“I flew Dr. Rivera here. He checked her out. She’s stable, but the seizure affected the last year of her memories.”
Jack’s eyes widened, understanding dawned slowly, and I saw the exact moment he realized what this meant.
She didn’t remember the diagnosis, being sick and all of it.
“Holy, shit,” he cursed quietly.
“She thinks she’s fine,” I finished. “Just dealing with memory loss.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“So Claudette stays here,” I said, before he could suggest anything else. “With me. It was what she wanted at first—space, freedom, not being treated like she was fragile.”
“This is insane,” he said, voice low and furious. “The doctor warned us about memory loss. In the later stages. When things… when things get worse.”
“We can tell her when she’s stronger.” I met his eyes. “She needs time to adjust to the memory loss. Time to process the marriage. Then we tell her.”
“This is a mistake.”
“Maybe. But it’s her mistake to make.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And she’s my wife.” I said it firmly. “She stays here. With me.”
“You don’t know how to take care of someone who’s sick.”
“I know how to take care of someone I love,” I said.
“It’s my duty as her family to take care of her,” Jack’s voice went sharp. “Stress makes everything worse. The seizures, the headaches, all of it. And you being involved is about as stressful as it gets.”
“If her family was so caring, she wouldn’t have run away.” I shot back. “You want to stress her out more? Take her back to that house where she feels suffocated and see what that does.”
Jack flinched.
We stood there in silence, the weight of everything pressing down.
“I’m sorry, Jack, really,” I said finally. “For not telling you. For doing this without your blessing. You’re my best friend and I should have?—”
“Yeah. You should have.”
“But I’mnotsorry I married her.”
Jack studied me for a long moment. “Ifshe stays here,” he said carefully, “you take care of her properly. Doctor appointments. Medications. Whatever she needs.”
“Done.”
“I mean it, Mike. She’s my sister. If you hurt her?—”
“Our friendship is over. I know.” I held his gaze. “I’m not going to hurt her, Jack. Ever.”
He nodded, then he began to walk toward the door, then he stopped. Turned back around to face me.
And punched me.
Hard.
Right in the jaw.
