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with a weak one of her own. Her husband had not
said a thing since Eli handed him the set of instructions. He stared at the
papers as if trying to digest the words.
    God, they were unnerving. Eli could only pray for the baby who would have
to grow up in such a strained, tension-filled environment. He was tempted to
send the two of them straight to the marriage counselor in Methodist Memorial’s
Counseling Clinic.
    Eli sat back in his chair and folded his hands over his desk. “Well...I
think that’s all,” he said after the uncomfortable silence became unbearable.
    “One thing, doc,” Jeffrey asked, his eyes still glued to the
instructions. He pointed to a spot on the paper. “Under the ‘reduce activity
section’ it says she should limit stair climbing.”
    “Yes,” Elijah nodded. “Especially with such a severe case of anemia.
Exercise is still important, but only a few steps can bring on dizziness. You’ll
need to cut out the use of stairs as much as possible.”
    “That’s going to be difficult, doctor. I live on the third floor of my
apartment complex,” Amanda began.
    “You can—” Jeffrey started.
    “No,” Amanda hissed in a sharp, biting tone. Eli could practically see
the ice dripping from the single word.
    He’d had about enough of this as he could stomach. Eli had too much on
his mind to worry about the Daniels and their frighteningly strange
relationship.
    “Umm...okay. Well, my advice is that the two of you either move to an
apartment where there are no stairs or request that your landlord put in a
stair lift ASAP. You definitely cannot walk up two flights of stairs in your
condition,” he said to Amanda. “With your history, we have to cut out all risk.”
    Jeffrey rose and extended his hand across the desk. After Eli shook it,
the man went to his wife’s side and tried to help her out of the chair.
    She flung off the offending hand. Jeffrey looked sheepishly over at Eli, his
hands now resting at his sides as they both watched his wife struggle to lift
from the chair.
    “Thank you again, Dr. Holmes,” Amanda said. She clutched her small purse
to her side and turned for the door. Eli quickly made it around the desk and to
the door, not wanting to witness what would happen if her husband attempted to
open it for her.
    “Thanks, Doctor,” Jeffrey said again. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for
the guy. His situation was far beyond flowers and candy. Eli doubted anything
less than having the O’Jays serenade his wife while feeding her
chocolate-dipped strawberries was going to help Jeffrey Daniels get out of the
doghouse.
    “I’ll see the two of you in a week,” he said to their retreating backs.
    Eli spent the last hour of his workday shuffling around the paperwork on
his desk. If there was one thing about his job he absolutely despised, it was
paperwork. As soon as the brass hands on the wall clock landed in a perfect
vertical line, Eli shoved away from his desk and snatched his light windbreaker
from the coat rack. He grabbed his keys, switched off the light, and pulled the
door close behind him, locking it and re-pocketing the keys.
    There was a game on tonight, and Eli was looking forward to a quiet night
at home. Alone.
    Alicia had a business trip that would keep her overnight in Houston, and
Eli welcomed the one night reprieve. She was becoming a little too clingy for
his taste.
    Eli made it to the parking lot about ten minutes after six. If the gods
were shining down on him, afternoon traffic would be clear and he’d be sitting
in front of his big screen television by kickoff.
    He started up the Rover, pulled out, and had to slam on his brakes to
avoid hitting a gray Honda.
    His heart didn’t know whether to lift or sink at the sight of Monica
Gardner’s angry face sitting behind the wheel. She made a slight forward
motion, obviously putting the car in park, and opened the door. One look at the
fury in those hazel-colored eyes and Eli knew this wouldn’t be good. He got