“Plenty. I’ll just put Linda on the couch. Now, when she wakes up, how do we convince her to split up her family?”
“No idea, but we have to try. She hasn’t gone off this way since that last suicide try and her stay at the hospital. Here the men have been gone only a week. It could be a long deployment for the home folks.”
Maria frowned and began cleaning up the house. It wasn’t that bad but did show signs of neglect.
“Milly, you get back to work. I’ll handle the negotiations. Come back over here… no call me when you get off work. I should have Nancy convinced to come to my place by then. You missed enough work as it is.”
“Sure you’ll be okay?”
“Oh yes, I had a father who tried this same routine about twice a year. I know the drill.”
When Nancy woke up three hours later, the house was clean, the kitchen spotless, the dishes done, and a load of wash in the dryer.
“Oh, God did I fuck up.” Nancy moaned the words. “Headache.” Maria brought her three ibuprofen and a glass of water.
“Just a small drink to get me back in the water?” Nancy asked. She shook her head when Maria did. She sat up on the couch and grabbed her head. “Oh, damn, I tell myself never again.” She blinked and looked at the room. “You cleaned up after me. I owe you, big time.”
Nancy started to stand, then sank back on the couch. “Hear when the guys are coming home?”
“Nothing yet,” Maria said. “They’ve only been gone a week.”
“Hell, I know that,” Nancy shouted, then stopped and tears burst out and she cried. Maria sat beside her, put her arm around her, and held her tightly.
“It’s all right, Nancy. We all go through these spells. Just let us help you get over this one. I want you to stay at my place tonight. The kids can stay with Milly.”
“No. We all stay here together. A family. We’re a God-damned family, and we stay that way.” The words came out angry, flat, and cruel, intending to leave no doubt.
“Nancy, I know about drinking. My father. I know you could use some help right now. I want to help. I don’t want to be pushy or get in your face, but come on, don’t you think you could use some support about now?”
“Hell yes, and fuck no.” Nancy’s eyes were steel balls inside a steel shell. “I know exactly what I am and that sometimes it takes over and I can’t stop it. Hell yes, I know that. Damn right I have to fight it. But it’s my fight. If I can’t win it, then I don’t deserve the great family I have. Have you looked at Helen lately? What a gem, what a wonderful young lady. Going to be fifteen in a month. A beauty, a real beauty and I don’t know where she got it. Glistening dark hair, eyes you can drown in, and a smile that lights up the whole damn countryside. And Charlie, he’s a go-getter. Already he knows twenty times as much about computers as Will or I do. He spends some time with them, but he’s working on programming, not watching porno channels. Sure I know what I have here. Damn right I’m fighting to keep it.”
Later, Maria came in the living room and shook her head. She had made a search in the usual hiding spots but couldn’t find a single bottle of booze. It was here, she just hadn’t found it.
“I’ve got to get back home before the kids come home, Nancy,” Maria said. “Be all right if I stop by on my way home? Tell you what. You invite me to dinner tonight, and I’ll have you and the kids to my place for barbecue tomorrow night, deal?”
Nancy looked at her a long time. “Mean me cook dinner for us and you?”
“Sure. You’re a good cook. I’ve had a taste of your work before, remember?”
“Yeah.” She almost threw up both hands. “Okay,” the emphasis was on the last part of the word showing her absolute frustration.
“Good. I’ll call you later. See you about six thirty.” Maria turned but she wasn’t ready to leave yet.
Maria fussed around the living room, straightening curtains and pictures, picking up things in the wrong places.
Nancy stood and put her fists on her hips. “Maria, you are a good person and trying to help, but you have no fucking idea the kind of hell I’ve been going through. Yes, I worry myself sick about Will. He’s almost thirty-eight years old. How do they expect him to keep up with those muscle-bound twenty-two-year-olds? In the SEALs if you don’t keep up, you can die. I know that damn well. Now they are out there somewhere, and people will be shooting at them, and they may get messed up in a real war, and then won’t that be just ducky.”
“That’s why I’m here, Nancy. We all worry about our men. There are three of us, that’s more than in most SEAL outfits. I worry every day Miguel is gone. I used to lose ten pounds when he was on a mission. I’m getting better, now I only lose five pounds. When I worry I don’t eat so well. All I’m saying is you’re not alone in this. Milly and I and Ardith are all around to help. Ardith isn’t here much, but when she is, she’s a good strong person.”
Nancy waved her arms in the air and paced around the room. She scowled at Maria and then did another round of the living room. When she stopped she turned to Maria. “Look, I’m sorry I get so bitchy. I know all this shit you’re talking. Know it by fucking heart. I also swear a lot when I’m frustrated and angry and feeling sorry for myself. Don’t pay it any attention.” Nancy flopped down on the couch. “Maybe I should just lay down and take something so I never wake up.”
“Sure, and leave the kids with all the problems that would cause? Do you think that Helen could suffer through that and not be traumatized for life?”
“Shit, oh damn. Never thought of that. Won’t do that to my Helen, to my baby.” Nancy threw one arm over her face and began to cry.
Maria stayed with Nancy until almost three, then hurried home to be there when the kids got out of school. She made it a point always to be there. The kids deserved it.
Just at 6:30, Maria rang the bell at the Fernandez apartment. Nobody came. She rang again. This time after a wait, someone came to the door and peered out through the glass. Then the door opened a crack.
Helen looked out. Maria saw the tear stains on her cheeks.
“Mom isn’t feeling well, and she said we should do dinner another day.”
“Your mother isn’t feeling well? Helen, are you sure? Let me talk to her.”
“No, no, Mom said you shouldn’t come in.”
“Helen, do you want some help? Did your mother find another bottle after we left?”
Helen didn’t answer. Tears came again, sliding down soft perfect cheeks. The sobs came a moment later. Maria edged the door inward and Helen let go of it. A moment later Helen fell into Maria’s arms.
“Helen, don’t worry. Your mom will be fine again. This is a sickness, drinking too much is a disease. You know about it. You have to remember that. There are ways to cure people and we’re going to try to help your mother get well again. We’re going to want you to help us.”
The sobbing stopped. Maria eased away from the young girl and lifted her chin. “Look, young lady. I’m going to need you to help me. Did your mother start anything cooking?”
“No.”
“Good. You go to the market at the end of the block and bring back four frozen dinners. Here’s some cash to cover it. And get something for desert. Ice cream maybe. Now run along, and I’ll take care of your mother.”
Nancy looked up and snorted when Maria came into the living room. She lay on the couch. The bottle she held was over half empty and the bowl of ice cubes had melted down to a lone survivor. A glass lay on its side on the coffee table.
“So Florence Nightingale, the Salvation Army lass has returned to save the drunken bitch from her own vomit… again, and again, and fucking again.”