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Beyond the Western
Unspoken Love
Scott A. Gese
Image Source: Taylor Hernandez / Unsplash
For years she kept it to herself and it almost broke her heart.
Beyond the Western
Vickie Winslow was ill and no one seemed to know why. She had been to several doctors, all specialists in their field. They had ran multiple tests to try and determine the cause of her illness. They all came back negative. They were stumped. Vickie should be a healthy 25 year old woman in her prime, but it seemed as if her body was slowly giving out. The medical profession couldn’t come up with an answer as to why.
Her good friend Emmett stopped by each day to check in on her. The two had known each other since they were kids. He hated to see his friend this way. “What can I do to help you?” He would ask each time he saw her.
“Just be here and be my friend,” she would reply.
One day Emmett stopped by the house and found Vickie too sick to get out of bed. He took hold of her hand and talked to her softly.
“Vickie, we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. We grew up together, we went to school, played hooky and even called in sick from our jobs on the same day, just so we could be together.
Vickie, I have something I need to tell you. Something I’ve been afraid to say for way too long. And now… now it looks as if I might lose you. I can’t keep it to myself any longer. I need to let you know exactly how I feel, so I’m just going to say it. Vickie, I…I love you.
“I can’t bare the thought of losing you. I can’t…I don’t know what my life would be like without you. I need you to be part of it. If you leave me, there will be a big empty hole in my heart. A hole that will never be filled.
“You have to pull out of this. Please fight it with all you’ve got. We have a history together that no one will ever be able to replace. Don’t let it end. I love you Vickie Winslow.”
Vickie smiled at Emmett. She reached up and wiped a single tear from his cheek. “I’ll see what I can do. Right now I’m tired.”
Vickie closed her eyes and Emmett got up from her bedside to leave. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” he whispered.
The following day, on his way home from work, Emmett stopped by Vickie’s house. He let himself in and was surprised to see Vickie out of her bed and standing in the kitchen. “Vickie, you’re up. Are you feeling okay?” He asked.
“Emmett, something has changed. After you left the house yesterday I got to thinking about my situation. I think I’ve come to the realization of what my problem is. I think I’ve been suffering from a broken heart.”
“You have a heart problem? Weren’t you checked for that?”
“It’s not a physical problem, Emmett. It’s mental. It’s been a problem for a long time now, but I now know how to fix it.
“Emmett, you don’t know this, but for years I’ve loved you. I’ve kept it to myself. I was too afraid to tell you how I felt. I thought you would think I was foolish.
And now I realize, because I’ve been keeping this to myself for so long it was making me sick. When you said those sweet words to me yesterday, I realized I was being foolish, but for the wrong reason. I love you too, Emmett.
Please, sit down, have a cup of coffee with me. We have a lot to talk about.”
© Copyright 2020 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved.
