Before I know it, my heels clack onto the sidewalk. The cold air makes my head spin even more than it had on the dance floor.
“What’s going on?” Lianne shouts as she rushes to catch up with us, Joshua right behind her.
Samuel rights my posture as his car is pulled up to the curb. I don’t have time to even look at her over my shoulder before Samuel has me in the front seat, door closed.
Lianne and Joshua shuffle into the seat behind me with bated breaths from running out the club doors.
Samuel is zooming at top speed.
My stomach lurches, so I close my eyes.
“Samuel. What. Is. Happening?” I try to take one word at a time because the world feels like it’s been flipped on its axis.
Silence sits in the car with us a moment too long for my liking. “Samuel!” I shout, keeping my eyes closed.
“It’s Dad.”
12
Eden
Age 20
“His bed has fresh sheets, and his bath is ready for him, Mrs. Donovan,” the home nurse relays to Mrs. Donovan as we finish dinner.
“Is my son home yet?” she replies before sipping her third glass of Pinot noir.
“No, ma’am.”
Mrs. Donovan just waves, excusing her.
The nurse steps to Mr. Donovan, unlocks the brakes to his wheelchair, and pushes him out of the room.
“He has been home later and later lately,” she mumbles before taking another sip of her wine.
“Being the place holder for the Divine Chosen takes up a lot oftime,” I rebut.
She laughs a full-belly laugh. I don’t think I have ever heard her laugh this genuinely. Ever.
“That, it does, girl. Get used to long nights alone in this house.”
I take more bites of food off my plate, not wanting to waste my meal, a habit I picked up throughout my years. You would think, by now, I would have outgrown it. But, no. I still need to make sure I eat everything I’m handed.
I look to Mrs. Donovan in silence.
“Not if I’m given to my Divine’s chosen husband,” I counter, replying to her remark from earlier.
She and Samuel have been secretive about who my husband is supposed to be. I’m already twenty. All the girls my age have been given to their new homes.
Another laugh escapes Mrs. Donovan’s lips. “Nice try. You will have to wait to be given away. The time isn’t right in the Divine’s eyes. Yet.”
I place my napkin down and scoot my chair back, then instantly praise the Divine and swallow down the frustration that simmers in me. “I will go see if the nurse needs any help.”
“If you must?” She gulps the rest of her wine.
I make my way to the stairs. I won’t let myself take the elevator we had installed after Mr. Donovan’s trip to the hospital.
I’ll never forget my eighteenth birthday, that is for sure. The way Samuel sped to the hospital after hearing about Mr. Donovan’s heart attack. I had high hopes for his recoverywhen we got to the hospital. But after the two strokes and complications in his surgeries, he went downhill from there. He lost most of his movement on his left side and the right side completely. He looks like Mr. Donovan, but he can’t speak or move, just a small jerk of his left hand when he needs attention.
