His Love Was My Poison novel · Chapter 12 of 48
Chapter 12: Next of Kin
The nurse froze with her hand on the monitor.
The three-star general turned around.
Down the hall, I heard a cart stop rolling.
I didn't raise my voice.
"Show them the license," I said.
Eleanor blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Your marriage license. You're his wife. Show the nurse, so she knows who to talk to."
"I don't carry my marriage license around in my purse."
"Then tell them the date. Tell them the courthouse."
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
"There isn't one," I said. "There never was. There's a name on a headstone in Lexington. That's not the same thing."
The nurse looked at the chart in her hand, then at Eleanor.
"Ma'am, you're listed as next of kin."
"Because I'm the mother of his son!"
"Which makes you Kit's family," I said. "Not his."
On the bed, Royce stirred.
His eyes opened, bloodshot and slow.
They went from Eleanor to me, and stayed on me.
"Lenora," he said.
Not Nora.
It was the first time he'd ever said my whole name like he meant it.
Eleanor turned to him and smoothed his hair.
"Shh, baby. Don't try to talk. She's upsetting you."
He moved his head away from her hand.
"She isn't my wife," he said to the room.
His voice was cracked and weak, but it carried.
The three-star general's eyebrows went up.
"Royce," Eleanor said. "You're confused. It's the medication."
"I'm not confused. I've never been less confused in my life." He looked at the nurse. "Take her off my chart. She doesn't get my records. She doesn't decide anything for me."
The nurse wrote something down.
Eleanor stared at him.
Then she turned the full force of her tears on the three-star general.
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