Chapter Ten

Lisa was just coming out of the kitchen when Mac stood up from the recliner he'd been sitting in. Though, she had no time to say anything before she was running to Mac, taking a hold of his arm with one hand and placing her arm across his abdomen – he looked as if he was going to fall. She helped him sit back down.

"Thanks," Mac said once he felt as if the room wasn't spinning. "I guess I stood up too fast."

If he could see clearly, Mac would have seen Lisa's eyebrows rise-as if she was asking, 'You think?' "As it was, she gently chastised him. "Unless you have to take care of personal business, you're supposed to be resting. It's not like you haven't done anything. I think you've been through the house a thousand times already."

Mac, who had spent a good portion of the morning making it around his house yet again, was frustrated. It had been three weeks since he'd been released from the hospital. His sight was only slightly improved (he could actually see shadows of people and things) and the dizzy spells were still happening. Okay, they were definitely getting farther apart. When Lisa had taken him to the doctor's office, the good man had seemed to think that the dizzy spells would go away completely within the next week or two. Still, Mac was tired of 'taking it easy'. He wanted life to get back to normal and doing it the day before would have been fine with him. "I was going for a thousand and one." Mac didn't mean to snap only he did.

Lisa, who really liked Mac, felt her heart go out to him. "You know, Mac, you haven't been outside much. Why don't I set up some chairs outside. We could sit out there and enjoy some fresh air. Believe me, it would do you some good."

Mac let his frustration get to him even more as he asked rather sharply, "What do you know what would do me some good! It's not like you how it is to stumble around in what might as well be the dark, trying to get to know a place you should know by heart, but don't! To hear voices to faces you want to see again, should see again only there's no guarantee either!" He continued throwing out one thing or another for a few minutes.

Lisa let Mac ramble on, knowing how badly he needed to 'get it out'. Though, by the time he fell quiet, it was all she could do not to start yelling at him when she started speaking.

"William MacDonald," Lisa's voice may not have been raised only the tone was just as sharp and, its own way, just as loud-even louder than when she and his son had gotten after him. "How long have you known me?" When he did not answer, she asked the question again.

"Five years." He finally answered, wondering just what on earth he was going to hear.

"Five years," Lisa forced herself not to throw the words out like a dagger-which was sorely tempting. "I'm thirty-three years old; you've known me for five, and you have the nerve to sit there and tell me what I do and do not know. Okay, let's play a game … I'll ask you questions and see if you can give me the answers. If you can't, I'll give them to you-the answers that is. What is my full legal name and legal status?"

Mac was confused. He'd heard her full name plenty of times, and she knew it. And, since she still went by the name of Baldwin and lived with her parents... "Lisa Ann Baldwin and single."

He was stung when Lisa answered with a very forceful, "WRONG! It's Lisa Ann Baldwin-Baldwin!" She bit her tongue to keep from chuckling at the way Mac's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open ever so slightly. "Status is WIDOWED! At seventeen I married Robert J Baldwin-an extremely far-distant cousin who was twenty. We married even though he had a myriad of health issues and knew he wouldn't make it past thirty. He died at twenty-two! Before we buried him, we'd also buried a stillborn son!" She took a breath and plowed on. "I worked part time at a blind school a few years, how old was I when I started working and how did I get the job?"

After the startling revelation he'd just been handed, Mac replied, "I don't know." He then braced himself for what he was sure was going to be another bomb; he was right.

"I had an eye condition rob me of my sight when I was twenty three! I was a student at the school! My parents would have gladly helped only they were partially supporting one of my brothers and his family at the time! One of my teachers got the job for me-as a way for me to pay for my education at the school!" Lisa had to clench her fists to keep her hands from shaking. "A surgery was able to restore my sight when I was twenty-seven only thing is...there's no guarantee I won't go blind again!" By this time, Lisa was standing with her back to Mac and looking at the side yard-which held a few trees and grass that Pete had been good enough to mow the day before. After a few moments of painful silence, Lisa turned to face Mac-who was looking as awkward as she felt. She softened the tone in her voice as she started speaking again. "I'm sorry, Mac, I shouldn't have let loose on you like that. It's just," she sighed as she took a step towards him. "I do, to a degree, know how you feel. I say a degree because, no, I've never dealt with dizzy spells or been to left to wonder exactly what caused my problems. You're doing good, Mac. You need to hold onto that and hope." By the time she was finished, she was sitting on the couch Mac had bought shortly before the car accident.

Mac didn't say anything. The Baldwin family had been such good friends; he'd been so sure he'd heard all the major facts when it came to their grown children. Only, now, listening to Lisa go at him with both barrels, he realized her father and mother had never been specific when talking about this particular daughter. No, when it came to Lisa, it had all been general information. However, before he could say anything, a knock came on the door. Lisa hurried to get it.

"It's Pete." Lisa opened the door all the way, let Pete in and then excused herself-telling Pete there were two dinners in the refrigerator-one for him and one for Mac.

Pete, who could see how upsettled Lisa was as she hurried out the door, turned to Mac once the door was closed and asked, "Mac?"

Mac sighed and asked Pete to take a seat.