To Love Marie

Chapter 24

Marie was still laying in bed when she felt her stomach drop. It was like the numbness she was feeling had gone away. Something was wrong... really wrong. She had been sitting here thinking about herself and how she would move on. She was ready to move now, ready to move on.

She was ready to face the issue that was the root of all this pain.

It was her father. Even though she thought she had left him in that broken home time had repeated its self slowly. He was her first heartbreak.

It was herself. How could she let this pain dictate the words she has trouble saying to the two men in her life? She loved them she really did but she was so tedious and so careful. It seemed like her pass lovers would hurt her after she said that.

Yet, right now she felt that the thing that was wrong wasn't with her. It was out there with them. She heard the locks fumble on the door it was Truman. He unlocked it with the keys he had to them. She turned over to look at him and he looked sadden. She had gotten so used to his light smile that it made her scowl. Then when he looked at her and saw that she had finally changed expressions he smiled in shock.

"Marie," Truman said. "You are different today."

"You do too," Marie said with a concerned smile."What's going on Truman?"

"Would you like to eat anything? I can have Tonya cook up your favorite. Pancakes with hot butter and syrup." Truman said smiling at her.

"I do have an appetite," Marie said rubbing her stomach. The only steps she would take during the days of her being in the room were to the bathroom to shower and do her daily hygiene but today she would step out the room. "but I feel something is very wrong. Especially if it's affecting you."

"This is for you," Truman said handing her a thick envelope it was Tanner's handwriting addressed to her. "Read it only when you are ready," Truman said.

"How is he doing?" Marie asked him. She saw his smile go away it made her eyes widened. "How is Randall?"

"He's doing just fine, he's patiently on standby waiting for you," Truman said.

"And Tanner?" Marie asked once again. And once again Truman looked away from her. "Truman."

Nothing, not a word.

She looked at the envelope in her hands and ripped it open to find seven pages—including front and back—addressed to her from Tanner. It was purely handwritten in her favorite color purple. She looked at the tear marks that lived on the page.

She looked back at Truman.

"I told him to stop starting over," Truman said finally. "He kept crying on the pages when he wrote and he would throw them away."

"Truman," Marie started to ask slowly. "How is he mentally doing?"

"Marie," Truman said. "It's almost like he's decaying, I don't even know what to say anymore."

This is bad. This is really bad. Marie wasted no time reading the letter. In summary it was a letter about how much he hated himself for what he said to her, how he hated himself, how he didn't deserve her at all, how he was ungrateful of her presence, how he was toxic, how he was an idiot, how Randall was better for her, how she was the woman that he loved and adored, how she did treat him like a king and a human, how he was nothing and always will be, and finally, he gave her the option to leave him and continue on with Randall.

'I love you, and I want you to be happy and if I'm being toxic to you then leave me. What is the point of having all the money in the world but not having the woman that I love by my side? Simple as that. They said if you love them let them go. I'm giving you that option the fate of our relationship rests in your hands. I know you are probably asking what would I do if you leave me. I'll continue existing but there is no lady after you. There is no woman that can even come close to you. I blame myself and myself only. And if we do part and somehow come back together I'll be forever grateful.'