Love is the Best Medicine

Chapter 40

About a month later; Don and Meryl were back in New York at their apartment, and much to Don's delight, they were back in THEIR bedroom now that he could do stairs. The improvement Don had made in the past month had been AMAZING, and he owed it all to his wonderful wife who brought him back to health; who brought him to life, again. It was the night before she was to leave for London and Don had been feeling her pulling away from him; withdrawing. It was something she often did before she went away to shoot a movie; it was a defense mechanism, and in her mind she thought she was protecting herself and her family. While she was packing, Don decided to fix them dinner in hopes of cheering her up. While it was cooking he set the dining room table for romance-candlelight, crystal wineglass, and soft music was playing in the background. After taking a look around, pleased with his efforts, he went to get his beautiful wife. After carefully walking up the stairs, which still took him longer than normal, he stopped in the doorway of their bedroom when he saw his wife sitting on their bed surrounded by clothes and suitcases, crying as she looked at a picture. From where he was standing Don could tell what picture it was. It was taken 2 falls back on their Connecticut property. The whole family was wearing black tops and jeans, as they sat among the leaves. While it was a picture of the entire family, it was hard to miss the love conveyed between Meryl and Don as she sat in between his legs with the children spread all around them. Don sighed as he walked over to her. "Baby."

"I'm an awful mother...an awful wife." Meryl cried as Don sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "I can't believe I'm doing this.

Don sighed again as he kissed the top of her head. "That is complete shit...you are so wrong, Darl."

"You almost died, more times than I can remember, more times than I can bare to think about; all of the kids are going through hell, especially Mamie, and I go play make believe in London for 2 months. What kind of mother and wife does that? I have always said I'm your wife, and their mother first; but now I'm going to another country." Meryl cried into his neck.

Don lifted her head so he could look into her eyes and wipe her steady stream of tears. "First of all, I am doing so well. I am so much better than I was six months ago; and that has to do with you. Second of all, all of the kids are fine. Mamie is in Hawaii working, Henry is traveling all over, Grace is here rehearsing for her play, and Lou is busy with school."

"EXACTLY! And who is going to take care of you?!" Meryl exclaimed.

Don tenderly kissed her lips. "I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself. Really, M, you have been the perfect nurse and made sure I will be fine. Lastly; you are not going over to London to play make believe. You are telling an important story. You are showing the world a whole other side to Margaret Thatcher. What you do changes people's lives. They go to your movies and leave smiling, they leave moved, and they leave inspired. You ARE going and I'm going to be fine. I promise you, sweetheart."

"How am I going to not worry about you and the kids?" Meryl sighed as she stroked his cheek.

Don shook his head as he kissed her palm. "We both know that won't happen. You'll worry about us, just as I'll worry about you over there; just as we ALWAYS do. Baby, this is nothing new for us. Listen, we'll talk every day except this next week when you're preparing. You've had to put preparation on hold for too long; I don't want you to be worrying about anything else."

"We WILL talk every day, at least twice a day. I want you to promise not to be afraid to call me; PLEASE! Please don't NOT call me or pick up my calls cause you think I should be preparing." Meryl pleaded.

Don smiled as he kissed her forehead. "I promise baby; but I want you to focus."

"I'm going to miss you so much." Meryl sighed as she leaned her forehead against his.