Page 66 of Landing Love

The night was filled with nightmares. He was in a strange labyrinth, trying to follow her. Every so often, he caught a glimpse of her back, but she never turned, and he never caught up. Several times, he caught up to a woman he thought was her only to be confronted with another face from his past—Betty, Edith, dozens of others.

He hardly noticed when Junior woke up for his middle-of-the-night feeding. The terrible dreams trapped him.

The labyrinth flooded, and he couldn’t catch his breath. He was drowning, drowning.

A gentle hand shook him. “Bill, wake up.”

With difficulty, he returned to consciousness. The morning sun peaked through the curtains. Ann was beside him. He took a deep, gulping breath, and couldn’t fill his lungs without coughing and wheezing. However bad he was yesterday, this morning, he was far worse.

“Ann,” he whispered. “I think I need to see the doctor. Can you call him?”

25

Bill’s fever was far too high. Touching his forehead was like touching a radiator. Ann called the doctor and then took Junior over to her in-laws’ to keep him away from the germs.

The doctor couldn’t come until later in the day. Whatever it was Bill had, everyone was coming down with it, the doctor said.

Ann stayed over at her in-laws’ except at mealtimes when she went back to make food for Bill and check on him.

At lunch, he looked pale and sweaty. There were dark circles under his eyes even though he’d done nothing but sleep for the last day and night. He had a terrible cough that made her wince just to hear it. But the first words out of his mouth weren’t about him. “Is Junior all right?”

“Yes.”

“And you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Have you spoken to Pritchard?”

She stared at him. In the midst of everything, he was still desperate to clear his name.

“I haven’t tried to call him today. I’ve been too concerned about you.”

“Call him now. Please.”

Reluctantly, she turned toward the telephone. “Are you sure you want me to do this now?”

“Please, Ann.” He descended into a coughing fit.

She dialed and had the operator put her through.

“Ernie Pritchard?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Ann O’Donnell.” How odd it felt to say her new name.

“Hiya, Ann. What can I do for you?”

Now the part she was dreading. “Well…you see…it’s rather awkward, but I was hoping you could explain something to me.”

“Sure thing. What is it?”

She took a deep breath and looked at Bill who was watching her with hopeful, pleading eyes. “Can you tell me what happened Thursday night? Bill said you went out together.”

“Sure. We went out for drinks. Why do you ask?”

Swallowing, she braced herself to explain. “Bill came home with lipstick on his collar, and I was worried. He said I should talk to you. Can you tell me what happened? Please be honest. I need to know the truth.”