by Tina Martin
“That’s why I had asked you how you ended up on my bed that morning, remember?”
Gabrielle nodded, tears falling from her eyes. Even though it occurred almost a year ago, she still felt violated. Even when she hadn’t known if Dilvan had touched her at all, she was upset. And now, she knew why Tyson had gone completely insane.
“You told Tyson this?” Gabrielle asked, sniffling, trying to adjust the pillows at an angle so she could talk to Lalita and keep baby T.J. comfortable against her chest.
“I just told him about twenty minutes ago. And I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything before now. I wanted to, but I just couldn’t get the words out. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I told Padma. We were planning on confronting Dilvan about it after the baby shower, but somehow, Tyson heard a different version and that’s why he thought you had an affair with Dilvan. We cleared that up with him. Now he knows it wasn’t an affair...more like an assault that no one can prove happened. If Dilvan doesn’t tell us, then we won’t know what happened and he’s in intensive care. He tried to kill himself with some pills.”
Gabrielle shook her head and cried harder. “What’s wrong with this family?”
“Gabrielle, calm down, honey,” Tamera said. “You just had a baby. You need to rest.”
“No. I need to take my baby, and get out of this town. That’s what I need to do.”
“Gabrielle...”
“Tamera, I’m serious. Just when I thought my life was perfect here, thought I’d found the man of my dreams, he does a complete three-sixty on me...accusing me of things I didn’t do. It’s ridiculous.”
Tamera shook her head. She could hardly make an excuse for Tyson. What he did was flat-out inexcusable, so out of character for the man he’d become since dealing with all the nonsense surrounding Desiree. Tamera was there when Desiree had broken his heart. His spirit. But Gabrielle had done nothing of the sort. All she did was love him. “Gabrielle, Tyson’s been through so much and—”
“That still doesn’t make it right, Tamera. I’ve been through a lot, too, but I don’t accuse him of being a cheater. Even if I did think he was cheating, if people were telling me that he was, I would believe him over everyone else because I trust Tyson and the bottom line is, he doesn’t trust me. I don’t think he’s capable of trusting anyone, and if that’s true, then it’s okay. It’s just not okay for me.”
“Well, I can tell you, he does have a hard time trusting—”
“And he hasn’t even been here to see his baby.” Gabrielle shook her head. “How am I supposed to take that?”
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon, Gabrielle,” Tamera said.
“Yeah...but it’s a little too late now isn’t it?”
Chapter 22
When Lalita stepped out of Gabrielle’s room and out into the hallway, Prasad took her hand, guiding her away from the room and in an area where there was no family. No bickering. No going back-and-forth. No chaos. He needed a moment to discuss things with his wife. Alone.
With her back against the wall, he looked at her and asked, “Sweetie, is this why you’ve been acting so strange? You had this on your mind all that time?”
Lalita nodded.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Prasad asked, staring at her lips. “I’m your husband. You’re supposed to let me carry the burden. Not you.”
“I couldn’t tell you, Prasad.”
“Why not?”
“Dilvan is your brother. If I told you, you would’ve told Heshan, then Heshan would’ve told Tyson, then Tyson would’ve killed Dilvan.”
“Well, that’s not far from off from how things played out anyway, now is it? The only exception is, Dilvan tried to commit suicide.”
Prasad shook head. Saying the words out loud had him sad and angry. His brother actually attempted to kill himself.
“I’m sorry, Prasad. I know all of this is hard on you.”
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Prasad softly stroked her hair.
“What’s wrong with Dilvan?” she asked him. “And now he’s tried to kill himself...he needs help, Prasad...some serious help.”
“I know, sweetie. I know, and if he pulls it through he will get help. Right now, we need to get you home. We can swing by Beatrice and pick up the kids on the way.”
“But neither of us drove.”
“We’ll just get a taxi.”
Lalita dabbed her eyes. “But don’t you want to stay here with Heshan and your mom to see what the doctor says about Dilvan?”
Prasad hugged her tight and said, “I’ll come back after I get you settled. I love you, Lalita. I love you and I love our children and I need to make sure our family is strong. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“You and the kids come first.”
Lalita kissed his lips.
“Everything is going to be okay, sweetie,” he told her. “It’ll all work out for the best.”
Chapter 23
Tyson stepped into Gabrielle’s room, watching her rest. She was sound asleep and the baby was sleeping in the bassinet next to the bed, in arm’s reach of her.
Tyson admired the baby for a while, this small, innocent being that had all of his features – his nose, lips, ears – there was not a doubt in his mind that this baby was his son.
I have a son. A smile came to his face as he thought about that, about how much he’d wanted a child, but his elation was soon replaced by embarrassment and regret. He’d missed the birth of his only child because he’d allowed anger to get the best of him.
When his son opened his eyes, he saw his own brown orbs beaming back at him.
I have a son. He thought it again and felt a sense of pride.
Gabrielle yawned and repositioned herself in the bed when she heard baby T.J. cooing. Those noises were music to her ears, but when she opened her eyes and realized Tyson was in the room, holding T.J., the music suddenly stopped.
At least he came to see his son. That was one benefit to him being here. However, he’d accused her of something she hadn’t done and didn’t give her time to explain a thing. But what put the nail in the coffin that was their marriage was when he wasn’t there for T.J.’s birth.
Tyson gently rubbed T.J.’s back and lowered him to the bassinet again. Walking next to the bed now with his eyes fixed on Gabrielle, he said, “Hi. How are you?”
Gabrielle frowned. Now you want to know how I am?
He released a worried sigh and said, “Gabrielle, I know I have a lot of explaining to do.”
“No. Not really, because there’s nothing you can say to me to make this right, Tyson. Not a thing.”
“How do you know that when you won’t give me a chance to say anything?”
“Sound familiar?” she asked. She’d tried to explain herself to him, telling him that she didn’t have an affair with Dilvan, but he wasn’t listening. Something similar had happened before they married. She was just coming out of an abusive relationship with Dilvan. Tyson had taken her in and just when she thought she and Tyson were crossing over the more-than-friends border, he asked her to move out, even taking the liberty of leasing an apartment for her – all because he thought she was secretly seeing Dilvan behind his back.
He was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. And she was done with being accused of things she would never do, things that had never crossed her mind. With Tyson, she was seeing this pattern, one she didn’t like. What woman wants to be accused of being unfaithful by her husband on a constant basis? What woman wants to be accused of being unfaithful by her husband at all?
“Tyson, I have never done anything to make you feel that I would ever be unfaithful to you,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “And I promise you, this is the last time you will do this to me.”
“Gabrielle—”
“Save it. You missed the birth of our son—”
“But I thought—”
“Screw what you thought!” she snapped. “The bottom line is, I’m your wife
and you don’t trust me. You don’t. That’s why you put me out of your house before we married...because you thought I was seeing Dilvan behind your back. That’s why you didn’t want me to go to Chicago...you thought I was going to cheat on you. That’s why you don’t want me to work...because you think I will grow independent of you. And that’s why you think I had an affair with Dilvan...because you’ve been hurt before and you place me in the same category with the woman or women who hurt you. Well, I won’t do this anymore, Tyson.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that when I leave this hospital with my baby, I’m not coming home.”
“You’re coming home, Gabrielle,” he said confidently.
“No. I’m not. Why should I be with someone who doesn’t trust me? Better yet, why would you want to be with a woman you don’t trust?”
“I’m not losing my family over this,” he said shaking his head. “And none of this is my fault.”
Gabrielle closed her eyes, squeezing tears back. “You can see your son whenever you want, but I personally feel that trust is a necessity in a relationship and you don’t trust me.”
“Gabrielle—”
“Maybe you should do some soul-searching to find out why you allow past relationships to ruin what we have.”
“It was a simple misunderstanding.”
“No, it wasn’t a simple misunderstanding. I’ve never seen rage like that before, and then you had the nerve to take a gun from the dresser and storm out of the house like an insane person.” Gabrielle shook her head. “Who are you?”
“Bri, baby—”
“Please leave me alone, Tyson.”
“Gabrielle—”
“Please. Just leave me alone.”
Tyson didn’t want to go, but he’d already done enough damage. So he turned around, walked out of the room and once the door had closed behind him, he punched the wall, angry at himself for possibly destroying his once wonderful, blissful marriage.
Chapter 24
Sometime later, after Tyson had left, Henry stepped into Gabrielle’s room with Carmen and Destiny trailing behind him.
“Hi, dear,” he said to her.
Gabrielle yawned. “Hey, Dad. Are you guys heading back home?”
“Yep...in a few, honey. We had to come see you and the baby one more time before we leave. I wish I could stay a little longer but duty calls.”
“I understand.”
Carmen and Destiny hovered over T.J.’s bassinet, admiring him.
“Can I hold him, Gabrielle?” Destiny asked.
“Yes. Just wash your hands first.”
“Okay,” she said, turning on the faucet at the sink that was conveniently located in the room. After drying her hands, she carefully scooped baby T.J. in her arms. “Hey little T.J. I’m your Aunt Destiny.”
“He’s not going to remember you telling him that, Destiny,” Carmen quipped. “He’s a baby.”
“Duh, Carmen.” Destiny sat down with T.J. nestled in her arms. “He’s so cute.”
Carmen sat next to her. “He really is.”
While they acquainted themselves with their first and only nephew, Henry took a few steps closer to Gabrielle and said discreetly, “What’s going on with Tyson?”
“Dad, it’s fine,” she told him, not wanting to get into it.
“But when I saw him out in the waiting room, he looked like he was angry. I’ve never seen him that way before. He told Padma that she made him out to be a fool...said something about she knew what you did. I asked him what he was talking about and it was like he didn’t even hear me.”
Gabrielle sighed. She was still exhausted from giving birth and she’d been up with the baby most of the night. And did her father really need to know everything that was going on? If he did, all he would do when he returned home was worry about her and think negatively of Tyson, and she didn’t want to fall into the habit of talking disdainfully about her husband just because he angered her. Tyson was wrong, yes, but she saw nothing good about spilling her guts...telling her father everything he’d done. Their problems were for them to work out – not for everyone else to take sides and add their two cents. That’s how marriages ended. If their marriage would end, it wouldn’t be because of taking the opinion of others.
“Dad, all I will say is, Tyson and I will work through whatever issues we have, but for right now, we’re happy that we have a healthy baby boy.”
“He is beautiful, Gabrielle.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I can’t wait ‘til he gets older so Grandpa can show him how to hit a baseball.”
Gabrielle smiled. “That would be nice.”
“Yep, sure would,” Henry said, raising his hands above his head. “Well, I guess we better get going. We have to get a taxi back to Padma’s to get the car.”
“Okay, Dad.”
Henry leaned over and placed a kiss on Gabrielle’s temple. “I love you, daughter.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
Destiny stood and lowered the baby into the bassinet. “Bye T.J.,” she said. Then she walked over to the bed and wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck. “Love you, sis.”
“Love you too, Destiny.”
Carmen followed suit, waving at baby T.J., then hugging Gabrielle.
“We’ll make plans to visit you guys soon,” Gabrielle told them.
“Okay, dear. Take care and take care of my grandbaby.”
“Alright, Dad. Will do.”
“And tell Tyson we said bye.”
“Okay. I will.”
When the door closed, Gabrielle closed her eyes, not necessarily out of relief but because she knew the hard part would begin. With the family leaving, she had to deal with the situation at hand – taking care of a newborn while trying to cope with marital issues.
Chapter 25
In the morning, Padma woke up slowly next to Dilvan’s bed. She’d been up sobbing most of the night and her bones were stiff in the uncomfortable faux leather chair she had been glued to for six hours straight. When she drifted off to sleep on one interval last night, she had a short dream about her children – remembering Heshan, Prasad and Dilvan as small, sprightly little boys. In those pre-teen years, they were those hardcore, play-in-the-dirt, soccer-ball-kicking, we-hate-girls boys. Then she noticed that one of her boys was drifting away from typical adolescent behavior – Dilvan.
In high school and college, he was a straight ‘A’ student, received numerous awards, so many that a parent could begin to take it for granted, and he excelled at subjects that most people cringed at including chemistry and calculus. His aunt Rena used to call him an evil genius because, even though he was so academically gifted, he had a mean streak. He wasn’t evil, per se, but he was sneaky and had duplicitous ways. And he was arrogant. He was very much aware of how attractive he’d grown up to become and he had girls falling at his feet. Most of it went to his head and Padma knew she had to put a stop to it, especially after he began his modeling career. Her son was losing control, spending haphazardly and he wasn’t ready for the responsibility that money put upon him.
So to gain the power back, Padma felt compelled to shield him, pick out a woman for him, basically choosing a life for him by steering him away from modeling, loose women and everything that came with living the fast life. He needed something to keep his mind stimulated. She thought that by having him work the accounting aspect of the job as well as by finding a wife for him, a good wife, he could settle down, enjoy a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble. But what did Dilvan want? At the time it didn’t matter. It was what she wanted for him.
So he gave up the things he aspired to do to get back in good with the family. He tried to force himself to conform to being with Gabrielle at the time, but that life wasn’t what he wanted. He wasn’t sure if he wanted marriage and kids. Some men, and women alike, were content with being single. Maybe that’s what he wanted. To be free and single. Had she just let him be, he wouldn’t be ly
ing on a hospital bed now, clinging to life.
Padma blew a distressful, overwhelming breath and covered her face with her hands. She’d failed Dilvan as his mother and that thought alone made her lightheaded. If he was to take his last breath in this hospital, there would be no one to blame but herself.
She wiped tears from her eyes. Seemed they just ran out involuntarily, her response to the pain of watching her youngest son fighting for his life.
She closed her eyes again. Colin was due to arrive soon. When she told him over the phone what happened to Dilvan, he wailed and screamed in pain. No parent claimed to have favorites when it came to their children, but Dilvan was his father’s shadow. Heshan and Prasad tended to follow their mother footsteps, before finding their own path, but not Dilvan. He loved his mother, but admired his father.
“Mo-ther,” Dilvan whispered softly.
Padma jumped at the sound of his voice. Was it really him talking or was she so desperate for him to make it through this that she was hallucinating?
Standing next to his bed, she leaned over him and said, “Dilvan, are you awake? Can you hear me?”
His eyes remained closed.
“Dilvan, can you hear me, son?”
No response.
Padma, overcome with emotion, stepped out into the hallway and sobbed into a scarf, hiding her face from the hospital staff.
“Sweetie,” Colin said, running down the hallway to comfort his wife. He’d just arrived there and was looking for Dilvan’s room when he saw Padma in tears.
When Padma heard the voice of her comforter, she fell into his embrace and sobbed.
“Honey, it’s going to be okay,” Colin said, consoling her.
“He’s not waking up, Colin,” she cried. “Our baby is not going to make it.”
