Chapter 4
Frank spent a full seven days in the Critical Care Unit.
Those seven days were the longest and clearest days of my life.
Every day, I sat outside and watched him through that small window.
I watched the machines around him disappear one by one. I watched his face go from gray back to a living color.
And little by little, my heart came back to life.
During those seven days, Emily and David never showed up.
It was like they had vanished.
No calls, no texts.
I knew they still cared.
But they were using this silent treatment to make me give in first.
Like every argument we'd had before.
As long as I softened, gave them an opening, they would go along with it, and everything would be brushed aside.
But this time, they miscalculated.
My phone was quiet.
Aside from a few messages of concern from old friends, there was nothing.
But the bank's overdue notices came every day, on time.
They kept notifying me that the mortgage on the apartment under Emily's name was overdue this month.
Each message made my heart colder and harder.
I took the bills and paid them one by one at the cashier.
The daily cost of Critical Care Unit was expensive, and our small savings wouldn't last long.
Soon, the money ran out.
I didn't ask anyone for help.
I went home and found the property deed.
This was the old house Frank and I had lived for thirty years, and it was the only asset we had.
The next day, I called a realtor and put the house on the market.
"Ma'am, your house is in a great location and the layout is nice, but the interior is a bit outdated, so the price might not be as high as you'd hope."The realtor tried to be diplomatic.
I cut him off. "The price doesn't matter. Sell it fast, cash only."
He was surprised, but he agreed.
After listing the house, I felt light,
like a weight had been lifted.
Without this apartment, we would have no safety net. But it also cut off the last thing Emily could hold onto.
I didn't want any financial ties with them anymore.
During those seven days, I thought about a lot of things.
I remembered Emily as a little girl.
She used to massage my shoulders, bring me the little reward stickers she got at school.
When did she change so much?
After she got married? Or was it our endless indulgence, our lack of boundaries?
Maybe both.
But it didn't matter anymore.
Once a heart changes, it never goes back.
On the seventh day, the doctor told me Frank was stable and could move to a regular room.
I finished the paperwork and wheeled him to the new room.
He woke up. Still weak, but conscious.
He looked at me with watery eyes.
"Linda." His voice was rough.
I took his frail hand and pressed my face against it.
"I'm here, Frank. I'm right here." The tears finally broke.
All the strength I had forced myself to keep over those seven days collapsed in that moment.
After a long pause, he managed to ask, "Why hasn't Emily come?"
My heart tightened.
How could I tell him that our only daughter, while he was fighting for his life, was thinking about a trip to Europe?
How could I tell him that her husband, the man he'd once been so proud of, had called me crazy?
I looked at his wrinkled face and chose to hide the truth.
"Emily is busy with work. Her company has a big project, and she can't get away." I lied to him.
I didn't want him to feel that heartbreak again.
Frank didn't suspect anything. He simply sighed.
"Young people should put their career first. That's a good thing," He murmured to himself, though the trace of disappointment in his eyes was impossible to hide.
My heart was full of mixed feelings.
Right then, my phone buzzed.
It was a message from Emily. [Mom, the bank sent me a warning about the overdue mortgage. What exactly are you trying to do?
[I'm telling you, the apartment is in my name. If you stop paying, it'll affect my credit.
[And how's Dad?]
That tiny question, buried between two angry complaints, was so ridiculous and so sad.
I didn't reply.
I calmly blocked her and deleted every way she could reach me.
Then I looked up and gave Frank a gentle smile. "Frank, once you're out of the hospital, I'll take you somewhere. Let's sell this old house and rent a small place in the south. We can grow some flowers, some vegetables. Okay?"
Frank stared at me blankly, like he didn't understand.
But I knew he would.
The rest of our lives, we were going to live for ourselves.