AUTHOR’S POV
” Let me go! You are a crazy man!” The woman cuffed to the bed screamed at her husband standing before her.
He sat next to her and shoved the red hair over her face away.
” This is the only way I can protect you.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
The woman had returned from work, just to be ceased by he husband and handcuffed to the bed.
” Let me go. I don’t want to be with you; I don’t love you anymore; let me go!” She screamed but the man sitting next to her was beyond reasoning.
” It won’t take long for him to turn his back on you.”
” He would never, he loves me. Not every man is like your mother’s lover; grow up, Gabriel! This marriage can never work, let me go!”
Gabriel ground his teeth angrily and got up from the bed. His eyes were blazing with intensity, and he looked at her. ” I love you and I’m trying to protect you. The sooner you realize that, the sooner, I’d let you go.”
____________
A week had gone by since Sydney arrived in Arizona.
Ashley looked a lot better than she did a week ago, although now she was bald. Sydney spent the whole morning and afternoon with her mother and retired to the condo in the evening.
Anita sued Caleb for thirty million dollars, and now she’s in Africa, married to the man of her dreams, while Caleb is nowhere to be seen.
” Which one do you prefer?” Sydney asked her mother as she pointed at the snacks in the vending machine.
” Just pick the broccoli chips. I know you won’t let me have the spicy onion rings.” Ashley rolled her eyes.
Sydney had been having a good laugh, recently toying with her mother. Ashley was happy to see her daughter in a bright mood again.
Sydney chuckled, slipped a coin into the vending machine, and entered the code for the broccoli chips.
Ashley grimaced, ” Do I have to eat that?”
Sydney placed it on her mother’s lap. ” Yes, you do. It’s for the betterment of your health.”
Sydney pushed Ashley to her ward. The doctor had recommended a wheelchair, dashing Ashley’s hopes of walking again.
” Who’s that man you brought with sweetie?” Ashley asked.
She’d always wanted to ask about him but didn’t get the chance to. He gave her a bit of a scare because of the way he looked at her daughter. She wasn’t delirious. She knew he had an affection for Sydney.
Liking someone was normal but he should know she’s a married woman.
” He’s um… a friend.”
” And what are you to him?”
Sydney’s brow furrowed. ” What kind of question is that, I said we are friends.”
Ashley didn’t push on. She wanted to ask her daughter if Gavin knew she was with this so-called friend but she couldn’t. She knew something was off in her daughter’s married life since she only talked about her kids and never Gavin.
Ashley said she wanted to stay by the window so, Sydney brought a chair and helped her sit.
They stayed by the window. The hospital had a large garden, so it was a beautiful view.
Ashley looked at the flowers. A few had begun to wilt.
Sydney remarked, ” Those flowers would be dead if it doesn’t get watered soon.”
“Maybe the gardener has forgotten to water them.”
Sydney sneered. ” Maybe he stopped watering it because it looks hopeless. ”
Ashley turned to her. ” How long have you watered your marriage?”
Sydney grew silent. As far as she could remember, her marriage was broken and could never be fixed. Gavin pulled the final straw by sleeping with her best friend. Maybe if Ashley knew about that she would quit seeing Gavin as a flawless man.
She didn’t want to say anything that would give her mother a heart attack so she kept quiet.
They stayed by the window till the sun began to set.
Sydney helped Ashley to the bed and told her she wasn’t going to leave till she fell asleep.
” You’ve been in Arizona for long enough. You have children and a husband to take care of in California, you should go back home.” Ashley advised.
” I can’t leave till I know you are well.”
” I won’t be well anytime soon. You are a woman, you have responsibilities; go home, Sydney.”
” You are my responsibility too.” Sydney pushed.
Ashley sighed at her daughter’s behavior. “I won’t be happy knowing I kept you away from your family. Don’t be like that gardener Sydney.”
Sydney stayed till her mother fell asleep before she left. She wished she could bring her kids to Arizona but that would be a selfish move. She decided to face her fears and return to California the next day.
When she arrived at the condo, Gabriel was in the living room talking over the phone.
She told him he could go back to California without her, but he was insistent on staying.
Sydney spoke when he ended the call. “Could we take a walk to the park? It’s been ages since I’ve been there.”
” Sure. How’s your mother’s health?” He asked as she headed for the bedroom.
” Better.”
The sun had already set when they left the condominium. Winter was fast approaching so they had to wear a coat.
It had just occurred to Sydney, her and Gavin’s eleventh anniversary was the next day. Was there really anything worth celebrating about it?
” How long have you lived in Arizona?” Gabriel aired.
” I grew up here and left when I was twenty,” Sydney answered and looked at him. ” You grew up in the woods?”
Gabriel glared at her and she chuckled. They had chatted a lot over the week and became more cordial.
” I grew up in many places.”
Sydney’s interest piqued, ” Like?”
” I was born and raised in Britain for sixteen years; I went to college in India and came down to America afterward. After a while, I left America for another country then I returned last year.”
” You sure do love traveling. I haven’t been out of America more than half a month.”
” That’s because you have a family to cater for.”
Sydney’s smile dropped when she asked, ” You weren’t married when you left America?”
She noticed how he tensed. She didn’t expect him to answer but he did.
” My wife did online marketing, and we didn’t have kids, so traveling was never a problem.”
A smile played on Sydney’s lips. ” I’m guessing you both traveled frequently on Blake’s jet.”
Seldom. Gabriel preferred traveling by sea, so he voyaged on his yacht.
” How long were you both married?” Sydney asked cautiously.
” Four years and ten months.”
Sydney nodded and added in an even more prudent tone. ” And you stopped loving her or she stopped loving you?”
Gabriel didn’t answer her.
They walked in silence for about two minutes before he wavered a response. ” She died.”
Sydney’s jaw nearly hit the ground. He was expecting her to say sorry ten thousand times but instead, she said nothing.
He looked at her with a surprised smile and then looked away when she looked at him.
” How… Um… How did she die?” She asked in a raspy voice.
” Suicide. She said I was too much to bear.”
“Oh.” That was all Sydney could say. He didn’t seem too much to handle but then again, she had only known him for a short time.