THE EMEREALD CITY FREE FAMILY CLINIC
CHAPTER 3
I sit here on the edge of our sofa waiting for my wife to respond to what I have just told her when she asked why I slept with Lauren for what seems like an eternity when my wife wipes the tears from her face as she sits straight up and faces me but does not say a word as she just stares at me. I begin to get a little scared at the deafening silence that now fills the room where my wife and I are sitting as I try to think of something else to say. Then my wife begins to speak as if she read my mind as she says to me in a whispered voice "I love you too Arizona" but when I try to place my hands in hers for support, she pulls away from me instantly. So I just sit here with her and wait for her wrath to begin. It does not take my wife too long to begin to talk to me but she surprises me by not raising her voice at all as I had expected her to do with all that natural Latin blood flowing through her veins. Instead she takes a single deep breath and begins to talk "You say that you were mad at me and everything that happened to you in your life over the past year but I would not change a thing that happened to us except the fact that you had an affair…you…you had an affair. Then you scream at me for over an hour after I catch Dr. Boswell telling me that lie about your wedding ring as I realize that the two of you slept together. Then you tell me that you trusted me more than anyone…more than anything but that did not matter as I still gave the order to have Alex cut your leg off. Then you, still screaming at me, tell me how mad you were at the fact that I never left my surgery on Derek's hand to take care of you. But here's the thing Arizona, from the time you arrived at the hospital from Boise I wanted to do the surgery on your leg but due to a little detail that we all know when we become doctors is that no doctor…no doctor…under any circumstances is allowed to operate on a family member especially if that family member is their wife. Just so you know I even told Owen that our marriage was not real and was not legal in the State of Washington just so I could operate on your leg but he told me in no uncertain terms that if I tried to operate on you he would have both of us fired and blacklisted from the medical profession and have our medical license revoked. He then enlisted a friend of his from the Army to come and be your orthopedic surgeon".
Callie rises from the sofa as she walks into the kitchen to retrieve each of us a bottle of water as she sits back down and continues. "Then that night you scream at me again as you say that I did not lose anything…that you lost your leg…and I did not lose anything. But I did lose something because after that night I apparently lost you. You talk about how I was not on that plane and that I have no idea what the five of you went through out there in the woods for four days and four nights. You are right about that I have no idea what all of you went through because my only thoughts were of what Sofia and I were going through. Not knowing if you or anyone else on that plane were alive or dead. But you have no idea what I went through…what our daughter went through for those four days and nights either. How Owen tried everything he could think of to find all of you. How my father with all of his money and infinite business wisdom sent helicopters everyday and night and hired anyone and everyone to find the six of you. But the hardest thing about the ordeal was the nights…the nights filled with our daughter crying out for her mama. For four nights our Sofia knew something was just not right and no matter how many times I told her that you would come home to us soon, she cried every night for you. The only thing I could do for her was to play the recording of "Goodnight Moon" that you left her on my voice mail the night you left on that fateful plane for Boise. Then when all of you come back to all of us, none of you…not one of you talk about what happened out there for those four days and nights…not on of you…especially you…you would not tell me anything. It was only months later that I found out from Owen what went on in the woods as Cristina finally opened up to him. So you see Arizona, as much as you were mad at me or even hated me for telling Alex to cut off your leg, you have to realize that everything that happened to us this past year was not all about you. We are married and in a relationship…a committed relationship for which I think you forget sometimes…especially that night you were unfaithful to me. So for right now…for me…I still have a lot to think about and consider before we can move on with our lives together. I do still want you here…in our home to help raise Sofia with me but as for everything else in our relationship…I just need more time. I love you and I have never stopped loving you…I just do not know if I can ever trust you again with my heart. What you did with Dr. Boswell is inexcusable and I don't know if I will ever get past that…I really want to be the bigger person here and move on…but I just don't know if we can be together like we were before all of these things happened. I am willing to try but in order for me to forgive you for the affair you need to forgive me for your leg. Are you ready to do that Arizona, are you ready to forgive me taking your leg and for saving your life"?
"Yes Calliope…a thousand times yes. I want nothing more than to have you believe me when I say…I forgive you…I love you, Calliope" is what I so desperately want to shout from the rooftops but I am not ready…I am working towards that goal…but I am just not ready to say those words. So I sit on the sofa in front of my wife and tell her "I want to Callie so bad…you cannot even imagine how much I want to tell you that I forgive you…but right now today…I am just not ready. We can keep going and figure this all out together". But all she says back to me "Where are we going Arizona? You can't bring yourself to forgive me for what I did so how do you expect me to forgive you for what you did to me…and to Sofia". And with that last statement my wife rises from the sofa and walks into our bedroom as she slams the door behind her and then I hear her slam our bathroom door as well. All this noise wakes Sofia up out of her sound sleep as I hear her scream for me. I bolt up out of my seat but before I can move down the hallway to our daughter's bedroom, she comes running out crying as she screams for her mama. I bend down a bit and catch her in my arms as she snuggles her face in my neck as we both make our way back to her bedroom as I take one last look at the bedroom door where Callie and I used to share that bedroom. My wife does not come out of our room as I hear a faint cry behind the bedroom door so I take our daughter back to her bed. I sit with her until she falls back to sleep as I cover her up and make my way to the guest bedroom…where I will stay until I fix this messy situation…this messy situation I have made for myself…and my wife and our daughter.
The pale moonlight comes through the window of the guest bedroom…the bedroom that has been mine for the past week now…as it softly illuminates the entire room. I walk across the entrance and see a silhouette of my wife's body sitting on the side of the bed. I whisper my wife's name "Calliope" as she lifts her head up to meet my eyes. I stay standing in the doorway until I hear her say "I can't do this…I can't do this anymore". I freeze in my standing position still in the doorway as I choke back some tears that begin to form as I say "What Callie, what can't you do anymore"? I watch my wife stand to face me as she begins to say "We both have hurt each other so badly that I cannot do this anymore. I forgive you Arizona for your lack of discretion with Dr. Boswell…do you hear me Arizona, I forgive you. Our future together…if we can get past this and have one…should not be defined with an ultimatum. I should've never put you in a position that requires that you to forgive me just because I forgive you. If we are going to start fresh with our marriage then we should not start with ultimatums. That is not what a marriage…our marriage can be based upon". I walk the two steps it takes me to reach my wife as I place my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. I feel her arms wrap around my neck as I snuggle my face into her neck as I tenderly whisper in her ear "I love you" as I feel her pull me closer to her body. Then I feel her lightly kiss the side of my head as she says "I miss this and I miss you". I hold her tight as I never want to let her go but then our embrace drifts away as I lean out of it and say to my gorgeous wife "I bet I know what else you miss" as we both meet back in the middle as we inhale each others mouths in a very heated but passionate kiss. Once breathing becomes a reality and we pull out of the kiss my wife says to me "maybe we should take this a little slower and not rush into anything drastic" as I moan my disapproval she just laughs and says to me as she lays her forehead against mine "We'll get there Arizona, soon. Soon but for tonight…goodnight Arizona" she kisses my forehead and leaves.
She's up to something…I just know it…she's not even being subtle about it anymore…she is just being a straight up tease…or am I just imaging it. For the last three months or so I have noticed this change in my wife as she is walking around our home in her underwear…I mean just in her bra and panties…like a lot…I could never get her to walk around like that before all of this shit happened. I mean she would on occasion just to turn me on and get me all hot and bothered and we would eventually have sex with all of her semi-nakedness on display like that…you know what I mean. But now it is all the time especially when I get home late from the clinic and Sofia is fast asleep. I come home to find her sitting on the sofa with all her cartilage research spread out everywhere…and there she would be in just her bra and panties or in her boy shorts and a crop top without a bra to hold those magnificent breasts of hers in place. Yep…I've come to the conclusion that she is a tease or maybe I am just one horny mother fucker and letting my imagination get the best of me…just as I am thinking that it is all in my own mind…my wife…my Callie comes in from outside on the balcony where she has been exercising for the past hour with the punching bag and boxing gloves as she retrieves a bottled water out of the fridge and runs the outside of the bottle over her neck and chest area as the sweat glistens off her body. Then to make me believe my assumptions are even more true about my wife teasing me because when Calliope walks over to me and says "Good morning, Arizona" as she leans across my body as I am sitting at the end of the breakfast table and she brushes her sweat soaked boobs across my arm as she reaches for part of the newspaper on the table as I try to focus on reading the part of the newspaper that is in my hands as I stutter and say "Good…um…good morn…good morning Callie" and she does not even apologize for the intrusion. Then she looks straight down my slightly open robe as she places a kiss on my chest and says "You have such great boobs Arizona" as she just hums her approval and flashes me that shit-eating grin of hers that she knows I love so well as I stutter again as I say "Thanks…thanks…Callie" and that is when I know for a fact that she is teasing me and it is not my just my imagination like I first thought.