Carys Jones - Third To Die

“Fine, just water,” Edmond rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you, it’s like living with the Gestapo having her here!”

Edna glanced expectantly at Aiden.

“Just water for me, please.”

For a moment they listened to her retreating footsteps, which were easily carried in the vast, empty air of the house.

“She just worries,” Edmond wrinkled his nose slightly as he referenced his wife. “I do miss my scotch though.”

“You should have told me,” Aiden eyed his friend sternly and leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

“Told you what?” Edmond feigned mock ignorance. “There’s nothing to tell,” he waved a dismissive hand in front of him.

“I’ll be better soon enough. Once they’ve poured more of that damn poison into me I’ll kick this thing, just you see!”

Aiden was about to enquire about how aggressively the cancer had spread when he instead decided to keep his mouth shut, choosing to heed Edna’s advice and humour her husband.

“So who told you?” Edmond asked, his eyes bright with interest as Edna returned with two long glasses of water.

“Thanks,” Aiden nodded politely at her and then looked back at Edmond. “Clyde White. I was there earlier to amend his will.”

“That old dog never could hold his tongue,” Edmond remarked lightly.

“Did he talk to you about his will?”

“I know he’s leaving everything to the Copes’ dynasty,” Edmond quipped. “Someone should tell him to hold his horses though, he needs to remember that both our beds are still warm!”

“I think he’s just worried about you.”

“He’s just a glory hunter,” Edmond raised an eyebrow as he spoke. “He wants to redeem his family name after all the mess surrounding Brandy’s trial.”

“That seems a little…dark.”

“You’ve met Clyde White, haven’t you?”

“I guess,” Aiden took a sip from his cooled water and glanced around the room. It felt more like God’s waiting room than a sitting area. It scared Aiden how drastically things had changed. It had only been a few short weeks since he’d last seen Edmond and in that time the older man had literally started to fade away.

“I wish you’d told me,” Aiden reiterated.

This time Edmond wasn’t so quick to dismiss the comment.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” he admitted. “Besides, I’ll be back at work in no time. No point making a fuss over nothing.”

Aiden frowned and looked down at his glass, unable to keep his eyes on Edmond. He looked so feeble, so besieged by sickness. Clearly, it wasn’t nothing.

“So how long until you’re back, getting in the way of me actually working?” Aiden pulled his mouth into a wry smile, doing his best to humour the older man.

“Not long, don’t you sweat, young buck,” Edmond chuckled slightly, though his mirth lacked the depth Aiden was accustomed to.

“A few more bouts of chemo and I’ll be back,” Edmond smiled, but it fell away a little too quickly.

“Well, Betty and I are missing you.”

“I bet the old girl is bereft without me there,” Edmond winked. He went to speak again but was silenced by his increasingly laboured breathing.

“Are you okay? Can I get you anything?” Aiden approached him and placed a concerned hand upon his shoulder.

Edmond shook his head but didn’t speak. Footsteps hurriedly entered the room and Aiden looked up to see Edna running over with some pills in her hand.

“Take these,” she urged her husband. Then she looked back at Aiden, “He’s just getting tired. He doesn’t have much energy these days.”

Edmond took the tablets and sat for a moment, waiting for his breathing to regulate itself. Edna hovered by his side, not taking her eyes off him for a second. Aiden, however, was forced to look away. It was too difficult to watch.

“Better?” Edna asked anxiously, stroking Edmond’s thinning hair.

“No energy?” Edmond glanced at his wife, the light returning to his eyes as his chest ceased awkwardly heaving.

“I’ve more than enough energy, I’ll thank you very much!”

Edna sighed and rolled her eyes as she straightened and stood up. The moment had passed and her husband was back to his usual cheeky self.

“Women!” Edmond declared bluntly. “She’s just mad as I’m under her feet all day. She can’t keep popping off to the shops like she usually does.”

Edna didn’t reply, she just headed out of the room, once more giving the men their privacy.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Aiden asked sincerely.

“If I lose any more energy, you may have to service Mrs. Copes on my behalf,” Edmond joked but Aiden was unable to laugh. The gravity of the situation was beginning to weigh him down so that he felt like his whole body was made of lead and bolted to the sofa on which he sat.

Edmond looked across at his young colleague and his smile fell away when he registered his troubled expression.

“I’m doing everything I can to fight this,” he admitted. “But I’m a proud man. I didn’t want you, or anyone, for that matter, to see me like this.”

“You should have told me,” Aiden’s voice cracked slightly as water gathered behind his eyes.

“I know. I just…” Edmond looked back at the draped windows and sighed. “It crept up on me like some monster. One day I was fine, the next I was pissing blood and collapsing on the bathroom floor. She was terrified. I don’t like scaring people, Aiden. The fewer people this monster can scare, the better.”

“I want to help,” Aiden declared, straightening. “It must be exhausting for Edna to manage everything on her own. Let me help. I can take you to hospital appointments, sit here with you at home, whatever you need.”

“I need my company to stay afloat,” Edmond told him. “So that when I return I’ve still got a job to go back to.”

Aiden’s face betrayed him as his eyes misted with pity.

“Copes and May is my legacy,” Edmond continued, his voice becoming light with nostalgia.

“We made that company when we were young, idealistic men. We wanted to change the world. And you helped.”

“I did?” Aiden blinked in surprise.

“You saved Brandy White. Without your intervention an innocent woman would have died. That’s the reason I ever got into law in the first place; to save those who genuinely needed saving.”

“I’m not sure my other cases have been quite so noble.”

“It’s early days,” Edmond said sagely. “You’re making a name for yourself for being a good, honest man. People will seek out your help. You’re going to make Copes and May great.”

“Okay, but I still want to help you .”

Edmond squirmed awkwardly in his chair.

“Ask Edna what help she needs,” he said quickly. “But I draw the line at having you here when she bathes me! I need to retain some of my mystique!”

“I’ll ask her,” Aiden smiled.

“I wish we could sit and chew the fat all day,” Edmond said wistfully. “I want to hear all about what a smug bastard Clyde White was when he told you I was sick. But I’m tired. And as a sick man I get to call it when I’m tired and insist people leave so I can rest!”

“Sounds like a fair perk to the deal,” Aiden stood and fondly placed a hand on Edmond’s shoulder.

“I promise I’ll be back at work soon,” Edmond told him, his eyelids already beginning to droop.

“I’ll hold you to that!” Aiden pointed at him.

*

“I want to help,” Aiden said solemnly to Edna as she showed him to the front door.

“He’s so stubborn,” Edna sighed. “He struggles to accept help from me!”

“Is there anything at all I can do?”

Edna pursed her lips and thought for a moment.