 |
DYING FOR LOVE
From Sullivan's Short Stories
by Terri L. Rasmussen
The day I married Jordan Lancaster was the happiest day of my life. Little did I know that our life together would turn into a nightmare. After all, Jordan had promised to love, honor, and cherish me until death do us part. He had me so completely snowed that I didn't believe anyone, not my sister, not my children when they told me. Jordan was slowly killing me. The poison he had given me destroyed the part of my brain that controlled any sense of reasoning. Or maybe the fact was that I just didn't want to hear how the second man I had ever loved was trying to kill me. Love has a way of making one deaf, dumb, and blind.
My husband of fifty plus years, Alan had died in a car accident just a year before I married Jordan. Everyone had always remarked on what a beautiful couple Alan and I had made. We shared the same interests, the same home, two boys, Ian and Nathan, and a life. Our marriage was far from perfect, but we weathered the many storms life threw in our path, together. I loved Alan so much, at times; I thought my heart would burst at the seams. When he died, leaving me alone for the first time in my life, I sank into a deep depression. I felt so alone in the world without someone to love me.
Jordan came into my life when I desperately needed someone, anyone to make me feel special, needed, wanted, and most importantly loved. He was so charming and patient with me while I came back to life. The romantic dinners and trips to the beach or mountains swept me off my feet. I couldn't help falling in love with him. We became inseparable.
He moved into my home I had shared with Alan. However, he never complained. He assured me he had no problem with living in another man's house. I suppose that should have sent up red flag's. But I was so in love I couldn't see them.
My depression slipped away the more Jordan charmed me and professed his love for me. Positive of his love, I agreed to marry him on the hottest day of the year.
I thought we were happy, despite the fact my children did not like him. And my siblings only tolerated him because of me. Their silence hurt me more than I cared to admit. But Jordan assured me that they were the fools and he would never hurt me like they all suspected he would. I believed him.
Right after our first anniversary and all the legal papers, making Jordan my sole beneficiary and Power of Attorney, I became ill. The doctor's told me I had a bad case of the stomach flu and sent me home with instructions to get plenty of rest and fluids. I followed their orders but soon became so ill, I couldn't see or think straight. I had a stroke. My sweet husband sat by my side and nursed me back to health. Once home from the hospital, he did the same. He doted on me hand and foot. He fixed my meals, drawing my baths, bathing, and dressing me. I thought I had really hit the jackpot when I married him. He made me so happy and I loved the attention he lavished on me.
"You can leave me, if you want." I told him one day when I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I couldn't understand why he would want to watch me slowly waste away to a shell of a woman I had been before the illness struck me.
He brushed my hair back with his hand and replied sweetly, "I promised in sickness and in health. For better or worse. I am not going anywhere."
I smiled up at him and my heart swelled with love for the man who had taken on so much more than he deserved. At that moment, I thought I loved him more than I loved Alan.
For awhile after that first admission to the hospital, Ian and Nathan, along with my sisters, visited me regularly. The more they visited the more the hurt slipped away. I honestly thought everything would be okay. I did until Jordan over heard my sons voicing their concerns over my health.
"Mom, you have always been healthy as a horse and now you're sick all the time." Ian said as we sat in the living room.
I knew what he was saying was true, yet I denied his insulation. "I'm getting old, son. This is what happens when you get old." I tried teasing to lighten the mood.
The teasing didn't work on either of my sons. "Mom, we think Jordan may be poisoning you." Nathan replied regretfully. His sweet face was full of emotion. Worry and concern.
The idea of my loving and attentive husband poisoning me was preposterous. "Oh, for heaven's sake. He is doing no such thing. He loves me."
Jordan came stomping into the living room from the hallway, where he had been standing and listening to the whole conversation. "You're damn right I do. I would never hurt your mother." He emphatically denied the allegations.
"Jordan." Ian and Nathan exclained his name in unison.
He flashed them an angry glare and I felt the tension fill the room. "Your mother is sick and I am the one taking care of her while you two are off doing God only knows what."
When my sons tried to protest to inform me that Jordan had kept them away, he stopped them in their tracks. "If you two think I would do anything to harm your mother, then you need to leave my house and never come back."
I didn't know until later about all the lies Jordan had told to keep away my friends and family.
I felt horrible for the way my sons were being treated. Yet, there was nothing I could do about it. I had been raised to be a good Christian woman. A woman who submitted to her husband, no matter how irate his demands may be. In my mind, it was my Christian duty to accept his decisions.
My heart broke into a million little pieces as I watched me sons walk out my door never to return again.
"They only meant well." I tried to explain to Jordan while tears fell down my cheeks.
His anger, which I had never seen until that day, flared uncontrollably at me. "The hell they were."
I couldn't believe such words were coming from that sweet man's mouth.
"They are trying to poison you against me." He said. "They have never liked me and have always resented the fact I married their mother."
I shrunk down in the recliner at his cursing. "No! They're not. They know I love y you."
"Whatever." He said with a wave of his hand as he stomped out of the house. "I'm not going to stand for it. They are no longer welcome in my home."
Reluctantly, I agreed to my husband's demands. I had always been a good wife and was determined to be one to Jordan.
A few weeks after the altercation with Ian and Nathan, I became extremely ill again and was rushed to the hospital with liver failure. Thinking I was going to die, I persuaded Jordan to allow my sons and siblings to visit me, in order to say my final goodbyes. And to apologize for the rift that had divided my family. To my surprise, he allowed them to visit.
Once we talked, Ian and Nathan left the hospital in tears. Unbeknownst to Jordan and me, they cornered one of the doctor's assigned to my case and explained their suspicions about my health and what Jordan was doing.
The doctor thought my case was strange as well and ordered tests on my blood, hair, and urine for drugs or any other chemical substances. They instructed the nurses not to say exactly what the tests were for. So Jordan would not be tipped off.
The test results came back within a matter of hours as I grew weaker. My sons were called into my room, along with my husband and a detective from the police force.
"We've done some further testing, Mrs. Lancaster." The doctor assigned to my case began to explain.
I felt dread seep into my bones.
"A chemical substance caused your liver failure."
I remembered Ian and Nathan's warning and I looked over at my husband who was standing in the corner with his hands folded over his chest. Sweat was beading up on his forehead and I noticed the nervous expression written across his face. "How did it get into my system?" I asked never taking my eyes off Jordan.
The doctor rocked back on his heels. "That's the problem. There's only one way this type of poison could have gotten in your system. And it's by ingesting it."
Oh my God, I thought to myself. This could not be happening to me. I swallowed my tears. "But I did not eat any poison."
Ian spoke up. "No, you didn't. Jordan gave it to you."
"No!" I cried as I searched Jordan's eyes for assurance he had done no such thing. His expression remained unchanged.
"We've found some left over food in your refrigerator and we had it checked." Nathan replied remorsefully. "It had the poison in it."
"Jordan." I replied. "Is this true?" I would not believe it until I heard the words come directly from his mouth.
He muttered, "Yes."
"Oh my God." I cried as I watched in horror as the detective clicked the handcuffs on Jordan's wrists. "Why?"
"You're money of course." His tone implied I was merely a means to an end.
I closed my eyes and tried to absorb everything that had happened as the policeman led him out of the room, out of the hospital, out of my life.
The doctor's voice made me sit up and take notice. "Once the poison is out of your system, the liver damage should be reversed." He explained kindly and sympathetically that the liver was the only organ in the body that had the potential to regenerate itself. "However, the damage from the stroke will be permanent. I'm sorry."
"Me too." I sighed weakly.
My liver eventually healed itself, but the emotional scars left on my soul by Jordan remained. I couldn't believe I was naïve, such a fool, I was to believe all of Jordan's lies. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact, I had been dying for love.
**THE END**
Comment on this story?
We appreciate your feedback. Thanks.
Home Page
Send E-Mail to: dhsully@gmail.com
Copyright © 2009 Donald H Sullivan. All Rights Reserved