Page 11 of Ma Belle Marguerite
I feel Josh’s hand on my shoulder.
“Boss, you okay? You’re not looking so hot.” The concern in his voice matches the look in his eyes.
“Yeah, just give me some time. It’s hard to think with all this pounding in my head.” I take a moment to let the feeling subside. “Find out where she lives and whatever else you can drag up.” I want to just run out there and see for myself if it really is her, but I don’t think my body or emotions could handle that at the moment.
“D is already on it, boss. He said he’d have a file ready when I meet him for the shipment later.” Returning to the corner hesays, “Then I will look for whatever he missed once we get you out of here.”
I would be lost without him. He’s always on top of things, a vital part of my organization.
After looking at his phone for a few minutes, Josh gets up and says, “I’ll see when your room will be ready. The doctor said you can sleep. If you feel like you’ll be sick, use the bowl the nurse put beside you. They gave you anti-nausea and pain meds that may knock you out.”
“Okay, thank you.” I can feel myself nodding off, even though a million thoughts run through my mind.Where has she been? Is she actually married? Do they have kids? Does she want to come and see me? She’s just on the other side of this room; is she avoiding me?
The next time I open my eyes, I’m in a new room that is far quieter than the emergency department. My head is throbbing less now, too. As I look around for my phone, I see they set up a cot for Josh in the corner, and he is fast asleep.
It looks like this is usually a room for at least two people, but they made it a private room for me. There is a drawn back curtain in the middle of the room beside me and what looks like a set up for more monitors on the other half of the wall just past that. Sometimes, our family's name pays off.
I finally find my phone charging on the table by the other side of my bed. I decide to Google Isabella and see what I can find with her new last name. I’m too impatient to wait on Darryl.I should have done this sooner. Fuck my father and this damn life. Why did I ever listen to him?
An obituary for Adrien Moreau comes up. I open it and try to read it, but looking at my phone's screen hurts my eyes. I force myself to read far enough to see that Adrien was, in fact, Bella’s husband, and they had children together.
She moved on without me. Did she cheat on me with him? What made him so much better than me? What did he give her that I couldn’t? She is mine! How could she let someone else touch her?
I toss my phone to the side. I can’t look at his face anymore. I would have given her the world. I just needed a little more time. I know she said she didn’t want me to follow her, and it was an easy excuse to listen to my father, but fuck, I’m an idiot.
D barges through the door, and it hits Josh’s cot in the corner.
“What the hell? I just fell asleep,” Josh grumbles. “Is it time to go for the shipment?”
“Soon, I just wanted to bring this file to the boss before we left,” D answers while placing a manilla folder down on the table beside the bed. “I don’t have much information yet, but my guys are on it until Josh can take over.” He looks at me hesitantly like he is afraid I’m going to snap.
Looking at Josh, I ask, “Has it already been a full day in here?” I feel so lost.
Josh nods his head sleepily while he stretches out. “It has. You slept a lot, which is good.”
“Is there anything I need to see now?” I ask him. I’m not sure if my eyes could focus right now if I wanted them to.
D clears his throat. “Well, so far, we found an obituary for her now-dead husband.” He pauses and seems to be gauging my reaction.
Trying to get him to hurry up, I tell him, “I saw that much on my phone before you came into the room.”
“Okay, well, we also found that they have twelve-year-old twins. A boy, Remi, and a girl, Brielle.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “She moved back here about a week ago. She’s living in a house her father bought from auction not long ago that is just a few minutes from here. That’s all we have for now.”
“Shit! D, it’s already eight. We gotta go if we’re going to get to the meet-up before everyone else,” Josh butts in as he jumps up off the cot in a rush.
Looking back at Josh, Darryl says, “Right, let’s scope the place out.” He turns to me, “Need anything before we go, boss?”
“No, I think I’m going to sleep. Can you tell the nurses not to let anyone that isn’t you two in, please?” I’m not in the mood for visitors. I just want this pounding in my head to go away, since they won’t let me leave. “Oh and turn off the lights on your way out.”
“Got it, Boss. Get some rest. We’ll come back once we are done delivering the shipments.” D says as he walks out the door behind Josh.
I carefully move to try and find a comfortable position as I open the file to see what appears to be a recent photo of Bella, Adrien, and two children. It’s hard to see with just this small, dim table lamp on, but it is easier on my head. I keep looking until I find a photo of just Bella, and I fall asleep looking at her beautiful face.
Chapter 5
Isabella
Ihaven’t been able to get Rex off my mind all day. Seeing him brought up so many mixed emotions. I wish I knew why he never even bothered to call or mail me a letter saying he didn’t want to be with me anymore. He knew how much I loved old-school handwritten love letters. Anything would have been better than ghosting me like he did thirteen years ago. Add to that the fact that he sent all the letters I sent him back to me unopened. I need some answers.
