Page 30 of Falling for the Enemy

“Because he's the boyfriend that you brought from Ohio, remember? He has been by your side for the last three months, never missed a day,” Mom said, like I should know exactly what she was talking about.

I just looked at her blankly. Several points of the conversation didn't make sense. I didn't know who Frank was and I had to ask mom what in the world I was doing in Ohio. Also, three months? How much of my life was I missing now?

“You don't remember moving to Ohio?”

I think I would remember that. “Why would I do that?” I had to know because right now, it didn’t make any sense.

“Because she gave you her house, Amber!” my mother said exasperated. It felt like something I should know and maybe I did know it at one time but it felt like a surprise to me. The idea that I had a boyfriend or that I moved to Ohio. I also was told how I didn't have my job anymore either. It was like the last six months or so were completely gone from my memory. That was nerve-wracking, but nothing was worse than knowing that this boyfriend who I didn't remember was going to be there soon and had been waiting for me to wake up for the last three months. Why in the world wouldn’t I remember him? He seemed like someone that a girl would remember, doting and such. I still hadn't moved around much and when I started to get up, it was a lot more difficult than I realized. My stomach felt bloated, and I asked mom about it.

She looked quite nervous all of a sudden and said that we should wait until Frank got there. I didn't know why. Frank was like a stranger to me, and I told her that it was time that I learned what had happened. My body felt off and I wasn't quite sure why. It also felt like people were hiding things from me, which was super annoying. I wasn't a child after all. I could handle whatever it was. I was alive after all of that, how bad could the news be?

“I'm not waiting for Frank to get here,” I told her. “Just tell me what is going on. Enough of this weird attitude you’ve got going on. Everybody has been acting strange since I woke up. I feel like maybe you didn't want me to.”

Mom wailed and told me to take it back. I did, I didn't really mean it. I was trying to get an emotional response, so that I could have an answer. Whatever it was that was going on, I wasn't going to be able to wait for some random guy that I didn't even know to get there.

“Now, honey, just know that everything is going to be fine. We are going to figure this all out.”

My mom wasn't the assuring type of person. She was the type of person who would pull out any bad thing that could happen and put it front and center. She was a pessimist through and through, most likely where I got it from, and for her to say that it was going to be okay was probably the one sign that I had that it wouldn't be. To be honest, hearing her say it brought chills down my spine. I didn't know why it did. Mom trying to make me feel better made me wonder if things were ever going to be the same again.

I got frustrated with the buildup and I finally just asked her what people were keeping from me. I had a right to know.

Just because I had a right to know didn't mean that I needed to know it. That was something I didn't understand when I first forced her hand, making her tell me. I didn't know that they were trying to help me. They weren't trying to treat me bad; they were helping my brain not to explode. It sounded dramatic, but when mom told me what was really going on, it felt like it just might possibly happen. I'd never been so overwhelmed in all of my life.

“What?! Pregnant?”

“Yeah, you weren't far along when you fell and they didn't figure it out for a couple of days after you first came in. But you are pregnant, Amber. Everything’s fine there.”

I scoffed and looked down at my stomach, touching it, trying to prove to my mom that she had to be wrong. There was no way I was pregnant. “Robert is going to be so happy. I can't wait to tell him, or I guess he already knows, doesn't he?”

Mom shook her head sadly. “Honey, you’re really not getting this, are you?”

I wasn't sure what she was talking about. She’d just told me that my grandmother was dead. I didn't remember that at all. Then, she told me that I was divorced. I had to poke at that idea. There was no way I was going to get a divorce. I’d worked hard on my marriage, wanted to make it better for the two of us. Robert and I were meant to be.

I said as much to mom and the answer I got was not from her, but from a tall and rather handsome man who just walked in. I felt for a minute that I should know him, but I couldn't place him.

“Robert was an idiot and a coward. You’re better off without him.”

I couldn't believe that somebody would say such a thing in front of me. “How dare you say that! Do you even know my husband?”

“Yeah, we had a fist-fight when he found you in my bed.” The man was walking closer, his swagger and demeanor made it clear that we were intimate. I didn’t even need his words to know that. I didn’t remember him, but my body did.

I didn't remember them fighting at all, but the mere mention of it in front of my mom made me feel embarrassed. She gasped, but she wasn’t as surprised as I thought she would be. Why did she act like she knew him?

“The baby you're carrying is not Robert’s. It's mine.”

I scoffed, again trying to figure out who this guy was who was saying all kinds of crazy things. “I think I would know if I had relations with someone like you.”

He grinned at me with a look that was almost endearing, if it wasn’t predatory as well, because he was just a big hulk of a man.

“Trust me, you have, and you will again.”

Frank turned to my mother and asked her what was going on.

Mom looked at me and then walked over to the door so that she could talk to him in private. I wanted to hear what was being said.

She turned around and said that it was good that my stubbornness was still intact. The way she said it and the way she was looking at me, did not feel like she felt that way at all. Mom had always hated my stubborn streak, blamed it on my dad, but I knew it's true source.

“Fine, Amber, I was just going to tell Frank that you don't remember him. You don't remember your grandmother, you don't remember the house, you don't remember Ohio. Basically, you don't remember the last few months of your life before you got in the accident. I was also going to tell him that you just found out that you were pregnant with a man you don't even know, so you’re probably going to need some time. Do I have it right?”

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