Louise Ch. 01

Dr. Berry stepped out of the room and shook his head. His sympathy was with the unfortunate sister who was going to be the spokesperson.

********

Louise had to leave; they were all talking about her as if she wasn't there. All of them with the exception of Kevyn had decided that she was going to take care of their mother... alone. She knew that's exactly what would happen, they might start out with good intentions but within a month she would be doing it alone. In addition, who would pay the bills? And what about the house payments, who would help with those? She wondered. Already whenever she asked for help in buying the medications that their mother needed, all of them balked with the exception of Leon and Kevyn.

As far as Kevyn went, Louise knew that any extra money that she sent came from her condominium fund. Louise hated it whenever she had to call and tell Kevyn that her check was short or that the heater was broken and there was no money to fix it. That Kevyn always sent the money without hesitation made her feel even worse and she always apologized for asking.

One day, Louise's car was the problem. Someone had gone around and randomly slashed the tires of several cars. Had they slashed only one tire, she could have absorbed the cost but they slashed three and the car had to be towed to the repair shop adding to the cost.

Tearfully Louise called Kevyn and told her what happened.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried.

"Lou, it's not your fault, you didn't slash your tires now how much do you need?"

"The cheapest tires are like 40.00 each...."

"Lou, get the good tires alright?" Kevyn interrupted.

"But your condo....."

"Isn't important, give me the name and number of the repair shop and I'll pay for it." Kevyn replied.

What Louise didn't know was that when Kevyn called the repair shop she asked what else the car needed. The bill had come to over seven hundred dollars, which was paid without hesitation or complaint.

********

Louise looked at her watch, it was getting late and she wished that she knew when Kevyn was going to arrive. She didn't want to go back to the room just yet, she knew that they were all planning how she was going to care for their mother and it would be useless to argue with them. They had never listened to her in the past and they weren't going to listen to her now.

With no place else to go, Louise headed back to the room where as she suspected, plans were being made on how she was going to care for their mother.

"I can't do this...," she said softly.

No one seemed to hear her as the arguments about who was going to pay what bill since she wouldn't be working continued.

"I can't do this!" she said louder finally attracting attention.

"What do you mean? You can't do this?" Gene asked, "You've been doing it."

"But she wasn't like this... she could walk and talk and I know that you say that you'll help...."

The attention shifted from Louise to the door of the room.

Kevyn had just gotten there.

Louise breathed a sigh of relief; if anyone could get them to see reason, it would be Kevyn. Kevyn, she hoped would understand that it wasn't that she didn't want to care for their mother, she couldn't. It was hard enough feeling her every thought and emotion when she was awake and able to talk but like this? She couldn't handle it emotionally or physically. She had only managed up until this point because of work. If that were taken from her, she would go insane.

******

Kevyn looked at her siblings, none of them had even taken the time to say hello before launching questions at her. The only one who hadn't spoken yet was Louise who was standing by the door almost in tears. Like Louise, Leon and Gene, Kevyn wasn't prepared to see her mother attached to the vent and other machines.

Juliet told her that their mother was on a vent but the sight of it made things more real. In that moment she wished that she hadn't told Patrick not to come, she was going to need him. She put an arm around Louise and gave her a squeeze letting her know that she would take care of her.

A few minutes later, Kevyn was sitting in the family waiting room trying to collect her thoughts when the doctor came in. She could tell just by looking at him that he understood the situation with her family and she wasn't offended when he suggested that she call someone for moral support.

A few minutes later she was on the phone with the only person that she knew to call, Patrick and he was coming. Kevyn closed her eyes for a few minutes and went back to the room to find that her siblings were berating Louise.

"What's going on?" she asked looking from one face to another.

"The doctor says that mom will need twenty-four hour care and suggested a nursing home." Juliet said when she saw that Gene, the one who was pushing the hardest for their mother to go home with Louise wasn't speaking.

"And?" Kevyn asked already knowing what the gist of the conversation was.

"We thought that instead of that Louise could quit her job and do it... we would all help her." Juliet replied.

"You mean help her like you were helping her before now?" Kevyn asked not pulling any punches.

"We help...."

"Really? When was the last time Lou had a day to herself to watch her cooking shows or to go to a movie?" Kevyn asked Juliette. "When was the last time any of you made dinner and took it over to them or sat with mom during the day while Lou was at work? The only exception here is Leon. As busy as he is, he does his best to help physically and financially."

She paused and waited for an answer but was expecting none. After several minutes, she spoke again.

"I don't know what Lou's response was to caring for mom at home, but I'm overriding her if she said yes. I won't allow her to do it and here's why, none of you with the exception of Leon lifts a finger to help her financially or otherwise. and before you say it, I know that I'm not here but as Lou can tell you I'm on the phone with her frequently and I handle any issues that I can from where I am. Gene, when was the last time you spent any real time with mom? How about you Juliet?

So here's the scoop," Kevyn said," if mom does manage to pull through this, we're following the doctor's recommendation and placing her in a long-term care facility. I'll contact social services for a list of the homes that are close to here...."

"You can't just come in here and make decisions like that!" Gene exclaimed.

"I just did now everyone go home." Kevyn said and began to herd them out of the room.

*******

Louise's nose crinkled at the smell of the clam chowder that filled her car. It was a vivid reminder that her mother would never eat another meal with her. She could feel Gene's eyes on her and knew that he wanted to say something to her but he didn't dare, whether he admitted it or not, he was afraid of Kevyn.

She pulled up next to Gene's car and got out without speaking.

"Hey sis, you got a ten you can loan me?" Gene asked, "I'm about out of gas."

"I got it." Leon said before Louise could take her wallet out. "And sis? Sorry about what happened back there, Kev is right, it was wrong of us to put that on you."

Gene fumed, that was the problem with Leon, Gene never knew which side of the fence he would land on until all of the moves had been played and this time Leon was on team Kevyn and Louise. They followed Louise up to the house and made her wait on the porch while they went inside and turned on all of the lights.

"Are you going to be alright by yourself?" Leon asked, "I can stay with you if you want me to."

Louise almost said yes but didn't. She had to start getting used to being in the house alone and if she let Leon stay, she was afraid that she would never be able to do it.

"Thanks but I'm ok." she replied.

"You sure?" Leon asked. "I can go to 'Deluigi's' and pick up a steak sandwich"

"I'm sure." Louise replied not quite understanding the anger that she felt coming from Gene. She pushed Gene out of her mind, hugged Leon and thanked him for his offer.

When they were gone, Louise sat on the sofa and looked at the partially assembled jigsaw puzzle. She kicked off her shoes and began to work on the puzzle. By seven am, it was finished. Louise took a picture of it with her phone camera and then tearfully took the puzzle apart making sure not to lose any of the pieces. She put the puzzle pieces in the box and slowly got to her feet. She looked at the now boxed up puzzle and took it upstairs with her, wherever she went, the puzzle would go with her.

The house seemed quiet, too quiet and she wished that she had let Leon stay; there would always be another day to get used to being alone. She had a mind to go back to the hospital even though it was early but she needed to sleep, tonight was going to be very difficult.

When she got to her room, she called in to the grocery store surprised when Frank Lombardi answered the phone.

"Lombardi's"

"Ummm, Mr. Lombardi, this is Louise Yancy."

"Yes Louise. What can I do for you?"

"My mother is in the hospital and not doing well, I don't know when I'll be back to work."

"I'm sorry to hear that." he said his voice sincere, "I know that you have quite a bit of vacation time, I can approve whatever you need."

Louise was surprised; the Frank Lombardi that she was talking to wasn't the same Frank Lombardi that she knew from the store. This man was sincere and sounded concerned about her, she liked this version of him.

"Thank you Mr. Lombardi, and can I ask another favor?"

"What is it?"

"When Miss Gina comes around can you make sure she gets some cup-a-soup, crackers and some canned fruit? You can take it out of my pay."

"I can do that and I'll even remember to make sure that the boxes and cans look damaged. You charged her a buck the last time right?"

"Yes but how did you know that?" Lou asked.

"I just guessed. Look, don't worry about anything. Just take care of your mom and let us know if there's anything that we can do for you as a company."

******

Frank Lombardi hung up the phone and realized not for the first time that he was married to the wrong woman. While Lisa was beautiful, she was no more than a trophy wife who spent his money and would never dream of doing what Louise Yancy was doing for an elderly woman that she barely knew. He had really screwed up.

"Stop crying over spilled milk Frank." he told himself as he left his office.

*******

Louise took a hot shower and lay down on a bed that she hadn't slept in for months. Unable to sleep, she went to her mother's room and sat in the overstuffed armchair where she had been sleeping for months. She propped her feet up on the bed, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

******

Gene was already at the hospital when Louise arrived. She felt the same anger coming from him that she did the night before and didn't understand it anymore now than she did then. If she had to guess, it had something to do with Kevyn being here and the fact that Kevyn agreed with the doctor.

Truthfully, she didn't want to know, Gene was a big boy and would have to deal with his control issues and inferiority complex on his own. She had her own issues to deal with.

She took note of the tables that were covered with refreshments and wondered where they came from, she knew that it wasn't from any of them... no one in her family could afford the brand name let alone the quantity of items that lay on the table. She sat in the chair closest to their mother's bed and took a hand in hers.

"It's going to be alright." she murmured.

"Hi Gene." she heard Kevyn say from behind her.

Louise turned and saw Kevyn standing in the doorway looking fairly well rested and was relieved to see her. When Gene started in about turning the vent off, Louise grimaced, she recognized the tenseness in Kevyn's jaw... she wasn't in the mood for nonsense. Her mouth dropped open when a tall blonde haired man with the bluest eyes she had ever seen walked into the room and called Kevyn "baby".

Just who was this? She wondered as the man walked up to Kevyn, put his arms around her and kissed her cheek. Louise watched as Gene's mouth dropped open and then snapped shut in an effort to appear calm. She could see the vein in his forehead throbbing indicating just how angry he was.

Louise looked back at Kevyn and the man holding her and knew that this man, whoever he was, loved her sister and that Kevyn loved him. When his clear blue eyes met her dark brown ones, Louise felt a kinship with him even though she didn't know anything about him.

She looked back at Gene, felt his anger, hatred and confusion, and knew that he saw the man as an enemy. Louise closed her eyes and opened them.

Trouble was coming. She knew it, felt it, and hoped that she was wrong.