Heartless

Michelle knew that it was the guilt of what Stanley had willingly become a part of that created the acidic environment that allowed the cancer to flourish. She knew that what Stanley, Mark Rinaldo, Henry Zudak, and the bastards at Hilburn did to the O’Co

When she learned that Mark, Henry, Peter, and Jacob had been killed by, supposedly Alexander Black, she knew that Alexander would be looking for her husband. She had no interest in her husband being the next person whose name got crossed off. There was no way that anyone would take her husband away from her a second before his time was up.

No way.

When she heard from that police chief that her husband’s name was on some list and that they needed to get protection until the suspect was apprehended, she knew that what she did six months ago had come back to haunt her. But learning about Stanley being on the list pissed her off. After all, wasn’t it her call that made everything possible in the first place? Wasn’t it she who let Ken O’Co

As she pulled the final sip from her glass, Michelle listened again for any sounds coming from the bedroom. All was quiet except for the wonderful slight sounds of her husband’s breathing.

She remembered clearly the day she contacted Ken O’Co

It wasn’t a rushed call, one made with a mindset of bargaining  with God for her husband’s life. It was a call she had wanted to make for years. She just couldn’t risk what would happen to her husband if the O’Co

“I will make damn sure that everyone of you bastards are put in jail for the rest of your pathetic lives,” he screamed at her. “How the hell could you keep this from us?”

She had no answers for him. No excuses for what the doctors at Saint Stevens had done, nor for herself keeping quiet for over twenty years. She didn’t even try to explain why William Straus never alerted anyone. She didn’t care how the O’Co

She never told Stanley that she had told Ken O’Co

Michelle was surprised that Ken O’Co

Nothing happened.

Though Michelle truly didn’t care what actions Ken decided to take, she was surprised when nothing seemed to happen. So surprised, in fact, that two months after her first call to Ken O’Co

“I know what everyone did was awful. Unforgiveable. And I honestly feel that everyone should pay for what we did to your son. But, Mr. O’Co

“I’m afraid, Michelle Mix, that your logic is flawed. But take heart,” Ken O’Co

For Michelle, what had happened to the other doctors was nothing more than the way  O’Co

While she never heard from Ken O’Co

But Stanley wasn’t hiding. He had no idea why his wife packed the car with enough clothes for a week. He didn’t understand why she told him that they were going away for a surprise vacation. He knew that he had chemo treatments scheduled and going away would mean that those treatments would be missed. He began to think that Michelle had a conversation with one of his doctors and learned that the treatments were not working, and that putting him through the misery of additional treatments would serve no purpose. Stanley didn’t know that he was hiding at all but thought instead that his wife didn’t know how to tell him that he didn’t have much time left.

But he knew. He knew the second the diagnosis was given to him, and he knew without any doubt the second after the first CAT scan showed his cancer had spread. He knew that he chose the aggressive treatment option for Michelle’s sake. She had already lost one husband to a tragedy, and Stanley was willing to do whatever he could to delay her losing her second husband to another tragedy.

He had fallen in love with Michelle the second he saw her standing next to William Straus in that urine-smelling institution. He felt that he had to overcome his fears of getting hurt and had to let her know, somehow, how he felt about her. And when he learned that she felt the same for him, his life became complete.

He often wondered how it was possible that his being a willing participant in everything that happened with the O’Co