Step-Secrets

Chapter 10 - Cardiac Redemption

Tiffany POV-

*smack* "What the hell, mom!?" I cry out in anguish to my mother. She just slapped me across the face. We're in the waiting room at the hospital where Josh is. He's being examined by the doctors.

"You deserve more, young lady!" retorts Regina, my mother.

"I just told you, mom," I say, "I finally confessed my true feelings to Josh. We were talking about what to do about it and then he collapsed and I called 911. I called our parents and even rode in the ambulance with them.

"And we're very thankful for that, Tiffany," chimes in Fred, Josh's dad and my step-dad, "I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there with him."

"Fred, you're being too nice to her," my mom says, "if it wasn't for her selfishness, Josh wouldn't be in there, right now!" I'm so confused.

"You keep saying that, mom," I plea, "but I still don't know what's going on. What caused him to collapse. And don't say me. What's the medical cause."

There's an awkward silence for a few seconds and then Fred and my mom give each other a look.

"She still doesn't know, Regina," Fred says calmly, "Josh made me promise to never tell anyone especially Tiffany. You obviously know because you're my wife and step-mother Regina, why didn't you tell her?"

"I thought she knew already from Josh," my mom says, "but I'm clearly out of the loop on this."

"What are you two talking about?" I ask.

I've already begun to get teary eyed because of this situation. Fred looks at me, looking serious

"Tiffany, do you remember Josh's mother, Lisa, my late wife?" He asks me. I weakly nod. "I know it was a long time ago so you may not remember but she passed away from a rare heart condition." He pauses for a second, he gets emotional, which makes me more emotional, "it's a hereditary disease."

"So, it was passed on to Josh?" I ask shaking

"Yes." Fred says definitively. No!

"Why didn't he want me to know?" I ask

"Because of all the times you rejected his love letters," Fred answers, "he didn't want to burden you with this. But, that was before your mother and I got married and the two of you began to live under the same roof."

The letters. Now, I'm remembering what that idiot Dirk told me. He said he read Josh's final love letter at the start of freshman year and that was going to be the last one. That's definitely when I started to get annoyed with him without even realizing it.

His letters was the one thing that kept me connected to him, even though he didn't know. The letters were the one that made me feel loved. Without actually reading the last one, I was certainly expecting him to write me more and when he didn't, that's what hurt me.

I'm well aware of how selfish I sound. I let peer pressure and the fact that could never be honest with myself let alone Josh get in the way of me realizing that everything that I always wanted in a boy has been right in front of me this entire time. And then, of course, I saw his eyes and the rest is history.

The Veronica thing kind of just fell into my lap and I used that to further run away from the truth. And Tyler? I think I still may like him but it's nothing like how I feel about Josh. I know it's selfish. I deserved that slap from my mother just now.

Just now, I see Cliff, Jennifer, Gina and Cliff's sister Mary come into the waiting room, looking worried. This is the perfect time to apologize to them and try to make things right with them.