“What?”
“It won’t get to that, I hope. I don’t think it will. For now, though, you might want to decrease the stress in your life.” Douglas had always known that the boy was ferociously competitive, with marked perfectionistic tendencies, but getting central serous retinopathy seemed like the end of a complicated proof: QED.
The boy looked utterly lost.
“Today, you should go home and definitely rest a bit. Your dilated pupils will return to normal in a short while. And tomorrow, figure out how to relax more. Yoga, relaxation techniques. There are also drugs that can treat anxiety. And maybe you might want to consider seeing a counselor or a therapist. To just talk about things in your life. It might help.”
“Got it.” Ted couldn’t imagine talking to a stranger about his problems. Telling the lawyer about the video and the herpes thing had been an ordeal in and of itself. He checked his right eye again, hoping that maybe the vision would return as quickly as it had left him. Everything was still wavy.
“How will you get home?” Douglas asked.
“I’ll get him a cab,” Ella said.
“Do you want me to do that?” Douglas asked her.
Ella shook her head. “I have to get one anyway to return to the school.”
Douglas nodded.
“I’m fine, Daddy,” she said, seeing the anxiety in his face. A tiny vein rose on the left side of his forehead when he was upset. Her father had never been anything but good to her, and now she was causing him to worry. “I’ll call you as soon as I get to the office.” She gave him her big-girl smile.
“Thank you so much,” Ted said to Douglas, shaking his hand. “I don’t know what to say. Should I give Sharlene my insurance information? Or—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just try to relax. Go home, Ted.”
The doctor watched the two of them leave, and when they were gone, he put his head down on the desk. He then did what he always did whenever something bad happened with Ella. He wondered what his wife would have done, and he hoped to have done that, because she had always known the right thing.
Ella dropped him off at his apartment in her taxi. He thanked her. He had never been wrong about her good character. Ella was capable of being kind to him, even now.
The apartment was empty. Delia was at the office, and he would call her shortly. The doorman had handed him his mail when he walked in; he looked over it and could barely make out the lettering because his eyes were still dilated, but he spotted a flimsy three-by-five envelope that his father liked to use. Could his father have sent him something before he died? But the handwriting was more like his mother’s. It was hard to tell right now.
In the envelope was the check for a thousand dollars that he had sent to his parents last month. Since graduation from HBS, he had sent his parents a check each month and larger gifts on holidays. Ted closed his right eye and held the letter as far off as he could and made out some of his mother’s writing. She was returning his check, and she asked him not to send money anymore. She didn’t want to take his money. She didn’t have any real expenses. At the bottom of the page, she wrote: “I hope you are kind to Ella. She has always been so kind to your parents. Be a good boy, Teddy,” and she signed the letter as she always had: “Umma.”
On Tuesday after the Fourth of July weekend, Ronald Coverdale phoned Ella at school. The ring echoed in the empty headmaster’s office. The building felt ghostly with all the children gone for the summer. Soon, the administrative staff would also leave the building for six weeks.
The lawyer’s hello sounded cheerful. She almost didn’t recognize him.
Ted had decided not to pursue joint custody with an equal time split. And if she could buy out his share, Ted would let her keep the house. Ella would get full custody of Irene, but he asked for weekend visiting rights and shared holidays.
She was speechless for a moment. “Oh, thank God. But why?”
“Didn’t say. Maybe he wants to get this over with. Chet said he’d rush with the paperwork. Don’t ask why. This is very nice, you know. You two can get on to the next stage of your lives.”
“Yes, yes, of course. It’s what I wanted. Thank you, Ronald. Thank you so much.” Ella felt overcome with emotion.
“I can’t take credit for this.”
“And neither can I,” she said, ending the happy call.
Ella ran out of the office to tell David.
Casey let herself into the Gottesmans’ apartment with the key Sabine had given her the night she’d come from Unu’s.