Obsession (12 page)

“The doctor is constantly saying that I should try to love first of all myself, but how can I love something so horrible?  Not even my father was able to love me!  I thought Rick did, but I was mistaken again.”

“Love yourself...  the doctor keeps repeating.  I would try and would make amends.”

“I am making friends here, good friends that would last for life and I am starting to realize that nothing would ever be the same for me.”

“My beauty and success are things of the past, but I am happier now that I had ever been.” 

“If someone told me now that money is the secret of true happiness I would laugh at him.  What about popularity, position, or fame?  Neither of them provides the kind of happiness and contentment that everyone longs for.   There are other things that bring you far closer to getting truly happy! They will set you on the path to sustainable happiness.”

“Happiness was one of the most misunderstood words in my vocabulary, yet she searched for this intangible state my whole lives.  If I only had this or that, if I met the right partner, have a big house, a new car, the job I've always wanted, then I would be happy.  Only now that I have lost everything I discover the lasting joy that is within.”

“Am I going out of my mind?  Or am I finally seeing things clearly?”

*********************************

Allison received the letter when she was alone at home.  Rick had some important deal to close, and had told her that he would come home late in the evening. 

The letter was from Monica, she could tell that the moment she saw it.  The simple white envelope was wearing the stamp of the prison she was staying in.  Allison debated for a long time what to do with it, and finally decided that she must open it when she was alone.  It was addressed to her, and that spoke a lot.

The single piece of paper was covered in words, something that once again surprised her.

“Dear Allison,”

“I know that this letter will come as a surprise to you, but do not worry, I will not repeat in it what I have told you so many times before.  The letter is not about me and Rick or you and Rick, on the contrary, this letter is about me, and that is why I want you to read it carefully.”

“I am not going to say that I am sorry about what I did to you and Rick.  I do not think that there are enough words to express that feeling, but I would like to tell you that now I know what I did.  That is right – I do not suffer from delusions anymore.  My obsession with you and my mistaken love for Rick are gone.  I am a normal person now, a person who will have to carry to the end of her days the weight of her actions.”

“My life (and I do not wish to use it as an excuse) had made me what I am and Rick and his kindness were too much for me to let go.  I realize now that I made your life a living hell, but what I thought I felt then was justifying all my actions.  They make it so easy when they say that love forgives everything.”

“Allison, please, tell Rick that I am sorry for my actions, and that he is not guilty of anything.  Whatever I did, I did it myself and I am the only one to be guilty of crime.”

“I hope you two were able to find happiness, after all I did to destroy it.”

“Forgive me,”

“Monica”

By the end of the letter, Allison was crying, and that is how Rick found her one hour later.  She said nothing, but simply gave him the letter to read.  He read it carefully, and then reread it again, unsure of how to take what Monica was saying to them.

“What does she mean with this letter?” he asked Allison.

“I think, she wants to tell us that she is no longer a danger to us,” Allison explained to him.  “The therapy and rest must be helping her understand how wrong she was, and now she is trying to make amends.”

“She says she is sorry.”

“Yes, but the letter is not about saying how sorry she is.  Can you imagine waking up from a dream, and finding out that you have killed a person while sleeping?  I think this is how Monica is feeling right now.”

“Are you going to respond to her letter?” Rick asked her after reading the piece of paper for the third time.

“Not right now.  I need some time to think about it, and find the right words to say.”

“When you do, please, tell her that we are happy together.”

Allison smiled up at the man she loved more than the life itself, and once again thanked God for bringing him into her life.

*********************************

Epilogue

“The success of a journey could be seen only when it ends...” 
Monica’s Diary
.

Allison was on the edge of sleep when it occurred to her.  She really wanted to push the thought away, and deal with it in the morning, but it was too horrible to ignore, swelling and looming in her mind until she could not bear staring at it any longer.

“Oh God,” Allison exclaimed, stirring restlessly.

“What?” Rick’s hand stayed on her shoulder.

Heaving a sigh, she muttered, “Liz is never going to stop teasing us about this.”

Allison could practically hear the gears turning in Rick’s head as he took that little information in, and then, slowly, offered, “Well, there is no reason to tell her, is there? I mean, it isn’t like she wasn’t already making assumptions.”

The woman blinked up at the darkened ceiling with a slight, thoughtful frown. “You really think that will work?”

“No, but she isn’t going to say anything if we don’t.  And I don’t know about you, but when it comes to this?” His hand slide around Allison’s body to loosely curl around her hand. “I am going to have to say it is our problem, not hers.”

Liz had been assuming things about them from the moment Rick started to stay the night.  She was teasing them and making little comments about the way things were according to her.  Allison tried to play cool and considering that up until tonight her assumptions were invalid, it was okay.  However, what about now?

“Rick,” she breathed after a moment, lazily settling forward, deeper in his hands. “I like the way you think.”  Rick started to place gentle, cherishing kisses against her shoulder.

“Just the way I think?” he asked, lips brushing her skin, and hand stroking her bear arm.  Allison felt silent, pretending to consider the question, and then laughed when Rick bit on her shoulder in retaliation.

“You’ll say it eventually,” he muttered when they were both quieted again.  He didn’t sound too put out by her reluctance, though; he sounded more amused and fond than anything.  It meant that Allison didn’t actually have to respond; Rick knew how she thought, and what she felt.  Then again, anything she could do, he could do better.

“Hey, Allison,” he said, covering her hand with his own and interlacing their fingers.

“Mmm,” she hummed, pressing her nose against the back of Rick’s hand.

“Would you marry me?”

“Do I get a ring?” she asked.

Allison was surprised at how full her own chest felt right now, and a sudden, reckless need to break the moment apart swelled inside her.  Then again, nothing about tonight had been safe in the least, and she… she was surprised to discover that she sort of liked it.

Silently, he took hold of her hand, using his thumb to turn the diamond ring on her finger.  The stone was clear and set in a gentle setting, just what Allison liked.  He gave her the ring after dinner, just before they fell into bed together.  It has been three months since Monica was gone forever from their lives.

Now all they had to worry was their own lives and happiness.

“I love you, Allison,” he confessed. “It scares me, how much I love you.”

“I love you too, Rick, and there is nothing in the world that will make me forget that.”

“Yeah,” Rick agreed.  His hand turned hers, holding her back, and twining their fingers together.

“You think we can really do this?” Rick asked. “You think we can tell everyone else that all that matters in this world is you and me?”

They mattered.

“I know we can,” Allison answered. “We are going to be okay, Rick.”

She let out a breath Allison didn’t even know she was holding, relaxing back against the warm weight of Rick’s chest.  It might just be the afterglow talking, but somehow – someway – she knew that he was right.

“I believe in pink.

I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.

I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.

I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

Allison’s Facebook Page

*********************************

 The End

Thank You

I hope you enjoyed ‘Obsession (A Romantic Suspense Thriller)’ and would love to know what you thought about it. If you have a moment to spare, I would appreciate it if you could leave a review of this book at Amazon. Your opinion goes a long way in helping others decide if a book is for them.

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Thank you so much.

Maya Moss

Romantic Mystery Thriller Suspense Publishing House

Booklist

A list of books published by Maya Moss:

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http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-textHYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"ie=UTF8HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"qid=1429865570HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"sr=1-2HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Suspense-Mystery-Romance-ebook/dp/B00UVOXH3C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865570&sr=1-2&keywords=romantic+thriller"keywords=romantic+thriller

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http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-textHYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"ie=UTF8HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"qid=1429865607HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"sr=1-4HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Thriller-Romance-Suspense-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00VBHRDRO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429865607&sr=1-4&keywords=romantic+thriller"keywords=romantic+thriller

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http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-textHYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"ie=UTF8HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"qid=1430786115HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"sr=1-15HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"&HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Shadows-Romantic-Suspense-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00X4VJXTQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430786115&sr=1-15&keywords=romance+mystery"keywords=romance+mystery