The chime above the shop door sounded again and Amelia froze in fear. She didn’t know if Simone had come back, or worse still, if she had sent one of her minions to finish the job they had started in Hartford. She held her breath, afraid to give her whereabouts away. She had never been more terrified in her entire life.
“AMELIA!” Jeremy’s voice echoed throughout the store. Amelia could feel the relief wash over her. She blew out the breath that she was holding as she quickly climbed up to her feet and looked at him standing there.
Even though she hadn’t spoken to Jeremy since the day they had argued on the street, she was never happier to see him than she was in that moment. She hurried to Jeremy and wrapped her arms around him and began to sob harder, with a mixture of both terror and relief. He didn’t hesitate, he wrapped her in his arms and held her close, and let his friend cry until there were no more tears left.
“I’m sorry,” she said when she finally pulled back from Jeremy and wiped her face. “It’s just been a hard few days, and there’s this woman. The one Mason thinks is behind our accident. She was just here and she was so horrible…”
“That woman was here?” Jeremy asked and Amelia could hear the concern in his voice. She knew he knew about the accident. He had called the house the day after it happened to see if she was okay. Shannon had pushed her to talk to him, but she refused. “I am calling the police.”
“No, it’s okay,” Amelia replied as she walked back towards the counter. “I am just going to call Mason. He will contact Andrew, and he will know what to do.”
“No you can’t,” Jeremy said as Amelia picked her phone up from the floor. “I’m sorry Amelia, I thought you knew.”
“I knew what?” Amelia said looking at Jeremy strangely before she pulled up Mason’s number on her phone. She hit call and waited for him to answer.
“It was on the TV in the coffee shop,” Jeremy said and Amelia knew he was searching for the right words. “I…I came straight here the minute I saw it. I’m so sorry Amelia.”
“He’s not answering,” Amelia said, only half listening to Jeremy. She hit call again. “What did you see on the TV?”
“It was about Mason,” Jeremy said, then hesitated.
“I got his machine again,” she said, still not taking in what her friend was saying. Instead she left Mason a voice mail. “Hi, it’s me. I need you to call me the minute you get this. Simone was here, don’t worry, I am okay but Mason…I am scared. Call me.”
“AMELIA!” Jeremy shouted suddenly and finally he had her full attention. “He isn’t going to answer the phone.”
“Why not?” She asked, but once again her voice cracked with unshed tears.
Before Jeremy could reply, the door of the store opened again and this time Andrew came rushing inside.
“Amelia,” Andrew said as he hurried towards her, paying no attention to Jeremy.
“Andrew, what’s happened?” Amelia asked as a sudden sickening knot formed in the pit of her stomach. She looked from Andrew to Jeremy, then back to Andrew.
“It’s Mason,” he said before he dropped his eyes to the ground.
“NO!” Amelia cried as panic took over. “Just…just don’t. He is okay, I am going to call him and he is okay.”
She hit dial on his number again, and waited, praying for him to answer it. Once again it went to his answering machine. “It’s me again. I need you to call me the minute you get this.”
“Amelia, I am sorry,” Andrew said taking a step towards her. “I am so sorry. Please…”
“NO!” She screamed as she stepped back and hit call on her phone once again and once again it went to Mason’s answering machine. “ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE!”
“Amelia,” Andrew said as he stepped closer to her and took the phone from her hand. “I am so sorry.”
“Noooo!” Amelia cried as she sunk to the ground on her knees. “Please, no. You are wrong. He is going to call back, he is okay.”
“Milly,” Jeremy said as he stepped closer to his friend and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I will call your folks.”
Amelia didn’t hear a word he said, instead she went through what Simone had said in her head over and over.
“She did this,” Amelia said in a whisper. “She…she was here and she said that my life was about to fall to pieces. This was Simone Anderson.”
“We don’t know that, Amelia,” Andrew said, giving Jeremy a cautious glance.
“I know,” she said angrily, as she looked up into Andrew’s face. “This was her. She did this. She did it all!”
Amelia wanted to cry, wanted to scream, she wanted to feel anything but all she felt was numb. She sat there on the floor in the middle of the bookstore and all she could think of was that her life was over. Mason was her world, and now her world was gone.
“Amelia,” Andrew said as he took her by the elbow and slowly lifted her up from the floor. “I need to take you home. I need to take you somewhere so you are safe.”
“I want to see him,” Amelia said without looking up at Andrew. “I need to see that it really is him, that he really is dead.”
“You can see him,” Andrew replied. “But not yet.”
“Why not?” Amelia asked as she turned to look at Andrew. “I need to see him, please. I need Mason.”
“We have to wait until the coroner releases the body,” Andrew said, once again he looked at Jeremy strangely.
“I think I am going to be sick,” Amelia said as she suddenly bolted towards the bathroom. She barely made it to the sink before she violently threw up.
When there was nothing left inside her, she slumped to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest.
“I want Mason,” she whispered as she could feel a hand softly touch her back. She opened her eyes and saw Andrew smiling at her, but his eyes looked as sad as her heart felt.
“Let me take you home,” he whispered before he scooped her up into his arms and headed for the exit.
“I am coming with you,” Jeremy said from the door-way.
Amelia didn’t reply, instead she buried her face in Andrew’s neck and pinched her eyes shut. She just wanted to block out the whole world. I want Mason.
Chapter 35
Amelia lay on the bed and stared into space. When they reached Mason’s apartment, Sadie and Walter were already there, and Sadie was also inconsolable. However, the minute she saw Amelia, the mother in her kicked in, and she instantly began to take care of Amelia, pushing her own grief aside.
“Take her down to the bedroom,” Sadie instructed Andrew, and he carried Amelia straight down to her room, as Sadie followed close behind them.
“Amelia,” Sadie said as she sat down next to her on the bed. “I don’t know what to say to you, my darling girl. I am so sorry.”
Amelia didn’t reply, she didn’t even acknowledge Sadie. Instead she just kept her eyes pinched shut and tried to shut out the world.
“Amelia,” Sadie said. “Please talk to me, I need to know you are okay. I need to know that the baby is okay.”
Still Amelia didn’t open her eyes.
She had only one thought in her mind, and she chanted it over and over again. I want Mason!
Amelia had no idea when Sadie had gotten up and left her, nor did she know when Jeremy came in to talk to her.
“Milly,” he whispered as he softly brushed her face. “It’s me, please talk to me.”
She didn’t reply. She could barely breathe much less form a sentence. She just wanted Mason.
“I know I have hurt you,” Jeremy continued. “But please don’t shut me out. Not now, you’re my best friend.”
Still there was nothing. Eventually he just sighed and stood up, finally leaving Amelia alone again.
Her mind raced with thoughts of Mason. The first time they met, the first time they made love. The first time he told her that he loved her.
It had only been a couple of months, but he had become her whole world. She wanted to shut her memory off, t
o not think of his laugh or his beautiful smile, to not remember his smell or how it felt when he kissed her softly along the neck. Every memory broke her heart a little bit more, but still they kept coming.
She thought about what Simone had said to her earlier in the store, that Mason should have stuck to fucking bimbos and maybe then his life wouldn’t have turned into the train wreck it had become. She wondered, was she right. If he hadn’t met her, he would have never left his job, or crossed Simone. So when it came down to it, it was her fault he was dead. This was all her fault.
She woke with a start when she felt a hand touch her back. She opened her eyes, hoping it was Mason and that this had all been a bad dream, but it wasn’t. Instead her eyes met her father’s and instantly she sat up and hugged him tightly.
“Hey, Monkey Face,” Charlie said as he held his daughter close to him. “I’m here.”
“Daddy,” Amelia whispered before she buried her face in his chest and began to sob.
“That’s it, Sweetheart,” Charlie said as he held his daughter close to him. “Let it all out.”
“I want him back,” Amelia whispered through her tears. “I have this ache in my chest. A feeling like my heart has been ripped out, and I will never be okay again. How can I be? I have lost him; I have lost my heart.”
“I know, sweetheart,” Charlie said as he blinked back tears of sadness, as his heart broke for his beautiful daughter. “I know you loved him more than anything in this world, and he loved you too, so much. But he would want you to be strong, for yourself and for the baby.”
“The baby!” Amelia said as she remembered about the baby for the first time since all of this began. “Dad, I can’t do this alone. I need Mason. I want him back.”
“You are not alone, Sweetheart,” Shannon said from the doorway of the room. She hurried to the bed and sat down next to her daughter. “You will never be alone. Your dad and I will always be here for you, for both of you.”
“I…I can’t do this, Mom,” Amelia cried. “I can’t.”
“Amelia,” Charlie said taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. “You are so much stronger than you think you are. I always thought you were this fragile little creature, someone I would have to always look after, but I was wrong. You are so much more. You loved Mason, and you fought for that love. You can fight this too because you will love this baby just as much.”
Amelia didn’t reply for a moment, instead she stared out the window, lost in her thoughts.
She closed her eyes and Mason’s face filled her mind.
“You know,” she said as a sudden calmness over took her. “I knew he was broken, that loving him would destroy me, but I just couldn’t stay away.”
“You loved him,” Shannon said as she wiped away her tears of sadness for her beautiful daughter.
“I will never stop,” Amelia said as the tears trickled down her face again. Shannon wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her tightly until exhaustion claimed her once again.
“Amelia,” Mason’s voice broke into her dreams. She pinched her eyes tighter, afraid her dream would end and she would have to wake to her living nightmare again. “Amelia.”
“Why did you leave me?” She whispered into the darkness of the room. “I can’t do this without you.”
“I would never leave you,” Mason replied and softly kissed her forehead.
“But you have,” Amelia cried, confused by her dream, it felt so real. “You are gone and I am here alone. I don’t want to be without you. I need you.”
“I would never leave you, my gorgeous Amelia,” Mason breathed against her lips before he kissed her softly. “I am right here.”
Amelia opened her eyes and jumped back in the bed. Her heart almost stopped when she found Mason sitting there in front of her. She felt confused.
“MASON!” She cried completely floored to see him sitting there. “I thought…”
“I am so sorry, Sweetheart,” Mason said as he reached out to take her in his arms but she pulled back. “I am sorry for what I have put you through. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I needed to keep you safe.”
“Keep…me safe,” she said as she tried to process what was happening. “I don’t…Andrew…he told me you were…”
“I know,” Mason said and his smile faded a little. “And he was not happy about lying to you. To any of you…but…”
“He knew!” Amelia cried as her mind raced with so many questions. Her overwhelming feeling was relief. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hold him so tight, never letting him go again, but something stopped her. “I can’t believe that he would have lied to me like this. That you would both lie to me.”
“Amelia, believe me,” Mason said as he took her hand. “The last thing I wanted to do, was hurt you again and if there had been any other way I would have taken it, but I also knew Simone would not stop until she finished what she started. I couldn’t sit around and wait for her to make her move, nor could I take the chance that you would be with me when she did.”
“So you let me think you were dead!” Amelia replied as she could feel the anger bubble inside her and the realisation of what was happening, finally hit her. “I thought my world had fallen apart and all the time, you were okay.”
“You have to believe me, I thought I was doing the right thing, and if there had been any other way,” Mason said and Amelia could see the panic in his eyes. “We knew Simone had someone watching you. We needed them to believe I was really dead. Only then would she pay Andrew’s CI, and we could make the move on her.”
“Someone watching me!” Amelia exclaimed as she got up from the bed and began to pace up and down getting angrier by the second. “She came into the shop. She wanted to gloat to me that she had taken care of her ‘annoying little issue’ and to tell me you should have kept fucking bimbos.”
“I am so sorry she got to you again. When I heard she had, I was ready to call the whole thing off,” Mason replied as he got up and stopped Amelia from pacing. He took her hands and looked into her eyes. “But she is gone for good now. It’s over.”
Amelia looked down at her hands in Mason’s for a moment.
“I…I THOUGHT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT YOU WERE DEAD!” Amelia roared angrily as she pulled her hands free from Mason’s and began pacing up and down again. “I thought that if you just hadn’t met me…you would have been okay.”
“Amelia, I have never regretted meeting you,” Mason said but she had heard enough. She was just so angry to have been deceived in such a heartbreaking way.
“I need to get out of here,” Amelia said as she walked towards the door. She needed time to think before she said something she would regret.
“Amelia,” Mason said and Amelia could now hear the anger in his voice. “You can’t walk away from me. I know you are upset but I love you, and you love me.
"Right now, I don’t love you!!” She cried as she spun around to face Mason. “At this moment, I think I actually hate you. You promised you would never hurt me again, but then you just go and break my heart. I felt like it had been ripped out and smashed to pieces. I thought you were dead, and it was my fault. I blamed myself, and I wanted to die, too. I don’t know that I can ever forgive you for this."
"I did this to keep you safe, Amelia," Mason said, terrified he would not be able to make her understand. "It almost killed me when Andrew told me how upset you were but I swear I did what I thought was the only thing to end this. Simone was arrested. She is going to prison and she will never bother us again."
He reached out to touch her but she stepped back abruptly.
'NO!" She screamed. "Don't you dare touch me! Don’t you get it? You didn’t upset me. You have devastated me. You were my world and I thought I lost you.”
“But I am here,” Mason said as he gave her a pleading look. “You haven’t lost me.”
“And yet I think you have lost me,” Amelia said giving him one last look before she turned and walked out of the room
and down the hallway.
“Amelia, Sweetheart,” Charlie said as Amelia made her way through the living room, heading straight for the door, but she didn’t slow down. Everyone’s eyes were on her as she hurried by. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer her father she just kept walking.
“AMELIA!” Mason called angrily as he followed her to the door, but she didn’t slow down. She didn’t stop until she reached the elevator. She pressed the button over and over willing it to open.
“Amelia,” Mason said from behind her. “This is ridiculous. Please, just come back inside.”
She didn’t reply, instead she just pressed the call button to the elevator again.
“I will not let you just walk away from us,” Mason said as he stepped behind her and tenderly touched her shoulder, but she quickly pulled away. She knew if he touched her, she would cave and she needed time to think. Time to decide what was best for her. “Please don’t leave me. I can’t lose you.”
The doors of the elevator finally pinged open and Amelia stepped inside. She turned and looked at Mason and her heart broke even more when she saw the tears dancing in his eyes.
“I need time to think,” she replied as the doors began to close.
“Amelia, don’t go,” he stepped forward, but she raised her hand and he stopped.
When the doors closed, Amelia sank back into the corner of the elevator and began to sob.
Chapter 36
Mason stood and stared at the door of the elevator, his heart hammering hard in his chest. He had planned everything down to the finest detail. Everything that was, except Amelia’s reaction.
He knew she would be upset, of course she would be, but he really hadn’t expected her to be this angry.
He had no idea where she had gone, or if she would be back. Suddenly a sickening feeling in his stomach took hold and what had just happened finally hit him.
He realised he should have never let her go. He should have stopped her and made her see sense. In a panic he began to hit the call button for the elevator over and over again.
All Time Love Page 24