And Cousin Maren replied, “Once I left Hebert!” She raised staying hands and turned her head aside. Although no one said anything, Cousin Maren held up her hands as if they’d all gasped and protested such an act. She went on: “And Hebert came to Daddy’s house and said, ‘You get her out here as quick as you can!”’
Tyler inquired, “And, did your daddy do that?”
“No.”
So Tyler asked, “What’d Cousin Hebert do?”
“He came into my room and said to me, ‘Get your things together, woman, I’ve used up my patience with you.’”
“He said that?” It was Tyler, himself, who exclaimed. Of course, Tyler had heard her husband’s version so he was interested in this one.
And Cousin Maren replied, “I stood firm and lifted my chin.” She showed them how she’d done that. “And I pointed to my doorway and told Hebert, ‘Leave here.’ But he would not.
“I finally had to go down and open the front door for him. He then picked me up and carried me to his car. My daddy tried to help me, but Hebert wouldn’t allow that.”
Tyler was the only new listener. All the others had heard Cousin Maren’s version, in its varieties, for some time, by then.
And with some unkind humor, Tyler asked, “Did you ever escape again?”
Cousin Maren sighed and looked off sadly. “I never managed. Hebert is such a determined man.”
So Tyler offered, “I’ll come help you the next time.”
There were coughs that covered the listeners’ shocked hilarity.
But then Maren looked up at Tyler, and he saw that she was not loved as she wanted. Hebert had never cherished her as she’d needed. So she had made up what she wanted.
With earnest compassion, Tyler told his mother’s cousin, “He was lucky your daddy couldn’t stop him, and he got you back. You’re a jewel.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and Tyler hugged her.
As she leaned into his arms, the old lady asked, “How could Kayla ever have left you?” And she looked up at Tyler’s eyes with such remorse.
The odd thing about that little vignette was that it didn’t just joggle Tyler’s understanding, but it surprised the watchers who’d never before realized Cousin Maren was so vulnerable. It made them all think and, after that, they were kinder to her.
But the experience touched Tyler. He’d been deliberately pushing the edge with the old lady. He was acting that way to amuse the watchers. How strange to realize the old cousin wasn’t a joke; she was human and she needed attention.
So Tyler searched the noisy crowd out to find Cousin Hebert and told him very seriously, “Your wife needs some civil attentions from you. You need to admire her and hold her hand and be kind.”
Cousin Hebert squinted his eyes at Tyler and asked, “What all’ve you been drinking, boy? I want some of that.”
Tyler became very serious and settled in to educate the eighty-one-year-old cousin, in women. Tyler was earnest and kind.
Cousin Hebert protested, “I’m too old for that stuff, boy! I can’t even get up on a horse no more.”
Earnestly, Tyler coaxed, “You can share the sunset with her. You can see to it that she’s comfortable. You can buy her something little, and you can give her a rose—”
But after a while, Hebert just asked, “How long since your wife left you?”
Sadly, Tyler said, “Too long.”
And Cousin Hebert said, “How come she left?”
“Damned if I know.”
“I guess you wasn’t doing something you ought to’ve been doing?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
And Cousin Hebert suggested, “Ask her.”
With great sadness, Tyler told the old man, “I haven’t been able to get in touch with her.”
But Cousin Hebert said, “Maybe you ought to try harder?”
“I suppose.”
It’s strange how events turn around and can be viewed from another angle. While Tyler didn’t budge Cousin Hebert one quarter inch, Tyler was budged into finding out why Kayla hadn’t come back to him. She had not only avoided him, she hadn’t even spoken to him.
Why had she so carefully made herself unavailable to him? That was the part that hurt Tyler so terribly. She no longer wanted to see him. That made his feeling of self-worth fade.
He wasn’t a...hero anymore. He was just a man.
About the only thing that kept Tyler Fuller going was the baseball team. It had been organized by the legal firms there in San Antonio. From among the various firms, they had rival teams. There were a whole lot of snide comments about lawyers playing baseball.
Even the lawyers said those kind of things to one another.
And one of the first problems was when the women lawyers and secretaries and receptionists had insisted on playing baseball with the men. It hadn’t worked. The men used different bats and the baseballs were hard. So the female players gradually moved to playing separate games.
And last season the women in the Reardon firm won the area’s legal cup. And the male segment of the firm scored second...to last.
However, being enlightened, the men set up an elegantly structured table in the lobby of their building and put the women’s cup on the table with a spotlight. The table was exactly the right size to show off the cup. It wasn’t too small or skimpy and it wasn’t humongous to overwhelm the cup. It was a perfect exhibit. That soothed a lot of ruffled feathers.
It had been Barbara Nelson’s idea. It was she who had suggested it to the men. She’d expected a hoopla of objection, but the men fooled her. It had been a good move. When Tyler had commented positively on the cup, his boss, Barbara Nelson, had just smiled at him.
Even though he’d been married, then, that smile had scared Tyler more than anything else. Hers was a predator’s smile.
On the team, Tyler played second base. He did well enough as a batter but he had never hit a home run. He was alert and quick. He did his share and he was accurate in his throws. Probably the best thing was that he looked. He knew where players were and he threw precisely. He was a plus. He kept his eye on the ball.
Probably the best advice he got on playing ball was from his great-uncle Clyde, who said, “Whenever a baseball referee mentions your number, shake your head in a serious, surprised way. Everybody will think the referee was as blind as they’d always suspected.”
That small move could also be applied to a lawyer’s devaluation of another lawyer’s client in court. Especially if there
