Valentine's Day Sucks!

That got my attention in a hurry. "She's been fucking around with God knows who for however long and you can say that to me? Get out!"

She looked angrily at me and then set up my laptop on my feed tray. "You look at these with me and then I'll go, you spoiled little boy! I've been your friend all these years and I have never had a reason to regret that until now! I have never lied to you or misled you! Never! Now you ARE going to look at these with me!"

I'd never seen Linda so angry. I watched as the pictures scrolled by, they were still familiar but they were also off. My memory said one thing but the pictures said another thing altogether. When the videos played I became even more confused and agitated. "I don't understand. How…? What…?" I took a moment and asked "Why do I remember things one way but these say they didn't happen? If she wasn't having an affair why has she been pushing me away for the last three months?"

~~~~~

Linda

I sighed. For the first time today he was willing to listen. "Do you remember the hypoglycemic episode Wanda had?"

He nodded "When she went to visit her mother. What about it?"

"It wasn't a hypoglycemic episode. She went to tell her mother she was pregnant. The antibiotics for her ear infection negated her birth control pills. While she was at her mother's she miscarried." The look of excitement and then devastation flashed over his face.

"She was afraid to tell you and was convinced you'd leave her."

His head snapped up, "What!? How could she think that? WHY would she think that? I don't understand." Tears had started falling by this point and I got up and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Honey, the only one who knew what she was thinking was her. The hormones in her body got all screwed up when she miscarried and her thinking was affected. She didn't tell anyone she had miscarried and her friends got worried about you and her. You said you had no clue what was happening so they called her mother.

Her mom came down and brought a friend, a colleague named Martin Willis, and she's been seeing him for a while now. He got her treated for the hormone imbalance and got her head straightened around. The day you collapsed her friend Shelly and their friends helped her set up the spare room for a "Fantasy Date Night" The room is still ready, but you came back while they were finishing up. Shelly and her boyfriend slipped into your room for a quickie. Your phone call spooked everyone so the mess didn't get cleaned up."

He looked at me and asked, "How do you know?"

"I was there when Shelly apologized to Wanda for leaving the mess in the bedroom. She told us what they had been doing and that led us to figure out what you thought had happened. Wanda loves you more than her own life, but is convinced that you'll leave her as soon as you are well enough to leave the hospital. We've spoken to the college and gotten you a medical leave. You can finish your courses online or next term or, if you think you can do it, you can still take the finals when you are better and graduate early."

I looked at him and watched as all of the thoughts ran through his mind. He looked at the slideshow of pictures again and verified that they were the ones he had taken. He turned and asked "Can I use your phone and would you do me a favor and go to Torrington tonight? I need you to get something for me. Tell Wanda I'll talk to her tomorrow."

I handed him my cell phone and listened to him, my smile grew as I listened. I left as soon as he finished his call. I told Wanda that he was tired and asked that she wait until tomorrow to speak with him. She was reluctant but agreed.

Wanda

"Oh God, I've lost him! He won't even see me." I sank to the floor and started to sob.

Linda sat next to me for a moment. "You haven't lost him. He was just very weak and drained. He could barely finish talking to me before he drifted off. That's all it was I swear to you, Wanda. He wants to see you tomorrow. Please don't give up on him now." The tone of her voice told me she was serious but I couldn't help thinking hat I had lost him. I nodded despondently to her as she stood. "I have to run an errand but I'll be back tomorrow morning. I will need to talk to him first and then I'll come and get you, okay?"

I nodded my head yes and she left. My mother came and took me to the hotel she and my father were staying at. I took a shower, changed my clothes, and made them take me back to the hospital. I looked in on Brock and he was resting quietly. I was sure he wouldn't want me to be there. A tear fell, and my heart broke as that thought occurred to me so I went back to the waiting room and sat down. I was asleep as soon as I lay down on the couch in the lounge.

~~~~~

I woke with a start as someone touched my arm. Linda asked "Are you alright sweetie?"

I wiped the sleep from my eyes, "I'm as good as can be expected. I'm going to say goodbye to Brock and then I'm going home to pack. Brock doesn't want me and my being here is just going to hurt him more. I love him enough to let him go if he doesn't love me." I started to rise and Linda pushed me back onto the couch.

"What in the world makes you think he doesn't want you? He wouldn't have been nearly as devastated by his hallucination if he didn't love you. He wouldn't have asked me to have you stay so he could talk to you if he didn't love you." She told me this with a hard edge to her voice. I had never heard her that angry before.

Her voice softened. "Honey listen to me, he loves you just as much as you love him. Give him a chance to talk to you. Say hello and then let him do the talking. Okay? He's asking for you right now. Go wash your face and I'll tell him you're coming." She stood and helped me get off of the couch while handing me a small makeup bag.

I went to the restroom and washed my face. My hands were shaking so hard I didn't think I'd be able to hold the washcloth. I looked in the mirror and saw a woman I didn't recognize staring back at me. I straighten my blouse and ran a quick brush through my hair.

I quickly packed the makeup back into the bag with the brush and went back towards the waiting room. Linda was coming out of Brock's room and took the bag from me. She said "Just let him do the talking. It'll be fine I promise."

I looked at the closed door and wondered what I would do if he said he never wanted to see me again.

~~~~

Brock

I heard Linda speaking as the door to my room closed. She had run my errand and I was hoping that I hadn't made such a mess of things that Wanda would leave me. I shook that thought out of my head as I watched the door start to open.

Wanda looked sadder than I had ever seen her. She poked her head around the edge of the door and looked in like she was afraid I'd throw something at her. I waved for her to come in and waited until she had. She looked for a place to sit but I'd had Linda and my father remove all of the chairs from the room while Wanda slept. The only place for her to sit was on the edge of my bed facing me. I patted the bed indicating where I wanted her to sit.

She hesitated. "Please Wanda, sit with me." It was the first either of us had spoken. She looked ready to bolt for a moment and then visibly steeled herself before sitting down.

"Hello Brock." Her voice quavered and the thought that I had put such doubts about us in her mind made me sadder than anything I could remember.

I took her hand; she stiffened but let me do it. After a moment she relaxed. "I know you are nervous and I know that I'm the cause of it. Please just hear me out before you say anything." I waited a moment and she nodded. "I hurt you deeply and I am very sorry for that. My only defense is that I quite literally was out of my head at the time. I love you, Wanda. I've never loved anyone but you. When I thought I had seen you with another," I placed a finger on her lips. "I know you weren't, but that's what I saw. As I was saying, when I saw you with those men I thought I was going to die at first, then came an unreasoning rage. I wanted to hurt you as much as I'd been hurt. I never considered violence Wanda. I would never, could never hurt you that way."

"Linda showed me what was really on the memory card and the doctor explained that my mind supplied what I expected to see based on what I had heard coming from the window. What I thought I saw at the door, was you in the blue silk negligee that I haven't even given you yet. You weren't wearing it but my mind supplied the image of you in it." I pulled the box containing the garment from under the covers.

She took the box and gasped when she look inside. "Oh Brock it's beautiful!" I leaned in and placed a finger to her lips again.

"I got that last week. I was hoping that I could entice you to move back into our room."

I looked at her again and said quietly, "Linda said you had a miscarriage." My tone was flat but I wasn't angry.

She nodded her head as a look of panic, anger, and fear crossed her face in quick succession.

"Understand me on this, we lost a baby. I want you to remember that from now on. You didn't lose a baby, we did. You are a part of me. I am not whole without you. When you hurt I am in pain as well. I've never felt more pain than when you shut me out the last few months. It's what helped my mind jump to infidelity. I love you more than life and I want to spend the rest of our lives making a good life together." I reached under the covers and brought out the box I had sent Linda to Torrington to get.

I opened the lid on the ring box and asked "Wanda Marie Swenson, will you do me the great honor of forgiving me my delusion and becoming my wife?" I held my breath and prayed that I would have a reason to wake up tomorrow.

Wanda

Tears had been falling ever since he had been speaking but I had kept silent as he had requested. From the way he was speaking I couldn't tell at first if this was a good or a bad thing. When his voice went flat at the mention of the baby, I was certain I had lost him. Then I watched him pull out a ring box and I couldn't breathe. I recognized the crest on the ring box. Hiram Meyer is probably the best jeweler in the U.S. His work is frequently auctioned and sold for ungodly amounts of money. Brock opened up the box and in it was a wedding set. The stone on the wedding band was a beautiful amethyst carved to resemble a delicate rose while the engagement band was crested by a trio of clear white diamonds.

I could hardly breathe and it took me a moment to find my voice again.

Linda

We were all waiting outside Brock's room. Both Wanda's and Brock's parents, Shelly with her fiancée, and I were all waiting. I was starting to get worried when suddenly we heard "YES! YES! YES! OhGodOhGod!" I smiled.

As I reached for the door a pinched face nurse said, "Tell them to keep it down in there don't they know this is a hospital."

I thought "If I were her I guess I'd think Valentine's Day Sucks too!" I just shook my head and we went into the room to celebrate with our friends and family.

The End