When Delbert Henderson gave her two parakeets for her birthday,
Leta was certain that he would soon propose to her. They knew each other
through their pensioners’ club. Leta had been a widow for more than a year, her
husband Richard having died two Decembers previously. On her birthday, she
became 72 years old, and according to most people, was beyond marrying age. She
was the grandmother of six (three boys and three girls) and great-grandmother
of three little boys. What business did she have getting married again at her
age?
Four months after her Richard died—from a heart attack—Leta
moved out of the house, which upon his death, became the property of his
children, and into an apartment in East Toledo. This put her close enough to
her two children for any need she may have and to make their visits convenient,
but far enough away that she could continue to live independently.
Delbert and his wife Beatrice were longtime friends of
Richard’s. Leta met them shortly after she met him. They played cards with each
other every couple of weeks and once took a car trip to southern Ohio together
for a few days. Beatrice was talkative but very dependent upon her husband. In
nearly all of their important decisions, she deferred to him. Delbert had
worked for the Wonder factory in Toledo for 45 years before he retired. Aside
from being a paper delivery boy and helping his uncle out in a hardware store,
this was the only job he ever held.
Five months after Richard died, Beatrice fell while sweeping
the kitchen floor. She broke her hip, but more devastatingly, the doctors learned
that she was in the advanced stages of leukemia. She died three months later.
Delbert spent the next three months in a daze. He hardly spoke to anyone. He
would sit in their living room, clutching the quilt that she had made for their
bed and staring at the television, which he didn’t turn on. His daughter came
by daily to bring him food and clean the house. He lost 30 pounds.
She next saw him at a Christmas party planning meeting for
their pensioners’ club four days after Thanksgiving. He told them that he was
sorry for being absent for so many months, trembling slightly throughout his
speech from the loss of his partner of 55 years. “It was like losing my right
arm,” he told Leta later. “I felt like I lost more than half of myself, and the
other half didn’t know how to operate on its own.”
Leta patted his hand. “You’re doing fine,” she said
encouragingly. “You’ll make it.”
At the end of the meeting, he drove her home. She invited him
into her apartment for a cup of coffee, but he was weary. The socializing took
a lot out of him, and it was rather late.
“How about I take a rain check?” he said. “Or better yet, may
I take you out to supper later this week? That is, if you are not too busy.”
“Yes, thank you,” she said. “I’d like that.”
The meeting was on a Monday, and on Friday night, he took her
to his favorite restaurant.
To be continued.
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