It was settled then, in tears and laughter and forgiveness.
But when it was all over, he had looked at her and said, “Never again, promise.”
“Promise?”
“Don’t have mealy little thoughts like that. Don’t imagine things. In the corniest possible sense of the term, honey, I am forever true. I admit to being a girl-watcher. And I am so astoundingly handsome, stray women keep knocking me down in the street. But you are all I need and all I want. That’s the way it is. You’re stuck with me. If something worries you, ask.”
“I promise.”
But you couldn’t explain all of that to Tom Haskell and say it was the only small time of doubt and there would never be another.
On the following morning she went to the office. The company specialized in financing heavy-construction contracts, making loans to building contractors and following up with management advice. Johnny covered a wide area in his work. Since she had no appointment, she spent fifteen minutes waiting outside Don Jennsen’s office. At last the secretary ushered her in, and Don came around his big desk and took her by the hands and said, “A terrible thing, Jane Ann. I know just what an ordeal this has been for you. Believe me, if there is anything at all I can do, I stand ready.” He was a huge, florid man with a heavy crop of prematurely white hair.
“I don’t really know how soon he can have visitors, Don. It will be at least another week. And Dr. McAndrews says it will be about a month before I can bring him home, and probably another month after that before he can begin working even part time. That’s mostly because of his left leg. It got broken pretty badly.” She shrugged and smiled. “But just to have him alive...”
“The hospitalization policy should help quite a bit.”
“Oh, yes. And he had accident insurance too, Don, that will cover what the hospitalization doesn’t cover. And provide something while he’s laid up. I really don’t know how you want to work that out. I don’t know what happens to people’s pay when they are laid up so long.”
Don nodded. “I am really delighted to hear about that accident policy, Jane Ann. They can be very handy things to have.”
“You know how Johnny is. I just know that in a few days he’s going to start worrying about his work and all, and I thought you could tell me what to tell him.”
“He left things in apple-pie order — except for the Arlington report, of course. He might be interested to know that on the basis of further investigation since his accident, we’re going along with T. J. Arlington for about seventy per cent of the total line of credit he requested. I imagine that comes pretty close to what Johnny would have advised. As to the rest of it, I think I can safely say that the board will go along with me in making the cutoff point October first. It is a small recognition of the caliber of work John Foley did. And tell him that I shall have the retirement account computed as of October first, and he can draw it in a lump sum if he so wishes — everything he contributed plus six per cent interest computed annually over the life of the retirement account.”
She stared at him. “Cutoff point? Lump sum?”
Don shook his big head sadly and made a gesture of resignation. “That’s one of the penalties of being in a field of endeavor that has fiduciary overtones. Public responsibility. We have to be like Caesar’s wife, Jane Ann This publicity was rather unfortunate, you know.”
“You mean you’re firing him? After eleven years?”
“My hands are tied. Johnny would be the first to agree, I assure you. Men in this line of work know that they just can’t—”
“Mr. Jennsen, this is the most stinking thing I ever heard of in my whole life!”
His big face darkened. “I would advise you to—”
“Without a chance to explain himself! What kind of fairness is that?”
“Obviously you do not understand the situation. We depend on public trust, public confidence, Mrs. Foley. There are police charges against your husband. They may be contemplating a manslaughter charge. This is a financial institution. Speaking solely for myself, I am going to try to help him locate something else because he is a very able man. I admit that. But we just can’t—”
“You just can’t understand the basic human decency of giving a man a chance to explain himself,” she said, getting angrily to her feet.
He stood up slowly. “Good day, Mrs. Foley.”
She had the office door partly opened when he said, “Jane Ann?”
She turned and waited for him to come to her.
He touched her shoulder awkwardly and she shrugged his hand away. “You have a lot of spirit,” he said. “I admire that. I shouldn’t have got cross with you. Believe me, when Johnny is ready to discuss this, you ask him about it and see what he says. This is a highly sensitive profession.”
“And you scare awfully easy.”
“If I fought with all the influence I have to keep him on, it would do absolutely no good.”
“So why risk anything for Johnny?”
“You are a very difficult woman, Jane Ann.”
“I am not going to let you do this to him.”
“I am afraid there is nothing you can do about it. Spirit is commendable, but don’t wear yourself out fighting stone walls, my dear. I repeat, if there is anything I can do, please let me know.”...
Late on the tenth day, the first Friday in July, at four thirty in the afternoon, Johnny woke up and looked at her with the most awareness he had yet displayed.
“Accident, eh?” he said. He frowned. “The kids okay?”
“They’re just fine, darling.”
“Day before yesterday?”
“It was ten days ago, Johnny. You were badly hurt. But you are going to be one hundred per cent fine.”
His eyes looked startled and troubled. “Ten days!”
“You drove up to see Mr. Arlington. Remember? You drove up to Hartsville.”
“Arlington?” he said blankly.
“Don’t you remember going up to see him?”
“I... I know I was scheduled to. Did I go?”
“Yes, dear.”
“But I didn’t get there. Bad road.”
“You got there, dear. You saw him.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. Really. You phoned me from his office... We’ll talk about it later.”
His long fingers tightened on her hand. He looked at her with the troubled earnestness of one of her children and said, “I hurt. I hurt pretty bad right now.”
She got the floor nurse. They gave him a sedative, and within five minutes he drifted back into sleep.
Dr. Ferris McAndrews was an exceptionally grave young man with somber, deep-set eyes and huge, pale hands.
“Yes,” he said absently. “Yes, of course. Traumatic amnesia. Typical of head injuries. It extends backward from the moment of trauma. They remember more as time goes on.”
“And finally remember everything?”
“I did not say that, Mrs. Foley. Some of them do. Some of them don’t. Is it important?”