My Sweet Valentine (4 page)

She tried to
figure out where she had seen him before but by working at a busy
hospital for six years she had seen hundreds of thousands of
people. Patients, visitors to patients, hundreds of people passed
her on a daily bases. She frowned and shook her head at the vague
feeling that she should know that particular man but pushed it
aside to finish her chore.

An hour later
she was curled underneath the big red blanket with a mug of hot
chocolate in front of her. She was trying to read but the words
were not sticking and she found herself re-reading the same
sentence over and over again. Finally Amber put down the book and
stretched out to take a nap.

Someone knocked
on the door and she jolted, noting that she had in fact fallen
asleep for about half an hour. She struggled to get out of the
tangle of blankets and almost fell to the floor in her haste. Free
from the warmth she shivered as she made her way to the door in a
quick trot.

She peered
through the peep hole but again, no one was there. She scowled and
opened the door. Instead of stepping out in her bare feet she
peeked down in curiosity. Sitting on the clean front porch was an
enormous white teddy bear clutching a sparkly red heart with the
words “I love you” embroidered in white. Amber chuckled lightly and
lifted the bear, noticing as she brought it close that a card was
tied around its neck.

Amber pressed
the bear against her chest to remove the card and it startled her
by proclaiming its love for her. Amber giggled again and pulled
free the same card that had appeared on both the roses and the
chocolate box. She again tried to look down the street but saw
nothing but snow and empty streets.

With a small
shake of her head, Amber retreated back into the house and its
offered warmth. She hugged the bear close to her chest and wondered
how Greg’s delivery man was so perfectly timed to get her when she
would take too long to get to the door. All of his friends had been
fast runners so in retrospect, she knew they did not need her to be
delayed for long to dash off before she spotted them.

Amber settled
back into the red mass of blankets and snuggled with the teddy bear
as she thought of her husband’s cute little surprises. The little
surprises helped her through the day when she felt as if something
horrible was about to happen even when she knew that was
impossible.

The feeling of
being watched had not gone completely away either. Amber looked at
the bear in her arms and a smile graced her features when thoughts
of her husband over-rode the depressing musings. She fell into a
light sleep but still wished the house did not feel so large and
empty.

Valentine’s
Day, six years prior:

Amber rubbed
her wilting eyelids for the umpteenth time as she read over her
rough draft of an essay that was due. She checked the clock and saw
it to be nearing 9PM. Greg was lounging around in the living room
of their shared apartment and she assumed he was seeing if they
could afford to live in the apartment another month.

She massaged
her temples this time as she felt the beginnings of a headache
coming on. She only had five more pages to type and she could call
it a night. She bleary continued on her mission and wondered how
much caffeine she would need the next morning when she had to
awaken early for a morning class.

She heard
shuffling from behind her and did not bother to turn. Strong hands
fell upon her shoulders a moment later and begin to gently rub
them. Amber smirked and leaned back into the touch as Greg leaned
down and kissed her neck gently.

“
Want to
go for a walk?” he questioned lightly.

The breath
against her ear made her shiver lightly in pleasure. His words hit
her a moment later and she turned to stare at him incredulously. He
was grinning at her and she frowned lightly. Taking a walk now
would me having to stay up even later to finish her essay.

“
I can’t
right now. I have to finish this,” Amber told him with a shake of
her head.

Greg scowled
lightly at the statement and ran a hand through his hair. He looked
at the mass of papers and books she had piled around her laptop and
Amber saw a thoughtful look cross his face. She assumed the
conversation was over and turned back to finish typing.

“
The air
will clear your head though,” Greg pointed out from behind
her.

“
I know
but I can’t take an hour out. I’ll be up past midnight if I do. You
know I have to be up early tomorrow morning,” Amber
rebutted.

“
It won’t
be that long a walk. I just want to go down to the lake and back,
half hour tops,” Greg refuted.

“
Greg,”
Amber whined with a little sigh.

Greg laughed
lightly at the whine in her throat then began rubbing her shoulders
and neck again. Amber huffed lightly and shook her head, breaking
out of his touch. She rolled her shoulders and went back to the
work in front of her.

“
Come on,
you love walking in the snow. Look it’s even snowing those big
fluffy flakes you love. It’s a sign,” Greg piped up.

Amber looked
out the window in front of her and saw that he was right. Big
clumps of snow were cascading down in a swirl of sparkling white
flakes. Amber bit her lip and began calculating out how much time
it would actually take them on the little walk. She finally sighed
and heaved herself out of the chair.

“
Fine,
but we can’t stay out there too long. I want to be in bed before
1AM tonight,” Amber relented.

Greg let out a
little whoop of excitement and rushed to pull on boots, a winter
jacket, a scarf and gloves in no particular order. Amber chuckled
at his enthusiasm and tugged on her winter boots. She wound a scarf
around her neck next then donned her winter coat. She tugged on a
winter hat before shoving her hands into gloves.

Greg placed his
keys in his winter coat and Amber made sure she had hers. Greg oft
times forgot where he put his keys then could not find them. Amber
swore there was some kind of black hole in his coats that swallowed
up his keys at the worst possible moments and spit them out when he
was about to get a new set.

They strode out
of the modest apartment and took the elevator down to the main
floor. Greg wrapped an arm around her shoulders to hold her close
as they stepped into the snowy weather.

The cold air
washed over her, chilling her cheeks instantly and tousling the
loose hair she had not managed to tuck into her hat. She shivered
slightly but a smile came to her lips and she snuggled closer into
Greg. Their footsteps crunched in the freshly fallen snow and Amber
noticed theirs were the only set of tracks. No one else loved
winter as much as she did to brave the snow after 9PM.

The walk to the
lake was brisk and only took about ten minutes. The lake itself was
situation in a park that was normally filled with children. Tonight
there were only a few teens gathered in a group beside the swing
set. Amber peered at them and noted that they were actually
swinging and not doing anything illegal as she had first
thought.

The view of the
teens disappeared as they stepped onto the path that would lead to
the man-made lake. It only took a few more minutes before the water
appeared and Greg stopped on the path to look into the depths.
Amber cuddled into him and in the distance saw the other side of
the half frozen water.

Suddenly Greg
pulled away and Amber blinked in confusion. She turned to ask him
what was going on but found him kneeling on one leg in the snow.
Her heart leaped into her chest and her throat tightened. Greg
smiled at her and she felt heat rising to her cheeks as he pulled a
little blue box from a pocket in his coat.

He fumbled with
it a bit because of his gloves but finally got it open to reveal a
slim gold band with interlocking hearts. The middle of the hearts
was empty, as if a diamond should be sitting there but there was no
sparkling gem.

It finally
clued into Amber that today was Valentine’s Day. She had not
noticed before as all her attention had been focused on classes. It
made her feel silly when she had replied in the negative to the
questions about what she was doing tonight. Her friends had looked
so upset for her and she had not been sure why at the time.

“
Amber,”
Greg said her name lightly; reverently as if it was a prayer he was
sending up to God.

“
Oh
Greg,” Amber muttered back and wondered if he even heard
her.

“
You’ve
made me so happy these past four years. I want to keep being as
happy as I have been. I want to be with you until we both grow so
old we have to shout to hear each other. I know there’s no diamond
in this ring because you know neither of us could have afforded it.
But I still want you to be my wife and I promise that we’ll never
have to think about surviving month to month. So, will you be my
Valentine forever?” Greg uttered quickly.

Amber felt
tears welling up in her eyes and found that her voice did not seem
to want to work. She swallowed hard a few times and nodded
quickly.

“
Yes,
yes, yes,” she finally exclaimed in a laugh as the tears tumbled
down her cheeks.

Greg stood and
kissed her before pulling off her left glove and reverently sliding
the ring without its diamond onto her finger. Amber let out a
little yelp of excitement and wrapped her arms around his neck,
kissing him heatedly on the lips. He wrapped her in his arms and
they stood there kissing for a few long moments.

Finally they
pulled away and Amber looked down at the ring on her finger with a
mixture of awe and joy. The lack of a diamond had not surprised
her. Whatever Greg had in his personal savings account would have
been completely demolished on the band alone, never mind affording
a diamond.

“
It’s
perfect, even without a diamond,” Amber told him and reluctantly
pulled her glove back on.

“
You’ll
get a diamond for it, I promise. It may take a few years but I
won’t leave it bare like that,” Greg assured her and wrapped her in
a hug again.

Amber nodded
and decided against arguing with him about the need of a diamond.
She would much rather stay cuddled in his arms for the moment. He
pulled away slightly but Amber realized it was only to guide them
back down the path towards home. She leaned her head on his
shoulder and sighed happily.

She touched the
ring through her glove and grinned again as the snow fell around
them. Someone shouted and Amber noticed it was the teens. They were
looking over at them with curious grins. Amber laughed and waved as
Greg chuckled along with her when she shouted out:

“
We’re
engaged!”

Part 4:
February 13th

It’s almost
here: the day I see her, the day she will be mine forever. I can’t
wait. I won’t be able to sleep tonight, I know it. But I just have
to wait 23 more hours and she’ll be by my side forever and he’ll be
out of the picture for good.

She’ll be so
happy to see me after all these years. After I tell her how great
I’ve become and how amazing life with me will be. I can’t wait for
her to hug me and kiss me like she’s kissed him. She’ll forget all
about him though, I know it. I can’t wait.

***

Amber woke to
the sun streaming through her window and remembered blearily that
she had forgotten to close her curtains the night before. Well, she
thought she had closed them but they were wide open. That made her
worried but she pushed that feeling down. Amber grumbled to herself
and sat up. She ran a hand over her hair to somewhat calm it before
making her way to the window and peering outside.

More snow had
fallen during the night and Amber smiled at the sparkling
whiteness. She hugged herself and allowed the warm air of her own
breathing fog up the cold window in front of her. Once she was
awake enough, she checked the clock and saw it to be 7AM. She
groaned and made her way out of the room. The problem with waking
up so early was that once she was awake, she stayed awake.

She was off
until the 15th and hoped Greg would be back on time to celebrate
Valentine’s Day. It was the day when everything important happened
to them: their first date, their first kiss, their first time
moving into the same apartment and their engagement. Amber had
almost been tempted to have her wedding on Valentine’s Day but
moved it to March 1st instead. No one was willing to attend a
winter wedding and half her family had to drive a long
distance.

Amber shook
these thoughts from her head as she finished up her morning
cleansing routine and trotted down to the kitchen in her bathrobe
to start the coffee machine. Once the coffee was brewing, she
darted back upstairs to dress for the day.

As she was
pulling on her pants the doorbell rang and she cursed. She quickly
threw on her robe to cover her bra-clad chest and ran back
downstairs. Just as the previous days, there was no one at the
front porch when she peered through the peephole.

She did see
footprints in the snow this time and noticed them to be large, wide
and heavy looking. She smirked at the male-looking footprints and
unlocked her door. She looked down without a second thought to see
a bright red bag decorated with pink hearts.

Amber peeked
down either side of her street but saw nothing of the special
delivery man. The street seemed strangely empty and she realized
just how alone she felt. With a mental shudder she shrugged and
picked up the bag. Once the door was locked again she opened the
bag to see a rather larger black velvet box.