Broken Love Story (Love 3)

Chapter Four

Samantha

“Hello?” Another strange voice comes on the phone as my head starts to turn and my eyes start to see white spots.

“Who is this?” I now ask in a whisper again.

“This is Crystal.” she says. “Who is this?”

“Samantha.” My voice cracks as a sob tries to come out, but I push it down. “Who are you guys, and why do you have Eric’s phone?” I look around to see if I can get Elliot’s attention, but I’m alone. I’m sitting in my living room with a picture of the two of us hanging in the middle of the room. My two girls beside me as I sit here and find out where my husband is.

“Are you …” Crystal stops and then asks, “Who are you to Eric?”

“I’m his wife,” I finally say. The sadness leaves me, replaced with anger. “And I’m about tired of answering questions without getting any of my own.”

“I …” She stops, and then I hear her breathe out. “Where are you?”

“I’m at home,” I answer her right away.

“I need you to sit down.” It’s there again, the pain; the pain that turned to anger comes back. I look at Lizzie, who looks at me with tears running down her face, and Daisy, who has curled up beside me and is looking up at me, hoping I have the answers. “There has been an accident.”

“Oh my God,” I whisper, and the sob that I was holding back now comes ripping through me. The shrieking and pain, running up my throat so hard, fast and loud, my throat burns.

“Is he okay?” I ask between the sobs.

A man’s voice comes on. “He didn’t make it.” Four words that take whatever is left of me.

“Mommy,” Lizzie says beside me. “Mommy, are you okay?” The tears stream down my cheeks, my chest starts to go up and down, and my breathing is so hard. My free hand goes to my chest, hoping to get the pain to go away.

“Where”—I try to catch my breath, try to calm myself down before I pass out—“where is he?”

“He’s at Mercy General Hospital.” His voice goes soft. “I’m sorry for your loss, but I have to know who are you?”

“I’m his wife,” I say again. How many fucking times do I have to tell these people that I’m his wife? “We’ve been married twelve years. We have girls.” My voice fades off when I hear shouting.

“What the fuck is going on?” Elliot finally says, grabbing the phone out of my hands. With everything going on, I didn’t even see him walk in. I didn’t notice him standing over me; I didn’t notice anything. “Who the fuck is this?”

“Where is Samantha?” the man asks right away.

“She’s right next to me. Now, answer my fucking question,” he says. I don’t know what the other guy says, but Elliot’s eyes close, and his head falls back as one tear escapes him.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “Where is he? Who is this?” My knees give out, and I fall to my butt, sitting down. My girls crawl on my lap, and I hold them both, rocking from side to side while humming their favorite song that I used to rock them to bed with. My eyes close as I try to focus on the fact that I’m all alone, by myself. He’s gone. The man who took me out of the shitty life I was handed and gave me everything I ever dreamed of on a silver platter.

He gave me love, he gave me protection, and he gave me two brothers, but most importantly, he made me a mother. I block out the words; I block out the angry tone of Elliot’s voice. I block it all out.

“That’s impossible,” he now whispers. “He’s already married.”

He hangs up and slowly peels Daisy from me, carrying her upstairs. I hear his voice in a whisper as he walks downstairs. “I just called Ethan, and he’s on his way.” He grabs Lizzie, who had fallen asleep silently sobbing in my lap.

I’m still sitting in the middle of my living room when he comes back downstairs. “What just happened?” I want him to tell me it’s a dream, to tell me that it’s not true.

“I have no fucking idea, but by the end of tonight, I hope we all know the answers.”

“Who were those people?” I ask him right when the front door opens, and my in-laws, Judy and Adrian, enter. My mother-in-law sits down next to me, taking me in her arms.

“Oh, honey,” she says while she strokes my hair, and I cry in her arms. Another thing he gave me was a mother and a father. Someone who welcomed me with open arms, with love and support. “It’s going to be okay.”

I don’t say anything as we both cry—me for my husband, her for her son. When Ethan arrives, he sees us sitting in the middle of the living room. My father-in-law stands with Elliot, and they talk in whispers. “I came as fast as I could.”