Babes Stripping For Love

Bree was right when she told him that she should not go back to his house just yet. She hated that she was right because when she stepped into his recovery room she realized that it was going to take all her strength to pull through whatever deep water Gage had blindly and unintentionally dragged her into.

The expressions shown by his family say it all, one of his doctors was walking out of the room and nodded politely at her. Bree didn’t even remember what the doctor specializes in. She reached his bedside while Sally and Marvin were talking to Gage, they both smiled at Bree. She was getting nervous about the outcome of the biopsy, there were numerous things that could go wrong when he wake-up, his mom pulled Bree in for her warmest hug and his dad rubbed her shoulder as if her cat had died.

What the hell is going on? she asked herself, and she got her reply when she faced Gages and saw nothing. The man looked at her and said nothing.

Oh God, no… no… no… not memory loss. Bree had never sent out a quick prayer in her life before, but she did just that knowing she was facing the inevitable.

“And who are you?” Gage asked and Bree felt like her chest had been hit by a truck. His dad’s arm planted firmly on her back holding her up while his mom took her hand and showed Gage Bree’s ring finger. Both Sally and Marvin gave her a pitty look, their parents must’ve told them about his proposal. Bree was stilled and couldn’t say anything as her emotion was storming inside her heart.

“I’m engaged? what happened to Jade?” His face told Bree that he was not ready to face the news, he didn’t show that he remembered her, but he did not make her feel comfortable either. The mentioning of Jade’s name had all his family members in shock, and Bree’s world was crumbling down around her. The man remembered his ex, but not her, not his less than twenty-four hours fiancee.

Bree was wiping her tears and quickly excusing herself out of his room. She had witnessed it years ago when she talked to one of the cancer patients’ wife as she was accompanying her aunt for chemo. The woman talked about her husband who woke up after brain surgery and didn’t remember his wife of twenty-five years.

At that moment Bree knew how devastated the woman must’ve felt. Although she had only felt Gage’s love and affection for a fraction of the time compared to the woman who was forgotten by her husband. Still, it hurt her, so damn bad that she knew she needed to get away from him. Bree couldn’t face the only man she ever loved deeply and watched as he couldn’t even remember her name.

Edith walked out of the room and was to her side moments later. “The good news is they got all the tumor out, they’re still going through with the whole procedure and make sure if the tumor is benign or malignant. But at the moment Gage has a partial memory loss, he remembered everything from last year but nothing after that. The doctor said that with time might get his memory back. And…”  Gage’s mom put her arm around Bree, while she kept on relaying what Gage’s doctor explained earlier when tears trickled down Bree’s cheeks and she wiped them away with her shaky hands.

“I hope everything is going to be okay, Gage is a very kind and loving man,” Bree said, finally taking the stand to leave the hospital but his mom held her back.

“Bree, don’t back down now, my son has never been as happy as he was with you. I may sound selfish, but you can help him remember, the doctor said so,” her voice was full of compassion and maybe just a bit of desperation since she too wanted what’s best for her son.

“I… I just need some time to let this sink in,” Bree said softly and let Edith put an arm around her shoulder and give her the warmth she needed. But then it felt like a stabbing reminder that Bree needed comfort from the one person who couldn’t even remember her.

Bree was torn about her decision, she wanted to be by his side. But she couldn’t stand his gaze when he looked at her as if he was looking at a stranger. She wasn’t sure how welcoming Gage would be for letting a stranger stay by his bedside and try to take care of him. Bree wanted to help him remember and at the very least return the good deeds he had given her months back with all of her troubles. But her fucked up mind formed a conclusion that his memory loss was some kind of sick way that the universe was letting Gage off the hook and let Bree set him free to find a better woman. Her insecurity and lack of self-worth played to her mind once again.

His mom left her to ponder her situation, telling her that she was going to check up on Gage. She also told Bree that she was welcome to join her, but the fragile woman just shook her head and told her she was going to sit in the waiting room for a few moments.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Everything was too good, I know somethings gotta give.” She whispered her words to herself, she was too tired to deal with her life right now. Her fingers were fiddling with her ring, she had barely worn it for twenty-four hours. Luckily she kept it hidden when she came back to Hazel so Bree didn’t have to explain anything to her or Mrs. Mancini.

“Bree? Is everything alright?” Cassidy and Dee just stepped out of the elevator and into the recovery floor when Bree repeatedly wiped her tears away.

“I… Gage…” she didn’t know what to say, then her repeated action made Cassidy see her diamond ring.

“Oh, Bree, if a diamond ring made you this sappy…”

Dee cut Cassidy’s voice with her loud gasp. “Oh, my … Bree, congratulation!”

It was then that her sobs broke and both of her best friends quickly sat by her sides, arms wrapping around her shoulder as Bree told them everything.

“Oh no…” Dee exhaled and kissed her temple.

“No shit…” when Bree told them that he didn’t remember her but he did ask for Jade.

“Wait… wait, what are you doing? why are you taking the ring off?”

“Can…” Bree took a deep breath before continuing, “can you please give this to his mom? please… it doesn’t feel right for me to hold on to it when he couldn’t even remember me…”

“Bree, honey,” Dee was trying to convince her otherwise when Cassidy told her that she was going to give it to his mom and that they were going to take her home.

“No, I can’t let Hazel see me like this.” Bree’s hands were still shaking, “please…” she put her ring on Cassidy’s palm.

“Alright, I’m going to give Gage’s ring for his mom to hold for a while. We can get back to my place or Dee’s I’ll tell Jojo about your situation. I think you deserve a day off, she’ll understand and she won’t ask questions.” Cassidy explained and then got up from her seat to go to the room where Bree pointed out where Gage and his family were at.

“Oh, honey, everything is going to be okay, we’re here for you…” Dee still had her arm around her, she rubbed her back lovingly and kissed her temple as a sister would. Bree never felt that kind of connection in her entire life before and she was grateful that her two best friends were there for her since she wouldn’t know how to deal with everything Gage was throwing at her.