Marriage and Family

Chapter Eleven

"Let's talk about what happened when you two got back home." Leslie suggested.

"Ok." Sam sighed. "Well like I said, dinner was really great. We were able to talk and I felt like we were getting back on track. Once he stopped talking about his father we had some really nice conversations and everything felt different between us. It was almost like once I broke the spell his father had on him, he was the old Martin again."

"The old Martin?" Leslie questioned, hoping for an explanation.

"Yeah, the Martin he was before Victor came to live with us. Sometimes I felt like Martin was under some kind of spell, like he was mesmerized by his father or something. I can't really explain it but Martin starting changing the moment Victor stepped into our house."

"How exactly did he change?"

"He just became a different person. He was more distant and preoccupied, consumed by this need he had to try and be the perfect son to his father while he could." Sam explained.

"Did you try and tell him that?" Leslie asked, guessing that Samantha hadn't.

"I didn't know how to." She shook her head. "And to be completely honest, I was afraid to say anything."

"Why afraid?" Leslie questioned.

"Every time I tried to talk to Martin about his father, no matter what it was about, he would always give me this weird look. It wasn't really annoyance or anger, but it was almost like he didn't think I had a right to talk badly about his father. I just always got the feeling like he didn't appreciate my input and didn't want to hear anything bad about his father." Sam explained.

Leslie took a moment to absorb what Samantha was telling her before continuing. "So you said that everything fell apart when you got home that night. What happened?"

"Dinner was great." Sam marveled as they walked up the sidewalk to the door.

"It was, wasn't it?" Martin agreed, kissing the back of her neck. He had his arms wrapped around her waist as they walked from the car to the front door. "I'm glad we came out tonight."

"So am I." Sam stopped at the door, turning around into Martin's embrace. Dinner had been exactly what they needed. Having a little time away from the kids and Victor was wonderful and she only hoped that this was the first step to getting their marriage back on track again. "We should do this more often."

"Yeah." Martin agreed. "I think we definitely should." Once he got over his initial concern of leaving his father alone in the house he actually had a great time. Up until now he hadn't realized just how much he had missed spending time alone with Sam.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up at the prospect of more nights like this one.

"Absolutely." He assured her, leaning in to kiss her.

"You know I'm going to hold you to that." She warned.

"I'm counting on it." He grinned, kissing her again.

"Maybe we should go inside instead of making out on the front porch like a couple of teenagers." She suggested.

He sighed, knowing she was right. "Yeah, let's go."

She smiled and unlocked the door, entering and throwing her keys onto the nearby table.

He kept his arms wrapped around her waist the entire time, following her inside and kicking the door shut with his leg. "I'm going to go check on my father."

"Of course you are." She mumbled softly. She wondered how long it would take him once they were back in the house to become his father's man servant again. Checking the clock she saw it only took forty-five seconds.

"Why don't you go upstairs and get out of that dress? I'll be up in a couple of minutes."

She leaned in for another kiss. "Only a couple of minutes?"

"I promise." He assured her.

"Ok." She could deal with that. After all, she had managed to get him out of the house and away from Victor for a few hours. It was only natural that he would want to check on him now.

"I'll be right up." He told her as he headed towards his father's bedroom. He softly knocked on the door and when he didn't hear any response, he opened it slightly. What he found was an empty bed. "Dad?" He checked the bathroom but found it was empty. "Dad?"

He heard a soft moaning sound coming from the floor on the other side of the bed and followed it to find his father lying on the carpet. "Dad!" He rushed to his side. "What happened? Did you fall or something?"

"Hurts." Victor whispered, motioning to his chest.

"Heart attack." Martin realized. They needed to get him to the hospital. There was no telling how long he'd been lying on the floor like this. There was no phone in his father's room but he didn't want to leave him alone. "Sam! Sam! Come quick!"

Within a few seconds, she appeared in the doorway. "What?" She saw Martin on the floor. "What's going on?"

"Call for an ambulance." Martin commanded. "I think he's either had or having a heart attack."

"Ok." She ran out to get the phone from the living room and call for paramedics.

Martin grabbed a hold of his father's hand. "It's ok. Everything's going to be ok. Sam's calling for help. We'll get you to the hospital."

"No time." Victor whispered.

"How long have you been like this?"

"Long time." Victor replied. "You weren't here for me."

"I know." Martin nodded. "But I'm here now and you're going to be fine. I promise."

"I needed you…you weren't here." Victor's voice trailed off as his eyes started to close.

"Dad." Martin called out to him. "C'mon! Open you eyes." But there was no response. "Open you eyes."

"The ambulance should be here in about five minutes." Sam told him as she rushed back into the room. She came over to where Martin was and saw that Victor had his eyes closed. "Is he…?"

Martin reached down to his father's throat to find a pulse. When he couldn't find one, he hung his head down. "He's gone." He started to cry.

Sam watched Martin, not liking the fact that he was in so much pain that she couldn't take away. She sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

She really was sorry. As much as she hated Victor at times, she didn't want him to die. She just wanted him out of her house.

"That's a horrible way to have to find a loved one." Leslie commented once Samantha was done with her story.

"It really tore Martin up inside. He didn't say a word to me or anyone for days after it happened." Sam explained.

"He didn't say anything at all?" Leslie asked.

"No. I think he was in a state of shock." Sam replied. "I took care of all the funeral arrangements and getting transported back to New York to be buried because Martin just wasn't able to do that."

"He wasn't able to much of anything at the time. He barely ate and was only semi-conscious of everything going on around him. All he did during the funeral was sit in the front and stare at the casket."

She recalled the image of him staring at the casket. It was almost as if he thought he could bring his father back if he stared at it long enough. "It broke my heart to see him like that but no matter what I did or said he wouldn't talk. He wouldn't open up to me or anyone else."

"How long did he stay silent?" Leslie was curious.

"Close to four days." Sam replied.

"And what happened when he finally spoke?"

"We got into a big argument—maybe the worst one we've ever had." Sam told her.