Money Can't Buy Me Love

Shelly stayed in a coma for a month before they started bringing her around. The doctors were cautioning against too much optimism. Her voice and mental functioning began to return. After a couple of days, Nora introduced me to her. "Shelly, this is the man who was driving the car that hit you."

Before I could tell her that I was sorry, she blurted out, "Please mister, don't be mad at me. I was so hungry that I ran without looking first. I'm sorry." She started crying.

"Shelly don't cry. I should have been more careful. It's me who should apologize."

Shelly had seen her mother's cast just before they removed it. "Did you hit my mother too?"

Nora answered for me, "No dear, I fell going into the shelter one night. Mr. Samuelson has been gracious enough to put me up in his house for the time being. He has a large house and I have my own bedroom and bathroom. You sure picked the right man to get hit by."

"What day is it? They said I've been a coma, but they didn't tell me how long I was asleep."

"February fifth. You missed Groundhog's Day, but it will be Valentine's Day before you know it. Shell, is there a special boy you want to get a Valentine's card for?"

"Boys? Yuck. They have cooties."

Shelly's condition after awakening signaled that enough healing had taken place that Shelly could have the surgery she needed. In the next few days, she was prepared to go under the knife.

By this time, Nora and I were both aware that there was something romantic going on between us. We had added kissing to the hugging and snuggling. We had an unspoken pledge to wait to do more until we saw how well Shelly would recover. Any steps we wanted to formalize our relationship could wait.

The doctors praised themselves for how well the surgery had gone. In a few days we were able to talk to her again. Nora and Shelly talked a lot, mostly about me. Meanwhile, I made big plans for Nora and me for Valentine's. I was ready to talk about a future for us, the three of us. I was anxious about how to tell Shelly about the possibility of having a new dad and whether or not she would agree.

I told Shelly my secret plans for what I had in store for her mother for Valentine's. She said it wasn't fair because she wanted to go. "Just for that Mr. Walt, I'm not going to give you a Valentine. So there."

I feigned extreme sadness and asked her to forgive me. "If I don't get a Valentine from you, it will break my heart." She sighed.

I took Nora out to my favorite Italian restaurant. She wore a new dress that I had insisted she buy. I thought she looked gorgeous. She was serenaded and our good food was aided by wine. We talked about a future together. Our conclusion was to take it slow and allow Shelly to get used to the idea. I had no problem with that. We danced and I kissed her. It was a perfect night. I should have known better.

As we were dancing, her cell phone went off at the table. She ran over and answered. It was the hospital. She was told to come as soon as possible. We took off and I ignored all traffic signs and signals in getting to the hospital. Nora ran ahead to the nurses' station on Shelly's floor. Nora fell in the floor sobbing because the nurse wouldn't tell her anything. She said Nora had to speak to the doctor. It seemed like it took forever for the doctor to come. When she did come, the doctor's sad face gave the news away.

"We tried our best to save her. She had a blood clot come loose and it went straight to the brain. It was too late before we could do anything about it. I'm sorry. It's one of those things that we can't control and happens sometimes."

Needless to say, Nora was devastated. I was too, but not, of course, at the same level as Nora. When Nora could talk, she cried, "It's my fault. I thought that finally life was going to give me a break but NOOO, it was just setting me up to dump on me again." She was inconsolable. I told her I would get Shelly's things out of her room. In some ways, I wish I hadn't.

Among the things in Shell's room was a Valentine. It was addressed to me. I opened up. "Mr. Walt, will you be my Valentine?" Beneath that was an addition, "And be my new daddy." I lost it. I totally, completely, absolutely lost it. Nora came looking for me when I did not return. She saw me sitting in a slump sobbing so deeply I was having trouble breathing.

"What's wrong Walt?" I handed her the Valentine. Soon she was on the floor with me.

I barely remember the details of the next few days including the funeral. It exists as part of a haze covering the time. Nora and I had problems soon after. She took out Shelly's death on me -- from the accident to the false hope I gave her for a future for the three of us. She moved out of my house and didn't tell me where she was. I hired a private investigator. Nora had an apartment in a poor part of town. She went wild. There seemed to be no depravity too sick for her. I had an eye kept on her to prevent someone from killing her or her from killing herself. Finally, she was arrested for drugs. I got her a lawyer and I paid for her to go for drug rehabilitation in lieu of jail.

She came out of rehabilitation to see me standing there for her. Nora came up to me and slapped the shit out of me and then walked away.

The events were recycled three times before she stopped slapping me when she got out of rehab. "Why in the world do you keep helping me? After all I have done and the men I have had, surely you couldn't want me. I know I don't want to be with a man so stupid to want me. Why are you here? Why don't you just go away."

I showed her Shelly's old Valentine. "I want to be her Valentine and her daddy. In order to do that, I have to marry her mother. Nora, will you be my Valentine and my wife? If you want, we can go ask Shelly too."

After hugging, crying and kissing a while, Nora and I went to the cemetery. We kneeled down and wept. A year later we got to welcome a baby girl to our family. She was born on Valentine's Day.

EPILOGUE

Nora's recovery was aided by the foundation of Shelly's Place. It was a halfway house for single mothers and their children who needed a job or job training, a therapist experienced with domestic abuse, a lawyer with staff support to find dead-beat dads, and a stable place to live before going back out on their own. Nora was the director and brought our little girl to the day care there. That helped since Nora was breast feeding her.

I funded Shelly's Place with great pride. It did get me that Humanitarian of year award after all. I was pleased to receive it on behalf of Shelly and my family. I was even more pleased when I heard that three young thugs were severely beaten trying to mug and/or rape a woman near the Salvation Army. Too bad for them that the woman was a MMA title contender. It only took me paying her three nights being bait before she finally was attacked.

Money didn't buy me love, but it sure helped me with everything else.