What would you do if you discovered that your entire relationship with the person of your dreams was a lie, starting from the wedding engagement?
"I strongly advise against this, Maxie," Dr. Lee said. "You have a history of heart trouble. Can't Spinelli-"
"I don't want Spinelli to know about this. He wants kids and I don't', but he's gonna be so hurt if he thinks I don't want a child with him. It's not like I never wanna have a child with him; I just don't want one right now."
"You're getting married tomorrow and you haven't been honest with him about such an important issue?"
"Look," Maxie said irritably, "you're my doctor, not my judge. Just give me the pills and let me get out of here; I have to get ready for the rehearsal."
Kelly sighed and went to fill the prescription.
Maxie still had her doubts as she walked down the isle, but forced them away again. Spinelli was so happy and she couldn't break his heart by calling off the wedding. She wouldn't risk losing him and she would never humiliate him by leaving him standing at the alter. Everyone they cared about was here, including Spinelli's grandmother, who had flown in for the wedding and would go back to Oakfield Monday morning. Maxie didn't want to hurt him, especially not so publicly. Besides, she did want to spend the rest of her life with him. Who was she to say that her marriage wouldn't work out just because her parents' marriage had failed? Robin and Patrick were happily married; there was no reason in the world that Maxie and Spinelli couldn't have a happy marriage, too.
But a few months later, everything blew up in her face. She reflected later, as she'd seen Spinelli's hurt, angry eyes as he turned and left her, that it had started with her accepting his proposal because Mack had tried to stop him from proposing. Everything had snowballed from there and it was all her fault. She was a horrible person and now she'd lost the best person in her life; she knew Spinelli would never forgive her.
They had just had a wonderful dinner, all their favorites from Kelly's. Maxie had surprised him at McCall and Jackal after she'd gotten off work at Crimson. They were about to leave to go home when Maxie suddenly felt a shooting pain up her left arm. She didn't say anything at first, but when she stood up to follow him out the door she became dizzy.
"Maximista?" he asked as he caught her before she fell.
"Spinelli," she said weakly, "something's wrong with me."
He drove her to the hospital and she was admitted immediately. He held her hand tightly as they waited for the results, both fearing the worst. Spinelli thought her borrowed heart, as she called it, was failing her and Maxie was afraid Kelly had been right about the pills.
But at one point, she asked him for some water. He went to get it from the fountain and when he came back to her room, he overheard something she obviously had not meant for him to know.
"Maxie, I warned you about this," Kelly was saying. "I told you that if you used birth control this could happen. You have to stop taking it and you have to tell your husband that you're not ready to have children so you can decide on a safer form of birth control, which would probably be the use of condoms."
"Spinelli can't know," Maxie insisted. "It would break his heart; he wants kids!"
"You told me yourself that you do, too, just not right away. Why can't you be honest with him and tell him how you feel?"
"I think your husband would also like to know the answer to that question," Spinelli said from the doorway.
The two women looked at him as if they'd both been caught doing something sinful.
"How long have you been standing there?" Maxie asked.
"Long enough to know you've been lying to me for months."
"I'm sorry, Spinelli, but the birth control did cause Maxie to have a mild heart attack. We're gonna keep her for observation and start her on preventative medication. But the most important thing you can do, Maxie, is to stop taking the pills!"
The couple said nothing.
"Well, I'm gonna go confer with Dr. Julian about the best medication to give you. Did you take your pill today?"
Maxie nodded with a furtive look at Spinelli, who stood behind the doctor with the same expression Maxie had seen on his face when he'd figured out her true motives for sleeping with him the night the feds had arrested him.
"Good; then I don't have to worry about that for tonight, but don't take any more!"
"They're at home in the medicine cabinet; I don't even have them with me."
Spinelli rarely went into the medicine cabinet unless his allergies were acting up. Since it was not allergy season, she had known he most likely wouldn't have a reason to go in there.
"That's good. I'll leave you two alone; you obviously have a lot to discuss."
Spinelli moved out of her way so she could get by, then walked into the room and closed the door.
"Spinelli, please hear me out," Maxie said.
"I'm listening."
But he stood near the door. He didn't sit down and he didn't look at her. He spoke to her in the same tone he'd used for weeks after he'd caught her and Johnny kissing on the peer.
"I was trying to protect you."
"Protect me? From what?"
"I didn't wanna hurt you. I mean, you want kids; I know that, but I'm just not ready. It doesn't mean I don't ever want them; it just means I'm not ready now."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid you wouldn't understand."
"You don't trust me?"
"Of course I trust you, Spinelli. I trust you completely."
"If that were true we wouldn't be here now. You wouldn't be in the hospital after a heart attack caused by the birth control pills I had no idea you were taking!"
She started to cry and he could hear the heart monitor speeding up slightly. He didn't want to cause more harm to her heart by upsetting her. She'd caused enough damage already tonight.
"If I stay here now I'm gonna say something I'll regret later. I need to get out of here for a while."
"Spinelli, please," she whined.
"We'll talk later. When you're strong enough to handle it, we're gonna have a very, very long talk."
He turned his back to her, opened the door and left without another word.
"Spinelli?" Lulu asked.
Robin had called her to tell her Maxie wouldn't be into the office the next day and had explained that she'd been admitted to the hospital for tests. She'd wanted to be there for Maxie and Spinelli, so she'd driven to the hospital.
Spinelli didn't seem to hear her.
"Hey, Spinelli!"
He stopped and turned. Lulu was running to catch up to him.
"Oh God," she said, fearing the worst, "it's Maxie's heart, isn't it?"
He looked devastated. She couldn't think of what else it could be; Maxie's heart had to be the problem.
"She lied to me," he said softly, painfully.
"What?" Lulu asked, confused.
"She's been lying to me since before the wedding."
"Oh no!"
He nodded.
"Look, for what it's worth, Spinelli, I know she loves you and she only did it so you wouldn't get hurt."
"You knew?" he asked, appalled.
"I knew the minute she told me you proposed."
She didn't see the look of confusion on his face until it was too late and it had become an expression of comprehension mixed with further devastation.
"She knew Mack would refuse to let you marry her and she knew you would honor that, but when he did refuse her reflexes kicked in and she got mad at him and told you to ask her, that it wasn't his decision."
"Wait. What?"
She stopped. They were obviously not talking about the same lie. What else had Maxie done? What had Lulu herself just done? She had a horrible feeling she'd just added to Spinelli and Maxie's' problems.
"Are you-"
He paused, swallowed an took a deep breath.
"Are you telling me that she never intended to accept my proposal? Are you saying this entire marriage has been a lie from the beginning?"
"Spinelli, I am so sorry; I thought that was what you were talking about! I wanted to tell you, but she's my friend, too, and I felt like I was caught in the middle and thought I would lose both of you if I said anything and when you said she was lying to you just now I thought that was what you meant; I thought she'd finally come clean with you."
"No, I was talking about her using contraceptives instead of telling her husband that she was not yet prepared to be a mother."
"What?"
"Yeah, she said she was having fertility issues. She said it didn't mean we would never have offspring, only that it might take longer for us to conceive. But the pills caused her to have a mild heart attack. Dr. Kelly warned her of that possibility, but in true Maxie fashion, she ignored the warnings and did what she wanted. She could have died!"
"I don't believe it."
"I don't believe she never even intended to marry me!"
"What have I done?"
"You've been honest with me, which is more than I can say for my wife!"
Lulu's heart broke for him; the sarcastic emphasis he put on the word "wife" made her want to slap Maxie.
"I can't believe she did that! I mean, marrying you out of defiance to Mack was bad enough, but this-"
He stared at the lobby door. He didn't want Lulu to think he was angry with her, too. He understood her position. But he wanted to get out of this hospital.
"Let's go back to your place and talk," she said, seeing that he would rather be anywhere but here. "Maxie probably needs things from home, anyway, right?"
He nodded gratefully and followed her out to her car. She would drop him off here later to pick up the one he shared with Maxie.
Leo and Kelly explained Maxie's heart attack to Mack, Patrick and Robin, then Kelly told them about Spinelli overhearing Maxie and Kelly discussing the birth control.
"Why is he mad that she's using birth control?" Mack demanded. "She's being responsible."
"She didn't tell him she was using it," Robin explained. "She let him think she wanted kids instead of being honest with him."
Patrick rolled his eyes in frustration.
"I left them to talk it out," Kelly said.
"You left my daughter alone with Spinelli?" Mack demanded angrily.
"She left Maxie alone with her husband," Robin said firmly.
"Her husband is the reason she had a heart attack, Robin!"
"She had a heart attack because she was taking something that causes further complications to people with a history of heart trouble," Kelly said.
"If she'd been honest with Spinelli in the first place," Patrick said, "he would have understood and he would have been the one taking precautions."
"But she didn't trust him enough to be honest with him," Robin added, "despite her claim that she trusts him completely, and now look where they are!"
"He could have killed her!"
"How can you blame Spinelli for this?" Patrick asked.
"He doesn't see what's right in front of him! If he loves her as much as he says he does he would have seen that she wasn't ready for marriage or motherhood!"
"How can he see anything with the mixed signals she keeps giving him?"
"Patrick's right," Robin said, "and I tried to tell Maxie, but you know how she is when she gets something in her head. She's gonna do whatever she wants and then when the consequences hit she and everyone around her is hurt."
Kelly sighed.
"I urged her not to take the pills and to be honest with him, but she refused."
Robin nodded.
"Maxie is very stubborn. She loves him so much, but she may have just lost him because of her lack of faith in him. She's constantly sabotaging herself."
"I came from seeing her a few minutes ago," Leo said. "Spinelli wasn't there and she was crying."
"He thinks he's just gonna leave her after pressuring her to have kids and putting her in this situation?" Mack asked, glaring at the world in general. "I don't think so! I'm gonna bring him back here even if I have to arrest him to do it!"
"No, you're not, Uncle Mack. You're gonna stay out of it! Abusing your power is only gonna make the situation worse."
Patrick nodded.
"Arresting Spinelli for daring to react to Maxie's actions is equivalent to you trying to take Emma away from me when Robin went to Rochester."
"You did that?" Robin asked with angry disbelief.
"I didn't know you were sick; I thought Patrick had hurt you and that was why you left."
"Uncle Mack, you can't control everyone's lives like that! I don't care that you thought Patrick and I were fighting; you don't take a daughter away from her father and you don't arrest your daughter's boyfriend for proposing to her, or her husband because his wife lied to him and he's reacting to her lies! Is Spinelli not allowed to have feelings?"
"Not if those feelings hurt my little girl!"
"Your little girl is the one who caused those feelings," Robin said. "Leo, can I go see her?"
Leo nodded.
"But only one of you at a time."
Robin thanked him and headed for Maxie's room.
She found Maxie lying face down on her bed and sobbing into her pillow. She touched her shoulder and Maxie looked up with red, streaming eyes.
"You were right," she sobbed into Robin's shoulder as Robin hugged her. "Why didn't I listen to you? I've lost him now!"
Robin held her and talked to her until she fell asleep, then left Mack to stay with her while she went to go find Spinelli. She wouldn't use bullying tactics like Mack did, but she did want to try to talk to him. He had every right to his feelings, but she hoped to put a new perspective on things for him. As she went to her car, she saw that his and Maxie's car was still in the parking lot, but that Lulu's was gone. If he had been anyone else, that would have worried her, but she knew Spinelli would never sleep with another woman to get back at Maxie. She also knew that Lulu had learned from her mistakes with Dillon. If they were together, Lulu was acting in her capacity as Spinelli's friend. They were talking, nothing more.
"Why didn't she tell me?" Spinelli asked.
He'd just spent the last fifteen minutes going through their bathroom and bedroom, trying to find out if there was anything else Maxie had been keeping from him. Lulu watched with a feeling of dread, worried that there had been something else Maxie hadn't told him. But if there was, he didn't find it. He only found the birth control pills, which he'd flushed; Maxie was not going to use them to risk her life again.
He didn't know whether to be relieved that he didn't find any other nasty little surprises or to go through the rest of the house. He quickly decided that a house-wide search would be extreme at this point and might make Lulu worry more about him than she already was. He didn't want his anger to turn into outright paranoia.
Lulu sat quietly beside him on the couch with an arm around him, letting him vent. She wished there was something she could do to take away the pain in his eyes.
"Am I so rigid that she thinks I would hate her if she didn't marry me, or if she wanted to postpone the conception of a Jackal Junior or Miniature Maximista? I don't understand."
There was a knock at the door. Lulu sighed and went to answer.
"Hi, Lulu," Robin said. "Spinelli, can I talk to you, please?"
"Is it Maxie?"
Lulu could see the dread in his eyes mixing with the pain Maxie had already caused.
"Did something else happen?"
"Maxie's OK. She was asleep when I left."
He relaxed.
"I'll give you two some privacy," Lulu said, heading to the kitchen.
"Thank you," they said together.
Robin took Lulu's place on the couch next to Spinelli and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Maxie's devastated. She knows what she did was wrong."
"She knows it now? It didn't occur to her that it would be wrong, not only to make me think she wanted children but to pretend she wanted to marry me when it was the last thing in the world she wanted?"
Robin was caught off guard.
"Yeah, Lulu thought that was what I was talking about when I said Maxie had been lying to me all this time."
Robin had no idea what to say. Spinelli was being hit from all sides tonight and Maxie was the ammunition dump. Unfortunately other people, such as Lulu and Kelly, were the ones dropping the bombs.
"I guess The Jackal is the last one to know all important details concerning his wife and his marriage."
"Maxie's my cousin and I love her, but I don't condone her actions. She should have been honest with you from the beginning. But I care about you, too, and I think there's something about yourself that you don't see. Can I tell you?"
He nodded.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to Maxie. You two are good for each other. But you know about Maxie's issues with her biological parents, particularly her mother, right?"
"Yes, she's told me several times how she feels about her mother."
"Did she tell you her problems with the idea of marriage?"
"Yes, but when she said she would accept my ring and think about the proposal and then accepted the proposal itself, I thought she'd elected to face and conquer her fears rather than let them control her."
"I think maybe she thought so, too, but she was doing it for you more than herself. You're a very single-minded person and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But in this case you contributed to Maxie's fears rather than helping her to face them and everyone knows that was not your intention, but she knows you think in terms of love leading to marriage and happily ever after. I don't think she's ever thought in those terms, or if she has it hasn't been for a very long time."
"I told her I would wait for her to make a decision and she did."
"But you didn't wait. You went to Mack and asked him for her hand."
"That didn't mean she had to accept my proposal immediately; it just meant that we would have his blessing when she finally did."
"What would you have done if she never had? What if she'd been too scared to say yes and rejected your proposal, or if she waited years and never gave you any answer at all?"
He didn't know how to answer that. It had never occurred to him. She'd said she'd think about it; she'd accepted the ring. Acceptance of the ring meant eventual acceptance of the proposal, or so he'd thought.
"She loves you and she was afraid that marriage would ruin what you had. But you see marriage as the only way to affirm your love forever."
"Marriage is the ultimate commitment."
Robin nodded.
"My point exactly; you're not afraid of that commitment, but Maxie was terrified of it. But she was more afraid of you finding someone who felt the same way you do. She was afraid if she didn't marry you she would lose you to someone who did want the ultimate commitment."
"So she married me under duress?"
He was horrified. Everything he thought he'd known about his wife was being proven wrong. Not only did she not want to be his wife, but she didn't even know him as well as she should.
"She does love you."
"Just not enough to trust in my love and be honest with me about her true feelings. Is this why she took the birth control, too? She couldn't control the marriage part of it, so she would pacify the child she married by making him think she would have trouble conceiving? Did she think I wasn't man enough to handle the truth?"
He felt guilty about the pressure he'd unintentionally put on her, but he was still furious with her for deceiving him.
"I swear, Spinelli, I tried to convince her to be honest with you about that. I told her to let you know that she eventually wanted to have kids with you, but that she thought you should wait."
"What was her excuse for disregarding your advice?"
"She was afraid you would think she never wanted to have a child with you and that you'd' be hurt."
"And this isn't hurting me? What did she think, Robin? Did she think I was just gonna pack up and leave her if she didn't pop out a kid exactly nine months from our wedding night? Does she really think I'm some misogynistic cave dweller? I'm not Logan Hayes and Maxie should know me better!"
"I agree."
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Everything was happening so fast, Spinelli, and Maxie was afraid everything would fall apart if she slowed it down. She's lost so much and losing you would destroy her."
"So she decided to lie to me when that's the quickest way to lose me."
"Do you still love her?"
"Yes," he said painfully, "but how can I get past this? Not only did she not wanna marry me, but she doesn't even know me! She honestly believes I would walk away from her just for being honest with me when honesty is the very thing I expect from her!"
"Honesty is key in any relationship. You need to make her see that and then you need to find a way to fix your relationship together."
"I don't know if this can be fixed. I mean, our entire relationship has been a lie!"
"No, you love each other! Look, I'm not trying to blame you for Maxie's actions; she's responsible for what she does. But you seem to me like someone who looks toward the future. Am I right?"
"I didn't used to be. Maximista changed that."
"You think about your future with her."
He nodded, but didn't say that now he didn't even know if they had a future.
"Maxie said that you were courting her before; you were trying to experience courtly love. Then you two sang to each other at Jake's an the next morning you proposed. Your idea of love and marriage is not wrong; I love the idea. In fact, that's what I found with Patrick. But you seem to move toward the future immediately and don't seem to give yourself, or Maxie, time to enjoy the present. You're so busy trying to build your future that you don't give either of you the chance to just live in the moment. You and Maxie have had very little time together as a couple, married or not."
He was silent for a long moment, but Robin could see that he was seriously considering her words.
"There was no balance, no in between," he said thoughtfully.
She nodded.
He looked at her with an expression of such vulnerability that Robin wanted to cry.
"Do you think we can fix it?"
"I honestly don't know, but I do know that this will all be for nothing if you don't try."
"You're right."
He accepted Robin's offer to drive him back to the hospital and asked Lulu to wait for him here. He'd missed her and wanted to talk. Their friendship had not been quite the same since before she'd hit Logan with the wrench; if he had to pinpoint when it had changed, he would say that it had been when she'd tried to get him to reveal business secrets concerning Johnny, the day he'd tried to get her to be honest about her feelings for Johnny. Rather than be honest with him or ask him to change the subject, she'd forced Logan into his orbit, making him leave the two of them alone. Things had never quite healed for him after that because then Georgie had died and he hadn't been able to come to Lulu because she was still avoiding him, then he'd told her to be careful of Logan and she'd done just the opposite, then taken him to task for being honest with her.
He knew she cared about him, but she was usually not there when he needed her. He needed her tonight; he needed her friendship. He needed her to listen and to offer advice the way he'd always tried to do with her.
Lulu was not blind to the fact of her selfishness and wanted to change it. How many times had she told him she would be a better friend and then reverted back to the same spoiled little brat who thought all her friends had to agree with everything she said and did? Tonight, she was going to be Spinelli's friend, the kind of friend he was, the kind of friend he deserved.
"I packed a bag for Maxie while you two were talking," she said, hugging him and handing him the bag before they left.
"Thank you, Blonde One," he said with a smile before following Robin out the door.
As Robin expected, Mack tried to keep Spinelli away from Maxie.
"She doesn't wanna see you," he said, glaring at him.
"I know that's not true, Uncle Mack," Robin said in a no nonsense voice.
"She's asleep, anyway."
"I won't wake her," Spinelli said.
"You won't see her."
"Maxie is my wife."
"Not for long."
"That's between Maxie and her husband," Robin said angrily. "You and I are gonna let them work this out between themselves with no interference. Let's go!"
She grabbed Mack by the arm and steered him out of the room. Spinelli sat down with an exhausted sigh and waited for Maxie to wake up.
"You came back!" she said with relief when she opened her eyes.
He nodded.
"We need to talk."
"I know."
"Are you up to it?"
"If it means we can fix what I did."
"I know you didn't wanna marry me. I know you only did it because you thought you had to, that you didn't trust me enough to know that I would understand if you were not ready."
She was silent, but Spinelli could see the trapped expression that always came over her face when she knew she was caught in a lie or an act of deception or betrayal.
"We have quite a few problems," he said.
"We're gonna fix it, Spinelli. We're gonna fix it because I can't lose you; I won't."
"this is not about you! It's about us!"
"I know that."
"Do you?"
"Of course."
"Then why are you in this hospital bed? Why couldn't you trust me enough to tell me the truth about the marriage? If you were truthful about the marriage then children would never have been an issue."
"I told you how I feel about marriage!" she said defensively.
"You also told me you'd accept the ring and think about the proposal; that was not a definite no. If that was what you meant you should have said so instead of letting me think we had a chance."
"The truth would have hurt you."
"Yes, it would have, but what breaks my heart, Maxie, is that you have so little faith in me that you would rather run the risk of getting yourself killed than be honest with me!"
His voice had thickened and she saw him blink back tears. He looked away and swallowed hard, fighting to make his voice go back to normal.
"I almost lost you tonight. You could have died. You could have died and then I would be left wondering why you would rather die than have my child!"
Her breath caught.
"Do you really think that?"
"Maxie, I don't know what to believe at this point. I thought you knew me; you don't'. I thought you wanted to be my wife; you don't'. I thought you wanted to be the mother of my child; you don't. My entire future is crumbling around me and I don't know what to think!"
"I'm sorry," she sobbed.
He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
"I'm sorry, too. I realize now that I pressured you into this marriage. I never wanna force you into anything. I just wish you'd trusted and respected me enough to let me know what I was doing instead of deceiving me and putting your life in danger. After everything we've been through together, how can you think so little of me?"
"Spinelli, I think the world of you!"
"Your actions prove otherwise."
"How can I convince you?"
There was a note of desperation in her voice.
"I don't know," he said with a tired sigh.
"Spinelli, please, can't we fix this?"
"I truly hope so," he said softly.
"I'll do anything! I'll quit the birth control pills; I'll have your child! I'll-"
He shook his head.
"Quit the pills, yes; I don't wanna lose you and you could have another heart attack. But there will be no children, and I think the first step to fixing our problems is to dissolve the marriage."
"Divorce?"
"Annulment."
"But how can we fix our problems if you're so willing to break up the marriage at the first sign of trouble?"
"The marriage was based on a lie. It can't last under those circumstances and it certainly can't last if we don't trust each other. You've proven tonight that you never trusted me as much as you said you did, or even as much as you thought you did, and your actions have proven that I can't trust you as much as I did."
She sobbed.
"We can't make it as a couple, married or not, if we're not completely honest with each other, especially about the important issues. If we can't be honest, Maximista, we have no business being married."
She sniffled and wiped her eyes.
"What does that mean for us?"
"I guess it means we start over. We go back to being friends and work our way back up."
"I don't think we have to start that far back."
"I can't be romantically involved with someone I can't trust."
"But it was the marriage. If we're not married-"
"It wasn't just the marriage. You lied to me before we got married; your acceptance of my proposal was the lie that started all this. If you can't even be honest about that, how can I expect you to be honest about anything? Every few months you betray me; it's like when things get too comfortable you have to do something to cause trouble for both of us."
"That's not fair!"
"It's not? I won't count the first time we made love because you were genuinely scared and needed comfort, but the second time you had your own motives. Then I find you kissing Johnny to get back at Lulu for some mix-up at work. Then you accept my proposal under false pretenses, marry me under those same false pretenses and now this!"
He pointed at the heart monitor to signify the reason she was hooked up to it.
"You keep saying you trust me, but you don't. You don't trust me an you don't respect me."
"How can you say that?" she whined.
"Look at where we are, Maxie. Look at what got us here. You've been lying to me for months. Our entire marriage is a lie! It has been since the minute you said yes in defiance of your father's refusal."
"I did say yes in defiance of my father's refusal. Don't you think that proves I love you?"
"I know you love me; I love you, too. Love is not the issue; trust, respect and above all honesty are the issues."
"OK, fine, then let's go back to being just boyfriend and girlfriend; we don't have to go all the way back to the beginning."
He couldn't say yes. He couldn't trust her. How could he have a girlfriend he couldn't trust?
"Why don't we try couples therapy?" she suggested.
He blinked at her.
"Counseling?"
She nodded.
"We'll have the marriage annulled; you're right about that. But we could go to Lainey Winters as a couple and work out our problems. Or if you don't want it to be her for some reason we can pick someone together, or ask her for a recommendation. Why don't we try and if the therapist says we should go back to being friends for a while then we will?"
"The Jackal does not object to Dr. Lainey."
"Then we'll do it?"
He nodded. She moved to hug him, but stopped when he stiffened. She lay back on her pillows with a resigned sigh.
"Should I try to make an appointment for us for tomorrow?"
"I think we should consult with Dr. Leo first to see if you're strong enough."
"I wanna make it better, Spinelli; I want us back."
"So do I, but not at the expense of your health."
"You're right," she sighed. "Are you gonna talk to Diane Miller about the annulment?"
"First thing tomorrow morning."
"I'm really sorry."
"I know; me, too."
"I love you so much, Spinelli. I can't lose you."
"Then this can never happen again, Maximista. I've been honest with you; I expect the same in return. As Robin said earlier, honesty is key in any relationship."
"I swear I'll never lie to you again."
"Don't make promises you might not be able to keep."
He was right. Honesty was not one of Maxie's strengths. A promise not to lie might turn out to b a lie in itself.
Later, as he left the hospital, he felt a strange mixture of loss and relief. He was losing his wife, but maybe he could regain his friend, and later his love, and later she would become his wife again. As he pulled into his driveway, where his friend was waiting for him, he reminded himself not to push it. He and Maxie had a long road ahead of them.