Forever: Chapter 8

Early in the morning, before the sunrise, Valerie stopped in front of her parents' house, and with deep sadness in her eyes, she looked at the house where she grew up, as she'll never see it again. From the taxi's window that was taking her to the airport, she was watching the streets and places she knew well. Valerie remembered: here in this exact place, Timothy helped her to get up when she fell off from her bicycle; on this corner he kissed her; in this garden he picked a bouquet of red roses for her, and he almost got caught; in this little shop every Saturday afternoon when they were kids, they were coming for ice cream... She couldn't remember a single memory without Timothy being a part of it.

Accidentally or not, from all the streets that led to the airport, the taxi driver chose the street where she had been living with Timothy for the past ten months. While the taxi was passing by her apartment, Tessa saw the tears in Valerie's eyes. She took her hand, and she whispered:

"Val, please do the right thing! Please, tell the driver to stop the car! Please tell Tim the truth! It's not too late! He deserves to know."

Valerie said nothing, and she let the car take them to the airport. She knew that she did the wrong thing, but she wasn't important. Valerie was ready to take all the pain in this world, just for Timothy to be happy. But she should know better. If she couldn't be happy without him, how could she expect that he would be happy without her?

Without saying goodbye to her friends and without calling Mrs. Wilson to tell her that she couldn't continue to work for her in the future, Valerie left Santa Monica with her family. Like everybody else, Mrs. Wilson would have a lot of unpleasant questions for her, and she would be forced to lie. Valerie hated lies, and she should have made a better story from the one she told Timothy, that she was in love with somebody else. Everybody knew that she and Timothy were something different. Their love was more than love; it was something so strong, as if they were connected with some invisible string, and nothing in this world could separate them.

Around noon, when Valerie was halfway to London, Timothy woke up with a horrible headache. Drinking wasn't his thing, and he promised himself he'll never touch alcohol again in his life. With his hand, Timothy reached the place next to him in the bed, and the place was empty. He wasn't used to waking up alone. His thoughts were not clear yet, but he remembered what happened last night.

Timothy didn't have time to waste on making coffee or having breakfast. He just took a quick shower, got dressed, and he left his home. He was still convinced that last night was nothing else but a huge misunderstanding. Maybe he said or did something wrong, and if he hurries to Valerie's parents' house, he will make things right.

"Early this morning, Natasha, Philip, and both girls left the house. A cab arrived for them, and they went somewhere. I don't think they will be back soon because they were taking a lot of bags with them."

As soon as she saw Timothy standing in front of the door at the Pattersons house, Mrs. Jackson came to him hoping that he would have the answers to all her questions. He was the right person, who came at the right moment to fulfil her curiosity. When Valerie and her family were leaving this morning, she was still in her nightgown, and she couldn't get out of the house dressed inappropriately enough to ask them where they were going.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jackson."

"Do you know where they have left?"

"No."

"Wait a minute, aren't you little Valerie's boyfriend?" she asked, confused.

"Yes, I am."

"Then how can you not know where they have left?" she asked, disappointed.

Timothy didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure that he was still Valerie's boyfriend. Slowly, without answering Mrs. Jackson's questions, he left the front yard of the Pattersons house, with the bouquet of red roses in his hand that he bought for Valerie on the way here. In his head, he had millions of questions, but no answers. What if Valerie had last night told him the truth? What if she went to London to be with some guy? Then why did her family go with her? What if Valerie was in love with another guy? That it wasn't impossible. She is a very beautiful and intelligent young woman. A lot of men would agree with that.

Every time he needed some advice, Timothy went to his mother for help. His mother always knew best how to help him, but this time, after he told her what happened the previous day, she just gently embraced him, and she said nothing. She didn't know what advice she could give him this time. For her, it was hard to believe that Valerie left her son. Last Sunday, when they all had dinner together, she could see how Valerie was looking at her son, how much she loved him, but she couldn't explain to herself what could have happened to make Valerie change her feelings so suddenly.

While Timothy was still there, Mathew called his wife to inform her that their son, third day in a rope, didn't show up at work on time. He was that angry that he was seriously considering the option to fire him, but he couldn't do it without his wife's permission.

Twenty-two years ago, he started the business with the money her father gave him, and Ellen was an equal partner in the furniture store, which meant he couldn't do anything without her consent. Ellen trusted him unconditionally. She never interfered in his work, and she did the right thing when she let him run the business on his own. He built something from nothing. But she would never let him fire Timothy from work.

Ellen took the phone, and she went outside into the garden. In a few sentences, she explained to her husband the reason why Timothy had been late to work in the past few days. She told him about the money she gave him to buy an engagement ring for Valerie; she told him about the proposal, and she told him how Valerie dumped their son in the cruelest possible way.

Mathew was speechless. Of course, he was feeling horrible for his son, but he was broken because Timothy kept all this as a secret from him. He wished that his son had come to him to ask him for money. He would be glad to give it to him, and he wished for once that his son had come to him to ask for advice instead of always going to his mother. Was he that horrible as a parent that his son didn't trust him? He had a bitter feeling that he failed him as a father. Never in his life, they had a conversation like every other normal father and son, they never went fishing, and he couldn't remember that they ever did anything together.

"Was that dad on the phone?" Timothy asked his mother when she returned to him in the living room.

"Yes."

"It will be better for me to go to work. I'm late again. Dad will be so mad at me."

"No, he won't be mad at you, Tim! He is your father. No matter what you do, he is always on your side, but he doesn't know how to show you that. Hey, do you know what? Why don't you take a day off?"

"Mum, if I don't go to work, I'll lose my job."

"No, you won't, and if I'm saying that you can have a day off, that means you have a day off. Tim, I have a great idea! Do you remember what we were doing when you were a little boy and you were too sick to go to school? We were making hot chocolate and cheesecake, and you were miraculously getting better. What do you say? Do you want to do the same now?"

This also reminded him that when he was sick and couldn't go to school, Valerie was the first person who came to visit him. Straight from school, after the classes, she was coming to his house. She was sitting on his bed, and she was telling him all the details about what happened that day at school. For the rest of the day, they watched television, or she read him a book, and she stayed with him until her father came to take her home because it was time to sleep. He was sure that Valerie's company was making him feel better, not his mother's hot chocolate and cheesecake, but he didn't say that because he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

 

"No, thanks, mum! Today I'm not sick. Today, hot chocolate and a cheesecake won't help me. I should go to work. I want to keep myself busy, or I'll go crazy."

For the Pattersons, the flight from Los Angeles to London seemed much longer than usual. When they arrived at Heathrow Airport, Natasha's brother Edward and his wife Stella were already waiting for them. They haven't seen each other since last Christmas, but today everything was different. Today, they skipped the kisses and warm hugs, like every other time. Today, nobody could be happy because the reason for this family reunion was Valerie's disease.

"You'll be fine, Valerie. A friend of mine at the office has a wife, a doctor, and she helped us to find you an excellent specialist for you. He is one of the best oncologists in London. He'll see you on Monday at 10.00 AM," Edward said.

"Thank you for everything you're doing for us," Philip said sincerely.

"We are family. We should stay together in these difficult times," Stella said.

"And thank you for giving us a place to stay," Natasha added.

"Our home is your home. You're always welcome. Since Rebecca and Justin have left home, our house is too big for us. Valerie won't be missing anything and I promise you when you won't be here, I'll take care of her, as she is my own daughter," Stella said.

"Let's go home. Valerie, you must be tired from the trip," Edward said.

Their relatives were happy because they could invite them to their home, and somehow help them in this difficult situation. In the beginning, the Pattersons thought about renting a house for them in London, but their relatives wouldn't let them. They insisted on having them in their home. Stella and Edward were living in a huge house that he, as an architect, had designed for himself and his family, and there were plenty of empty rooms. In their home, Valerie will have the peace she needs, and Stella will be with her all the time. Stella worked as a high school teacher before marrying, and after her children grew up, she filled her time by volunteering for charities.

"I didn't have enough time in the past two days since you called me to arrange everything. Valerie, I've put you in Rebecca's old room. You know, that is the most beautiful room in the entire house, and you can decorate it as you wish," Stella said when they arrived at their home.

"Thank you, aunt Stella."

"Natasha, Philip, you will be in the guest room. Tessa, I gave you Justin's room, but if you don't like it, you can be in the second guest room, which is smaller. I've saved it for Timothy when he will arrive," Stella said.

"He won't come," Valerie said.

"What do you mean he won't come?" Stella asked, surprised.

"We are no longer together," Valerie explained to her.

"But I talked to him this week on the phone," Stella said.

"We broke up yesterday," Valerie said.

"Bastard! Did he leave you when you told him that you are sick? Son of a bitch! He looked like a dissent chap!" Edward said, angrily.

"No, he doesn't know that I have cancer. I came to England because I didn't want him to find out," Valerie said.

Stella and Edward stayed shocked. Natasha looked at them, and they understood that it would be better to change the subject and keep their questions to themselves.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the hope wasn't leaving Timothy. A small piece of him was still hoping that he will find Valerie at home when he returns from work. He was tired of listening to the ringing tone on his phone all day, but he left his phone turned on, just in case if Valerie calls. Everybody called him today, everybody but her. His friends, her friends, everyone was curious and wanted to hear from him what truly happened between them. He shouldn't have said anything to Patrick and Derek last night. Now half of Santa Monica knows that Valerie left him.

 

Every little corner, every part of the apartment, reminded him of Valerie. Even the smallest things were related to her. If she doesn't come back soon, he must move out of this place. This was their apartment, and he couldn't stand to be in it without her. He decided to sleep on the couch in the living room because he couldn't sleep in their bed alone. But when he came into the bedroom to get a pillow and a blanket, he noticed that his picture on Valerie's nightstand was missing.

It was Valerie's favourite picture of him. She took it the night they were celebrating the publication of his first short story in a respected New York's magazine for literature. In that picture, he was wearing a black suit and a black shirt without a tie, and she was always teasing him that in that picture he had an enigmatic smile, like Mona Lisa.

Timothy never had the habit of going through Valerie's things, but he needed to know if there was something else missing. When he opened her closet, it was empty. The empty closet didn't leave him much hope that Valerie would come back. Her clothes and shoes were not in their place. Fast, he went to her working room, and he got confused because her entire equipment was there. All that was missing from her working room were his pictures.

If she was really in love with somebody else, and she went into a new life with him, then why would she need his pictures? Maybe she burned them or threw them in the garbage. And maybe last night, she told him the truth. That man came for her, and without too much thinking, she went with him, because she was sure about her decision a long time ago. That is why she left her camera and her equipment in their apartment. She was rushing to go with that man, and she had no time to pack all her things.

Timothy couldn't sit still. He had to be sure that this mystery man existed. He packed the unnecessary things in one small suitcase, and he left the apartment. On the way to the airport, Timothy called his mother to let her know that he was on his way to London, and he asked her to go to his place immediately to check some things. He remembered that he wanted to make himself spaghetti for dinner, but at the last minute, he changed his mind. He lost his appetite when he saw that Valerie's things were not there, where they were supposed to be. In all that rush, he was afraid that he might leave the stove turned on.

Every time he travelled by plane, he spent the entire flight sleeping. But not this time. This time, he had to make a plan of where to start looking for Valerie. Timothy knew all the places where Valerie could be, and he knew all her relatives and the small number of friends she had in London. But what if she is not there? What if she told him that she'd go to London, just to mislead him, because she didn't want to be found?