Chapter 19
[Addison]
“Addy!”
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There are loud, rapid footsteps followed by the heavy sound of someone falling to their knees. Warm arms reach around me and cradle me to their chest, their heart beating rapidly against my ear.
My husband, Michael, is shaking with fear as he looks down at me with wide, frightened eyes.
“Addison! What have you done!” His voice shakes as he looks up at the open window and then back at me. “Why? Do I make you so miserable that you are trying to kill yourself?”
“Don’t forget, you’re still pregnant!” He blamed me.
The sadness in his voice makes my heart skip. I scoffed in my mind. There was no child anymore.
Does he really care about me underneath all of this anger and angst? Am I the one pushing him away with my jealousy?
“Michael, help, I fell,” I whimper pathetically. I hate how weak I sound, how defenseless I am. I don’t want his help, but what choice do I have? I was foolish to think I could climb out the window to get away.
In the distance, my son’s small voice mingles with Evelyn’s as the two of them speak cheerfully.
“We can’t let Jayson see you like this,” Michael frowns, shaking his head, his eyes flat and without sympathy. “I don’t want to have to explain this to our son.”
As Michael lifts me from the ground, my muscles spasm as my leg is jostled, my throbbing ankle screaming in pain.
“Does this hurt,” he asks, almost looking concerned as he sees my grimace? “You fell from a second–story window, Addy. You’re lucky you didn’t twist your neck.”
Michael turns towards the stairs.
He’s taking me back to the bedroom. No. There is no way I’m going to make it out again if I go back in.
I have to convince him somehow that I can be trusted. He needs to believe that I still want to be here.
“Oh, Michael,” I let myself cry, feeling all of the pain in my body all at once. “I made a mistake. I’m so stupid. I…I thought that if I could get out of the room, I could convince you to take me back. I’ve been such a fool.”
His body stiffens as he looks down at me in confusion. “Are you saying you jumped out of the window to get to me? You should have waited for me to return.”
“But I tried!” I moan. “You didn’t come, no matter how loudly I banged. I know it was stupid but, I…I’m sorry, the drugs from the hospital…I am still not thinking clearly.”
Chapter 19
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Thinking of our lost child, of our lost love, I let my true feelings of sorrow and regret bleed through as I grasp Michael’s shirt.
“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done,” I lower my eyes contritely. He isn’t going to let me be unless I tell him exa wants to hear. “I should have trusted you with Evelyn…I…I know I caused harm with all with my jealousy, and I…I want to apologize to both you and Evelyn properly. Please…just…”
t he
Hearing what he thinks is a confession, my husband’s face softens as he presses my sore body into his chest. “Addison. It’s going to be okay,” he kisses my forehead, shushing me. “Just let Dr. Greene care for you, and all of this can be forgiven.”
While he tells me all about Dr. Greene’s expert work with mild cases of mania and depression, he takes another step toward the stairs leading up to the room.
“Um…Michael!” I squeak, panicked. “Can you set me down here? I don’t want to scare Jayson when he comes in. If he sees the bedroom….” I pause, feigning embarrassment as I explain that in my frustration and eagerness to be reunited with him, I made a mess of the room.
Michael frowns as footsteps sound in the kitchen. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Addy. You tried to jump.”
“That’s because I was desperate!” I explain. It isn’t even a lie. I was desperate to escape this madhouse. But I don’t tell Michael that as he stops to listen to me. “I can’t go anywhere now on this ankle,” I grimace, looking at my leg. “And I want to do better.” Michael’s face brightens as he slowly unclenches his jaw. “Do you?”
“I do,” I bat my eyes coquettishly and look away quickly. “I want to make this right between us. I wronged you all,” I rest my head against his chest, imagining him as he was when we first met, and I was certain of his love. “I love you, Michael. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, Addy,” My husband’s voice catches as he looks down at me, his eyes swirling with conflicting emotions—even though he’s hurt by my earlier request for a divorce, he wants to believe that I still want him. “Do you promise not to leave?”
“Of course,” I lie. “I need to make this
right.”
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