said. “Especially tonight. Let me stay with you.”

  “I don’t want you to stay. I’m sorry, but I feel betrayed. If you had told me when I first met Perry and Lorene, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But to let me go on without telling me is more than I can forgive right now.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” Mr. Reece insisted.

  “Then ask the girl who has been sitting with me to come stay. I just can’t be around the two of you right now.”

  Chad hated himself for hurting these two people who loved him and had given him a happy childhood. But to gain another set of parents and to lose his lifetime dream in less than two days was more than he could bear. His parents. Who were his parents in a case like this? Would Lorene and Perry expect him to call them Mom and Dad now?

  But his heritage was a minor problem when he considered a future without football. What would he do without football? He had more money now than his parents had made in their entire life. He had invested his income wisely. He wouldn’t have to work another day as long as he lived.

  But what kind of future was that? He had always had something to do. He had started working when he was a boy—carrying newspapers and delivering groceries for the neighborhood store in Alabama where his father worked. In college, he couldn’t have a job and play football, too, but he had worked out regularly in the gym and studied to make good grades. Not to mention the long hours of practice. No, Chad Reece, or should it be Saunders now—had never been a loafer.

  And he didn’t want to start now.

  Vicky was surprised that she had been asked to sit with Chad again, and she dreaded seeing him. Chad had lots of fans on the staff of the hospital, and the word had spread like wildfire that his football days were over. How could she comfort him in the discouragement that must be eating at his spirit? She prayed she could help him, yet now that she was faced with the task, somehow it seemed so daunting.

  She walked quietly into Chad’s room. A large arrangement of roses from his team’s managers and coaches dominated the nightstand, and the room smelled like a greenhouse. The light over the bed was off, but the hall light shed a dismal reflection around the room. There was enough light to see Chad lying with his hand over his forehead, half shielding his eyes. Tears trickled in tiny rivulets over his face. The injury had been sustained such a short time ago, and to look at his muscular body no one would suspect that he had had such a serious operation.

  Vicky watched him for several minutes. Her face flushed when she realized she was spying and that Chad probably wouldn’t want her to see his tears. She backed out of the room, knocked and reentered. He hadn’t changed at all. Knowing he was awake, she went to the bed and touched the hand that lay across his brow.

  He seemed to know instinctively who it was. Without opening his eyes, he said, “I’m not asleep. Thanks for helping out. I’m doing great, physically, but my parents insisted that I should have someone with me, and I didn’t want them. I’m out of sorts with them at the present.”

  Vicky laughed lightly as she put down the tote she carried, took off her denim jacket and hung it over the back of the chair placed close to his bed.

  “I understand that. I get out of sorts with my mom and dad sometimes, too.”

  “If I could go to sleep and forget about it, I’d be happier, but I’ve slept a lot today. Besides my head is spinning with all of the things I’ve heard in the past few hours.”

  She lifted his bed slightly and put a pillow behind his shoulders. She held a glass of water to his mouth and he took a few sips through the straw. She sat beside him.

  “If you want to talk, I’ll be happy to listen. If you clear your mind you can probably go to sleep.”

  With a slight grin, Chad said, “Well, you asked for it.” He hesitated, not knowing if he was willing to share his newfound knowledge with anyone. Still it would be easier for him to talk to a stranger—someone he probably wouldn’t see again.

  “I’ve known as long as I can remember that I was an adopted kid, and I didn’t mind at all. That is, until today when I learned that I’ve known my biological parents for a few years—have been good friends with them—but didn’t suspect who they were.”

  “And that bothers you?”

  “Perhaps it shouldn’t, but I must have been naive not to have suspected it before. My biological father is my kidney donor. My adoptive parents contacted him as soon as they knew how serious my condition was. He and my ‘real’ mother came right away.”

  “Why does that upset you?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. Then sighed. “I suppose I’m mad at myself because I hadn’t suspected before. My mother said that she suspected I was her son immediately because I look like my father. And it’s true. I feel like I should have noticed my physical resemblance to Perry long ago. I was really rotten to both sets of parents, and that bothers me more than anything else. And I’m not normally…like that.”

  “I’m sure they understand. You’ve had a shocking experience, not only physically, but emotionally as well. No one expects you to act like nothing has happened.”

  Now that he’d started talking, he couldn’t seem to stop. “I’ve never doubted that it was God’s will for me to play football. Now I wonder how I got the wrong direction. My dad didn’t want me to play football, but when I was so determined to pla
y, he didn’t discourage me. That’s one reason I love my parents so much—they always put my welfare before their own. They adopted me because they wanted a child. Up to now, they haven’t had any reason to regret it, but I feel like I let them down today.” He sighed again. “It’s not easy managing anger and guilt at the same time.”

  “It will work out, Chad,” Vicky said, realizing that she had used his first name, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Maybe it was God’s will for you to play football for a while. He may have other plans for you now.”

  “Do you really believe that? I mean, has that been true in your life?”

  Vicky squirmed uncomfortably in her chair, thankful that the lights were dim in the room so Chad couldn’t see her expression. His problem and doubts had touched a sensitive place in her heart. At one time, she knew without any doubt God’s will for her life. But she had gotten sidetracked. She and Chad had more in common than he knew. Of course, her injury was an emotional one. She thought fleetingly that if she told him about her hang-ups it might give Chad a lift.

  “I’ve had problems with my directions, too, but they’re not as fresh in my mind as yours are. You talk tonight and I’ll listen.”

  Chad talked most of the night about his childhood. The early years in his parents’ home. The summer he had worked with the Jon Preston band and had met Lorene and Perry in a small Kentucky town. He had been drawn to them immediately, never dreaming they were his parents.

  “After they moved to California, I didn’t see them often, but we kept in touch by telephone and e-mail. All of that time, my parents…” He paused and in the dim light, Vicky saw pain cross his face. “…didn’t give any indication of my heritage, nor did Perry or Lorene.”

  “I have a feeling that none of your parents will expect you to change your relationship with them. I’m sure the Saunders won’t expect you to start calling them Mom and Dad. If they’ve kept the secret of your birth from you all of these years, they won’t expect any more from you than you’re willing to give.”