Page 10 of Stolen Moments

Melia shook her head and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Never really had the money or the time, I guess.”

Susan nodded grimly. “If my grandmother hadn’t died and left me a sizeable inheritance we wouldn’t have been able to afford it either. But I think money is meant to be spent not hoarded, so I thought there was no better way than to spend it running around the world with the man that I love.” She smiled and kissed Luka.

Their love seemed so strong. Melia wished she had someone in her life that would love her the way Susan and Luka cared for one another. The thought of her overwhelming loneliness overtook her. She looked at her plate; she hadn’t eaten a lot but she didn’t want to be rude. “I think… I’m very tired now. I should lie down. The food was amazing. Thank you so much.”

Susan looked concerned. “Are you sure? Luka made a mixed berry cobbler and it’s really just about one of the most amazing things you could put in your mouth.”

Melia shook her head politely.

“Okay, well we’ll save you a piece for tomorrow! I’m sure that moving and packing and unpacking must have tired you out, I don’t know why we didn’t think of that! We should have ordered in today and left the dinner for tomorrow.”

Melia mustered as big of a smile as she could. “No, no, this was perfect. I just didn’t realize how tired I was. Really, it was amazing. And I will see you tomorrow morning. Have a wonderful night, and thank you again for the food.”

Melia retreated to her room and lay on her bed for a long time. The sounds of laughter, the murmur of words exchanged between two reminiscing lovers, and the clatter of plates rose up to her even with the door to her bedroom closed. Being surrounded by Luka’s spirit—one she thought she understood a bit better now—made her feel even lonelier than she had at the dinner table. She curled into a ball and fell asleep thinking of how Luka’s smile had lit up his face, how the frown that seemed to dominate it when he was around her had been nonexistent throughout his interactions with his wife. Had she imagined every instant where she felt a connection between them? It seemed so childish and one-sided. Luka was married, his wife was her patient, and Melia had grown tired of making the same bad choices that landed her in the beds of other women’s boyfriends and husbands.

As she drifted to sleep, Melia resolved to forget about Luka in anything other than a professional capacity.

Chapter Six

Melia settled into her life at the Rossiter residence as if she had been a fixture there forever. She helped in the kitchen, with tidying up the house, and took more care with Susan than she had with any of her previous patients. She tried to tell herself it was because she had grown fond of her and that the women had established a friendship between them that strengthened every day. But taking care of Susan had made her feel closer to Luka too. Caring for someone that she knew Luka cared so deeply for made her feel like somehow she was serving him as well.

The time she spent with Susan was often filled with hilarity. They shared stories of past unrequited lovers, of hilariously bad first dates, about the dreams their youth had built and the passage of time had corroded. They laughed together when Melia helped Susan bathe herself, Susan dispelling all awkwardness by saying the most sexually explicit things she could think of until Melia was more comfortable.

Susan had been right to think that Melia would breathe life into their home. Luka was able to return to work a few days at a time and as a result he smiled more, laughed more freely, and seemed less forlorn. With time, Melia accepted that she was nothing to Luka, and convinced herself that she also had ceased to care. But an accidental brush of skin in a crowded kitchen, their proximity to one another as they squeezed into the hallways, knowing that they were so close at night, threw Melia into a constant state of confusion.

Luka tried desperately to keep himself from brightening simply at the sound of Melia’s voice. He grew aroused whenever he passed her door and heard the shower running, but he would hurry past trying to fill his mind with anything but the image of her body under a stream of warm water. It was strange to think about, his feelings for a woman who was taking care of his dying wife, and he was fighting against a mounting attraction — and guilt — that were threatening to tear him apart.

* * *

One night, as he laid in bed with Susan, caressing her face, trying not think about the guilt that plagued him more every day. He caressed her face lovingly and tried to hide how troubled his mind was. She was paler, weaker, and he had noticed she was eating less. Luka worried that he wasn’t ready for her to go…and what it would mean if he was.

“You’re worrying again,” said Susan without opening her eyes. She sighed and the sound rattled in her chest. “You need to stop worrying. This is happening. And you need to start thinking about your future.” Susan paused and tried to catch her breath. “Melia”

“What about Melia?” Luka said, tensing.

Susan opened her eyes and looked at him with her penetrating gaze. “I guess I’m concerned with what will happen to her. I feel like she’s become a part of our family in such a short time.”

Luka frowned but said nothing.

“She’s young, beautiful, and caring. I can see that you care for her.”

“I—what? Susan, you’re tired. I don’t know what you think is happening between me and Melia but there’s nothing there.”

Susan slowly propped herself up on a bony elbow and stared at Luka. “I didn’t say that there was. I don’t think you understand me. We both care for Melia. In only two months she has become a huge part of our day—in the kitchen, she helps keep things clean and tidy, she’s become a great friend and companion to me. Can you imagine going through a single day without having her around?”

Luka thought carefully and shook his head. “I just want you to promise me that you’re going to take care of her.”

Susan’s eyes started to close. “I want you…to promise…you’re going…to…care…for her.” Susan drifted to sleep leaving Luka to his thoughts.

His wife was a perceptive woman; he wouldn’t put it past her to have noticed his growing attraction towards Melia. She hadn’t seemed angry though. Instead, it almost seemed like she was pushing him towards Melia. But Susan had been extra fatigued lately and he turned away from the idea that Susan might be trying to play matchmaker before she died. It was definitely something she would do, but she would have also been more direct about it.

Luka shook his head and turned off the bedside lamp. Trying to decipher Susan’s wishes when she was doped up on pain medication and drifting to sleep had proven to be an impossible task. He turned over and went to sleep.

* * *

Melia woke up to a frantic Luka. “She can’t breathe!”

Snapping up into a seated position, Melia rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She jumped out from under the covers and followed Luka to the master bedroom, where they found Susan coughing violently as she leaned on her bedside table. Her frail body seemed to be disappearing into the pillows and fluffy sheets of her bed. Susan’s body shook with every ragged breath. Melia quickly ran to the closet Susan had cleared to keep her medications in. She grabbed Susan’s pain pills and a small oxygen tank. She listened to her lungs and told Luka to lower the temperature of the room a few degrees.

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