The Object of His Obsession (The Alexanders Book 4) (14 page)

“Dilvan, I love you, son. I
need you to pull through this. We can work through everything else.
I just need you to fight, son.”

When Colin felt Dilvan
squeeze his hand, that was all the assurance he needed that Dilvan
had heard him and that he was going to make it through this ordeal.
He had to for the sake of their family.

Chapter 26

Tyson sat in the
cafeteria, too upset to drink the bottle of Dasani he’d purchased.
He just stared blankly, not even aware of his surroundings. He
hadn’t even seen Padma walk in.

Padma saw him, sitting
there, so after getting a cup of coffee, she walked over to his
table, pulled out the chair across from him and sat
down.

“Tyson.”

It wasn’t until she said
his name that he looked at her. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry about
everything.”

“No need to apologize,
Padma,” he said, screwing off the top of his water bottle and
taking a sip. “You have other things to worry about.”

“I know, but I feel that I
need to apologize to you. You have done a lot for me and for the
Food House and I’m sincerely sorry. Had I told you about what
happened when Lalita first told me about it—”

“When did she tell you
about it?”

“A few days before the baby
shower. She was in tears, you know, because she’d been holding it
in for so long.”

Tyson took a sip of
water.

“I just didn’t think Dilvan
would do something like that to Gabrielle.”

Tyson frowned. “How could
you not when he has a history of abusing her, Padma. She had to
endure his torture for months before you stepped in.
Remember?”

“You’re right. I
just—”

“You don’t remember how bad
Dilvan treated her, because I remember having to scoop her up off
of the floor after he pushed her there. I can’t get that image out
of my head. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get that image out of
my head.”

Padma shook her head
silently. She was in a tough position, because she loved Gabrielle
dearly, but her son was suffering, and she loved him deeply.
“Tyson, I know Dilvan has committed a lot of wrongs, even against
himself, but if he pulls through this, I will do everything in my
power to make things right again.”

Tyson remained quiet. He
had nothing to say about Dilvan to Padma. Her son was already
suffering.

“I hope Gabrielle is okay,”
he heard her say, interrupting his thoughts.

“She’s alright. She’s
resting. The baby is healthy.”

Padma smiled. “I stopped
by there briefly. Your son is a handsome little fellow
already.”

Tyson smirked. “He gets it
from his father.”

“I see a little bit of
Gabrielle in him, too.”

Tyson smiled. “Yeah. I see
it too.”

“How are you guys
doing?”

“Well, Gabrielle won’t talk
to me, and it’s my fault for accusing her of something she didn’t
do. I can’t believe how crazy I was.”

“Everybody makes mistakes,
Tyson.”

Tyson nodded. “I know, but
I made a huge mistake. I can’t believe I just blanked like
that.”

“I don’t think any of us
really realize the scope of everything that has occurred within the
last few days. Give Gabrielle some time. She’ll come
around.”

Tyson wasn’t confident
that she would this time. Still, he gave Padma a half-smile and
said, “I hope so.”

Chapter 27

Two Months
Later

Gabrielle didn’t want to
go home with Tyson, but she did because, quite frankly, she was
tired of being a coward and running away from a situation when
things got rough. Running away was easy. Staying when times were
tough, that was the true test of a marriage – of any relationship.
No more running. Besides, their home wasn’t large, but it was big
enough for her to keep her distance from Tyson.

Per her request, Tyson set
up T.J,’s crib in the guest bedroom since that’s where Gabrielle
wanted to sleep. Coincidentally enough, it was the same room where
she’d slept when he’d rescued her from his crazy cousin. Now she
was back there, not because she was seeking shelter from an
obsessed psychopath, but because she was needing distance away from
the man who was supposed to love her and protect her. Who was
supposed to
believe
her.

She’d been sleeping there
for two months, and had no intentions on moving back where she
belonged – in the master bedroom with her husband. She just wanted
to be left alone, which is why she was seriously considering
leasing an apartment. It wouldn’t be running away. It would be
moving on.

A few taps on the door
broke her trance with T.J. She’d been up, admiring her baby boy
after breastfeeding him.

“Yes?”

“May I come in?” Tyson
asked. His voice sounded calm, a lot calmer than she remembered him
that day he nearly lost his common sense.

“Yeah. Sure.” She watched
her husband walk in the room shirtless, showing a perfect body,
wearing her favorite pair of black boxers. He was carrying a tray
of food. He had cooked breakfast, as he normally did, and brought
it up to the bedroom for her. This was the Tyson she was accustomed
to – not the rowdy, irrational, gun-toting Tyson.

“I made breakfast for you,”
he said, clearing a space on the nightstand for the
tray.

“Thanks.”

“Uh...Padma wanted to know
if we would be able to make it tonight,” he said. Padma had been
trying to get the family together since Dilvan’s suicide attempt.
Suddenly, she felt a need for family togetherness amidst all that
had happened.

“I told her I would bring
the baby, so yes.”

He stood there, just
staring at her and his son together. T.J. slept a lot during the
day, he noticed, and he looked content with his little head against
her shoulder.

“Gabrielle, you’ve been
sleeping in this room for two months now.”

“Yeah, this is where I told
you I would be sleeping until you make up your mind if you want
this marriage to work, Tyson.”

“Of course I want this
marriage to work,” he said, raising his voice.

“Please keep it down. T.J.
didn’t sleep much last night and—”

“I told you to let me know
when he’s not sleeping well so I can give you a break. I told you
that.”

Gabrielle sighed. Why was
this turning into an argument? She stood up, slowly walked to the
crib and laid the baby there. Then she looked at Tyson and said, “I
don’t want to wake him, so let’s talk downstairs,
please.”

Tyson took the food tray
from the nightstand and headed back for the kitchen.

Gabrielle trailed him,
taking in his scent. Gosh he smelled good. He must’ve just taken a
shower after his 4:00 a.m. run.

Tyson set the tray on the
dining room table.

Gabrielle took the chair
closest to where he’d positioned the tray, then looked over the
food. He’d made egg, cheese, ham and spinach breakfast pastries
with a side of fruit – mangoes and strawberries.

Since he’d already eaten,
he sat across from her with just a cup of coffee and figured he’d
start over. “Good morning.”

“Mornin’,” she said
flippantly.

“I don’t remember the last
time I said that to you...don’t remember the last time we sat at
this table to have a meal together,” Tyson said.

“Me either.” Gabrielle took
a bite from the pastry.

“I hate to keep bringing
this up, but we’ve never had an open, honest, in-depth conversation
about what happened.”

“What is there left to
say?” Gabrielle asked him after she’d just stuffed her mouth with a
strawberry.

Tyson frowned. He didn’t
like her blasé attitude concerning their marriage problems. He
seemed to be the only one who wanted to work things out. “There’s
plenty to say, Gabrielle, but only if you don’t get up and walk
away this time.”

Get up and walk
away...

What else was she supposed
to do? She definitely had nothing nice to say, so she chose to say
nothing. Every time he tried to have the conversation with her
about “what happened” she said nothing. Besides, forcing her to
talk about it would bring all those thoughts to the forefront of
her mind. She could only imagine what Dilvan did to her when she
was knocked out on the bed in a hotel. And to add insult to injury,
Tyson didn’t believe her when she told him she didn’t have an
affair with Dilvan. She begged and pleaded for him to listen, but
her cries went unheard. Once Tyson was to the point of no return,
there was no rationalizing with him. None, whatsoever.

Deciding to hear what he
had to say this time, she said, “Okay, I’m sitting here. I’m not
going anywhere. Talk.”

Tyson watched her take a
swig of orange juice and said, “I hurt you, Gabrielle. I know that
and I’m sorry. Instead of accepting that, you’re intent on holding
this grudge when you know I love you.”

“It’s not a grudge...that’s
what you don’t understand. And where was the love when you were
basically calling me a liar to my face?” she said, tear droplets
falling from her eyes. “Tyson, you are the most loving,
understanding, patient man I know. But when you get upset, all of
that goes out the window. When you’re mad, it’s like you don’t love
me—”

“Not true.”

“I’m telling you what I
feel. You wanted to talk, right? Please let me finish.”

With a clenched jaw, Tyson
said, “Okay. Finish.”

“When you’re mad, it’s like
you become a different person altogether. I don’t know who you are
when you’re that angry.” She dabbed her eyes and said, “I was eight
months pregnant, feeling faint of heart at the way you yelled at me
and accused me of doing something I knew I didn’t do.”

“It was from a reliable
source so—”

“So my word mean nothing to
you? The fact that I
told
you I didn’t do it didn’t hold any weight with
you?”

“It’s—”

“You accused me of cheating
on you, Tyson,” she said, staring him in the eyes. “Why on earth do
you think I would ever do that to you?”

“Gabrielle—”

“And while you’re storming
through the house on a rampage telling me what I did and I knew I
didn’t do anything, I’m looking at you like you’re a stranger.
Actually, you were a stranger. I didn’t know you at the point. And
I was so caught off guard by the fact that you think I would
actually cheat on you. You are the most perfect man on the planet
for me and you think I could actually cheat on you? Who could be
better than you for me? Who could ever love me like you love me,
Tyson? That’s what I was thinking. Then you stormed out of the
house like Hurricane Hugo and came back only to grab a gun. A gun,
Tyson?”

“Yes, I took the
gun.”

“I didn’t even know you had
a gun in the house. I didn’t know you owned a gun.”

“I have it for protection,
and you’re right, Gabrielle. I wasn’t myself and I wasn’t thinking
rationally.”

“How’s that behavior going
to work around our child? He does something you don’t like, you’re
going to fly off the handle—”

“Don’t be ridiculous,
Gabrielle. I would never harm you or our son.”

Gabrielle shook her
head.

“Why are you shaking your
head? You think I would, because I’ve never done anything to hurt
you. Not once have I ever laid a finger on you for the purpose of
causing you harm. I just can’t handle being lied to.”

“I didn’t lie to
you!”

“Let me finish, Gabrielle.
Jeez. I’ve been in what was supposed to be a committed relationship
before and the woman lied to me. I thought she was down for me, but
then found out she was busy being down for everybody else. And when
I first heard what happened with you, I thought—”

“You thought I went to
Chicago and had an affair with Dilvan and it was all too familiar
because your ex-fiancée, Desiree, had an affair with your best
friend in Chicago. Right?”

Tyson leaned back in his
chair. Gabrielle was right. The circumstances were all too
familiar. When he first heard about Gabrielle and Dilvan, his mind
instantly went to Desiree and Dennis. He feared that the betrayal
was happening all over again. “That night I
stormed
out of the house, so you say,
I asked you if you were alone with Dilvan at any point while you
guys were in Chicago. You said yes.”

“That’s because I was alone
with him. I was telling you the truth.”

“And why were you alone
with him?”

“It wasn’t intentional and
it was no fault of mine. I went down to the pool and he must’ve
followed me down there. I was the only one in the pool and then he
showed up.”

“And then what?”

“He was talking a bunch of
nonsense—”

“What kind of
nonsense?”