Impossibly Forever: Two Books in One (Impossibly Duology) (12 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Branden

  
I stormed into Doctor Henderson’s office
while he was meeting with
someone else. “Let’s do it!” I declared. Their eyes shot up at me in surprise.

  
The woman reached over shakily and took up her purse from the empty seat next
to her, getting up afterwards.

  
Doctor Henderson apologized to her, “I’m so sorry, Faye, please—”

  
“That’s okay,” she affirmed. “Our meeting is over. I know what I have to do.”
Faye gave me a somber look before walking out of the office.

  
Exhaling, I moved over to one of the leather seats in front of his dark wooden
table and sat down. “Sorry about that.”

  
Doctor Henderson frowned, and then sank back in his chair. “It’s all right. She
was about to leave, anyway. It’s too bad I couldn’t do much for her.” He
removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

  
“Are you okay, doc?” I asked.

  
“It’s been a long day.” He eased forward and folded his wrists on top of the
table, as if transporting back to reality. “Now, what was it that made you
barged in like that?”

  
“Oh, right…” I lowered my eyes and took a deep breath. “Let’s go through with
the second surgery. I’ll do it.”

  
His eyes widened. “I see. I’ll have to discuss this with your parents as well—”

  
“I’m nineteen. It’s my decision,” I reminded him.

  
Doctor Henderson got up from his chair and began pacing the room. “I know, but
it’s something I’d like to discuss with your entire family. After all, Branden,
it is risky. Your father told me he was going to tell you about the dangers of
the second surgery, even though your Mother is in denial about it.”

  
I slouched back in the brown, leather seat, pondering on his words. Doctor
Henderson walked over to the window and glanced down at the street below. “If
you don’t mind me asking, why did you make this decision so abruptly?”

  
I closed my eyes for a moment and envisioned her face. I had decided
impulsively to end things with Moya because I’d given up on myself. I didn’t
realize how deeply she cared for me until yesterday when she’d told me she
liked me. Not love, but it was enough. Damn, I’d been so stupid. How could I’ve
believed I would be able to walk away from her? “Because I love her so much,
and I want to be with her.”

  
Doctor Henderson’s brows shot up.
“For a girl, Branden?
That’s hardly logical. This is a decision that must be made in good mental
state and obviously you’re not in the right one if you’re willing to risk your
life over a girl.”

  
I sprang from the seat and pounded my hand on top of the desk. “She’s not just
some girl. I told you, I love her. She means the world to me and I want to do
this surgery for a chance at a life with her. I know there’s a possibility I
won’t make it. But at least, for Moya, I want to try.”

  
The moment I said her name, the past weeks I’d come in contact with her flashed
through my mind. That fiery glare in her eyes when she stood her ground at not
letting me in, to the yearning way in which she held on to me when we kissed
for the first time. I had to take the risk. I had to be with Moya.

  
Doctor Henderson breathed and interrupted my thoughts. I almost forgot I was in
his office. He moved from the window and went back to his chair. “Have you told
her about your condition then?”

  
I shook my head.

  
“I think you should. If you love her this much then you owe it to yourself and
her. Not trying to sound pessimistic, especially since I’m a doctor. Still,
just in case, Branden, tell her.”

  
What Doctor Henderson said made a lot of sense. I should have told Moya
everything the moment I realized she felt the same way about me. But I was too
afraid. And what if the surgery failed? How could I put her through so much
pain?

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Moya

  
I’d cried myself to sleep
when I got home from Harrington. When I woke
up in the morning, my eyes were swollen, and my face was a mess when I glanced
at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.

  
I tried really hard not to waste my thoughts on Branden and keep myself busy.
But I had no idea it’d be that hard. How could I have allowed myself to fall so
deeply for someone in such a short time? I had to snap back to my old self
fast.

  
After taking a shower and getting dressed to go to the interview at the Jewelry
store, I met Momma in the kitchen making breakfast. She watched me with great
concern as I sat at the table. “You wanna tell me about it, baby? I heard you
crying last night.”

  
I exhaled. “It’s nothing. I…didn’t do as well on a quiz as I’d hoped.”

  
She placed a plate of toast and scrambled eggs before me, taking a seat at the
table as well. “Moya Jeanine Douglas. I brought you into this world, clothed
you, fed you, and raised you for nineteen years. You think I don’t know when
something’s wrong and when my baby girl is lying to me?”

  
She lowered her head and lifted an eyebrow. “Talk to me.”

  
I took up the fork and played with my breakfast. “There’s this guy….a guy I
thought was different. I thought…” I wasn’t even sure anymore what I thought
about Branden, maybe that he felt the same way about me.

  
When I looked up from the plate, Momma’s eyes were widened with surprise, a
broad grin plastered on her mouth. “So that’s what this is about. You’ve found
yourself a boy and have fallen in love. Well, thank you Lord, Moya Douglas has
finally unlocked that precious heart of hers.”

  
I snapped. “Momma, I’m not in love. That’s not the point, either. He pushed me
away. I thought we had something, but it was a lie. He ended it before it even
began! And now I feel so...” I searched for the word.

  
“Hurt,” she finished for me. She rested her hand on top of mine. “Oh, baby
girl, I’m sorry it turned out that way.” She started to pat my head. “Well,
what happened exactly? Tell me about it.”

  
“Never mind,” I sprang from the chair. “I gotta get to my interview. Don’t want
to be late.” I was hurrying to get out of the house because if I started
talking about Branden, I’d risk crying all over him again.

  
“Oh, that’s right. Who’d you get an interview with, baby? You never told me
exactly.” She asked.

  
I took my plate from the table and brought it over to the sink. “A jewelry
store around here called My Love’s Finest. Is that where you got my necklace,
Momma?”

  
She didn’t answer. There was a long pause so I turned to see what was wrong.
Her face was frozen. Her eyes seemed vacant and her lips trembled as she fought
for words to speak.

  
I walked over and rubbed her shoulder. “Momma, are you all right?”

  
She got up from the table abruptly and clenched my arms as she exclaimed, “You
can’t go there!”

  
“What?” I laughed in my confusion, the sound short and nervous. “I’ve been
trying to find a job and finally when I get an opportunity, you don’t want me
to go?” I sighed. “Momma, if this is about school, I won’t let it interfere—”

  
“It’s not that,” she breathed. “Listen to me, there’s something you should
know…something I’ve kept from you.” Her voice started to sound shaky. She was
really making me worry with the frightened look in her eyes.

  
Momma blurted out all at once, “That necklace, it was a gift from…he really
wanted you to have it and I felt guilty for being so spiteful to him all those
years …I wanted to make it right…”

  
I didn’t understand a word she was saying.

  
I gently took her hand and led her back to one of the chairs at the oval table.
“Momma, relax.” I sat down beside her. “Now, what are you trying to tell me?”

  
She brushed my cheek lovingly. “I shouldn’t have pushed him away.” Tears ran
down her cheeks. “I stopped him from seeing you all those years. It was my
fault. Your daddy, he made that necklace for you. I knew you wouldn’t accept it
if I told you it was from him so I lied and said I got it. It was all my doing,
making you hate him so much.”

  
I couldn’t believe my ears. “My necklace is really from my father?” The man that
abandoned me; the man I’d been angry with for so long and sworn never to
forgive, yet here I was wearing his necklace for two years without knowing it.

  
“What?
How?”
I whimpered.

  
“He bought you presents, he even stopped by the house sometimes but I chased
him away. I was so mad at him for leaving me that I punished him by keeping you
two apart all that time.” She buried her face in her hands and cried. “I’m so
sorry, baby.”

  
“You lied to me.” Realization hit me hard. Momma was the reason I was so mad at
my father. When she cursed him, I did the same. When she hated him for breaking
her heart, I did too. Why? Because she was my mother and I loved her more than
anything in the world.

  
She lied to me.

  
Momma had been lying all that time.

  
My chest started to heave. Anger grew within me so much it began to seep out in
sobs, “I can’t believe you kept him out of my life, even when you saw me
hurting so badly, even those birthdays when I cried for him to be there. You
lied!” I gritted my teeth. “How could you do that? How could you make him out
to be a bad person? How could you make me hate him?” I cried even more, getting
to my feet. “How could you make me believe he didn’t love me?”

  
I couldn’t stop screaming at her. She was my Momma. I never raised my voice at
her like that before. Right then, I was disappointed in her for what she’d
done. Not only for preventing a good relationship with my father, but for
causing me to be too afraid of trusting any man.

  
“Oh, baby.” She stood as well and tried to cloak me with her arms. “I wish
there was a way I could fix it. Only, you were always so mad whenever I brought
him up—”

  
“Whose fault is that?” I pushed her hands away. “What if I didn’t get this
interview at his jewelry store? Would you have said anything at all?”

  
Momma eased away from me and placed her hands on top of her head. “Baby,
please, let’s
talk
calmly about this. I could invite
him over if you want—”

  
“No! What’s the point now? You’ve already destroyed every part of me that needed
him when I was younger. All that’s left is hate. There’s nothing you can do
now.” I rushed past her and around the corner to my bedroom, slamming the door
shut behind me.

  
I fell to my knees, crying. Getting that upset with Momma and hearing how wrong
I’d been about my father all came flooding down on me. I wanted more than ever
to be held and comforted.

  
I wanted Branden.

  
I took my cell phone out my pocket and brought his number up on the screen. But
why would I call him? After all, he had cowardly backed away from my feelings.

  
I started to remember how much it hurt when he told me he couldn’t be with me,
then fresh tears burned my eyes, mixing with the ones already there.

  
I could call my best friend for support. Then again, I didn’t have the strength
to explain it all to Vanessa. I would coil up in a ball on my bedroom floor
instead, and cry my heart out. Eventually, the pain would go away. Soon I’d
grow numb to it.

  
Unexpectedly, my phone started to vibrate. I decided to ignore the call,
thinking it was probably Teresa, calling from my father’s jewelry store. When I
checked the screen, though, my heart felt as if it was going to leap out of my
chest.

  
Branden was calling me.

  
I wanted to answer. My heart guided my fingers to the screen. Then my head
regained control and I ignored him. No one was going to trample on my feelings
and assumed I would still pick up his calls.

  
Why was he calling me, anyway? Did he suddenly have a change of heart? No way.
I refused to be toyed with. Branden would know exactly how it felt to be left
hanging on, alone.