The Matters of Her Heart

Moving On

"You're gonna have to get some sleep at some point," Maxwell sighed.

"Did I kill him?" Those were the first words Tanya had spoken in nearly a month. She'd woken up screaming and crying for her husband every single night. At first, they'd kept her sedated and no one was allowed to see her. Maxwell was in the process of filing a lawsuit when they quickly changed the rules. Everybody that knew his name, knew not to fuck with him in any courtroom.

"No baby girl, you didn't kill him," he sighed. No matter how much he wishes she had, he knew she'd never be able to live with knowing that. "They've got him under for a while so his swelling goes down. He'll be booked and in prison by the time he wakes up."

"Can I- can I see him?"

"I uh," Shelly paused as she looked at Maxwell. "Even I don't think that'd be a good idea. Are you sure you wanna....?"

"No," Maxwell told her finally. "You don't need to be anywhere near him, end of discussion. You'll be released today, doc says you and the babies are still doing good, you just need to be getting way more rest than what you've been getting. That means eating, sleeping, and continuing your yoga classes and other pregnancy workouts. Your stress levels need to be kept as low as humanly possible."

Tanya droned him out. She wanted to see with her own eyes that she hadn't killed him. She wishes she had, but what could she do? Could she even live knowing she'd done something like that? No matter the wrong he'd done to her and her family.

"She's definitely not even listening," Tiffany laughed. She knew her sister enough to know when she did and when she didn't give a fuck about what someone had to say. This was one of those moments.

"That's fine, she'll know her fuck up once she realizes she's still confined to that bed, not aloud to leave the house," Maxwell shrugged.

Everyone looked away, nobody having the balls to fight against him. None of it would've happened had she stayed inside like she was told and they all knew that. Fighting Maxwell of all people, not a single one would win and someone's feelings were bound to get hurt.

"This was my fault," Aashayla sniffed as she lay on Parker's shoulder, watching as they checked her own vitals and Tanya's one last time. She'd been bumped over the head, knocking her unconscious during the scuffle so she'd missed half of what went down.

"Though I am highly pissed for more than one reason, it wasn't your fault either. He was bound to catch one of us just to draw her out," Parker sighed. He hated to admit to it but knew it to be true.

"Park I- I'm sorry alright? I should've come to you first instead of wanting to find out on my own. I was too nervous to even tell you! How could I have asked?" She expressed to him as tears filled her eyes.

"You put the both of you at risk, that's all there is to it," Parker snapped, nipping her apology in a bud. "When you began to suspect, you should've opened your mouth like you could've with anything else. You promised, no more bullshit. What the hell Shay?"

"I just wanted to be sure, know for certain that I was giving you another baby before getting your hopes up. You would've been crushed had I said something and it turned out I was wrong," she whispered as she turned into him, ending their conversation.

When everyone arrived back at the Carter estate, it was silent throughout the house. Everyone was left alone to their own thoughts as they went about doing chores, getting ready for dinner, making dinner, and laying down for short naps.

Tanya ate as she was directed, keeping to herself and sleeping alone that night despite the nightmares, despite the fear of waking up tied up and gagged. Maxwell fought with her throughout the night wanting to comfort and console her but she silently refused. She didn't want anything but the reassurance that she hadn't killed a man. Why couldn't they give her that? It was all she'd asked for.