Celestial Love (Anthony Rizzo)

.48. Kindness Is My Strength

Celeste

I wake up the morning of New Years Day tangled up in Anthony's bed with him. I had on one of his shirts as we just lay between the cool sheets. The admiration I had for this man was more than I could ever show, but I was going to try my hardest to show him in any way possible. It's 2018 now and I'm no longer afraid for people to see me for who I am, and that was hopelessly in love with this man.

"I love you so much" I say softly making him smile at me.

"I love you too baby" he replies as he runs his thumb across my cheek.

I lean in for a kiss until my phone starts to go off on the nightstand. A soft groan escapes my lips as I reluctantly roll over to see who it was. But the number wasn't in my contacts so I wasn't sure who it could be. I wasn't expecting a call.

"Who is it" Anthony wonders.

"I'm not sure" I admit as I grab it. It has a Chicago area code so it has to be from someone around here.

I answer the call before putting my phone up to me ear. "Hello" I ask.

"Hello. Is this Celeste Daniels" a woman questions.

"It is..." I reply slowly.

"I'm Diana and I work at the South Shore hospital in Chicago. I was calling to let you know James Daniels was in a car accident last night" she says.

My eyes go big as my heart drops from my chest. While my sustain for the man is not gone I am a empathetic person and I did feel bad.

"Is he okay" I wonder.

"He has a concussion but other than that he will be fine. They are still keeping him in the hospital because he was under the influence at the time of the crash and is under investigation right now. The car he ran into had a family who is all in the ICU with life threatening injuries as of last night" she informs me.

I cover my mouth trying to hide my shock but I don't think I can. It was hard to believe what I was hearing.

"Can I see him" I wonder.

"He gave us three numbers and the other two didn't respond so given that, yes you can see him" she assures me.

"Okay, thank you for calling. I'll be there soon" I tell her.

I hang up and my phone drops out of my hand. I run my fingers through my hair trying to put this all together.

"Is James in trouble" Anthony tries to figure out.

"He got behind the wheel drunk last night and got in a accident. He will be fine but the family he ran into, they're all in the ICU. I'm not even sure how he got my new number but I was one of only three people he gave and I was the only one that answered" I explain.

"And after all you've been through you want to go see him" he accuses.

"No, I don't want to. But I know my mind won't rest until I see him" I say. "He might be a shitty person but I'm not."

Anthony lets out a long sigh before he nods. "Alright. But I'm coming with" he insists.

"That would be helpful" I agree.

So we both change and head on over to the hospital. We get to the emergency room and I find James laying there. There was blood on his shirt and his head all bandaged. He was pretty banged up but he drove a big truck I'm sure he will be fine.

"I'm going to go see if I can find anything about the family and how they're doing. You, be nice" Anthony warns.

"I'll try my best" I promise.

Anthony takes off to go do what he does best and help people who need it and I go into James' room. He sat there just staring up at the ceiling not moving a muscle. I sit in the chair next to him not sure what to say or how to start. I felt conflicted about my feelings because as a human I felt bad, I wouldn't wish ill upon anyone. I'm sure he is scared and he didn't mean to hit those people. But as his ex wife who put me through so much I couldn't help but feel like this was karma.

"I'm surprised you came" he finally says.

"I'm just here for reassurance that you are going to be fine" I explain.

"You actually care" he asks.

"I always cared. That was the problem. But you saw my kindness as a weakness and in this moment my kindness is giving me strength" I tell him.

The room falls silent before he finally sits up. He looks at me and I've never seen him look this bad before. And not just the scrapes and bruises but his whole demeanor was off. His eyes almost black and his face just screaming pain.

"Why did you get behind the wheel? You know better" I insist. For someone obsessed with keeping a good image that was a awfully dumb thing to do.

"After you left my driver Cody left along with a few other assistants. No one would drive me around anymore so I had to do it myself. I lost a lot of people close to me since you left" he claims.

"And that's somehow my fault" I challenge.

"They never talked about leaving until you did" he accuses.

"Maybe they didn't have the strength. And they finally realize that standing by while you ruin people's lives is just as bad as being the person that ruined them. All I did was accept what I already knew, that you and I would never work again. And they realized it too" I defend.

"Well now I'm without half my staff, I'm facing DUI charges and possible vehicular manslaughter and I'm doing it alone" he sighs.

"Who's fault is that" I ask him.

Silence once again fills the room until I head a knock on the door. I see Anthony standing there with tears in his eyes and I knew it was bad. So I excuse myself to see what he found out.

"How are they" I ask.

"The baby girl and the father have passed away early this morning and the little girl has a few broken bones but she will be okay. They called the mom in this morning and she's with the daughter in her hospital room but it's just the two of them now" he sniffles.

I feel my heart break because like me it was just me and mom left. And while I know through this those two will be closer than ever. It doesn't change the fact that they lost half thier family and they didn't need to.

"Why don't we go home, huh" Anthony whispers.

"Okay. But I need to tell James something first" I insist.

"Alright, let's go" he encourages me.

I grab his hand and walk back into the hospital room. He sees Anthony with me and I can tell that made him upset.

"James... I hope this is your wake up call. I hope you see what damage you can do even if you don't want to see it. You killed a father... and a baby girl... and you deserve to rot in hell for that. What you did to me can be forgiven, this cannot. Football can't save you now. And while you sit in jail with nothing but your thoughts I hope you see how your actions and the way you treat people put you in there. 

Because now a woman has to know a life without her husband and a little girl, just like me, has to wonder what her future will be like because all she has left is her mother. And it's your fault" I whisper.

I see tears in his eyes as he looks away, can't even face the truth. He doesn't say a word as I collect myself and we leave. I head on home and try to understand the pain I felt. My dad was killed by a drunk driver too. And I had to figure out a life without him in the blink of an eye. Maybe the mom will remarry, maybe they will know a better life than my mother and I did. I just hope he finally sees what a monster he has become.