by Sophia Gray
Over the next few days, Jimmy went to the hospital very early in the morning and left at night, always waiting by the door. Vance never let him in. He was always busy taking care of Teresa to worry about Jimmy. He took turns with Anna taking night shifts and getting food.
Vance got to know Anna a little better and realized what a great person and friend she was. She never asked about Teresa’s father but was always open to talking – not that they did much of it. They were too worried about Teresa to engage in small talk.
Vance counted the days until he saw Teresa’s bright eyes open again.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Teresa
The first thing she noticed was that her whole body was numb. She had a dull, throbbing pain on one side of her head, and a faint, sharp pain in her ribs. Then she noticed that she was having trouble moving any limb. She tried moving her fingers, and it took almost her whole strength to do it.
She slowly grew more aware of her surroundings: the whispers of conversation between two women, a machine beeping, and heavy breathing. It took her a while to realize that the heavy breathing that she heard was actually hers, and then she noticed that she could not see anything. Her eyes were still closed, and she tried to open them. Her eyelids felt as heavy as iron, and they fluttered slightly before opening.
She had to adjust to the dim light before she was able to see, and the first thing that entered her vision was the ceiling of an unknown room. It was painted in white and had fluorescent lighting that gave a white glow to the place. She tried to move her head to the side, but the pain increased, and she stopped immediately.
She could see the sides of the bed through her peripherals, and when she realized that the beeping was coming from a machine connected to her, panic rose up her chest. Where am I? What happened?
She tried to say something, but tubes were coming out of her mouth and nose, and she groaned, trying to move her hands.
“You’re awake! Teresa, relax, everything is fine. You were in a car accident and are in the hospital,” a woman she didn’t recognize said. It took a full second for Teresa to comprehend what the woman – a nurse, no doubt – had just said. She was in the hospital, which explained the tubes and the beeping machine. She stopped moving. The nurse said she’d had a car accident, which would explain the pain all over her body.
But how had that happened?
Teresa thought back to the last memory she could recall, but everything was blurry. She remembered the road: she was heading to her favorite spot in the city, and it was raining… She remembered a light and a loud noise, and then… nothing. That must have been the moment of the accident, but how had she got there? Why was she driving?
“Teresa!” a voice called to her. She looked up and saw Anna’s face, wet with tears. Anna was there – her best friend. Were we together when the accident happened?
No. She’d been alone, and very upset about something… something she had just found out. Teresa closed her eyes again, trying very hard to recall the memories when the wedding flashed in her mind. The wedding. She had married Vance! And then they had gone to the reception and everything was perfect… except for her father. But she had danced with Vance, and he had left her side… and she had found out.
Vance was the man that her father had sent to spy on her. To marry her so she would go back home. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of the man she loved having played her like that.
The man she loved. She realized only now how much she had loved him… But he had never loved her, or even cared for her. He was just doing a dirty job for her father. One of the machines started beeping faster, and Teresa felt scared.
“You’re okay, Teresa, calm down, your heart rate is going up,” the nurse told her gently, placing a warm hand on her arm. “Relax, Teresa, everything’s okay.”
“Teresa, you’re okay now. Vance stepped out to get lunch, but he’ll be back soon. He has not left your side unless it was absolutely necessary,” Anna informed her, clearly thinking that the idea of seeing her husband would cheer her up. Why had he been with her at the hospital, anyway? His cover had been blown; he did not have to pretend anymore. Angry tears spilled down her face.
The nurse started checking her status. She checked her temperature and pulse and ran many tests that she did not understand. She informed Teresa that they would remove the catheter that fed her so she would be able to talk and eat on her own. It was an awful feeling, but once she was free of it, she felt better. She coughed a bit and tried to speak.
“H-how long…?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse and cracked by lack of use. Her throat was irritated, and she coughed a bit more. The nurse gave her a glass of water, and she sipped it slowly.
“Two weeks,” Anna said. “Vance and I have been here the whole time, although the girls, your coworkers, and colleagues from the kitchen stopped by, as you can see.” Anna gestured to the various items in the room.
Teresa followed her best friend’s gaze and noticed for the first time several bouquets of flowers, teddy bears, and balloons all over the place. A stack of unopened books waited for her in a corner: it looked like all her friends had wanted to give her something to read during her recovery.
I’m in that bad a condition? she mused.
Anna roughly explained to her what her injuries were. When Teresa found out that her hair had been shaved off, she touched her head to feel fuzz growing back. She normally would have cried, but Vance’s betrayal hurt more than anything else. Nothing else mattered to her anymore. All she could do was listen to Anna and the nurse, who were both explaining her injuries and how long would it take to recover from them.
“You will still be in the hospital for a while, so get comfortable.” The nurse smiled apologetically, inclining the bed so Teresa could sit up against the pillows instead of looking up at the ceiling.
The nurse left the two of them alone for a moment, and Teresa gazed at her friend. Anna looked tired. Knowing her, she had probably been by her side day and night. Her heart warmed a bit, and she tried to smile at her.
“I’m fine. I will be out of here soon,” Teresa whispered. Anna smiled back at her, although there was still a shadow of sadness lurking about.
“I’m just sorry that your wedding ended like this. Vance has been here all the time and has barely slept at all. I have to force him every day to go eat something or go shower, you know,” she told her. Teresa looked down at her hands, covered in bandages. Her left arm was plastered, and she could not move it.
Vance had obviously not told Anna the truth about what had happened or Anna would have thrown him out of the room immediately. But why was he even there? He should know that there was no way in hell she was going to go back to his father’s club – the moment she stepped out of that hospital, she would fill for an annulment.
“I’ve even seen him cry – when he thought I wasn’t looking,” Anna added in a whisper. Teresa looked up in surprise. Did he feel that bad?
The nurse opened the door and cut off what Teresa was about to say next. She’d brought a tray of what looked like water and soup.
“You should start with liquids, Teresa, before moving up to solid foods,” the nurse said. “By the way, two men are waiting by the door. They want to come in, shall I let them?”
Two men. Vance. Who was the second one? Peter? Or, could it be… her father? Teresa swallowed hard, her heart racing in her chest. She nodded and looked at Anna.
“I’m so sorry, but do you think you could wait outside for a second?” Teresa asked. “I think I have to talk to both of them.” Anna agreed and left the room with the nurse.
Seconds later, Vance and her father entered and closed the door, and Teresa’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Vance. He looked absolutely miserable. He was unshaven, his hair was sticking up in different directions, and his usually golden face was pale. There were dark circles under his eyes.
“What are you doing here? Both of you?” She looked hard at both of them. Vance’s eyes
fell to the floor, but her father stood tall and proud, just as she remembered. He did not even look guilty about her accident, and she tasted bile in her mouth.
“Teresa, I…” Vance started and then trailed off when he looked over at her. Her heart stopped for a moment: he looked really regretful. Maybe he felt bad. Maybe he did want to be with her. But he had lied to her so she could not cave. She could not just let this go.
“Stop. I know everything. You were going to marry me and bring me to the club in exchange for what, money? Or did he promise you the club would be yours?” A spark of guilt lighted Vance’s eyes, and she knew she was spot on. “Ah. So, you thought that you just had to fuck your boss’s daughter, fool her into marrying you, and all your problems would be over, is that it? Did either of you think about what would happen if I found out? Don’t you think I would divorce you the minute I learned what was going on? How dumb do you think I am?” she spat at them. Her head was pounding, and the heart rate machine was beeping rapidly.
“I know… and you are right,” Vance said. “That was the plan… at first. But then I got to know you, and it became real, I promise you that.” Vance looked at her with sorrow. “Everything since our first night together was true. I didn’t know your father would barge in on our wedding, and I was planning on telling you everything, the whole truth, the minute we got home. I wasn’t going to go through with the plan. I wanted to run away with you, Tess. I wanted to be with you.”
He had taken a step towards the bed, and Teresa saw him trembling.
“You could have told me before and trusted me to marry you anyway,” she whispered. Vance stopped dead and looked at his feet again.
“I-I was too afraid. I was scared you would leave, and I’d never be able to find you again. And the idea of living without you… was unbearable,” he stammered, and silence fell over the room. Teresa could not look at Vance any longer, it hurt too much, so she looked directly at her father.
“In what world did you think I would go back, father?” she asked. Jimmy looked at her proudly.
“It is yer place, Teresa. Ye have to go back,” he repeated stubbornly, but before she could say anything, Vance cut in.
“For heaven’s sake, Jimmy. Be honest with her for just one damn time!”
Her father clenched his fists and took a deep breath. “I’m dying, Teresa,” he blurted out. Teresa did not even flinch. “I have lung cancer.”
He told Teresa everything he had told Vance before: about his illness and how he wanted someone in the family to inherit the club. “I don’t want me life’s efforts to end up in someone else’s hands, Teresa. Ye have to understand!” he begged, finally.
Teresa was frozen. Her father had ignored her for years, practically her whole life, using her as a pawn to increase his power. Then he had followed her, spied on her, and sent men to chase her down and make her come back home. She had thought that it was because of his twisted sense of property, but it was not even her he cared about: it was the damn club, and she’d had enough.
“I want you out of my life forever,” she said, her voice cold as ice. She didn’t flinch when her father looked at her, hurt. “What Vance and I decide to do when you die is up to us. Who knows – we might want to take over the club, but if not, that’s how it will go. I don’t ever want to see your face, again.” She pointed one shaking finger at the door. “Now please leave and never come near me or Vance again. If I ever see you sneaking around again, I will personally burn down the club and everything you ever cared about.”
Teresa glared at her father and did not look away. They stood staring at each other in a silent battle for control until Jimmy lowered his eyes and abandoned the room. Silence fell over her and Vance.
For a moment, neither of them dared to move. She was conscious that she had said “Vance and I.” She had included Vance in her future life, and she wasn’t exactly sure what that meant or where that left Vance. Did that mean she wanted to give their marriage a chance?
She didn’t know what to feel. He had played with her feelings and her trust, and she could not forget that. How could she trust him again?
Vance was the first one to break the silence.
“I am so sorry,” he whispered. Teresa looked at him. He looked distraught and broken. She knew she wasn’t ready to trust him or talk to him again. It hurt to even look at him.
“Leave,” she said, and it pained her to see the sadness in his eyes, but she needed time to think. “Come back tomorrow, but please leave now.”
Vance did not say anything else. He turned around and slowly left the room.
Teresa rested her head against the pillows and tears filled her eyes. She was so tired. Anna entered the room again and looked at her with her big, blue eyes full of concern. She had some explaining to do, and this time she would not leave anything out: she would tell Anna all about her past, her relationship with her father, and the real reason she married Vance. Her friend deserved to know, and Teresa hoped she would forgive her for not telling her until now.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Vance
Vance woke up the next day feeling exhausted. He could barely sleep and the nights he had spent at the hospital had not been restful either. His body felt sore all over, and his head ached badly that his breakfast consisted of a mug filled with black coffee and two aspirins.
He took a long, hot shower, standing under the heavy streams hoping he would drown in it, but when he stepped out and got dressed, he felt as miserable as before. He was still wrapping his head around the events of the previous day. Teresa waking up and talking to her father, Teresa telling him to leave, Teresa telling him to come back the next day.
Teresa.
What did that mean? Did the fact that she was willing to see him again mean she would forgive him? His heartbeats quickened just thinking about it, and he knew that if she was willing to give him a second chance he could not screw it up. He had to do everything right and stop keeping secrets – and he wanted to start with the charity kitchen, Silver Spoons for Charity.
He had called Peter while Teresa was unconscious, explaining the situation, but he knew that he deserved to know the truth about him. Even if that meant he could never go back to the place he had grown to love so much.
Peter and some of the workers were already there when he went in, and he spent the first fifteen minutes answering his colleagues’ worried questions about Teresa.
“And what are you doing here?” Peter finally asked him. “Why aren’t you with Teresa?”
Vance swallowed hard before answering. He felt all their eyes piercing him, and he knew that it would be more painful than he had thought.
“I am on my way to the hospital now. She did not want me there yesterday,” he confessed.
“Why?” Peter was puzzled. And Vance told them everything, at least everything he could tell. His friends gasped and looked at him in horror and shock, but Vance knew he deserved those looks – he deserved to be seen as what he really was: a horrible person.
“I hope that Teresa finds it in her heart to forgive you.” Peter was the first to speak. His eyes were filled with disappointment, and it was too much for him to handle – he could not look at the man that had been so great to him, seeing him with different eyes. Vance gazed at the floor.
“So do I. And I hope you can all forgive me too,” he said quietly and turned around. He knew that the best he could do was to give them a couple of days to process everything, and now that he had come clean to them, he was aching to see Teresa.
Vance made another stop on his way to the hospital and entered a florist shop where he bought a bouquet of daisies. The man at the shop offered him a card, but he refused. What would he say on it? Get well soon? Anything he could say would be too hypocritical, so he decided to give Teresa the flowers and tell her the rest himself.
The trip to the hospital, although it was close to the city, felt like the longest journey of his life. Every step he took was drawing him nearer to what c
ould be the end of his relationship with Teresa, and for him, it was like walking into hell. It was like purgatory. He felt like a condemned man making his way to the gallows, and when he finally got to the hospital, he took a deep breath and tried to maintain his composure. He knocked on the door before he heard Teresa say to come in.
“Hi, Teresa. How are you feeling today?” he asked in a low voice, looking at her sheepishly. Teresa was sitting on her bed and had the remains of her breakfast on the table. Anna was at her side and she gave him a very hard look. He realized that she knew everything that had happened and that she probably hated his guts, something he did not blame her for.
“Hi. Better than yesterday,” Teresa answered dryly. Vance took a step towards her and handed her the flowers.
