7. Chiara
Chiara
I lay in the bed, trying to rack my brain to see if I could remember anything even remotely close to a marriage and I was coming up empty.
The last man I remember being with was Troy, and we broke up years ago, so having a whole husband was off-putting.
Even though I had this beautiful ring on my finger, I was still drawing a blank.
Deciding to give my brain a rest because I felt a headache coming on.
I closed my eyes to relieve some of the pressure.
I didn’t want to have them come and give me anything unless I necessarily needed it.
A few minutes after closing my eyes, I heard the door come open.
When I opened my eyes, Gabriel was walking back into the room with a bouquet of yellow roses.
“These are for you, beautiful,” he mentioned as he walked closer to the bed and sat them on the stand that was beside the bed.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” he complimented, causing me to blush. “Does anything seem familiar about them?” he asked, and I shook my head ‘no’. Besides them being pretty, I didn’t remember anything significant about them.
“It’s okay, Snook. You’ll get it soon, baby.” He kept calling me Snook, so I assumed that was like a pet name he had for me.
“Does everyone call me Snook, or just you?” I asked.
“That name is just for me, baby. You’re my Snooka Baby. I just shorten it to Snook most times,” he revealed. I thought it was cute, but it still didn’t ring any bells.
“Has my family called back?” I asked.
“Nah, but I’m sure that they are on the way,” he revealed. “My brother and his wife will be here a little later, too.” I nodded.
“Uh, Gabriel. Do we have any kids?” I would hate to have kids and didn’t remember them.
“No, we don’t. It’s not for the lack of trying, though.” He smirked when he finished his last statement and my body started to tingle. Apparently, my body was very well acquainted with him. Before I could respond, the door came bursting open and my parents entered, followed by my sister.
“Oh my God, Chiara. Thank God you are okay,” my mother cried when she saw me.
“I’m fine, Ma,” I responded, shocking them. When she heard me refer to her as ‘Ma’, she jumped back and stared at me.
“I thought you said she lost her memory?” My sister quizzed.
“She did. Apparently, I’m the only one she doesn’t remember.
” Gabriel sounded so sad that I couldn’t remember him.
I was starting to feel bad because I knew this man wouldn’t be in here pretending to be my husband.
My family seemed to be familiar with him, too.
At his revelation, my parents looked back at me.
“Are you hurting anywhere, baby girl?” my father asked.
“I have a slight headache, but that’s all. I’m just thankful that I made it out of the accident.”
“Do you remember what happened?” my sister asked.
“No. All I remember was waking up here. I started to remember the accident, but not the details,” I revealed.
“So, you don’t remember where you were or where you were headed?” she asked again.
“No, I don’t. Do you know?” She sounded as if she had some information and if that was the case, I needed to know what it was.
“Uh, you were on the way out of town.” I saw her glance over at Gabriel before she began speaking again.
“Quita, let me talk to you for a minute.” He interrupted her. I looked at the both of them skeptically as they walked into the hallway, leaving just me and my parents inside of the room.
“Baby, did the doctor say how long you had to stay here?” my mother asked.
“No. They ran some tests earlier and told me he would be back later to go over the results with me. I hope it’s soon. I want to be able to get back to my life so I can start putting the pieces back together.”
“I agree. I also think that you need to come home with us until you get your memory back. You nee—,” she was cut off by Gabriel’s deep voice.
“Nah. She’s coming home with me where she belongs,” he stated.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” my father asked. I looked between the two men and could tell that they both were alpha males, but it was something about Gabriel that let me know he wasn’t about to let my father dictate things.
“I’m her husband, so yeah, I think it’s the perfect idea.” He looked at my father menacingly.
“She doesn’t even know you,” my father countered.
“More reason for her to come with me to our home, where things are familiar,” he stated.
“Look, Daddy. Gabe is her husband, and right now, he’s the best person who can help her. It’s not like we won’t be able to visit her,” my sister stated. I looked at her and Gabriel again and concluded that they were just close, and both had my best interest at heart.
“He’s the reason she’s here in the first place and you want me to be okay with her going home with him?”
“What do you mean, it’s his fault?” I looked at Gabriel. “Did you hit me?” I asked.
“No,” he rushed out quickly. “I was home when the hospital called. We live almost two hours away in New Grove,” he stated. I looked back at my father, and he still had a look of disdain on his face, but my head was starting to hurt from the testosterone match that was going on in here.
“Okay. I need a nap. This is too much, and my head is starting to hurt. Can y’all try to keep it down and be nice while I take a nap?” I asked sincerely.
“It’s whatever you want, Snook. I’ll be right here when you wake back up.” Gabriel leaned over and kissed my forehead as I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep. I needed to calm down and focus on getting my memory back, and them arguing back and forth wasn’t going to help it.