THE GIFTS

ERICA

I stared at Andrew standing by my hospital bed. My head was still throbbing, but my heart was hurting even more. Looking at his face only reminded me of Nancy, the open shirt, and the deep shame I felt.

Not to mention the threesome with my two friends.

"Can you please stay away from us?" I asked Andrew politely.

I was tired of all of this, and I needed him to stay away. He should go and be with Nancy. I hated it that the town knew about the heartbreak, that I was dumped. That was ridiculous! Everyone in the city was talking about how Erica was foolishly in love with Andrew while he was sleeping with other women. It made me look so small, so weak, and so cheap.

It made me want to hate him, even though it was hard to hate those lips. Those sweet, warm lips that had kissed me so gently just hours before I crashed my car.

I turned my eyes away from him and looked at my mother, who was sitting quietly on the vinyl chair with tears on her face.

"Maybe we should leave the city and go to a quiet one," I directed to my mum.

My mum was just sitting and nodding her head. She looked so old, so tired, and so broken by all the dangerous things happening to our family. After a while she spoke.

"There are too many troubles already, my dear," she said, her voice shaking as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.

I believed she accepted we move. She was ready to pack our bags and run away from the mafias, the guns, and the bad news. But moving is not that easy. We had a house, my boys had their school, and I had my legal career. You cannot just pack your whole life into a small box in one day.

Then, my mum looked up at Andrew with soft, sad eyes.

"Andrew, will you leave all of these and move with us?" Mum asked.

For a minute, I thought she had lost her mind! My jaw dropped open, and I stared at my mother in total shock. I am about to leave the town because of Andrew, and my mum wants him to move with us?! Was she crazy?! Andrew was the main reason why our lives were in danger! Andrew was the reason why Jack was sending scary letters, why Gabriel was dead, and why my heart was broken into pieces!

I sighed heavily, leaning my head back against the white hospital pillow. Huuuuah.

Hearing my sigh, my mum turned to me, her eyes filling with big, fresh tears again.

"Erica, he is the only one to protect you and his sons, unlike your dad that died off!" she cried out loud, holding her chest with both hands.

Her words felt like a sharp knife poking right into my stomach. My poor dad didn't just die off! He was taken away from us!

"Dad was killed by..."

I stopped. The words got stuck right in my throat. I could not bring myself to tell Mum that it was Andrew's dad that killed Dad. It would shatter her completely. Her weak heart would break into a million tiny bits right here in this hospital room. How could I tell her that the boy she was begging to protect us came from the very man who murdered her husband? A grandfather killed the other grandfather...

Some truths are better not told. It was a dark, heavy secret, and I had to swallow it all by myself.

Andrew did not say anything about my dad. He just stepped closer to my bed, looking down at me with deep, soft eyes full of sorrow. He was acting all nice in the hospital, even playing with the kids. He knelt down on the cold floor, pulled two small toy cars from his jacket pocket, and gave them to Noah and Leo.

"Look, boys," Andrew said in a gentle, quiet voice. "Red cars. Just like your mommy's."

Noah and Leo giggled happily, taking the cars and rolling them over the hospital bedsheets. Vroom, vroom! Andrew smiled at them, touching their soft hair with his big, warm hand. He looked so gentle, so kind, like a real sweet family man.

Seeing this, my mum smiled through her tears and went, "Call him Dad."

My innocent kids stopped playing. They looked at Andrew, then looked at my mum, and then their big brown eyes turned to me. They rushed to me, holding my hands, and asked in their sweet, small voices:

"Can we call him Dad? Mum, is he our dad?"

My heart went bump, bump, bump so hard it felt painful. I looked at their innocent little faces. They had grown up without a father, always asking me why other kids at school had dads while they only had a mommy. Now, here was Andrew, standing right in front of them, looking like the dad they always wanted.

"Boys, I..." I stammered, my voice cracking because I didn't know what to say.

Just then, the door opened. Click.

A delivery man in a bright yellow uniform stepped into the hospital room holding a massive box.

"Delivery for Miss Erica," he announced.

He walked over to the table near my bed and set down a giant, beautiful get-well-soon card and two dozen deep red roses. I looked at the card. Attached to the flowers was a small white envelope.

Andrew stepped forward instantly, his face turning cold and dark. He snatched the envelope, ripped it open, and read the note inside out loud:

'Get well soon, my sweet Erica. I am watching your every breath. - Jack.'

My breath caught in my throat. Jack! How did Jack know I was in room 304 of this hospital?!

Before any of us could say a single word, the door opened again. Click.

A second dispatcher in a blue shirt walked inside carrying a large black box wrapped in a pink ribbon.

"Miss Erica?" the blue dispatcher asked. "Another delivery for you."

He set the black box on the table right next to Jack's flowers. Andrew grabbed the card attached to it and read it with a angry frown:

'We hope the crash didn't kill you, Erica. Enjoy the flowers while, it helps. - Jessica and Annabel.'

My mum gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her trembling hand. "Oh, dear Lord!" she whimpered.

My whole body went cold. They were watching me. They were all watching me like hawks! Jack, Jessica, Annabel... they all knew exactly where I was lying weak and helpless!

Then, in a few minutes later, another came in from... a dangerous admirer.

A third man in a dark black suit walked silently into the room. He didn't say a word. He just laid a single, long-stemmed black rose on the edge of my blanket, along with a tiny gray card sealed with red wax.

Andrew grabbed the gray card, broke the wax, and read the handwritten words:

.Just a secret admirer,”'

As the three gifts all came in within twenty minutes, the air inside the hospital room became thick, scary, and freezing cold. It felt like evil monsters were standing right outside the door, waiting to jump inside and grab my babies!

Andrew's face completely changed. The gentle, nice man who was just playing with toy cars on the floor vanished in a single second. His jaw went tight and hard like iron. His dark eyes burned with a fierce, terrifying fire that made my heart jump.

He threw the scary notes onto the floor, pulled his heavy leather jacket over his shoulders, and whipped out his black phone from his pocket.

Andrew ran out of the hospital with speed, his heavy boots thumping loudly against the shiny floorboards as he pushed the door wide open.

"Sam!" Andrew roared into his phone as he sprinted down the long hospital hallway, his voice echoing loudly off the walls. "Get the boys ready! We strike to defend her!"