silently.
'Look, honey, you really have nothing to do now. Come down,' Margo persisted.
'Ma, I've got another semester of classes to take, and then I've got to job hunt. The thousand dollars a month Jeff is going to be doling out to me isn't going to make it. I can't be a lady of leisure like you can,' Nora told her mother.
'They still have midwinter breaks, don't they?' Margo said dryly. 'I'll send you a ticket. I'll send you two, and J. J. can come with you.'
'He's already mentioned something about going skiing with Lily and her family,' Nora said.
'Then I'll just send one ticket. Come on, darling, you need a break. The last six months have been horrendous for you. Besides, I miss you. And Taylor does too,' Margo coaxed in her best tones.
'Still set on not remarrying?' Nora teased her mother.
'I'm rethinking my priorities,' Margo admitted. 'Taylor is a lot of fun, and right now he does seem to be pretty maintenance-free. We're going to be cruising in the Bahamas in March on his yacht. Now, say you'll come,' Margo pleaded, not being pulled from her determination.
'Okay, I'll come,' Nora said. Might as well tell her mother she'd come even if there was little chance she would. It made Margo happy, and Nora wanted to leave her happy. They spoke for another few minutes, and then Nora said, 'I want to call Jill, Ma. I'll talk to you in a few days.'
Jill sounded sleepy. She was up, but it had obviously been a very late night for her, and Nora heard the voice of a man in the background. She smiled. This was serious. Jill never let anyone stay over, and her roommates hadn't returned yet, so that male voice had to belong to her friend.
'Will you be alright tomorrow, Ma?' Jill sounded genuinely worried.
'Fine,' Nora responded. 'Your grandmother has me coming down in midwinter break to South Carolina. She wants me to look at places to live. Taylor is building a new development. I told her I'd come, but no new house.'
'Ma, it wouldn't be a bad idea. The Carolinas are so much cheaper, even now. And I'm here.'
'Your brother isn't, and J. J. needs his mother for a while longer,' Nora said. 'He has to go to State. I can't afford to send him anywhere else. Thank God he got the scholarship for soccer.'
'Okay, but you should think about it,' Jill pressed.
They spoke for a few more minutes, and then no sooner had she hung up than the phone rang. It was J. J. They were back. The dorm was warmer than the house. The trip was fine, and he'd call tomorrow after she got back from town.
'You don't have to, honey,' she said. 'I'm going to be fine. I'm resigned to this now. Not happy, but resigned.'
'If you need me, Ma, at any time, I'll come home,' he told her.
'You damned well better stay in school, J. J.,' she scolded. 'I love you, honey, but no way will I ever need to lean on you.'
'Okay, Ma, I get it. I am woman, hear me roar,' he kidded.
'You got it, boyo!'
'I gotta run,' he said.
'Got a life now, do you?' she teased back. 'Okay, honey, bye, now.'
'Bye, Ma. I love you!' And then he was gone.
It was done. She had said her good-byes for now to everyone she loved. She fixed herself supper, consisting of cold ham and macaroni and cheese. Her mother always said eating pork on the new year brought luck. I'm going to need luck, Nora considered. She got up, put her dishes in the dishwasher, turned it on, and put food in the cats' bowls, filling their water dish and crunchies container. She had called Suburban Cable while J. J. had been in the shower this morning. Now it was her turn to shower. She went upstairs, bathed, and washed her hair, drying it with the dryer her son had left on her sink counter this morning. She got into the clean new flannel nightgown that Jill had given her for Christmas. It was soft pink, and had lace at the wrists and a small ruffle at the neck. She slipped her feet into the new pink suede slippers lined with lamb's wool that J. J. had given her. After brushing her hair, she drew it back and fastened it neatly with an elastic band. She headed downstairs and fixed herself a cup of tea, put the last of Carla's Christmas cookies on a china plate, and carried them into the den. She had lost a lot of weight during the last six months, but Carla's cookies had always been irresistible, and it was the end of the holidays, Nora reasoned. She turned on
For a moment Nora debated one last time if she was doing the right thing. What if Mr. Nicholas had lied, and she couldn't get back? Then she decided that if Jeff was going to get the house, the reality of The Channel was a far better world for her than the one she was now in. Reaching out, Nora pressed her palm against the television screen, feeling the now-familiar pop within her body. She was there, and she meant to stay until she could force Jeff to give up his selfish quest for the house.
'Honey,' she said, calling out for Kyle, 'I'm home!'
Chapter Eight
'What the hell do you mean, she can't sign the papers today?' Jeff Buckley's face was beet red with his anger. 'I warned you that the bitch would try something cute if you didn't make her sign last autumn. What are you going to do about this, Kramer? I've paid you a fortune so far, and I'm still married to Nora.'
Raoul Kramer looked at his client with what he hoped was an emotionless face. He didn't like Jeff Buckley, and the more he knew him, the less he liked him. He had taken his case as a favor to Jeff's senior partner, with whom he had roomed at college. It should have been a quiet divorce. His voice was cool as he spoke. 'Your wife is in the hospital, Buckley. She is unconscious. Her attorney found her this morning when he went to pick her up, so they could drive into the city together.'
'Is she going to die?' If she died, everything would be his.
'They don't know yet. They don't even know what's the matter. You would have to speak with Rick Johnson, her attorney. You know him. You were neighbors,' the lawyer said.
'So what happens now?' Jeff asked. 'Can I get the divorce?'
'Not until she regains consciousness or dies,' Raoul Kramer said. 'The judge ordered that we had to have a settlement before she would hear the case in its entirety.'
'Get another judge, then,' Jeff said.
'Not possible. You haven't got the grounds for it. No judge will grant you a divorce from Mrs. Buckley without that settlement being signed. You're stuck for the time being, I'm afraid. Besides, how would it look if you divorced her now?'
'She isn't on my health insurance anymore. How long will the hospital keep her under those circumstances?' Jeff wanted to know.
'You took her off your health insurance?' Kramer was astounded. 'That was part of the agreement. You have to pay her health insurance along with the alimony for five years. When the hell did you do that?'
'Months ago. I asked my assistant Carol to arrange it,' Jeff said nervously. 'Is this going to cost me?'
'Oh, yeah,' Raoul Kramer said. 'It's going to cost you big-time. You take the kids off too?' But he knew the answer to that even as he spoke.
'Yeah, but they never get sick. And I never knew Nora to get sick in all the years we were married. Isn't there some law or something that says I can refuse to pay for her care?' Jeff asked.
Raoul Kramer picked up his phone and punched in a number.
'Who are you calling?' Jeff wanted to know.
'Your assistant. Carol? Raoul Kramer. Did you remove Mrs. Buckley and the kids from Jeff's health insurance? I
