“All right and good luck.” I give him my best smile before walking off the porch with the kids.
“Emma?”
I turn back around and look at him. “Yes, Alec.”
“I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon.”
“I love you, too. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
“I know,” he says, but he doesn’t sound convinced.
Alec
As soon as court is over, I am surprised to see the time. It definitely took longer than I expected. I call Emma to tell her the news, but the phone goes to voicemail. I call mom and dad before trying Emma again. I look at my watch and it’s 12:45. I decide to drive the short distance to her work to tell her the news in person. I can’t wait any longer.
I pull up outside of R.K. Insurance Company, but Emma’s car is gone. I try her number again and it goes to voicemail again. I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. Emma always has her phone charged and on her. Brea walks out of the office and waves when she sees me. I roll down the window and she walks over to me. “Hello, Brea, is Emma at lunch?”
“She ran down to the deli; she should be back at any moment. Sara’s inside, if you want to go in and wait for her.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll wait out here.”
“Well, the offer stands if you change your mind.” She smiles and waves as she walks to her car. She says, “Would you tell her I had to leave and that I am sorry to miss lunch?”
“I will and be careful.” I wait a few more minutes before panic hits me. Molly’s threats come back to me full force. I pick up my phone to call Emma again, but then she pulls up beside me. I am already getting out of the car when she looks up at me and smiles. I try to give her a smile, but I know that fear is prevalent on my face. I close my eyes and take some deep breaths to try to calm myself.
I open my eyes and the real reason I am here comes back to me. Smiling, I walk to her car and hold the door open for her. She gathers the last bag of food and stands away from the car. I lean down to kiss her and to remind myself that she is safe.
“Hi, I’m glad to see you, but I thought you were going to call me?”
I close the door behind her before saying, “I did call, but the call went to voicemail. Is your phone dead?”
“No, it was fully charged when I left the house this morning. Did everything go all right this morning?” She looks me from one eye to the other.
“It did and it’s a long story, but you are looking at a free man.” I beam.
“You’re divorced?” she says, smiling.
“That, I am.”
“You’re a single man with full custody of Raelynn?” she asks, with wide eyes.
“I am a single man, and I do have full custody.”
She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me publicly. I pull her closer to me and she giggles. “Do you know what this means?” I ask.
“Yes, it means you are no longer married.” She smiles, brightly.
“It also means that we no longer have to sleep in separate beds,” I say, laughing.
She laughs, too. “Come on. I have to get this food in here. Traffic was terrible at lunch today.”
“Brea said she had to leave, and she is sorry to have to miss lunch.”
“Oh, Arturo was running a fever this morning. I hope he’s ok. I got her a deli sandwich; you should come in and have lunch with us.”
“I don’t know, I should probably go.”
“If you don’t eat it, it’ll just go to waste. And you know how I hate to waste food.”
“That is a very good point.” I take the three bags from Emma and I hold the office door open for her. I haven’t spent much time with Sara, but she seems very nice. She talks openly in front of me and I can see what Donovan sees in her. She has short blond spikey hair and stands about 5’2”; she is small and petite with a wonderful personality. I like her and it’s reassuring to know that Emma works with some wonderful people.
Later that night, we have dinner at home. I feel happy and relaxed for the first time in a long time. The kids tell us about their day.
“Daddy and Emma, some little boy pulled my ponytail today at school and it hurt. Heather said he did it because he likes me. Boys are gross and they have cooties.”
“I’m a boy, and I don’t have cooties,” James says.
“Not you, you’re my brother,” Raelynn says, taking a bite of her corn.
Emma and I just look at each other and smile. I like it when Rae calls James her brother.
“You know what happened to me today?” James asks.
“What, did you poop your pants?” Rae giggles.
We all laugh, including James. I clear my throat and use my daddy voice. “Raelynn, that isn’t nice.”
“Raelynn, if I did that, that would make me have poopy pants.” James laughs as loud as I have ever heard him. We all laugh and I look over at Emma. She is trying to cover her laughter and smile with her hands.
“Hey, hey, they’ll be no talking about poop at the dinner table.” Emma tries to use her mommy voice.
Young kids are fascinated by poop. They even read books about it: Where’s the Poop? by Julie Markes, The Truth About Poop by Susan E. Goodman, and Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi. Later, they become less fascinated. The father of a friend of mine worked at IBM. This embarrassed his daughter, who thought of IBM as forming a sentence: I BM — that is, I have a Bowel Movement.
“James, what happened with you today at school?” I finally ask.
“When I put my book bag in my cubby at school, there was a frog in there. Dillon said he saw it jump in from the open window.”
“Eww, did you touch it?” Raelynn asks.
“No, they have cooties. Charlie picked it up and took it outside,” James says.
“That’s nice, James, but can we talk about something other than cooties?” Emma says, smiling.
“Emma, how was your day, today?” I ask, to try to change the subject from poop and cooties.
“I had a great day, until I realized my phone quit working.”
“Well, that explains why it went to voicemail when I called you today.”
“It was working just fine yesterday.”
“We’ll need to get you another phone in the next few days. I don’t like you not having a phone.”
“My contract is almost up, so this is a good time to get a new phone. How was your day today, Alec?”
I think back on my day and smile. I can’t share with the kids about the day I had in court. “I had a great day.”
“What happened to you today, daddy?”
“Daddy found out that someone made an appointment to look at our house.” I look at Raelynn and then at Emma. With all the excitement about the divorce, I forgot to tell her.
“Are they going to buy it?” Rae asks.
“It means someone likes our house and would like to see it.” I look at Rae, James, and then Emma. Emma is smiling. She knows this will be closure for me. I smile back at her and reach for her hand. She readily takes it, like she always does.
“Can we buy a new house on the beach?” Raelynn asks.
“With a big yard and a jungle gym?” James adds.
“We’ll see; I can’t make any promises.”
After dinner and our nightly bedtime routine, Emma opens a bottle of champagne and we celebrate.
She holds up her glass of champagne and asks, “Would you like to make a toast?”
“To freedom,” I say, holding my glass to hers.
“To freedom,” she says, clinking her glass against mine.
We sit on the lanai and drink the entire bottle of champagne.
“Molly showed up at court today,” I finally admit.
“Oh, how was that for you?”
“She stumbled into the courtroom with another man. They both looked like they were wearing week-old dirty clothing.”
“Alec, I’m sorry,” she says, sympathetically.
“When they called her up to the stand to conte
st the divorce, she fell down and the bailiff had to come over and help her up.”
“Oh, Alec.” Emma reaches over and touches my arm softly.
“It’s all right, Emma. When the judge asked her if she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, she denied it. Then the judge asked her if she was willing to take a drug test, and that’s when it got interesting.”
I look at Emma and she looks sad. I know it’s painful for her to hear. Nobody wants to see or hear about someone in that kind of drug-induced state.
“She mumbled some obscene words and the judge told her if she didn’t leave on her own, he would find her and her friend in contempt.”
Emma looks very sympathetic as I tell her the story. I decide that I have shared enough with her.
“I’m just glad it’s over with, and you have a showing scheduled for the house,” she says.
“That was definitely an added bonus today. With all the excitement about the divorce, I forgot to tell you that Madison has scheduled her first showing of the house for this week.”
“I told you everything would work out,” she says, standing up from the chair.
“Yes, Emma, you did. Remind me to listen to you more often.” I also stand and grab the empty champagne bottle and the two glasses.
“Now, that is something you can count on.”
Molly
I look through blurred vision and I think I am at my old house. I have no idea how I got here. I remember going to court and being asked to leave, but everything after that is a blur. I stumble closer to the house and read the large sign in the yard: FOR SALE. My already broken heart breaks a little more. I take a drink out of the bottle of Jim Beam that I am carrying around with me. If I stay high, I’ll feel less pain, I remind myself. I take another long gulp and wait for it to work. It’s not working fast enough, so I reach in my pocket and take out some pills that Bobby gave me earlier and chase them with another swig of Jim Beam. Pain pills never let me down. I just have to wait for it.
I lean against the post that displays the FOR SALE sign in the yard of my old house, and then I lower myself to the ground. My, Alec’s, and Raelynn’s home. I was so happy once. What happened to me?
The smiles and happiness flash through my head. I am standing there in my wedding dress next to Alec. He is standing tall in a black tuxedo. Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, so long as you both shall live? I do. He made a promise to God, but he did not keep his promise. He is not the man his girlfriend thinks he is. A tear slides down my face, and it reminds me that I can still feel the pain. I down the rest of the bottle and wait for oblivion to claim me.
Emma
Alec is finally relaxed and happy. I watch from the porch with Brooke as he, Brice, and all the kids play on the yard. They are playing touch football and it is hilarious. Brooke and I stop writing and watch and laugh as Brice and Alec show Rae how to play. We are working on plans to accomplish another item from Max’s bucket list. Item number 10: Have a huge party with the platoon and celebrate our freedom.
Brooke and I have decided to have a huge party on July 4th. It is still a couple months away, but with everyone spaced so far away, we need to start planning it now. Luckily, Brice still stays in contact with everyone in his old platoon. He says that Max is the link that holds everyone together. We fill out the invitations, and I even photocopied the letter from Max so I can give everyone a copy. I want them to know this is Max’s wish for them.
Screaming is coming from the yard, and Brooke and I look up. Raelynn has the flag and is running as fast as she can through the yard. I stand up and start to shout for her to run. Brooke also stands and starts screaming. I look over at Brooke and she laughs and says, “Girl power.” I nod and we root for Rae until she makes a touchdown. Brooke and I high five each other, and I let Raelynn know that she did a great job.
We sit back down and seal up the invitations before adding the postage. “It’ll be nice having everyone together again,” I say, honestly.
“It will. It’s been five years since we were all together. Do you think they’ll come?”
“Only time will tell. We’ll either have the biggest party ever, or it’ll be just us. Who knows? Either way, we’ll party and celebrate our freedom for Max.”
Later that night Alec and I get ready to meet Angel and Mason for dinner. Before dinner, we drop off the kids at Alec’s parents’ house for the night. His parents are excited because this is James’ first time spending the night with them. I don’t worry because I know he’ll do fine there.
“Emma, you look stunning tonight. The dress fits you perfectly.”
I decided on a black, above-the-knee dress with a sweetheart-cut neckline. I look over and smile at Alec. “Thank you and you look very sharp tonight, doctor,” I say, straightening his tie. He is dressed in a black suit and gray tie.
We pull up at the restaurant and are led to a table in the back of the room. Mason and Angel are already at the table waiting on us. Mason and Angel stand as soon as they see us. Mason shakes Alec’s hand first and then he leans in and gives me a friendly hug. “It’s good to see you again, Emma.”
“Thank you.” I hug Angel and then Alec hugs her.
“Please, sit down,” Mason says, pointing to the empty seats at the table.
Alec pulls my chair out for me as Mason does the same for Angel. Mason raises his hand, and the server comes over immediately.
Mason asks us, “Would you like a drink while we wait for Sara, Donovan, Brea, and Vincent?”
Alec orders me a glass of white wine and orders himself a Corona with lime. I look over at Angel and notice that she isn’t drinking. Sara, Donovan, Brea, and Vincent walk in together and we all stand to greet them. This is a friendly group, and it feels good to be a part of it. We make pleasantries before sitting down. Although I don’t know Vincent or Donovan well, I do like them. I don’t know Mason very well either, now that I think about it.
Alec squeezes my hand and I wonder if I was staring. When I look up at him, I am happy to see he is engrossed in a conversation with the guys about racquetball. Alec holds my hand under the table, and I watch as Mason keeps a protective arm over the back of Angel’s chair.
Angel tells us about a new client she picked up for her home interior business and Brea shares about how excited she and Vincent are to be out of the house without the baby. Alec and I laugh because we feel the same way.
Mason orders several different appetizers from the menu for everyone and drinks for those who need them. He carries such authority. I wonder if he doesn’t have one server reserved just for his table. She always seems available when he wants her.
Sara and Donovan announce they are training for a full marathon — the purpose of this marathon is to raise money to fight prostate cancer. We all make our monetary pledges and offer our support in any way we can. I also learn this will be their 2nd full marathon.
Brea smiles and says, “Arturo ran his first 5k race with them last weekend. He came home with his first ribbon.”
Donovan smiles, “He really trained hard for it, too. Sleeping in the running stroller was quite a workout. He even managed to get a poop in during the run.”
We all laugh and I think that we can’t even have dinner with adults without talking about poop — not when the adults have young children.
“Angel and I have some news we would like to share with you all.” Mason speaks loudly and clearly.
Everyone at the table sets their drinks down and gives Mason and Angel their undivided attention. I look at them both and I can’t tell if it’s bad news or good news. Alec squeezes my hand under the table; it tells me that he isn’t sure either.
Angel clears her throat, sits up a little straighter in her chair, and says, “I went to the doctor last week, and Mason and I are expecting.” She smiles and Mason smiles even bigger if that is possible.
> “Oh, my God, you’re going to have a baby,” Brea squeals.
Angel and Mason just smile as the table erupts with noise and laughter. Sara and Brea start discussing giving Angel a baby shower and the guys talk about going golfing when the shower takes place. Alec and I just sit back and laugh. This is great news, and I feel special to be included in this very private announcement.
Mason clears his throat to try to quiet the table. “Hold on a minute, there’s more.” The table suddenly falls quiet and all faces become serious. “Beauty, would you like to tell them the rest?”
“We are pregnant, but we are pregnant with two babies.”
“Two babies,” Mason repeats, as he holds up two fingers. He is smiling a dimpled smile.
“What did you say?” Sara asks.
“It’s true, we are having twins. They — well, we — heard two heartbeats during my checkup,” Angel says, leaning into Mason. Mason strokes her bare shoulder while keeping a protective arm over her chair.
Mason adds, “We won’t know anything for sure until next week when they do the first ultrasound.”
“And we are just now finding out about this,” Sara says, looking from Mason to Angel.
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but Mason wanted us to wait until I was three months pregnant.” Everyone at the table nods in understanding and Angel adds, “Guess who is already three months pregnant?”
I smile and look over at Alec. He squeezes my hand and we all stand to congratulate the couple on the great news. The girls all huddle together, feeling Angel’s slight baby bump while the guys congregate, talking about golf, sports, or whatever else guys talk about. I look over a few times and see that although the guys are all talking to each other, they are keeping a watchful eye on us.
Angel announces she has to go to the bathroom and Mason is at her side ready to escort her. Once they are out of view, I ask, “Why is Mason so protective of Angel?”
Vincent speaks first and says, “Angel was in an abusive relationship before she met Mason.”
Brea adds, “He stalked her and almost killed her. We didn’t think she was going to make it.”
Broken Lives Page 8