Radio mirror (Jan-June 1948)

But I wasn't told to wait. "Mr. Hughes — " the nurse at the desk beamed at me — "you're early, but you can go right up. You'll find Miss Bronson on the floor — " Miss Bronson greeted me with an even broader smile. "You know about it?" she asked. "Toby moved his foot today." Toby had moved — I couldn't speak. "Of course," said Miss Bronson. "It's only the beginning, and it's much too early to be sure, but — " They all said that — Miss Bronson, the young doctor who stopped by to offer his congratulations, Toby himself. Toby hadn't known how slim his chances had been, but he couldn't help knowing now "that he'd accomplished something important and wonderful. "It's just one foot. Dad," he said deprecatingly. "But I feel like moving the other one. It's got a kind of tingle — " It seemed a miracle after all the waiting. Toby himself hardly dared believe it. After so little hope, no one dared hope too much. As I sought Brent out in his office for the final word, I tried to salt my own high spirits down with reasoning — and he promptly sent them soaring again. TOBY'S still got a long way to go," he told me, "but he's got a better than even chance of getting there. That's better than I'd hoped for, this soon. It means we won't have to operate; we won't have to blunder along in the dark, trying anything and everything. So — " Smiling, he impulsively thrust out his hand. I took it and wrung it hard, incapable of saying anything of what I felt. It was as if I'd been brought back to life again, myself. Then I reached for my hat. Now that I had Brent's confirmation, there was nothing to do but to tell Fay — Fay. A coldness came over me. "Does Fay — does Mrs. Hughes know about it?" I asked. "Oh, yes." He nodded. "She was here all morning. It was nearly noon when she left." "I see." I didn't see, not right away. It didn't fully hit me until I realized that Fay had known the good news hours before — and hadn't bothered to tell me. I left Brent's office with a bitterness rising within me, so sharp I could taste it. I stood in the hall uncertainly for a while, and then, because visiting hours weren't nearly over, I went back to see Toby. I needed him ihat afternoon more than he needed me. He laughed and chatted and beat me three time at parchesi, and all the while I was thinking grimly that he wouldn't be coming back to much of a home. Because that was the way it would be. I was bitter now, and angry, and resentful, as I hadn't been before. I could understand how she'd felt after we'd lost Bob; I could even understand her feeling for Jim Brent. There was hero-worship in it — and besides, his was the warm and generous nature that you couldn't help responding to. But this was different. I was used to the idea that Fay had forgotten that I was her husband — but I was still Toby's father. She could at least have called me. . . . I didn't go straight home from the hospital. I drove around aimlessly for a while, dreading going home. Finally, when the sun was low, I turned home. I put the car in the garage, and then on an impulse went around to the front door. Fay would be in the kitchen at this hour, and I didn't want to see her any sooner than I had to. The first thing that struck me when I stepped inside was that the house was different. Lamps were lighted invitingly in this room which had been so often left dark of late; the polished tables had an extra shine; there were bowls of fresh flowers. In the dining corner the table was set with lace mats, and more fresh flowers — and candles. Candles. And Fay wasn't in the kitchen, but she'd been spending time there. Like the other rooms, it was spotless, gleaming — and full of party smells, a roast in the oven, a cake recently baked. It could all mean only one thing. Sick, I turned to the stairs and met Fay coming down — a different Fay. She was wearing a dress-up dress I'd always liked and had never again expected to see, her fly-away hair was carefully, becomingly arranged, and she was wearing make-up, as if she too were going to a party. And there was a look on her face . . . "Fred," she demanded, "where have you been? I've been calling the store all afternoon. We've got to celebrate. Toby—" I was so sick and angry I shook. Celebrate. Fay and Jim Brent and I. "I know about Toby," I said. "You do?" She laughed shakily; then tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wiped them away and laughed again. "Isn't it wonderful? I've been so happy and excited ... I didn't know what to do. I went out and bought things, and cleaned house, and cooked, and then I called and called the store, and you weren't there. Then the store closed, and I thought you'd never come home. I couldn't have borne it if you hadn't. We've got to celebrate, Fred, you and I — " She laid a hand timidly, almost pleadingly, on my arm. I looked around at the dining table. It was set for two. Gradually the incredible truth dawned upon me — -and I couldn't move a muscle. I could only stare at her and say blankly, "I don't understand." "I don't understand it, either." She lifted her eyes, wet with tears again, but clear and steady. "Only I feel like myself again, Fred. Jim Brent — I'm grateful to him for what he's done for Toby, grateful forever and with my whole heart — but that's all. It was you I wanted, today when I was so marvelously happy. And no one else. No one else could share it with me; no one else could know how I felt — " I PUT my arms around her. It was a strange feeling, after so long, and I was as clumsy and diffident as I'd been the very first time I kissed her. I didn't try to kiss her now. I just held her, hardly daring to breathe, hardly daring to release all the dammed-up love and longing . . . and slowly beginning to understand. I was grateful to Jim Brent, too — and for more than what he'd done for Toby. Because of him, this miracle had happened — I had Fay in my arms again, all the soft, sweet intensity of her. You see, he'd been a force in our lives as powerful and no more personal than the sun of spring. He'd done that much for us — the lonely, troubled man, ridden with his own problems, who'd gone out of his way to help a pair of strangers. He'd made Fay trust him, had brought faith and hope back into her life — small wonder that she'd reached out to him as naturally as a plant reaches toward, the sun! And now that her need of him was past, she'd come back to me, restored and whole, and wholly mine. I hope that sometime, in some way, some one could do as much for him. MAKE THIS EASY 7 DAY TEST -O^LONGERhair dresses better in latest styles DO YOU WANT... 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