The House Read Online Free PDF Page A

simple, Mr. ...” she thumbed through the papers in her hand.
    “Manning,” Edward said. “Edward Manning.”
    Anna stood and offered the hospice worker her chair. She went outside. Grimes followed.
    “We do this with all our clients,” Grimes explained. “It’s hardest for the ones who live alone.”
    Anna considered what had once been their home. It was now a house filled with rented furniture staged to show potential buyers how happy they could be living there.
    Anna scanned the white wall behind Grimes. The name beside the door, Manning, Edward, beamed ever brighter. She imagined the headstone Edward Manning April 30, 194__ ... Life is strange, Anna conjured. I could die before him.
    “I’ll take him home,” Anna said. “He can die with me.”
    “I thought the two of you were divorcing.”
    “I haven’t signed the papers yet.” Anna turned to leave. She needed to call the children.
    “Anna.” Grimes again caught up with her. She flipped her cell phone closed. “It’s a lot to handle, caring for a person who’s dying, the man you’re divorcing, no doubt. Edward has less than six months, maybe only three, to live. If you think—”
    “He’s been my husband for thirty-four years. His fifty-sixth birthday is in February. And you’re telling me he might not make it.”
    Somberness slid over Grimes’ eyes. “Death does strange things to people.”
    “Are you speaking of me or Edward?”
    “Both. During my training in the emergency room, I saw patients die suddenly. Their families were unable to say important things to them like `I forgive you. Don’t worry. Let it go. I love you.’ And then, there were those who died suddenly with everything said that needed to have been spoken. On the oncology floor, I see families come together and heal wounds that only the awareness of impending death can mend. I’ve also seen the opposite. Those who know their death is imminent, and denial is the only thing holding them together.”
    “Are you saying I’m in denial about Edward’s condition?”
    “Emotions influence how we see things,” Grimes said.
    A burning sensation rose from Anne’s stomach. “Am I speaking to Dr. Grimes, Edward’s oncologist, or the young man who has come to admire my husband?”
    “Edward is dying. And you’re about to divorce him. The last thing he needs is promises you can’t deliver.”
    “And unless you can tell me without a shadow of a doubt that he has the slightest chance of surviving this—”
    “I can’t but—”
    “Then let me, his wife, give him what he needs.”
    “For the last year, you’ve fought to leave him. What makes you think you can care for him now?”
    “For the thirty-four years prior to this, I held down a home while Edward traveled the world and made love to any woman who suited him. I can handle this.”
    Grimes’ nostrils flared as he inhaled. Swallowing, he pressed his lips together.
    “Now if you don’t mind, I need to speak with my husband.” Anna eased back to the doorway where the voices of the hospice liaison and Edward grew clear and distinct.
    “People find it difficult to contemplate their own death. Even those of us who work in the field,” the social worker said to Edward.
    “If anyone is to be prepared, I figured it would be someone like you or Dr. Grimes.” Gone was the anger and torment in Edward’s voice. A chord of acceptance had taken its place.
    “None of us are ready, Mr. Manning.”
    “Please. Call me Edward.”
    A lumped formed in Anna’s throat. She forced herself to breathe.?
     
    Chapter 5
    Anna turned the key in the lock and pushed open the front door of the house she and Edward had shared for over three decades. They had moved there a year after David was born. She took a deep breath. Closing the door, she wondered what potential buyers saw when entering. A vase of silk roses stood on the table against the left wall where David used to drop his books after school. The younger siblings, Theo, Linda, and