Chapter 119 – Willow

I was so happy to see Ogden walk through the doorway. I couldn’t contain myself. I wanted him to hold me in his arms and tell me everything was going to be okay. Even though I knew he was stressed and dealing with his OCD, he always made me feel safe. It was as if he was putting me first all of the time. No matter if he had meetings or my issues interfered with his sanity.

But when I got a good look at him, I noticed a little smudge of red on his collar. His normal pristine self wasn’t there, instead there was a man who didn’t necessarily look disheveled. But looked not as put together as he normally did.

I pulled away from him. The comfort that I had when he walked in slowly melted away. And panic took its place. I pointed at his shoulder and furrowed my brows. “Is that lipstick?”

The hue was similar to the one that Grace wore. It was a bright red, the color of blood and confidence. Tears started to well in my eyes. I have been a crying mess all day and of course this was going to spur on another crying fit. Ogden looked at me confused for a moment.

I could see panic in Ogden’s eyes as he looked down at the what I was pointing at. I heard stories about cheating men and how they would hide it from their wives. And then all of a sudden the wife sees lipstick on the collar. I always asked myself how stupid could those men be? Did they never look in the mirror?

“Hey, Will.” Sophia got up and stood next to me. “There has to be an explanation. You should hear Oggie out.” She eyed her cousin. I knew she was hoping he had a good explanation. And I was hoping for the same.

He nodded. “Yes, there is an explanation.” He cleared his throat. “I was working, and Grace stopped by my office.”

Ogden looked at me and then at Sophia. I crossed my arms over my chest. Did he think that that should explain it all? “And? Just because she stopped by doesn’t explain the lipstick.”

He pulled a hand through his hair. “And she gave me one final chance to get back together with her. But I refused. That was when she decided to serve me papers.” He let out a long sigh. “Since I didn’t get back with her, she is suing me for wrongful termination and sexual harassment.”

I brushed a tear that escaped down my cheek. I wished I wasn’t crying. I was so tired of being emotional and not containing my tears. Damn hormones. “Still doesn’t explain the lipstick.” I hated how my voice sounded, it sounded weak.

“Before she left, she kissed my cheek before I could pull away. And she touched my shoulder. That must be the reason why there is lipstick on my shirt.” He took a step forward and grabbed my hands. “That is what really happened. I haven’t had a chance to do anything else except go through surveillance footage to use against Grace.”

“Are you serious?” Sophia asked from behind me. “That crazy bitch is suing you because you wouldn’t have a relationship with her?”

Ogden tore his eyes away form me and looked at Sophia. “That is exactly what is happening. I spoke with legal, and they are pretty positive that she isn’t going to win. She has trespassed on company property, cut up your flowers, assaulted coworkers, and not to mention stalking. There is just so much against her that we have eyewitnesses and video footage of.”

Ogden brought his gaze back to me and raised his eyebrows at me. His eyes were pleading with me. I trusted him. Of course, this was the only way there was lipstick on his collar because Grace was crazy. And she constantly would thrust herself onto him. But he always pushed her away. It was very similar to when she got a picture of her kissing him on the cheek.

“Willow, please believe me. If you need proof call Marsha. She saw the whole damn thing.” He searched my eyes, hoping to see that I believed him.

I nodded at him. “I believe you.” I brushed another tear away. “Sorry, it has just been a stressful day.”

“Do not apologize.” He pulled me into him again and held me there. It was almost as if he wasn’t about to let me go. “This may get into the newspapers. I want to make sure that you are prepared.” His voice rumbled through his chest.

“Why can’t we just have a normal day?” I asked against him. “Its like every day there is another dose of crazy that we have to get around.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, maybe after this week it can calm down.”

I pushed away from him and looked into his eyes. “Fingers crossed.”

A voice cleared from the doorway. We all looked over at Doctor Garrett. “Hello, everyone.” He gave us a smile.

My mouth hung open for a moment. He was the one that was conducting the surgery, so he either had good news or bad news. And the look that he had on his face meant that he had good news.

Doctor Garrett pulled off his scrub cap and walked into the room. “Great news.”

I let out a breath in relief.

“Surgery is done, and your mom is in the recovery room. Once she wakes up, we are going to bring her back here.” He gave me a smile.

“How did the surgery go?” I needed to know that my mom was going to be better.

“For a bit, I was a little worried when we opened her up and saw that her chamber had more deterioration than we originally thought. But I was able to repair that, and we put in a some tissue to reinforce it. And the valve change was a breeze.”

Tears started to well up again. “What your saying is…” I didn’t want to put words in the doctor’s mouth. I needed to hear in his own words that my mom was better.

“Surgery was a success. We are going to have to monitor her closely, but her heart is as good as new.”

My legs gave way under me. Ogden grabbed me before I could fall to the floor. “Hey, have a seat.” He picked me up and put me in a chair. “Beverly can you get her some water.” She scurried out of the room. Within a minute she was back holding a cup out to me. I took it and took a sip.

I brushed Ogden away. I needed to see the doctor’s face. “My mom is better? She’s healthy?” I have been waiting for so long to hear those words. I didn’t think that it would actually happen.

Doctor Garrett gave me another beaming smile. “Yes, your mom is healthy. She will probably outlive us all.”

I sob wracked through me. I have been fighting for my mom since I was sixteen. And every year that passed she got sicker, but I still pushed on. Now, she was better. Her heart was fixed, and she could live a happy life.

I covered my mouth with a hand. I didn’t want to ugly cry in front of an audience, but I couldn’t hold it back.

Ogden squatted in front of me, he rubbed my back. “Its amazing news.” He said in a soft voice. “Your mom is better.”

I swallowed, trying to compose myself. “I know.” I let out another sob. “Its just…its just we have been fighting for this moment for so long. And I…” I let that sentence die.

“And you what?” Ogden took my hand in his.

I looked at him with tears in my eyes. “I never thought I would actually hear those words.” I swallowed again. “It is all because of you.” I bit my lip. He was my hero; he brought my mom back to me. The love that was bursting in my heart for Ogden swelled even more.

My mom was going to live for a long time, and she would get to see her grandchildren. The one that was growing in my stomach. She was gong to have a future that I didn’t think she was going to have.

“It is because of you, Willow.” Ogden said as he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

“I love giving families good news. It makes my job worth it.” Doctor Garrett said. “If you have any other questions you can contact me or Doctor Johnson.” He leaned closer to us and whispered. “I think he is mighty happy that the surgery went so well. He was jumping around when we closed your mom up.”

I smiled at him. “Yeah, I think my mom is pretty fond of him as well.”

“Have a nice evening folks.” Doctor Garrett gave a wave and left the room.

“See, Will. I told you it was going to be fine.” Sophia said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You need to listen to me more.”

I rolled my eyes at her. I couldn’t fight the smile that was forming on my face. One thing finally was going my way. My mom made it through surgery, and she was going to live a healthy life. That was all that I could ask for.