He nodded. The two women walked away. Erik waited by the car. Myron watched them. Claire was next to her daughter, but she still wouldn’t touch her. Aimee got in the car. Erik and Claire glanced at each other. They did not speak. Aimee was in the back. They both sat in the front. Natural enough, Myron supposed, but it still seemed to him as if they were trying to keep their distance from Aimee, as if they wondered — or perhaps knew — about the stranger who now lived with them. Claire looked back at him.
They know, Myron thought.
Myron watched the car pull away. As it disappeared down the street, he realized something:
He hadn’t kept his promise.
He hadn’t brought home their baby.
Their baby was gone.
CHAPTER 57
Jessica Culver did indeed marry Stone Norman at Tavern on the Green.
Myron was in his office when he read about it in the paper. Esperanza and Win were both there too. Win was standing near a full-length mirror, checking out his golf swing. Win did that a lot. Esperanza watched Myron carefully.
“You okay?” she asked him.
“I am.”
“You realize that her getting hitched is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you?”
“I do.” Myron put the paper down. “I came to a realization that I wanted to share with both of you.”
Win stopped his air swing midway. “My arm isn’t straight enough.”
Esperanza waved him quiet. “What?”
“I’ve always tried to run away from what I now see are my natural instincts,” Myron said. “You know. Playing the hero. You both warn me against it. And I’ve listened. But I’ve figured something out. I’m supposed to do it. I’ll have my defeats, sure, but I’ll have more victories. I’m not going to run away from it anymore. I don’t want to end up being cynical. I want to help people. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Win turned toward him. “Are you done?”
“I am.”
Win looked at Esperanza. “Should we applaud?”
“I think we should.”
Esperanza stood and applauded wildly. Win put down his air club and offered up a polite golf clap.
Myron bowed and said, “Thank you so very much, you’re a beautiful audience, don’t forget your waitress on the way out, hey, try the veal.”
Big Cyndi popped her head through the doorway. She’d gone heavy on the rouge this morning and looked like a traffic light.
“Line two, Mr. Bolitar.” Big Cyndi batted her eyes. Picture two scorpions trapped on their backs. Then she added, “It’s your new sweetie pie.”
Myron picked up the phone. “Hey!”
Ali Wilder said, “What time are you coming over?”
“I should be there about seven.”
“How about pizza and a DVD with the kids?”
Myron smiled. “Sounds great.”
He hung up. He was smiling. Esperanza and Win exchanged a glance.
“What?” Myron said.
“You’re so doofy when you’re in love,” Esperanza said.
Myron looked at his watch. “It’s time.”
“Good luck,” Esperanza said.
Myron turned to Win. “You want to come along?”
“No, my friend. This one is all yours.”
Myron stood. He kissed Esperanza on the cheek. He hugged Win. Win was surprised by the gesture, but he took it. Myron drove back to New Jersey. It was a glorious day. The sun shone like it’d just been created. Myron fiddled with the radio dial. He kept hitting all his favorite songs.
It was that kind of day.
He did not bother stopping at Brenda’s grave. He thought that she’d understand. Actions speak louder and all that.
Myron parked at St. Barnabas Medical Center. He headed up to Joan Rochester’s room. She was sitting up when he got there, ready to leave.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Fine,” Joan Rochester said.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you.”
“Don’t be.”
“Are you going home?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not going to press charges?”
“That’s right.”
Myron figured as much. “Your daughter can’t run forever.”
“I know that.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Katie came home last night.”
So much for the happy ending, Myron thought. He closed his eyes. This was not what he’d wanted to hear.
“She and Rufus had a fight. So Katie came home. Dominick forgave her. It’s all going to be okay.”
They looked at each other. It wouldn’t be okay. He knew that. She knew that.
“I want to help you,” Myron said.
“You can’t.”
And maybe she was right.
You help those you can. That was what Win had said. And you always, always keep a promise. That was why he had come today. To keep his promise.
He met up with Dr. Edna Skylar in the corridor outside the cancer ward. He had hoped to see her in her office, but this would be okay.
Edna Skylar smiled when she saw him. She wore very little makeup. The white coat was wrinkled. No stethoscope hung around her neck this time.
“Hello, Myron,” she said.
“Hi, Dr. Skylar.”
“Call me Edna.”
“Okay.”
“I was just on my way out.” She pointed with her thumb toward the elevator. “What brings you here?”
“You, actually.”
Edna Skylar had a pen tucked behind her ear. She took it out, made a note on a chart, put it back. “Really?”
“You taught me something when I was here last time,” Myron said.
“What’s that?”
“We talked about the virtuous patient, remember? We talked about the pure versus the sullied. You were so honest with me — about how you’d rather work with people who seemed more deserving.”
“A lot of talk, yes,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I took an oath. I treat those I don’t like too.”
“Oh I know. But you see, you got me thinking. Because I agreed with you. I wanted to help Aimee Biel because I thought she was… I don’t know.”
“Innocent?” Skylar said.
“I guess.”
“But you learned that she’s not.”
“More than that,” Myron said. “What I learned was, you were wrong.”
“About?”
“We can’t prejudge people like that. We become cynical. We assume the worst. And when we do that, we start to see only the shadows. You know that Aimee Biel is back home?”
“I heard that, yes.”
“Everyone thinks she ran away.”
“I heard that too.”
“So nobody listened to her story. I mean, really listened. Once that assumption came about, Aimee Biel was no longer an innocent. You see? Even her parents. They had her best interests at heart. They wanted so much to protect her that even they couldn’t see the truth.”
“Which is?”
“Innocent until proven guilty. It’s not just for the courtroom.”
Edna Skylar made a production of checking her watch. “I’m not sure I see what you’re getting at.”
“I believed in that girl her whole life. Was I wrong? Was it a lie? But at the end of the day, it’s like her parents said — it’s their job to protect her, not mine. So I was able to be more dispassionate. I was willing to risk learning the truth. So I waited. When I finally got Aimee alone, I asked her to tell me the whole story. Because there were too many holes in the other one — the one where she ran away and maybe killed her lover. That ATM machine, for one. That call from the pay phone, for another. Stuff like that. I didn’t want to just shove it all aside and help her get on with her life. So I talked to her. I remembered how much I loved and cared for her. And I did something truly strange.”