Everything begins

The next morning, as usual, Adelard awoke in his bed. And the first thing he saw before him was not his wife, but Dr. Fabian.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, beginning to listen to his breathing and heart.

"My head hurts."

"You should have a full examination. I'm still not sure what's wrong with you. But I think it's anemia and overwork. Tell me, have you been under stress lately?"

"No. Though maybe I've had too many emotions."

"Why?"

"Because of Celeste."

"Your first love and all that," Dr. Fabian said, and began to feel his pulse.

"Doctor, how's Gaspard doing? I couldn't find the time to visit him."

Dr. Fabian became serious. Taking off his glasses, he said quietly, "Gaspard ran away."

"What? How did he run away?"

"When he got better, he just ran away."

"But he's weak. How could he run away? What if something happened to him? We should call the police."

"No. You shouldn't get out of bed today. And as for the boy, you don't have to worry. He'll be all right. In fact, he turned out to be stronger than we thought."

"But he doesn't have a home. What's going to happen to him?"

"The street is his home."

"Don't say that. I could see in his eyes that he wasn't always like that. So why did he leave?" Adelard asked, looking out the window with pain in his eyes. His pale face grew even paler and when Nicholas entered the room, he looked at him and asked, "Where is Celeste?"

"She's in the garden, reading a book. She's been up all night. Sitting beside you and helping the girls bring your fever down."

Adelard smiled weakly.

"Today, you don't have to get up. Get some rest. Let's see if you feel better after resting, then it's just overwork. And if not, you'll need to come see me again."

"Thank you Dr. Fabian."

As he left Adelard and closed the door behind him, Nicholas caught his arm and asked with the most genuine excitement, "His whole body hurts. He feels sick every day. And you think it's just overwork?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. But I want to hope that it is. And until he gets a proper examination, I can't say anything."

"Could it be that that homeless guy infected him?"

"No. Adelard doesn't have a cough. I don't think he's got it. Besides, it's been too long."

"Please do a full examination. I have a bad feeling about him," Nicholas said, noticing Celeste in front of the large portrait of Adelard's mother.

"Don't worry. I'll do my best."

"How is he?" Celeste asked, walking slowly up the stairs.

"He needs rest. There's nothing more I can say at the moment."

"Thank you," Celeste said and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Don't worry. Your husband will be fine."

"I hope so."

Leaving them alone, Celeste went into the room and when she saw Adelard standing at the window, she exclaimed, "What are you doing? Get into bed!"

"Celeste, I love you," Adelard said without looking at her.

"I love you too!"

"I have such a strange feeling. You know?"

"I don't know. Adelard, go to bed."

"Yesterday, I thought I was dying. I was scared."

"I was scared too. And you know what else? Yesterday, I heard all those women talking about me. They hate me. Adelard?"

Closing his eyes, Adelard sat on the edge of the bed. His mouth was slightly open and his arms were tense, as if he were holding something heavy.

"Adelard, don't scare me."

Putting him back to bed, Celeste covered him with a blanket and then sat down beside him. "You're just tired. So just sleep and be obedient. Then you'll be fine."

"How's that boy? I forgot all about him," Adelard asked, remembering that boy named Peter.

"He's fine. This morning, Nicholas took him home. The boy got better. And Nicholas felt it was time for him to go home."

"I hope he'll be all right."

"Yes. He's so good. I wanted him to stay with us. With him, everything in the house has become so nice, so warm."

Adelard smiled and hugged her. Kissing her cheek, he said, "I want us to have many children."

"You're so beautiful," Celeste said, feeling nothing but happiness.

But as it always happens, happiness quickly disappeared behind a formidable cloud that held only one thing in it: pain. Toward evening, when all seemed well and Adelard began to eat, the telephone rang; the one that stood in the corner of the living room, and with that unpleasant call came terrible news that completely destroyed the heart of whoever picked it up. "Who was that?" Adelard asked, as if sensing it, running out of the room. Seeing Nicholas, who had managed to drop the phone and along with it a vase of flowers, Adelard asked louder, "What happened?"

"Suzanne." That was all Nicholas could say and in the next second, he covered his face with his hand.

"What? Tell me!"

"Susanne is dead."