The Two-Family House(77)

An hour later, the phone rang. It was one of the nurses from the hospital. Abe was awake.





Chapter 58





ABE


When Abe opened his eyes, the first face he saw was Mort’s.

“Abe, can you hear me?” Mort’s mouth was moving, but it took a few moments for the sound of his voice to catch up.

“I can hear you.” Abe started to lift his head, but Mort stopped him. “Slowly,” he told him. “Let me get the nurse before you move.” Mort walked to the doorway and called down the hall. “Nurse! He’s awake!”

“Helen will be back soon,” Mort told him. “How do you feel?”

“Tired,” Abe answered, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“The doctors keep telling us how strong you are. You had a heart attack, but they say you’ll be fine.”

“How many days ago…?”

“Just a few. It’s Monday. You were admitted Saturday night.”

“Too many lamb chops,” Abe murmured, and then he closed his eyes.

*

He was dreaming that he was back at the hotel, in the hallway outside the coatroom. Helen and Rose were arguing, something about Natalie. Rose didn’t like what Natalie was wearing. She didn’t like her own dress either. Helen said there was nothing she could do about it. “But you took my dress,” Rose yelled. “Give it back to me!” “It’s mine,” Helen told her. “You can’t have it.” Rose wouldn’t let it go, and the screaming became louder. “You have two dresses and I have none. You were supposed to give one of them to me. But you never let that happen!” After that, Abe woke up.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was that Helen had been crying. She was holding his hand. “Whaddya crying for?” he whispered. He tried to smile, but his mouth was so dry that he started to cough.

Helen brought a cup of water to his lips.

“You’re beautiful,” he told her.

“Oh my God, Abe…” She choked back her sobs.

“What’s the matter?” He coughed a few more times. “Can’t take a compliment?”

“You’re crazy.” Helen squeezed his hand and kissed his face over and over. “Don’t cry,” he told her again, but it seemed like she couldn’t stop. He listened to her breathing and felt her tears on his cheeks. “Shh,” he whispered. But he didn’t think she could hear him.

After several minutes, Helen finally lifted her head away from his. She took a tissue from her purse and wiped her tears from his face, then from her own. She looked into his eyes like she was searching for something, but Abe didn’t have the slightest idea what she was trying to find. She looked frightened. “Don’t worry, sweetheart.” It was all he could think of to say. “They said I’m okay. Healthy as a horse.” He wanted to comfort her, but the more he said, the tighter her grip became. I must have really scared her.

When she finally spoke, her voice was unclear and murmured. It sounded like she was apologizing, but Abe stopped her before she could go on.

“You don’t need to be sorry. I’m the one who did a belly flop on the hotel carpet right in the middle of the wedding.”

“Do you remember anything?”

“Only a little bit. Natalie came into the ballroom—it looked like she’d been crying. She said you were by the coatroom talking to Rose, so I went to get you.”

“And after that?”

“The last thing I remember is Rose yelling at you.”

“Do you remember what she said?”

“Just yelling, her dress, your dress, Natalie’s dress—who knows. She always has something to yell about.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s it.”

“Oh Abe, I’m so sorry.” Helen’s voice cracked and she broke down. “It’s my fault, it’s all my fault that this happened. If I hadn’t confronted Rose, we wouldn’t have been arguing and you wouldn’t have had the heart attack.…”

“Shh. It’s not your fault. Listen to me. You had nothing to do with it. It would have happened anyway.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Listen for a minute. I didn’t want to tell you but I wasn’t feeling so great on Friday, the day before the wedding. I couldn’t breathe so well at work and I had a couple of pains.”

“Pains?”

“Chest pains, and running down my arm, just a little bit.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to make a fuss right before the wedding. I was gonna go to the doctor on Monday. I guess it wasn’t such a good plan.”

Abe expected her to scold him, to tell him how stubborn and foolish he had been for neglecting his health. Instead, Helen threw her arms around him and held him close. He shut his eyes and felt the gentle rhythm of her breath against his cheek. In a few minutes, he fell back asleep.





Chapter 59





ROSE


Rose was disappointed that her aunt Faye hadn’t been able to come to New York for Mimi’s wedding. Faye’s husband, Stuart, had died a few years earlier, and after that Faye had stopped coming north for visits. Faye called the week before the wedding to wish Rose mazel tov, but Rose didn’t like the way she sounded. “Can you believe I caught a cold in Florida in May?” she coughed. It was the last thing Rose ever heard her say.