Chapter 7 - Eighteen Months
Prison stripped Gabriel of everything that had once defined him.
No tailored suits.
No armed guards.
No whispered fear when he entered a room.
For the first few weeks, he hated it.
Then something unexpected happened.
He began sleeping.
Really sleeping.
There were no midnight calls announcing another betrayal.
No captains demanding retaliation.
No weapons beneath his pillow.
Hazel wrote every week.
Her letters were simple.
Eli lost his first tooth.
Rebecca started physical therapy.
Hazel had enrolled in nursing school again.
Tommy had become operations director for Rossi Shipping, now operating entirely aboveboard.
Gabriel read every letter multiple times.
He answered all of them.
At first, he did not know how to write about feelings.
His earliest letters sounded like business memos.
Glad Eli is well. Tell him not to put the tooth in an envelope. Prison mail screens everything.
Hazel mocked him mercilessly.
Dear Mr. Rossi, thank you for your quarterly emotional report. We anticipate a 3% increase in affection next fiscal year.
Gabriel laughed so loudly his cellmate stared.
Months passed.
Then Hazel stopped writing.
One week.
Two.
Three.
Gabriel told himself she was busy.
By the 4th week, panic returned.
He called.
No answer.
He called Tommy.
“What happened?”
Tommy was silent.
“Tell me.”
“Hazel’s in the hospital.”
Gabriel stood.
“What?”
“She collapsed at school.”
“Why?”
“They found something.”
Gabriel’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“What did they find?”
“A heart condition.”
The world narrowed.
“Is she dying?”
“They don’t know.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
All his power was gone.
He could do nothing.
That helplessness broke him more effectively than any enemy ever had.
He sat on the edge of his bunk after the call and stared at the concrete floor.
Then he cried.
Quietly at first.
Then without restraint.
He cried for Luca.
For his mother.
For Hazel.
For all the years he had wasted believing love was simply another weakness enemies could exploit.
Two days later Hazel called.
“You dramatic idiot.”
Gabriel laughed through tears.
“You’re alive.”
“Apparently.”
“What happened?”
“A congenital valve problem. Treatable.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“I want the doctor’s name.”
“Gabriel.”
“And his credentials.”
“Gabriel.”
“And a second opinion.”
She laughed.
“I missed you.”
He went silent.
Hazel did too.
Then Gabriel said the words he had spent months avoiding.
“I love you.”
Silence.
His pulse thundered.
Hazel finally whispered:
“I know.”
“That’s all?”
“I’ve waited nearly a year for you to say it. Let me enjoy this.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Hazel.”
“I love you too.”
He pressed his forehead against the wall.
Suddenly 18 months felt like 18 years.
But there was something worth waiting for now.
When his release date finally arrived, Gabriel walked through the prison gates carrying one cardboard box.
Tommy waited beside an SUV.
Gabriel frowned.
“Where are they?”
Tommy smiled.
“Hazel wanted to surprise you.”
They drove 2 hours.
Not to the Rossi estate.
To a modest white house near a lake.
Gabriel stepped from the SUV.
The front door opened.
Eli ran first.
“Gabriel!”
Gabriel caught him.
The boy had grown.
Behind him stood Rebecca.
Then Hazel appeared.
Gabriel forgot everything else.
Her pale hair was loose around her shoulders.
No maid uniform.
No oversized gray cardigan.
Just jeans and a blue sweater.
She walked toward him slowly.
“You look terrible,” she said.
“You look beautiful.”
“That prison improve your manners?”
“No.”
She smiled.
Then Gabriel kissed her.
Not desperately.
Not possessively.
Slowly.
Like a man finally understanding that the most valuable things in life were not things he could own.
When they separated, Eli groaned.
“Gross.”
Rebecca laughed.
Gabriel looked at Hazel.
“Is this your house?”
“Our house.”
He frowned.
Hazel took his hand.
“You said home could be anything I wanted.”
“Yes.”
“I wanted this.”
Gabriel looked toward the lake.
For once, no gates surrounded him.
No guards.
No cameras.
May you like
Nothing preventing anyone from leaving.
And somehow, Hazel had chosen to stay.
