She threw up her hand to stop me before saying something I wasn’t expecting.
“I think you should open the letter before you make any big decisions like that.” She stood from her chair and left the room, coming back minutes later with, sure enough, an envelope with my name on it. “He’s a good man, Payton. You should hear him out. Remember, forgiveness is just as powerful as love, honey.”
She squeezed my shoulders and placed a kiss on my head before leaving me alone in the kitchen with a letter from the man who’d broken my heart.
I didn’t want to open it but curiosity, as always, got the better of me. Knowing my mother would keep everyone in the living room, I opened the envelope, pulled out a letter and read it.
Princess,
I never pegged you for a pink kind of girly-girl.
I’m waiting for you.
Prince G
I furrowed my brows in confusion. What the hell did that mean? I thought for a minute and the only thing I could come up with was my childhood bedroom. It was covered in pink paint and purple stencils of cowboy boots all over the walls.
Standing, still confused, I decided to walk to my childhood bedroom on the second floor of my parents' house. At the top of the stair case, I went to my door, the third on the left, and tentatively opened it.
I wasn’t prepared for what I found.
“Princess.”
My legs shook and my breathing quickened as I stood in the doorway of my childhood bedroom, still clinging to his letter and using the door handle for support. Standing in the middle of my bedroom was Gabriel. It was the lack of his usual attire that struck me first; the sharp suit was gone and in its place was a pair of low slung, dark jeans and a tight black shirt which clung to his muscles.
I quietly told myself to stop. This was the man who, less than twenty-four hours ago, broke my heart. That’s when I noticed his expression. It was one of pain and I couldn’t shake the feeling I had to hold him close.
“What… what are you doing here?” I asked, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me.
“I wanted to explain,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. It looked like he was trying to control himself and not reach out for me.
My blood started to boil at the mention of him wanting to explain his way out of the situation he’d put us both in. I didn’t want to hear his pathetic excuse.
“I don’t want to hear it, Gabriel. I’m tired, please, just leave,” I whispered, the defeat in my voice apparent.
“Look at me, Payton,” he whispered, stepping towards me.
I threw my hands up and took a step back, hitting the wall behind me as I did so.
“Payton, I need you to hear me out. Please, at least give me that,” he begged, deciding not to take another step.
I sighed. Deciding the only way to make him leave was to hear him out, I nodded my head. I could get through whatever kind of excuse he threw at me, then I’d order him out of the house and ensure he got the message that I never wanted to lay eyes on him again.
“I’m sorry,” he started but I shook my head.
“I don’t want an apology. I’ll hear what you have to say but sorry will never be enough for what you did.”
He bowed his head a little. No longer was the man I’d fallen in love with the one who could control the room, no longer was his presence dominating: this was a man who was just like me. Defeated.
“I suppose I better start with the day I married my wife,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he gazed at the floor. He walked backwards, his eyes unable to lock with mine, and took a seat on the end of my tiny bed. Unable to really move out of shock, I used the wall to support myself. “Melissa was beautiful. She swept me off my feet within seconds of meeting her. Quiet literally. She liked to daydream and while walking down the busy streets of New York, she walked right into me, knocking me on my ass right on the sidewalk.”
I tried to hold back the tears but they fell onto my cheeks anyway. He hadn’t denied it. He was married. I broke a little more inside.
“We married a year to the day we met outside a damn Starbucks of all places. We did the lavish wedding: church, the big white dress… millions of bridesmaids. The fairy tale wedding.”
I cringed at the sentiment.
“We were happy. We were married for five years before the accident.” He paused, finally able to look me in the eyes.
My heart stopped and I couldn’t stop the tears from coming as I stared into his dark depths. But instead of the usual deep, dark hue, they were lighter. I couldn’t tell if it was the sunlight filtering through my bedroom window and causing them to be a little lighter, or if they did that anyway. Either way, for the first time, I felt like I was finally seeing the real Gabriel Black.