TIM POV: Faith is having what seems to be a nightmare. I don't quite understand what's going on, till I see myself enter the room. She watches a younger version of her and I bicker about god knows what, ending with her crying. I remember this. We were arguing over if we wanted a third kid or not. Faith's fertility wasn't the best at that time, so we got frustrated towards each other. I wrongfully blamed her for not being able to have more children.
"I just don't want to lose you." The young Faith cries. I watch myself take a deep breath and swallow my pride.
"You won't. I'm not going anywhere." I say, wrapping my arms around her. Current Faith rolls her eyes and walks away, cueing memory number 2.
We are curled up in bed, tangled in the sheets. She's beautiful. Her natural curls are cascading through the sunlight, as she smiles brightly down at me. I smile back and tuck her hair behind her ear.
"You're so damn beautiful." I say. We must've been newlyweds at that point. We still didn't know a lot about each other.
"Am I going to be enough?" She asks. I laugh.
"What do you mean enough?" I say, pulling her in closely to me.
"Like you won't ever look at other women, because I'm that great." She says, looking concerned. I stop laughing.
"You are more than enough, Faith." I say. "Why would I look at anyone else when I have someone as incredible as you?" I cringe, and current Faith laughs. I fucked up big time.
Faith wakes up quickly. She catches a glimpse of her alarm clock, to realize she's late for her GMA interview. I sit up and take a deep breath. Time to prepare for the day ahead of me.
"I'm so sorry! I over slept." She says, running downstairs to her makeup artist and hair stylist. I sit down on the counter and watch her get prettied up. Today is going to be hell for her.
"Okay, so just seem polite and collected. No hateful words. Stick to the notecards." Her publicist says. Gary comes up and rubs her back.
"Just relax okay?" He says. Faith takes a deep breath and nods.
"Okay." The livestream begins. Robin Roberts is interviewing her.
"Thank you so much Faith, for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with us." Robin says. Faith sits on our living room couch alone. She looks tiny on it.
"Oh anytime." Faith paints on a smile. I can already see her lip twitch. She's going to be sobbing by the end of this interview.
"So, unfortunately, you've been faced with some rumors with your ex-husband. Did you know about this estranged affair?" Robin asked politely. Faith takes a deep breath.
"No, I didn't." She says. "Now that all of this has came out, I could definitely see where this could be possible."
"How are your daughters taking this?" Robin asks.
"They actually do not know yet. So that's going to be a task." Faith says. I cup my chin with my hand and prop it up on the counter. "But I think regardless of this whole situation, Tim will always be their father. Even if this is all true, which I'm not at a place to say either way right now, the girls can't let themselves think that it impacts his love for them." That thought scares the hell out of me. I just pray that they give me the benefit of the doubt...
"What do you think started this possible affair?" Robin asks. Stupidity, revenge, power...
"We didn't always have the most perfect marriage, and while he suffered from Cancer we tried not to argue. I think that would frustrate him more than anything, so he could've gotten fed up and done it." She says. Gary starts to motion her to cut back, but she isn't paying attention. Shit...
"You both were trying to conceive another child before his diagnosis. Is that correct?" Robin asks.
"Yes." Faith says.
"And you both seemed to struggle with fertility issues while trying to conceive your third child. Shortly after Tim passed, you had a miscarriage. Was Tim even aware that you were pregnant?" She asks.
"Yeah, he was." Faith says. She then begins to stare at the letter I wrote her, confessing to the affair. "He wrote me a confession, actually... to the whole affair." Faith says. Her publicist is about to have a damn stroke. "The pregnancy was the factor that broke off the affair. I needed him more." She says sadly. I sit for a moment with a knot in my chest. She's right...
"So he actually confessed to the affair?" Robin asks, sounding a little confused.
"Yeah, but I found the confession a few hours after Ms Underwood decided to do the press conference."
"Do you think that was inappropriate for her to come out like that?" She asks.
"Yes, I do. I mean, she has every right to come out. But I have children, you know? We've had to pull them from school the last couple days because of this. I don't think they should have to be subjected to all the negative attention about their father."
"Are you angry with Tim?" Robin asks. Faith sits for a second thinking on it. Her publicist is about to bite a hole through their lip. Gary couldn't care less, as long as Faith is okay. I prepare myself for the likely answer.
"I'm definitely a little fed up with him right now. You would never want to think that your spouse would be having an affair while he was dying. Part of me just thinks about all the time he could've spent with the girls. I'm slowly finding more and more lies as time goes on, so this is just hard for me. It's just a little confusing for me, I think, because I have to make sure the girls have good memories of their father, while I'm left to deal with women coming forth as mistresses, and many other things he failed to tell me." Faith says. Her eyes are teary.
"Do you think this could've been because of you?" Robin asks. Part of me is astounded Robin would even ask a question like that. She just found out that her dead husband was sleeping with another public figure who is trying to tell the world about it. She deserves a bit of a break.
"I have no idea honestly." Faith says. "The last words he said to me were 'I love you', so I guess I can only hope that was genuine." It was. Jesus Christ, I've never meant anything more in my life...
"Well thank you for talking with us Faith. I know this has been a hard time, but I know everything will pass over in no time." Robin says.
"Thank you." Faith says, her eyes tearing up. Then, the livestream is cut.
"Good job." Gary says. "You didn't act fake like you're handy dandy publicist over there was trying to get you to." Gary hates me. He's always had a little spot in his personal hell for me. I'm sure he could have a field day with this.
Her publicist throws their note cards up in the air, and stomps out of the room. "You okay?" Gary asks, brushing back Faith's hair behind her ear. Part of me has always believed he had a little crush on Faith, but that would be like incest, since he's essentially her only father figure. Plus, she normally had me, so that wouldn't have been allowed... because she's more loyal than I ever could imagine.
"I'm fine." Faith says. "I need my pills." She takes a deep breath and wipes her forehead.
"Ahhh." He says, throwing the bottle to her. She catches it and begins to pour out her pills. She takes two more than she's prescribed while Gary looks away. My jaw drops at the sight of her turning to pills. She's the last person I would've ever expected to take antidepressants, nonetheless, for her to start taking more than prescription.
"Where's my painkillers?" Faith asks. Gary digs around in his pockets till he finds it. She smiles and proceeds to take three of those, although I'm pretty sure she should only be taking one. They are prescribed for her migraines.
"So I managed to book you an interview with Entertainment tonight for this afternoon. We'll have to leave in about fifteen minutes" He says. "We will get this all cleared up." She nods.
"We better."
Faith's in her dressing room, practically sleeping while they slather makeup on her. I know something's wrong. I can feel it. Gary comes in and drags her up to talk with the reporters.
"It is so nice to see you!" Say the female reporter. "Long time no see! So you look stunning, as usual."
"Thank you." Faith says, a little overwhelmed.
"So this whole affair debacle, is it true?" She asks. I'm watch Faith closely, and I can tell somethings wrong. Somebody needs to come check her out. She's pale, and looks clammy.
"I...." She says. "I uh-" Her eyes begin to become heavy. Within a matter of sheer seconds, she's on the floor, shaking uncontrollably.