Men in Her Life

This is the fifth of six chapters. Marva suffers a sports injury and visits her doctor, adding more problems to her life. This is a long story, broken down into six chapters. If you would like to read the other chapters, click on my ID above. Enjoy, 2Xwidderwoman

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Although she goes through her usual warm up routine, and makes sure Callie does the same, Marva begins to feel strain in the back of one thigh before she finishes the first mile. Callie asks about the bruise on her chin, but Marva brushes it off as bending to look in a cabinet and not realizing her head was so close to the cabinet top. She easily introduces Callie and Richard, both of them mentioning that they have heard of each other, from Marva. However, by the end of the first mile, Callie and Richard are helping Marva off the track, because she does not want to put weight on her left leg. She insists they finish their walk and leave her sitting on the bottom seat of the nearby bleachers, her leg stretched out in front of her, waiting for the muscles to stop cramping.

The next time Callie looks up, from inviting Richard to her informal Friday after-work Happy Hour, and today's lunch, if it's not too short notice, Marva is gingerly walking toward her car waving at them.From the location and the feeling of the pain, Marva knows this is probably a hamstring strain. The first thing she does is drive around to the side of the high school to see if her friend's car, the girl's physical education teacher, is in the parking lot.

After a little massage, a compression bandage, and an ice pack, plus a promise she will take the day off, Marva is back at home, before Charles leaves for work. Awkwardly moving her wrapped leg out from under the steering wheel, she accidentally bumps the car horn, which makes a single beep. Charles sticks his head out of the kitchen door, thinking she might have stopped at the store and needs help with bags, not realizing it is at least another hour before a grocery store will be open.

She stands and hops a couple of steps and hears Charles say, "I'll call you later," and folds his phone, putting it in his pocket at the same time he reaches Marva, obvious fear showing on his face. Despite telling him she just needs a little help to walk, he picks her up and gets her to his bed, in minutes she convinces him it is just a simple strain and will be alright in a few days. She laughs that it is fortuitous for her boss, she is on vacation and he will not be inconvenienced more than he expected. She can be paid a sick day, too.

"To hell with Thomas Rowe," Charles says, angry she is thinking of someone else before herself.

"Charles, I'm alright. Well, I will be in a couple of days. I'll go to the doctor after his office opens. He will do a blood test and give me some pain pills, refer me to a massage therapist, and tell me to use my crutches for a few days."

"I'll take you to the doctor," he instructs her. He pulls pillows off of the other beds to prop them under her knee, asking if the ice pack will leak or sweat, and does she need a towel under her leg. He returns from the bathroom with water and an aspirin, which she refuses to take, she can handle the pain until she sees the doctor.

"Go finish your phone calls. I'll be good," she assures him. "I'll stay right here until it's time to go to the doctor."

"I was finished with my phone call," he announces, standing with his hands on his hips, staring down at Marva. "I'm not sure Mother had finished telling me everything she wanted to say, because I wasn't really listening to her. But I did tell her what I wanted to say."

"Charles," Marva chides him in the voice she uses to say he should not say things like that. He grins at her and winks, as if he considers his remark a joke. She has learned he uses sarcasm when he would much rather use physical means to show his displeasure. "At least go call Millie and let her know you're going to be late."

"Aw, she's not expecting me in the office today anyway," Charles says as an excuse for not calling his secretary.

"Call her anyway. Someone from the work site will be looking for you and it's easier for her to handle things if she knows she needs to, instead of looking for you and then calling everyone back. Save her a little work."

"Alright, okay, I know, think about someone else instead of just myself. Women are always thinking of others," he says as he leaves the bedroom, asking if she would like a cup of coffee.

- - -

"The Ring" was the subject of the conversation between Charles and his mother, which he ended when he walked out to the garage, thinking Marva needed help with groceries and found her limping. Although he and his mother had a conversation about his two times great-grandmother's multiple diamond ring, several years ago, and again more than a month ago, he was calling her to remind her to bring it with her when she comes for Elizabeth's wedding.

Grace said, "Charles, I'm still wearing the ring."

His response was firm, "Mother, during your last three trips to the doctor, you have NOT had the ring on your hand."

She tried to sound offended by attacking him, "I do not believe I should be asked to relinquish MY RING so you can give it to some little tart."

"I will not involve myself in an argument with you. Dad's will provided otherwise and there is no reason I should need to do anything more than ask you to return it to me." Changing the subject before she has a chance to carry the conversation any further, he asks, "Have you made your hotel arrangements. Elizabeth has a block of rooms reserved for friends and family. I will do that for you, if you like."

Turning on the syrup, she replies "Oh yes, dah'ling, I should be ever so grateful if you would do that for me. I am so stretched for time, some days. I just put things like that off and dates creep upon me before I am prepared. By-the-by, would you send me an extra four hundred this month? I shall need something really nice for the wedding."

"You check is in the mail," he informs her and tries not to grit his teeth as he says it. "I've sent you an extra two-fifty. Your budget should be able to add what that extra amount does not cover."

"But dah'ling, I shall need to wear something really nice for the rehearsal dinner and other events. I presume as a favorite Aunt of the bride, I am to be included in some of those things?"

Shaking his head, although he knows she cannot see, he tells her, "You should talk to Aunt Polly or Elizabeth about that. It takes enough of my time away from work with what I have to do. If I think about it, I'll mention it to Liz, but don't count on it. She is so disorganized it takes half of Callie's time to keep her up on what she has to do for her self. Liz absolutely does not consider anyone else."

"I was not fortunate to have a daughter of my own." Listening to his mother repeat something she has said at least a thousand times, Charles closes his eyes and tries not to allow his anger to enter the conversation. "But I have always thought of Elizabeth as the daughter of my heart."

"Yes Mother, I know." At that point he went to help Marva, his mother's comment still ringing in his ear.

- - -

Marva and Charles have been waiting to see Doctor Miller for almost half an hour. Because his nurse is familiar with Marva, during that time, she has already sent a lab technician in to take a blood test. The instructions for massage therapy are half completed and a prescription for a mild pain medication is written in the new computer program and ready to be printed.

When Doctor Miller walks into the treatment room, he is looking at a paper in his hands saying, "Congratulations Marva, but it's a little early to tell you if it's a girl or a boy."

Charles is on his feet, yelling, "WHAT!" and Marva has just turned pale enough for the doctor to fear she will faint.

What follows is confusion, assurance Marva has not missed a pill, and the doctor's amazement that Marva's test really shows she is pregnant. He knows the pills are not one hundred percent effective, but he has never had a patient become pregnant taking that particular pill. The doctor leaves the room for a few minutes, ostensibly to make sure the lab technician did not get blood samples mixed up, but actually to give Marva and Charles a few minutes to get over the initial shock.

The few minutes the doctor gives them, is spent in near silence. Color slowly returns to Marva's face and Charles resumes his seat, his arms folded across his chest, as he stares across the room at a certificate on the doctor's wall, perhaps wondering where this quack got his license. When Doctor Miller returns and assures them the technician did not mix blood samples, he explains that he cannot prescribe pain pills for Marva, but can give her something to relax the strained muscles, which should work about as well. Everything else, she knows how to do, but he reviews his instructions anyway, still watching the emotions of these two who received news they had not expected. He also hands her several pamphlets about pregnancy and tells her to make another appointment in a couple of months.

Rather than let her walk, Charles carries her back out to his car, the nurse opening doors for them. When he is behind the steering wheel, he does not speak, nor does she. Instead he pays attention to traffic and Marva stares out the passenger window, still trying to absorb the result of what she has done to this man.

"Charles," she says quietly, holding out her keys for him, "Will you drive by Karen's and go upstairs for my crutches. I called her. She should have put them right inside the door."

"Okay. I think I have some in the garage, but they would need lots of adjustments for you. Yeah, it's probably better to go get yours."

It seems easier to concentrate upon immediate needs and leave other concerns for another time when the mind can deal with them. For both of them, the temptation to burst into tears is almost as great as the temptation to laugh for sheer joy. Perhaps their reasons for the extremes of emotions are different, but the emotions strike each of them from moment to moment. Charles holds his smile until he is riding the elevator up to Karen's apartment. Marva holds her tears for the same amount of time. Charles holds his tears until he has Marva back at home, on the bed and Marva holds her smile for the same amount of time.

Leaving her with a glass of water, and a pill, Charles is back in the kitchen, and then in his study, wandering around the house, looking at things that have changed in his home since Marva came to live with him. Instead of a bare table in the kitchen, placemats indicate where each of them sits for a meal. The once empty countertops have a few things, used frequently, in corners and decorations around the room, an indication it is now a home, instead of a house. Rooms which see little use are neat and clean because she insists the weekly maid vacuums and dusts the whole house, not just the parts of the house she and Charles use. All of his expensive wood furniture glows since she gave the maid a good cleaner instead of the quick spray on cleaner she was using.

Marva, lying on the big bed, looks around the bedroom, recalling it as it was, the first time he brought her back to this room. The door to her combination dressing room and closet is closed. Her nightgown is hanging from the hook on the other side of the door of the closet on the other side of the room, ready to be worn the few nights of her menstrual cycle. The door to his combination dressing room and closet is slightly ajar. The tip of one of his steel toe boots has kept the door from closing fully.

Walking quietly down the hall, Charles sees Marva is lying with her eyes closed. She did hear him, however. "Hi, Honey," she says easily, not opening her eyes.

"Will you do me a favor?" Charles asks, quietly. When he sees her nod, he asks, "Will you give me until Saturday before we have any kind of discussion about what the doctor said?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to call Elizabeth and tell her we won't make her party, reception, or whatever thing she is having tonight."

"Oh good, I hadn't thought about doing that. I hope she won't be upset," Marva says and then chuckles. "But I'm happy to miss one of her events. Maybe as happy as you are."

"I knew you had it in ya," he says laughing at her. "Would you like me to fix you something for lunch, before I leave?"

"No, you don't need to do that. I'll give the muscle pill a little while to work and I can fix us something."

"Hey, you think I can't take care of you?" He tries to bluster, but it does not come out as strongly as he wishes. "You just stay there and tell me what you want."

"Oh, I don't care, just something easy."

"How would you like a grill cheese and a glass of milk?"

"Okay, if you will bring me one of those lactose pills."

While Charles is in the kitchen, she hears him talking on his telephone, but cannot make out any of what he's saying. When he appears with her sandwich and milk, he mentions that he looked at the label, but cannot tell if it is safe for her to take one of them. However, he leaves the room without saying anything further about the pregnancy, and returns later to take her plate. He says Elizabeth reported that Callie told her about the muscle strain and excuses them from the evening's event, and then he leans over to kiss her, saying he will be home early, he hopes.

Although she objects, he takes her to physical therapy the next two days and waits to take her back home, agreeing, when the therapist says it is okay for Marva to drive after the weekend.

Friday afternoon Charles calls to see if Marva is up to an hour at The Hot Spot for one of Callie's impromptu networking Happy Hour meetings. Marva declines. The walk across the parking lot is rough. There are stairs to climb up to the front door and more steps to walk down to get to the corner which Callie prefers. He promises he won't be late and says he will bring bar-be-q or something similar for their supper, so she won't need to stand and cook.

"I met Richard Farnsworth," Charles reports, looking at a business card he placed beside his plate. "That's your Richard, right?"

"I don't think he's my Richard. But, yes, that's Richard. Was he following Callie around?"

Charles laughs, "Oh man, was he ever. I think he's smitten. Callie might talk to other people around the room, but she looks at this Richard the whole time. I like him."

"Yes, I do too." She leans over and gives him a greasy, bar-be-q flavored kiss, and then licks the bar-be-q sauce off of his lips.

"Hey, watch it lady. I'm spoken for. There's this little woman, I'd hate to tell you how much injury she can do. I've got a cut on my head, a knot on my forehead, which I had to lie about, and other injuries I'll not mention in mixed company."

"Oh yeah? I hear she's injured, that might slow her down some," Marva loves his teasing. It is especially wonderful, because it is such a contrast to his darker moods.

"Aw, don't let that fool ya. She's a tough one. Baby, you are a tough one, too. I've seen grown men crumble from the same kind of injury you had. Don't frighten me like that again."

"I didn't do it on purpose," she tries to explain. "I stretched like I always do. I don't recall stepping wrong. I was going slower than usual because Callie was with me. Oh well, sports injuries are difficult to explain."

"A sports equipment company will be here sometime early tomorrow morning to set up a treadmill machine. I couldn't think about this happening again."

"Charles, you don't need to do that."

"Yes, I do need to do it," he says vehemently, and then softens his tone. "We can take the bed apart in that bedroom you used the first couple of weeks. That will give you room for your sewing machine, too. I should have done it before now, I just wasn't thinking."

"I know I promised to wait, but can we ... I need to tell you ... I'll go have an ...," and then she cannot say any more. She does not know what to say.

"NO! DAMMIT, NO! AND DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT WORD IN MY PRESENCE," he yells at her, standing and walking toward the hall door. "Good god, what do you think I am, some kind of Neanderthal who just fucks his conquest and leaves her lying in the brush?"

Marva sits quietly, not allowing her tears to fall, looking up praying she can hold herself together long enough for Charles to get his initial burst of temper out of his system so he will sit down and talk to her. She continues to sit quietly as she hears him walk into his study and slam the door. Instead of letting it get to her, Marva stands and puts away the remainder of their meal. He will be hungry in another hour or two, looking for something. He will find the plate of bar-be-q in the refrigerator and eat it cold or warm it up. She has learned it takes a lot of fuel to keep his body going and rather than fill up on what she thinks of as junk food, she leaves bags of vegetables and other healthy snacks in plain sight, either in the refrigerator, or on the kitchen cabinet, and he devours them, comes back for more and then eats everything she prepares for the next meal.

Instead of bothering him, she goes to the spare bedroom and spends time threading the ribbon into the drawstring casing at the tops of the small bags Elizabeth will fill with special things she wants to give to her attendants and a few relatives. Marva shakes her head, at the silly expense of sending the material to have Elizabeth and Bryan's names, plus the date of the wedding, monogrammed onto the material and then asking Marva to make the bags. But it is what Elizabeth wants and Bryan is her brother, so Marva is doing it.

Around bedtime Charles has not emerged from his study, so Marva brushes her teeth, takes another pill, turns down the bed and pulls the covers up over her shoulders, lying quiet and still, hoping sleep will come quickly. Sometime later, how much longer, she does not know, she feels Charles move behind her and pull her into his arms. She rolls over and is kissing him without thought, moving her hands over him, pleading with him, moving on top of him and pushing her breast into his mouth. Her frenzy fuels his, as she moves down his body. He holds her head to him, twisting and turning until she has his cock in her mouth, her tongue going around and around the head of his cock, her teeth nipping at the foreskin as he pumps his hips and she takes him into her mouth as he explodes.

He puts his hands under her arms and drags her up his body, begging her to answer his questions. "Where does it come from, this desire I have for you? What is there inside this tiny body I abuse so badly that makes me into a wild man? Will I never cease to need you? God in heaven, please don't ever let that happen to us."

Marva starts to roll off of him and he holds her hips to keep her from moving. "No Baby, stay. I can't let you go, yet. I just need to hold you." He kisses her neck, "I need the taste of you in my mouth and the feel of your breasts against me. How is it possible that you allow me to take so much from you and give you nothing in return?"

He does not allow her to move, until his breathing is slower and back to normal. Finally allowing her to slide off of him, he wraps himself around her, talking to her softly, whispering to her, his words sometimes rambling and disjointed, as if he is pouring out descriptions of pictures he sees in his mind. He talks about his father, a weak man who only wanted a woman to love him and could not force a selfish woman to bend to his weak will. He speaks of a pampered woman who required the men in her life to worship her and lavish her with gifts and their attention, using them up, wearing them out, and destroying their will to live, or rebel against her. He describes her brother, whom she demanded share his near failing business with her husband so she could share in its wealth, although there never was any to share. He tells of joining his father and Uncle Horace, working harder than he thought possible to build the company into something that would support the uncle's growing family and satisfy his mother's greed. He watched Elizabeth practice her Aunt Grace's grasping nature and learn to take from her father whatever she wanted, needed, or thought she might like to have, without regard to the other family member's wants or needs. He watched Callie rebel against those same influences and laughs at his mother's futile attempts to push Callie into the same kind of manipulative nature. He thanks whatever fate decided it that he does not have sisters, remarking that he could never have managed to support another open mouth at the trough of Tester Constructors. He chuckles as he describes watching Bryan act like he is catering to Elizabeth's needs and allows her to think she is winning and he sees that wall she slams into when Bryan allows her to go no farther as she backs down and turns to pet him back into a good humor. Maybe if his dad had tried that a few times his mother might have been a happier person. As his voice dies down and his breathing deepens, he says it has taken him almost ten years but he is finally going to rid himself of all the blood suckers and maybe, just maybe he can share something with someone who will appreciate it.