Husbands & Lovers

Mallory goes running, and when she returns, she overhears Lee reprimanding Grace for not knowing the difference between instant oatmeal and overnight oats. Grace apologizes, but Lee continues yelling, saying that she’ll type up directions next time “with every last fucking detail highlighted” so that Grace can’t “screw up” again (414). Mallory confronts Lee, who cries. Monk finds Mallory packing her things, and he asks what happened with Lee. He wants to talk now, asking what he did to make Mallory leave and keep his son a secret. Mallory leaves Monk’s questions unanswered, and she, Paige, and the kids go to Lola’s house. Sedge asks Mallory for a walk on the beach, and they kiss. As he unbuttons her shirt, Monk shows up, holding flowers. She goes after him, and he tells her that Grace quit. Apparently, Lee behaved badly before, but Grace didn’t tell him because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He talks about “ersatz coffee,” a drink used as a replacement for coffee during World War II. It tasted terrible but people drank it because they needed something. He says that he’s not unhappy, and he’s thrilled to have a son and know that something “real” came out of the summer he spent with Mallory. Mallory returns to Lola’s, and Paige tells Mallory to let Monk go and give Sedge a chance. Mallory wakes up the next morning with Sedge in the other bunk, but he insists that they didn’t sleep together. Mallory’s phone rings, and she learns that Sam has a kidney donor.

Lucien puts his mother on a ship to Israel but returns to Cairo. He can see smoke rising from the city, and he pounds on the Ainsworths’ door. Alistair answers, refusing to tell Lucien where Hannah is. When Alistair calls him a “damned Jew,” Lucien punches him. Hannah isn’t there, so Lucien runs to Shepheard’s, which is on fire. Years ago, Lucien ran into an old friend, and they discussed the possibility of Israeli statehood. Shiloah, a rabbi’s son, told Lucien that they need “eyes and ears on the ground” (441); this is how Lucien gets the job at Shepheard’s and why he ended up in the beds of so many diplomats’ wives. Now, the heat from the fire is blistering, but Lucien runs to his rooms. Hannah is not there. As he makes his way downstairs, he finds her. Her leg is hurt, so he carries her through the flames. He loses consciousness and wakes up to Hannah’s screaming; he lurches to his feet, making his way outside. Hannah says that she loves him over and over, and he realizes that the pain isn’t as bad as it was. He is hopeful that he might yet live, but he dies in her arms.

Paige sleeps in a chair while Mallory watches Sam. Sedge arrives, and Mallory explains that the kidney was an ideal match, and the surgery was a success. Sedge is interested in a relationship, and Mallory agrees to join him for dinner soon. Sam wakes up and wonders where Monk is, and Mallory assures him that Monk loves him more than anything. Sam replies that Monk loves Mallory more than anything; Monk told him so. Mallory checks her messages, but there’s nothing from Monk. She tells Sam that his phone is probably off, but she feels an ominous dread that something bad has happened. She has several messages from Luca, who writes that the cobra bracelet was a device used by spies to hide and deliver messages. It takes some force, but she twists the cobra’s tail off, and a small piece of paper falls out. It is from their grandmother, who writes that she named her daughter “Lucile” after her father, who died to save her. She signed it “Hannah Countess Vècsey (Ainsworth)” (459). A doctor at Massachusetts General hospital calls Mallory, identifying her as Monk’s medical power of attorney. He says that Monk was in surgery—it turns out that he was the kidney donor—and went into cardiac arrest.

Jake comes to stay with Sam, and Paige and Mallory make their way to Monk’s hospital. Lee is there, but a doctor whisks Mallory away to update her on Monk’s condition. Blue and Chippy greet Mallory warmly. They are angry because Lee’s been posting about Monk’s condition on Instagram. The twins say that they even stopped visiting because of Lee. Monk doesn’t look good. Paige brings coffee, and Mallory describes her guilt—how if she told Monk about Sam sooner, Sam wouldn’t have gone to camp and eaten the poisonous mushroom, and Monk wouldn’t have had a heart attack while donating his kidney. Paige tells Mallory that she knows there must be some reason Mallory left Monk and kept Sam a secret, and she says that Mallory should tell Monk now. Mallory thinks that he won’t hear her, and she fears that, if she tells him the truth, any chance that they might have to reconcile will disappear. Nonetheless, she takes his hand and starts talking.

After Mallory and Monk have unprotected sex once, it is easy to do it again. On August 14, one day before they’re supposed to leave together, Mallory has a bad feeling. Mr. Adams invites her to lunch, where he raises concerns about their relationship. He tells her that Monk is quitting college to pursue his music. This is news to Mallory, but she supports Monk. Mr. Adams gives her his card and asks her to call him if she ever needs help.

Monk calls Mallory while she’s in the car with Mr. Adams. When she tells him what his father said, he apologizes for not telling her first. Monk compares his father to Machiavelli in terms of his willingness to manipulate and promises that they’ll discuss everything on their drive tomorrow. When they hang up, Mallory tells Mr. Adams that Monk deserves his support. She says that Monk is playing tonight at Mo’s and asks him to go and listen. After she puts the kids to bed, she can’t fall asleep. She goes downstairs for a drink, and Mr. Adams is there. He came back after Monk’s first set and offers Mallory a joint. Thinking that it will help her sleep, she accepts. He offers Mallory another drink, leaving briefly and returning with it. She begins to feel strange, and he admits he gave her “something to help [her] sleep” (493). He walks her to her room and begins to undress her. He claims to have seen “the way [she] look[s] at him” and says that he knows she’s “been wanting [him] to do this” (493). She tells him no. He rapes her.

Monk arrives at Mallory’s house, telling himself not to mess things up. They sit in the garden and talk. Mallory confesses her desire to open a design house, saying that she wants to surround people with art rather than confine it to museums. She tells Monk about Lucien Beck, how her grandfather was an Israeli operative who gave the cobra bracelet to her grandmother, and that it holds secret messages. Mallory says that Hannah returned to Hungary after giving birth to work for the independence movement. She lived to see the Soviets leave before dying in 1992.

Monk remembers what Mallory said while he was in the ICU, and he already asked Paige if his memory was real. He is sorry that his family failed Mallory and that he failed her. He mentions that his manager, Kevin, once referred to her as “Rosebud.” She says that she didn’t tell him because it would’ve wrecked him, but he claims that losing her was worse. She feared that Monk would be revolted and that she would see his father when she looked at him. She still fears that Sam is Monk’s half-brother rather than his son, but Monk reminds her that Sam took a DNA test as part of the paternity agreement, and it confirmed that Monk is Sam’s father. He tells that her he broke up with Lee, and when Sedge came to see him, he told Sedge that he was still in love with Mallory. She asks why Monk didn’t tell her that he was donating his kidney, and he says that he didn’t want her worrying about him when Sam needed her. They sleep together, and Monk says that he wants to marry her.

Paige enters the house, and Monk and Mallory emerge from the bedroom. Paige ushers Kàroly, Count Vècsey, into the house. She tells Mallory that Kàroly was abducted by Soviet soldiers during World War II, and after the Berlin Wall fell, he traveled to Hungary to find his birth mother. He takes Mallory’s hand and says that he promised Hannah he’d find her.