Statute of Limitations

"Now let's just be calm about this. He can't have gone too far. Have you called his friends? Has anybody heard from him lately? How about the ball game? Could he have gone to the ball game?" Brenda's doing the best she can but doesn't have the resources to give any comfort. Quite the opposite, she just makes Joan's tension that much worse.

Joan just sits at the kitchen table crying. She can't tell Brenda what she thinks happened. Rich found out about Tim, the man she loved some twenty years ago, and went through the roof. He's gone and is never coming back.

She never told anybody about Tim. At the time Brenda was a still a teenager and had a very big mouth anyway so telling her was out of the question. None of her friends or coworkers knew about Tim and her. But all of that was so long ago. She couldn't tell anyone now because it would just stir up bad feelings. Joan's only choice is to sit tight and wait for Rich to come home or call. She sends Brenda home and promises to call her when Rich shows up.

All day long Saturday she wanders around the house crying and worrying. She talks to Brenda again who advises she call the police. Joan talks to the police dispatcher who tells her that she must wait 24-hours before she can report a person missing. "Call back on Monday." Desperately she calls the local hospitals and asks if there is anybody there named Richard Alexander. She feels a bit better when they say that there isn't but at the same time more worried because she can't find him anywhere.

She doesn't hear from Rich on Sunday either and spends the whole day in bed crying and moaning. "Oh God please send my Rich back. I'll do anything. Please God tell him to just call me so we can talk. I love him with all my heart and its breaking. Please, God help me!"

On Monday she makes the missing persons report with the police. An officer shows up at the house and takes a recent photograph of him, a full description, and leaves with the not so comforting words "we'll let you know if we find out anything," which means that they'll call if they find his body.

Monday's mail has an overnight mail envelope addressed to Richard. Joan immediately tears it open hoping it might have a clue as to Rich's whereabouts. She finds a letter from the Family DNA Testing Company stating that Richard and Marc are father and son. The additional pages show the common traits that each have that help to determine the parentage. This is all very familiar to Joan because the hospital lab used to do the same type of DNA testing to determine parentage. Joan ponders why in the hell Rich would do a DNA test on Marc? Why would he think that Marc is not his son? Oh, no. Is it possible? He must think that Tim could possibly be Marc's real father. But I didn't even meet Tim until Marc was three. But Rich can't know that. Looking closer at the letter she sees a note that says that these test results are also being sent to Luke Pauley, attorney at law. Now Joan has a clue. She's got to talk to Luke. He'll help her find Rich.

Joan picks up the phone and dials Luke's office.

"Hi Joanie. I've been expecting your call."

"God help me Luke. Where's Rich? I came home and he's gone. He didn't leave me a note or anything. I'm just so lost. I need your help. Where is he Luke? Please tell me."

"Joanie, I talked to Richard last week and he was very depressed. I don't think he was thinking straight. I told him to talk to you but he just couldn't face up to it. He's gone and I don't know where he is. He gave me a phone number with strict instructions that I not give it to you. You understand? He also told me about the contents of your cosmetics case. Evidently he read your letters and is convinced that you are, well pardon the expression, a lying cheating bitch. Those were his words. He said that he just had to get away and think."

"Luke, it's not like that. I didn't cheat on him. I love him. Rich doesn't have all the facts. I'm sure that when I explain things everything will make sense. I just need to talk to him. Please tell me where he is."

"Joanie, like I said I don't know where he is. But I will tell you something very important and I'm breaking a confidence now and if I get found out I could get in a lot of trouble with the legal community. But you guys are family and I'll do anything I can to help. Joanie, Rich had me write up divorce papers. He hasn't signed them but I wrote them up. When he comes in or calls me I'll let you know and you two can get together to talk before I let him sign anything. Joanie, you understand what's going on. Please talk to me."

There was a long silence on the telephone broken only by Joan sobbing.

"Please Luke call me when you hear from him. I'm desperate. Please help us," and she hangs up.

The rest of the day Joan spent crying and praying.

**********

Ten Days Later

Luke is a dear friend. I just wish that he hadn't played his lawyer games with me. I could have found out where Rich was a long time ago. He said he wouldn't give me Rich's phone number but when I had Marc call him and ask him for the number he gave it to him immediately. When I got it yesterday I recognized it as Aunt Mary's place.

Joan arrives at Aunt Mary's place around noon. Aunt Mary was Richard's great aunt. She was quite a character in her day. She was educated at one of the finest universities in France. She was a world traveler, a nature lover, a poet, and put three husbands in their graves. She was in her eighty's when she succumbed to a particularly aggressive form of cancer. All of her worldly possessions were passed on to her children all except her lake house. She always had a soft spot in her heart for Richard and was determined to give him the same peace and relaxation that she found so often by the lake. Richard and Joan inherited the house and visited there one or two times a year to relax. When they weren't there it was used as a vacation rental home. The house is nothing remarkable. It's a 1920's era white clapboard bungalow. There are three bedrooms and one bath. The most remarkable feature of this particular bungalow is the long wrap around porch. Just outside the back door is the back yard which goes back until it reaches the lake's edge where there is a boat dock.

Joan parks the car at the side of the house and sees Richard sitting in the back yard on the park bench that is just in front of the water. Today it's fairly cold outside and Richard's lack of a coat makes her worry about his health. From here she can tell that he looks like shit. He's unshaven and dirty and the closer she gets to him the more she can smell the lack of a bath. But a little smell isn't going to deter her from getting him back. She sits on the park bench next to him but he never looks at her. He just continues to stare off in the distance out at the lake. Joan puts her hand on his. His hand is cold. His eyes are cold. He's breathing but everything seems to be gone from him. Joan starts talking.

"Rich I've got a story to tell you. I hope you can understand what I'm saying. I don't totally understand everything but I'm going to be completely honest with you and tell you everything. I won't leave anything out and I won't lie to you. I'll answer any questions that you want to ask completely. Honey, please listen."

Richard doesn't move at all. But Joan talks anyway.

"I met Tim at Marc's third birthday party at the hospital day care center. I made cupcakes for all the children and took them up there at the end of the day. While everyone was eating a man came in to pick up his daughter. I'd seen him before around the hospital but never talked to him. He came over and thanked me for being so kind to give this little party for his daughter. He thought the party was for her when it was for Marc. Coincidentally, both his daughter and Marc share the same birthday. She's a year older but born on the same day. We laughed about his little mistake. We started talking about our children and after a few minutes started talking about ourselves. He was a new doctor at the hospital. It was his first job after medical school. He said he felt a bit overwhelmed with everything. We talked for a while and then went our separate ways. The next day I was going to lunch when we passed in the hall. He stopped and we talked a bit and then asked if I would have lunch with him, because he said he didn't have any friends at the hospital yet. We went to lunch almost every day after that. We were friendly and talked about just about everything. "

"One day he told me about some research on diabetes patients and how weight control can have a major impact on the disease. I read over the report he told me about and it mentioned Weight Watchers as an innovative program that can have a major benefit. That's when I decided to join. After a few weeks I told him that I was going and he said that he could tell. He said that I was always pretty but now someone beautiful was starting to emerge. That's the first time he was personal and complemented my looks. Over the next few months I continued to lose weight and we continued to meet for lunch. Our conversation turned to more personal topics like desires, fantasies, and the like. One day he asked me if I would like to meet him after work for dinner. By then I was starting to have feelings for him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to talk to him. I found that I wanted to go out to dinner with him. At dinner he confessed that he was starting to have feelings about me. I told him I was feeling the same thing. He told me about his wife and I told him about you. I said that I loved you and would never do anything to hurt you. He said the same thing about his wife. By the time dinner was finished we were holding hands. We didn't do anything more than hold hands. One day in the parking lot at work he leaned over and kissed me. I felt the same way with his kiss that I've always felt with yours. I kissed him back."

"We met for dinner a couple more times. One time we had dinner at the Marriott over on Jackson Highway. Neither of us said anything but after dinner we got a room and that is the first time we made love. Rich, I've got to tell you that I felt everything for him that I have always felt for you. I loved him. I loved you. I couldn't figure it out. How could I be in love with two men at the same time? I didn't understand it but I didn't want it to stop. We continued to meet a few times a month. When we made love it was exactly the same as when you and I made love, completely, deeply and without any reservation. Our love grew. Now I knew that I was in love with two men; you and Tim. I couldn't hurt either of you and I couldn't be apart from either of you. I had a problem that I couldn't solve."

Suddenly, without saying a single word, Richard stands up and starts walking toward the house. Joan sits stunned and watches him go into the house. She goes over and tries the door he just entered, but it's locked. She goes around and tries all of the doors and they are all locked. It's close to dusk and getting colder so she doesn't have any choice but get into her car to get warm. She's just going to wait him out and continue talking when he's ready. She'll wait.

**********

Joan awakens to the early morning sound of a motor boat starting up. From where she's sitting in the front seat of her car she can see Richard sitting in a small skiff and slowly puttering out onto the lake. She gets out of her car and slowly walks out to the park bench, all the while watching him in the little boat. She sits down onto the bench at the same time the skiff comes to a stop in the middle of the lake and the motor switches off. For a long time Richard and the boat just sit there and she just watches. After a while Richard stands up in the little boat and falls into the water.

HE CAN'T SWIM!!!

"Oh God NO! Help, Oh God HELP! HELP!" Joan screams over and over until the next door neighbor comes out to find what all the screaming is about. "He can't swim and he fell in. Help him. Please!" Joan was hysterical at that point and was starting to hyperventilate. The neighbor jumps into his own boat and rushes out to the skiff in the middle of the lake to see if there is anything he can do. Joan can't see what was happening from the shore when the neighbor stops next to the skiff. After a few minutes the neighbor's boat heads back to shore.

When the boat docks Joan could see Richard lying in the bottom of the boat. He wasn't moving and she couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. "Here. Help me get him inside and out of these wet clothes," the neighbor bellows at Joan. Between the two of them they pulled and tugged at Richard until he was lying on the bed in the bungalow. Joan kisses the neighbor on the cheek and thanks him over and over before he leaves. She spends the better part of the next hour getting Richard cleaned up and into some dry clean clothes. She even shaves him. Then she just sits beside the bed and watches him sleep. Two hours later he gets up and ambles out to the kitchen table and plops onto one of the chairs. He looks up at Joan. This was the first time that he even acknowledged her presence. He just stares at her and starts to cry.

After a while he stops crying and opens his mouth to talk, but the words don't come out. He stops and tries again. It takes three tries before the sounds came out. "I don't know if you remember me telling you about my girlfriend before I met you, Carolyn. We were going steady for about a year. One day I called her on the phone, like I always did, just to talk. She told me that she didn't want to see me any more. She had a new boyfriend and she was breaking up with me. I don't remember what we said but when I hung up I jumped into my car and drove over to her house as fast as I could. When I got there Carolyn and her new boyfriend were standing in the front yard, I guess waiting for me. I looked at her and she had a worried look on her face but I went right up to him and got nose to nose with him. He said some bullshit and Carolyn gave me a pleading look that I interpreted to mean to not hurt him. So, I backed down. I just stared at him with hate in my eyes. Eventually, I turned around and walked to my car. I could hear him laughing at me as I walked away. Carolyn never said a word. That hurt like hell! A couple weeks later I was getting out of my car at the drug store when I saw Carolyn's new boyfriend going in too. I reached back into my car and got the fat end of a pool stick that I kept under the front seat and hid it behind my back. My intention was to beat the living shit out of that asshole using that pool stick. When I was about ten or so feet from him he saw me, but I was suddenly face to face with Larry Oliver. Larry was a guy from the neighborhood who was a few years older than me. He got in trouble with the cops from time to time and my mother didn't like him. I don't know why he took a liking to me but whenever he saw me he was my best friend in the world. I don't remember what he asked me or what I said back but I distinctly remember what he said to me at the end. He said something that was absolutely life changing. He said "there isn't a girl in the world worth doing what you are thinking of doing." I looked at Larry then to the stick in my hand then over to mister asshole, and for the second time turned around and walked away. I believed what he said to be true until the day I met you. Larry was wrong. There are women in this world worth dying for, worth killing for. You are one."

After a long pause Richard continued. "Today, out on the lake I was holding onto the side of that boat when the story of Carolyn and Larry came back to me. Once again I realized that there are women in this world worth dying for, worth killing for, you. But to kill myself because of what you did was wrong on many levels. Today, I backed down again. I wanted to live. I wanted to live for you. I wanted a chance to talk to you. I don't know anything anymore except that I can't leave this world without at least finding out why I'm going. I need to talk to you."

Another long pause and Richard puts his head down on his arms on the table. Joan comes over behind him and puts her arms around him. Joan quietly cries while Richard just lies there. After a very long time like that Richard sits up, looks into Joan's eyes and says simply, "let's go home."

**********

PART 3 -- Working Together

Two Months Later

Things haven't been normal between Joan and Richard. They live in the same house but things are different. Everybody can see that. Joan sleeps in her new, beautiful bedroom and Richard sleeps in the spare room. Richard is more subdued and Joan seems to always be walking around on egg shells. They have not talked yet. Brenda doesn't dare to come over because both of them will no longer tolerate her shit. Marc will only come over for short visits and only when someone offers him dinner. Every weekend Richard goes to Aunt Mary's house and spends time fixing up the place and puttering. All while he's gone Joan is on pins an needles worried that Richard will try to kill himself again.

But today is a special occasion. Today is Marc's birthday and he and his wife are over for the usual cake and presents. When it's Richard's turn to give Marc his present he turns and goes into the garage. When he comes back he's carrying the little cosmetics case and places it on the table. He also places the copy of the DNA test report on the table. Joan is horrified and worried about what Richard is planning to do. All Richard says is "Marc, your mother has a story to tell you. It will be hard for her but she has a lot to say and you may not want to hear some of it. But pay attention and listen carefully. I already know most of it so I'll be going out. I'll be back later." With that said Richard turns and goes out the door. Joan turns runs from the room hysterical. All Marc and Brandy can do is just sit and watch the drama unfold. They knock on the bedroom door and plead with her to come back downstairs but all they hear is crying on the other side of the door. It takes an hour or so but eventually Joan comes back down to the kitchen.

Joan looks at Marc and starts the story of her and Tim.

Around midnight Richard comes back in the door and tells Marc to go home. "I'll take it from here." When they leave Richard walks up to Joan and hands her a card. The card says Dr. Jean Brooks, Marriage Counselor. "We've got an appointment next Tuesday at six." Without another word he turns and goes up to bed.

**********

Next Tuesday

Well the Alexander's are next. This should prove to be a challenging case. On the surface it looks like the usual case of spousal infidelity but this one has some major twists. I've never seen one exactly like it. I only hope I can give them what they are looking for. Let's see, on the initial consultation with Mr. Alexander told of his wife having an affair over twenty years ago that he just found out about from a hoard of old love letters. It seems that the affair ended tragically with her lover getting killed in an auto accident. She went into a state of depression at the time. When Mr. Alexander found out about the affair two months ago he too became depressed and tried to kill himself.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

"Mr. and Ms. Alexander please come in and have a seat on the couch."

"It's good to meet you Ms. Alexander. I met your husband in our initial consultation. So let me tell you a little about myself. I've already told your husband this but he can just sit quietly while you and I get to know one another. Joan, I'm a clinical psychologist that specialized in marital problems, specifically I work in the area of marital infidelity problems. When a spouse strays, it usually wreaks havoc on a relationship. My job is to get to the root cause and to find a common ground for moving forward as a couple again. Frankly, sometimes the couple decides that they can't work things out and they go their separate ways. But, I'm always optimistic at the beginning because I think we will be able to find that common ground and move forward. I don't perform miracles and I don't expect them from you. But we will find answers and move forward."