Broken Obsession - Part Two (24 page)

Inside the taxi, Amber turned her head around to
watch his hasty exit back through the doors and felt her heart fall
into her lap. Her hands were shaking and she couldn’t understand
why. That’s when she started to panic and quickly turned toward the
driver and stated, “Turn around.”

As soon as the taxi drove back to the front of the
church, Amber popped out of the vehicle and rushed back toward the
entrance and flung the doors wide. She bit down on her lower lip as
she witnessed Eduardo’s backside walking down the aisle. Amber just
stood there with riotous emotions buckling her to her knees.

It was truly over
, she thought. Amber had
truly lost and surrendered to the sight of Stacey, his new love,
his modernistic wife—prevailing. Tears continued to run down her
face, as she watched Eduardo reach his future spouse. Stacey looked
luminous, her pearl dress draping off the sides of the platform,
the gorgeous bouquets of white orchids only adding to her
brilliance. She smiled down at him as he grabbed her hand from the
lower step as he approached...

Oh dear God in heaven, Amber thought as she closed
her tear-filled eyes to dart out the church. Oh dear God in heaven
help me please, help me before I do something impulsive!

“Can you wait for me here?” Amber asked the taxi
driver.

“Sure ma’am.”

Amber slowly stepped out of the car then shut the
door behind her. Standing immobile for a second, she first gazed
out at all the endless grave sites.

Walking toward her son’s grave, Amber recalled the
day she buried her son. It was a horrible awful day. She thought
she would never get over that day, and yet, here she was. The pain
still there, only lessened like a dull, slow twinge.

Reaching the plaque at last, Amber stood directly
over it and softly voiced, “Hi Peyton baby, mommy wanted you to
have something.”

Amber then sat on her knees and bent down to place a
stethoscope on his headstone, adjusting it to where it looked like
the plaque had been wearing it. Peyton liked to play doctor and she
wanted him to have it. It was a real stethoscope, having purchased
it through the Internet. “Now you can listen to the entire
congregation of angel’s and their hearts and make sure everyone in
Heaven is in good health,” Amber started to laugh, then quickly
burst into tears. “I tried baby,” she wailed, “I really did, but
daddy loves Stacey now, he doesn’t love mommy anymore—he’s moved on
and it’s OK...mommy is just going to move to Oregon and buy a house
there and find someone to love as well. I’ll be back on your
birthday though; I’ll never miss your birthdays Peyton.”

Amber then continued to cry until she felt her body
come to release all that was holding her down. The guilt she
harbored from being the one at fault and the love she once felt for
Eduardo and after a few more minutes of resting by his headstone,
Amber finally stood up to wipe her dried tears away, when she sees
him…

A little boy—no older than Peyton—black hair shining
bright even through the grey clouds and was running around the
gravesites laughing and playing with something in his hand. Amber
looked beyond at a couple who were kneeling at a nearby gravesite
and assumed he was their son, and began to walk away when the child
yelled, “Hello!”

Amber then turned around to find the little boy
hiding behind a tree. He was playing hide-n-seek with her but she
could still see him; his legs and feet sticking out behind the
trunk of a tree. A smile surfaced on her face and she waved a
friendly hello. The little boy waved back but she still couldn’t
see him very clearly.

Amber turned to walk back towards her taxi when the
boy’s yell caused her to turn her head again. “Come and find me!”
she heard him shout and Amber immediately turned toward his voice
as the boy rushed from tree to tree. Amber laughed at the sight of
him and joy straight away surrounded her heart. She watched him as
he ran from one area to another, circling Amber finally, until the
boy vanished completely in back of a massive carved statute of the
Virgin Mary. Amber continued to search for the little boy, when
she sees him…

Eduardo?

He’s frozen, still—a long black trench coat covering
his black Armani tuxedo. Amber looked behind Eduardo as he
approached her and fathomed the black limo waiting in the
wings.

“I knew you’d be here,” he said, walking over to the
gravesite as well.

Amber wiped the remaining tears away from her eyes.
“I wanted to say good-bye to him…to let him know I’d be coming only
on his birthdays.”

Eduardo heard her voice crack and he choked back his
own tears. He then glanced down at the headstone. Peyton, his
little boy, would be turning six if he were still alive. He next
looked back up at Amber, she had tears in her eyes and they both
stood a few feet apart from one another, in uncertainty and still
divided.

“I’d better go,” Amber suddenly said, “I’ll never
make it to the airport in time,” she conveyed, looking over at the
limo again and then for her own transportation, “I’ve delayed my
taxi long enough.”

“I sent him away,” Eduardo said suspended, unmoving,
his hands still down his coat pockets.

“What?” Amber asked, looking all around at the area
where her taxi used to be. “What did you do that for?”

“I’ll take you to the airport,” Eduardo offered,
still unreadable and stagnant.

“No—you can’t,” Amber simply relayed.

“Yes I can, I own the limousine.”

“No, I mean, you really can’t. Good Lord,” Amber
said, rolling her eyes, “You’re still so conceited Eduardo,” and
laughed sickly at his harsh naturalness. “Think about your
wife
Eduardo, I don’t think your new wife would like me
riding along.”

“I’m looking at my wife,” he presented her, green
eyes penetrating her stare.

Amber’s heart dropped. “But you got married,” she
cried, her tears quickly returning, “I left you at the church—you
went back in. I watched you—I went back into the church.
I
watched you
walk over to her,
I watched you
grab her
hand.”

“To tell her I couldn’t marry her.”

“What?” Amber asked, blubbering beyond repair, her
heart beating by the sheer relief.

Within realizing Amber’s reaction, tears streamed
down Eduardo’s own face. “Amber,” Eduardo quietly voiced, shaking
his head, “How can I marry someone I never loved?”

Amber burst with alleviation and she buried her face
within her hands. Eduardo couldn’t stand not touching her any
longer and stepped in toward her and grabbed the only woman he’s
ever loved into him. They embrace instantly and Amber continued to
weep, only this time into his chest. “But,” she uttered through
sobs, “You asked her to marry you.”

Eduardo ran his hands through her hair and caressed
the back of her head. “I was lonely,” he let go, kissing the tip of
her forehead, “She’s the one who loved
me
and I thought she
could carry our marriage with her affection, enough for the two of
us.”

Amber continued to liberate her sorrow on his coat
and held him tight, “Like me...like me with Victor.”

“I know,” Eduardo voiced, burying his head in her
shoulder, continuing to cry along with her, “I was going to tell
you that a couple of days ago.”

Amber subsequently pulled apart from him and gazed
into his eyes with her disbelieving expression. “You
did
show up.”

Eduardo looked down at her and wiped the tears away
from her cheeks. Circling his eyes around her face, he reached up
towards her hair then slid down her knitted cap away from her head.
“I waited for five hours,” he expressed, moving his hand over the
bandage across her forehead. “I would have waited an eternity,”
Eduardo held, kissing Amber softly on her lips. “But the rain came
down in sheets.”

“The rain was really bad; I could hardly see the
road.”

Eduardo continued to run his fingers across her
bandage then abruptly grazed his lips across her injury. “Something
detained you...you were on your way.”

With tears streaming down her face, Amber cried, “I
was in a traffic accident—another car came into my lane and I
veered off the road to try to avoid him when I hit a pole instead.
Seven stitches and a mild concussion confined me from seeing you
until this morning.”

Their eyes lock and hold. Clutching each other once
again, they cried in each other’s arms for the longest time,
releasing sobs of anguish, releasing sobs of pain.

“I love you Amber, I’ve always loved you,” Eduardo
admitted, holding his wife securely confined.

His words of comfort swarmed her heart—and she
clutched him tightly in return—his arms wrapped themselves around
her entire body; a sanctuary jam-packed with endless love.

Their mouths weld without more ado, as their kisses
filled with tranquility and light suddenly turn enthusiastic and
aroused.

“I could make love to you now,” he whispered into her
ear.

Amber opened up her eyes and smiled; her head still
resting on Eduardo’s chest when she voiced, “Well, there’s always
the limousine—”

“Want to fly to Vegas?”

Amber chuckled, “What for?”

“A wedding, I’m already dressed.”

Amber continued to laugh when suddenly
she sees
him
. The little boy again—peeking his head around the tree in
the distance. He made her smile another time as the child continued
to play hide-and-seek behind the tall oaks.

Amber suddenly blinked back her tears and pulled
apart from Eduardo’s chest when she realized what the boy was
actually holding . . .

Good Lord...the stethoscope!

“Mommy doesn’t need an operation,” Peyton stated,
holding the stethoscope to his mother’s chest. “She’s still
bree-ving,” he voiced, looking up at Mrs. Lopez, “She’s not
dead-ed.”

Mrs. Lopez shook her head at the notion, “Peyton
mehiò, your father will be home any second now, let’s leave your
mother alone, it looks as if she’s waking up now…”

By slow degrees, Amber gradually opened up her eyes
to find that she could not see anything lucid due to the fact that
the sun’s rays were beating heavily down and clouding her view. It
was hot, she was burning and her lips were parched and dry, cracked
as she licked them. What the heck happened? Where the heck was she?
Amber felt sick, nauseated and on the verge of throwing up. She
felt hung over and she’s felt that way before after drinking too
much Vodka.

It was excessive, she knew that, but she chose to
self-medicate because it helped to ease the pain. It was easier to
do than to go through therapy, quicker to do than to hop in a car
and sit down for a few hours with a therapist. Call it laziness,
call it being selfish but Amber always chose the wrong paths.

Amber tried to focus once again but everything was a
creamy yellow, a dazzling white…
and black
. Things were
yellow, white and black…and then slowly the colors of forest green
of the palm trees she had planted a couple of years back came into
focus—then the crystal blue of the pool’s water came into clear
sight?

She gazed down and scanned over her entire body, she
had been lying down, lounging and had been wearing next to nothing;
her favorite Aqua-blue bikini top, but different bottoms she
thought she threw away months ago.

Then Amber began to panic when she began to
concentrate on the emptied bottle of SKYY Vodka next to her and the
champagne glass on the other end table. Subsequently, she realized
that she was lying in the same lounge chair and in the same Goddamn
spot when she had lost her little boy!

Oh my God!

Oh dear God!

Not again
, she thought,
Oh dear God, not
again!
She just wanted her sorrow to end…when was she ever
going to be granted a day of healthiness? Dr. Hayward had mentioned
to her that she would be having some recurring nightmares about
this dreadful day; she just wished they would stop. She remembered
back at the Palm Desert Treatment Center when she would wake up
dripping in sweat and crying from the very same dream.
Bad
dreams
she believed were all too real and it took her a very
long time to rest without having them or relying on the aid of
depression or sleeping pills.

OK Amber, time to wake up…it’s only a dream…only a
dream
, she thought as she closed her eyes again and prayed
herself awake when she realized that she already was within hearing
distinctive voices around the pool. Her eyes popped open again and
in the corner of her eye, Amber could see them…really, really
see them
…then began to hyperventilate when she could
comprehend Mrs. Lopez…with a little boy?

Oh my God!

Oh dear God!

Peyton?!

Amber covered her mouth over with her hand and then
her neck when she watched Mrs. Lopez gather up Peyton within her
arms to shelter him from Amber’s fit of terror.