The only person seventy-seven-year-old Robert Landon recognizes is his daughter, Heather. Robert doesn't know his grandchildren, Carrie and Brian. But most importantly, Robert, suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's, doesn't know his wife, Jessica. Heather is determined to rectify this situation. She knows her parents' forty-two-year relationship is a love story for the ages. Heather and Jessica concoct a plan to help jar Robert's memory, to remind him that his one true love is waiting for him. The doctor, however, warns that the plan could backfire, and Robert could become upset hearing the details of his past. From his birth in 1900 to attending college at New York University to becoming a US Senator, Heather recaps the details of Robert's life for him. She reminds him of his desire to be successful in the era prior to the Great Depression and how these events found him caught in a whirlwind of trouble: trouble with the law, trouble with trying to find a means of supporting himself, as well as trouble with an entangled weave of numerous women who were in awe of him. But will he ever be able to remember the woman from his past who calls him her husband?

Her Husband's Crossing

A Man Remembering His Past and His Love for One WomanBy Steven W. Moore

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Steven W. Moore
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-9942-8

Contents

Chapter 1 "Family Plan"..................................1Chapter 2 "The Encounter"................................32Chapter 3 "College Strife"...............................57Chapter 4 "Reunited".....................................76Chapter 5 "A Break And Bust".............................94Chapter 6 "Arrested".....................................113Chapter 7 "Hands Of Fate"................................135Chapter 8 "Connections"..................................154Chapter 9 "Followed".....................................178Chapter 10 "Useless Roses"...............................196Chapter 11 "Conflicted"..................................210Chapter 12 "Violent Warning".............................232Chapter 13 "Agent Surprise"..............................262Chapter 14 "Central Park Speech".........................285Chapter 15 "So Much In Common"...........................308Chapter 16 "Bon Voyage"..................................334Chapter 17 "Beach Drama".................................352Chapter 18 "Under The Lights"............................376Chapter 19 "Female Emotions".............................395Chapter 20 "The Goal"....................................411Chapter 21 "Vindication".................................430Chapter 22 "Break Up To Beach House".....................457

Chapter One

"Family Plan"

"I grabbed my sweater from the dresser, my final article of clothing that I possessed from the house. It hit me right then as I stared at my open suitcase, that my packing was done, and I realized that I was leaving the man of my dreams behind. I folded the top flap of my suitcase over and zipped it together, ceasing to now longer see the things that he had bought for me over my long years spent together with him, things that brought me such comfort and joy, joy that had now wasted away. The silence was deafening that day in a room that I once called my own, the room that I shared so many years with my husband. I stared out of the window into the clear, sunny sky, thinking back over all the years that I had spent with him. A tear fell from my eye as I walked over to his side of the bed and kissed his pillow one last time before leaving. I could still smell the all too familiar scent of him as my nose pressed against his pillow. I felt so alone as the silence worsened in the room. I was so used to having him hold me when things got rough like they were at this point, but there was no him there to console my wounded heart. After taking a deep breath, I gathered up my suitcase and proceeded to walk out of the room, a room that had stored so many fond memories of the two of us. I stopped at the threshold between the room and the hallway and turned around for one last long look. I wiped the tears from my face and spoke out softly. 'I will be back, if it's the last thing I do, I will be back,' I whispered to myself. I then turned and walked out into the hallway. I came to the living room, where there, sitting in his favorite chair, was the love of my life. I noticed that he was in deep thought as his head was turned in the opposite direction from me. I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered if I ever crossed his mind anymore. I didn't want to disturb him and I didn't want him to know that I was leaving. With tears now flowing freely down my face, I slowly and quietly walked to the foyer of the house. I took one last long look at him, gazing at every feature on his face. I was stunned at what I was about to do. The emotions of leaving him started to overwhelm me, almost overtaking me as I stood there. I felt as if I was going to pass out as the weight of the suitcase began to feel like it was going to tip me over. I realized that I must get out of there. After several minutes of staring at him, I turned around, took a deep breath, and then proceeded out the front door. As I was walking down the sidewalk toward my car, I was thinking to myself, 'I'm not letting go of him.' And I wasn't going to let go of him, I was letting go of the last few years of us, but I wasn't about to give up on him, not a chance."

A few weeks later, "I don't know if this is going to work," Heather whispered to herself as she found herself driving through a torrential, nighttime downpour in South Meadow, a suburb just on the outskirts of Arlington, Virginia. It was a cool late April evening in 1977, as Heather, with her shoulder length black hair pulled back into a pony tail, was driving her 1976 Chevrolet Impala with her daughter, eleven year old Carrie Ann riding alongside her in the front seat, and her five year old son Brian riding in the back. She was turning off of Park Street onto Lane Avenue, just miles from her father's house. She took her eyes off of the road momentarily as she stared at the wipers sloshing the water from one side of the windshield to the other, thinking about the plan she and her mother were about to carry out. It's a delicate plan, but one Heather realizes needs to be done under the circumstances. She's at the brink of losing her father, maybe for good this time, as she focused her attention back on the road. She looked back at her son in the rearview mirror and noticed the long look he had on his face. He's too young to truly realize his grandfather's condition, but he's old enough to know that something is terribly wrong with him, and she can tell it had saddened his spirits as they get closer to the house. Sometimes she wonders if it is such a good idea to bring him with her when she sees her father, but in her father's worsened state, she feels it's important for Brian to know him a little, rather than none at all.

"Are we going to have to introduce ourselves to him once again, Mom?" Carrie Ann asked. "You know the drill, Carrie Ann," Heather responded. "But it hurts when he looks at me with that blank stare, and it creeps me out too. I mean, I can remember when he once used to call me pooh bear, and give me big hugs and ask me how my life was going. Now, it's just that blank stare. It's not fair, Mom." "I know, Sweetheart, but we have to be tough for him. You have to remember, Carrie Ann, that this could be the last time you ever see him. Each time you visit him it could be the last time." Carrie Ann faced her head downward, toward the floorboard. "I know, that only makes it even more depressing," she said. "What's depressing mean?" Brian asked from the backseat. "It means feeling sad, Brian," Heather said. "Because of grandpa, right?" Brian asked. "Yes, Dear, because of grandpa," Heather responded. She began to wonder if she was doing her children more harm than good by bringing them with her. He was their grandfather however, and time was of the essence. It may be their final opportunity to see him. But did she want their memories of him to be what they were going to witness on this night? Either way, she felt they needed to see their grandfather, regardless of what condition he was in.

"I just don't see how grandma does it," Carrie Ann remarked. "She's crazy about him, Carrie Ann," Heather said, "more so than when they first met. She's tough. She has told me numerous times how she will stay with him to the end. She has said over and over again 'I will go to my grave with him.'" "They've been together so long, I just couldn't imagine them no longer being together," Carrie Ann said. That caused tears to begin welling up in Heather's eyes. Heather tried to choke...