Learning to Love
Hello! Before you start reading, there were a few things I wanted to say! First, this is my first story EVER and I would appreciate as much feedback as possible! This chapter will be shorter than the rest; it's more of an introduction.
NOTE: Anything in italicized font is a flashback
Your feedback is much appreciated! Thanks for reading!
Chapter One
The rain clattered onto the window shield of my car like continuous buckets dropping water from the sky above. I turned my wipers onto full speed to try and see the headlights of the car in front of me, while I also turned off the CD that was playing Disney songs throughout my black SUV. The storm was getting worse and worse, resulting in the distance I could see in front of me becoming smaller and smaller. I gripped onto the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles turning a bright white. I loved rain and storms when I was watching them from the large window off of the entrance in my home, but inside a car on a major freeway was a completely different story.
"Mommy, why did you turn off the music? It was at the best part! In the movie, that's where Elsa uses magic to turn from a normal princess into an ice princess! Her gown and hair change at that part, mommy!" I took a glance in my rearview mirror to look at the pouting four year old in my backseat. It was a sight to see. Her raven-colored hair was in two braids that were slowly falling out of place. I figured it was from her playing dress-up all day; taking on and off clothes can really mess up a good hair-do. She was currently wearing a big, puffy yellow dress that was an exact replica of Belle's from "Beauty and the Beast." Her big, beautiful gray eyes were full of sadness and irritation that was aimed at me for stopping the song "Let it Go." She was a great singer, and I enjoyed listening to her recite the lyrics, but I needed no distractions while driving in this awful weather. The red taillights of the car ahead of me were just visible with all of the rain coming down. When I saw the lights become brighter, indicating they were stopping, I carefully pressed down on my brakes. I was becoming more and more worried about hydroplaning. After bumper-to-bumper traffic for the next two minutes, we came to a complete and abrupt stop.
"Can you put the music on now? We're stopped! Please? I want to sing along to music from "Beauty and the Beast" just like Belle! I'm Belle, mommy, and I need to sing my parts in the song!" I laughed a little and shook my head no.
"Bella, we might start moving again at any second. I brought your princess coloring book and some crayons. Why don't you color a picture for me?" I reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed the coloring book and Ziploc bag of Crayola crayons that I packed for her. I briefly turned around and held them out to her so she would take them. She started to reach for the bag and coloring book, but stopped her hands from taking them when she was just centimeters away.
"Mommy, my name is Belle now, not Bella. I am Princess Belle, and I'm even wearing a yellow dress just like her! Call me Belle. I changed my name to Belle Grace Hawthorne. It's not Bella or Arabella anymore, okay, mommy?" I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. She seemed to notice and took that as me agreeing to this name change, so she took the supplies out of my hand and started to color a picture of Belle and The Beast dancing around in a ballroom. I turned back around and resumed to my position with both hands on the steering wheel. The storm was picking up all around us. The rain started to come down even harder, and the wind was swaying my huge car from side to side. I wonder how the people in smaller cars were dealing with this weather.
I was distracted from my thoughts when I saw my phone lighting up on the passenger seat from the corner of my eye. We were still sitting in the same place as ten minutes before, so I figured it would be okay to answer my phone and not be distracted. If we started to move again, I would simply hang up and focus back on the road in front of me. I looked at the screen on my phone and smiled at the picture of my sister's face illuminating on it. I slid the small green button to the left so it would answer.
"Hey there, Little Duck." I heard her groan and then laugh at the nickname I created for her ten years ago. Her reaction ended up making me laugh.
"Hi, Katniss! How are you and my little princess?" I didn't really know how to answer. Prim knew that things in my life weren't going that great. My marriage was a disaster and on the verge of ending, I was still unemployed, and we had a huge plumbing problem earlier this morning resulting in water damage in the master bathroom, basement, and two guest rooms.
"Your little princess was in a lot of trouble earlier." I told her with a small sigh. I heard Prim gasp on the line. Bella had Prim wrapped around her little finger, and with that Prim believed she could do no wrong.
"What? My sweet, innocent Bella? How did she get into trouble?" I looked in the rearview mirror at my "Sweet, innocent Bella" and then back up at the road ahead. I had a feeling we would be stuck in this stormy traffic for a long time, so I started to tell Prim the story of this morning.
I woke up with water squishing between my toes and automatically knew this was going to be a long day. I quickly picked up my robe off of the chair in the corner of the room and ran to the master bath on the other side of the room. As I was walking, I could feel the amount of water on the carpet become even colder and more abundant. I walked into the bathroom and realized my feet were standing in a massive puddle that engulfed all of the tiles on the floor. It wasn't dirty water, so that only meant one thing; the pipes burst. I carefully moved out of the flooded bathroom and down the hall to Bella's room. I didn't see or feel any water, which was a huge relief.
"Bella, wake up! It's time to get ready for school!" I turned her bedroom light on and walked over to her closet. I grabbed the cute floral skirt I bought for her last week which consisted of light pink, red, and black flowers. I went into the "shirt" part of her closet and picked out the light pink shirt that matched her new skirt perfectly.
"Mommy, I thought you said I could pick out my own clothes now?" She pouted. I sighed and tossed the clothes on her bed where she was still sitting.
"Bella, something happened and water is leaking all over the house. I would appreciate it if you could please put on these clothes while I call grandma to come take you to school. Okay?" Her eyes widened and she nodded quickly. I didn't think twice about it and ran back to my bedroom. Along the way, I felt the carpet squish under my toes when I passed one of our guest rooms. I made a mental note to remind myself to check it out as soon as I ended the call to my mother.
I walked over to my phone and grabbed it. I dialed my mother's home phone and waited for her to answer. It rang four times, growing frustrated, I started sliding the "end" button on my screen to hang up when she finally answered. Before she could even say a greeting, I started talking.
"Mom, can you please take Bella to school? Something happened and the water pipes burst everywhere! I have a job interview this morning, but now I think I'll be here at home with a plumber and trying to mop up all of this water!" I was frantic. She could easily tell, and told me to sit down. I ignored her order and started running to the other guest room we had. The carpet was even wetter outside of that door. I couldn't go in; I would freak out.
"Katniss? I know you're not listening to me when I said to sit down. I can hear your heavy breathing from running around assessing the damage. I'll be there in ten minutes to feed Bella and take her to school. Now, get off of the phone and call a plumber!" I nodded, but realized she couldn't see me. I didn't even bother saying goodbye and quickly ended the call.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and walked over to Bella's room. She was stubborn like me, so she wasn't wearing the clothes I laid out for her. Instead, she was wearing the big, yellow dress that Belle from "The Beauty and The Beast" wears. Usually, I would make her take it off since she was going to school, but I had other things on my mind.
"Come here so I can put your hair in braids." I could see the look of shock on her face when I didn't make her take off the dress, but she quickly replaced the shock with a smile and ran over to me with her pink brush and elastic hair-ties. I was able to put her hair in perfect braids within one minute.
She jumped off of the bed and went downstairs with me right on her heels. I poured her a bowl of Lucky Charms, something my husband claimed was very unhealthy, but I didn't give a shit at the moment. I saw the sparkle in her eye when I put the bowl of sugary cereal in front of her. Hopefully she didn't have to sit still for too long at school, otherwise she would be bouncing off the walls once she returned home.
"Katniss! Bella! I'm here, where are you guys?" I heard my mother's voice ring throughout the front foyer.
"We're both in the kitchen!" I yelled back. I took my phone out and started searching for plumbers in the area when she finally walked in. She placed a kiss on Bella's head and set her purse down on the kitchen table. She looked over at me and sighed. She must have figured out I didn't call a plumber yet when she saw me staring at my phone screen.
I was able to find a plumber not too far away, so I pressed on the number that was located on their website. My phone automatically connected to it and dialed the number. I saw my mother mouthing words to me, but I couldn't tell what she was trying to say. I raised an eyebrow at her and held my hands out to my side to show her I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
"Did you turn the water off?" She asked me while sitting down in the seat next to Bella. She turned her gaze down to Bella and looked at her for a long time. She must have noticed Bella's outfit choice. I was too busy worrying about getting Bella ready in an outfit that she didn't even put on, that I forgot to turn off the water.
I started running to the basement to turn it off when the never-ending ringing on my phone stopped, indicating someone in the plumber's office finally picked up.
"Hello?" I asked out of breath. They answered, and I explained my situation with the water pipes bursting and water spewing all over the place. They asked if I turned off the water, and when I said no, I swear whoever I was talking to was going to have a heart attack. I didn't know how to turn it off, but they explained to me where a valve to shut it off would be located, and what it looked like. After ten minutes of searching, I found it and shut the damn water off. I was told a plumber would be out within the next hour. The bottoms of my plaid pajama pants were soaked from the whole basement flooding.
I went upstairs to find my mother and Bella already left to take her to school. Now I had time to assess the damage. Before doing that though, I called my husband Gale. As usual, he didn't answer. I was angry, he should know if the pipes were old and were on the verge of bursting. When his voicemail greeting ended, I decided to leave him a message.
"Gale, where the hell are you?! You told me you would be back from England this morning, but you aren't here! I don't care if you own a multi-million dollar company. You should be home more and not traveling! The pipes in the house burst and now there's water all over the damn basement and who knows where else! You don't want me to divorce you, but you're never here to help with anything for Bella or myself! I have no idea how to deal with water damage! I'm so sick of this! You're never here anymore! You better call me back before Bella and I leave and are out of your life forever!" I hit the end button immediately. Was I too harsh? Probably, but if scaring him into thinking Bella and I were going to be gone would work and he came home, then I would use that threat all the time. I started walking upstairs to figure out where there was water damage, not that I would know what to do once I found it.
I walked all around the upstairs and downstairs of my house. The only rooms that had water damage were my bathroom, bedroom, the two guest rooms, and the basement. It was a lot of damage, I was just thankful none of the water made its way into Bella's bedroom. That would've been a huge disaster.
I changed into normal clothes and braided my hair. I ended up calling the woman I had a job interview with and cancelled on her. I explained the situation, and she was nice enough to let me cancel and reschedule my interview for next Friday. It felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulder. When I ended the call, my gaze fell upon a picture of Gale and I from our wedding. We both looked so happy and full of life. My dress was simple with minimal lace, but it looked beautiful. My hair was down and curled, and my veil was gorgeous. Gale and I were both laughing and looking at each other lovingly. I wish I knew how much things would change. Gale's business took off the year we got married, and when he partnered up with another big corporation, everything changed. Only two months later, I found out I was pregnant with Bella. As my pregnancy progressed, so did the amount of time Gale worked. I became even more frustrated with him when he started traveling to different countries, states, and cities than ever before. He spent maybe 7 hours a week with us, but most of the time he was living in hotel rooms in some other place. That's when the fighting started. Whenever I suggest a divorce, he walks out and won't hear any of it.
I was dragged out of my thoughts when the doorbell rang, indicating the plumber had arrived. I took one last glance at the wedding picture and walked out of my bedroom, down the steps, and to our large front door. The doorbell played classical music that automatically gave me a headache. I quickly opened up the door and let the plumber inside.
I had him follow me down to the basement where I turned off the water just minutes ago. After assessing the damage and amount of water that came from those pipes, he went upstairs and looked in all of the rooms where water was spewing just minutes ago.
"Well, Mrs. Hawthorne, there are many reasons why pipes burst, but they all fall into one of these four categories. The first and most common reason pipes burst is because of cold weather. Water can freeze in the pipes, which in turn makes them expand and burst. The second situation I see most of the time is the pipes were old and needed to be replaced. This can be expensive, because along with water damage, you have to replace all of the pipes in your house. The next situation, which usually goes along with the last one, is the pipes were put together wrong, and it was just a matter of time until they burst. The last situation, which you fall in, is something, or rather, multiple things, were shoved down into the pipes, resulting in the water building up and the pipes bursting." I looked at him confused. How was I in that situation?
"What? Who would clog our pipes? No, an even better question I have for you is what clogged them and caused this much damage?"He held up his hand to tell me to stay where I was. Within ten minutes, he came back with three, satin ties. I studied them for a few seconds. They were Gale's favorite ties that he only wore for special occasions.
"They were flushed down three different toilets; the ones in your master bath and the two other rooms." I looked at him in disbelief. I grabbed our garbage can and had him throw the expensive ties in the trash. One of the ties Gale wore at our wedding and the other two he would only wear for very formal meetings or banquets.
I paid the plumber after he not only fixed my pipes, but fixed the small emergency drain in our basement floor so the water that was up to our ankles would drain and be out of our lives forever. The damage done around the house would cost us a lot of money. The only positive thing to Gale's job was the amount of money he made. I wasn't a materialistic person, but in situations like this, it was nice to have some extra money stashed away in case we needed to replace anything. In this case, we had many things that needed replacing; the carpets, some of the curtains, and who knows what else.
"How do you know my Bella did that?" Prim asked in disbelief. I rolled my eyes.
"Do you really think that I would flush Gale's ties down the toilet, Prim?" She let out a loud sigh on her end of the line.
"Okay, I get it. But why do you think she would flush his ties down the toilet? She never does anything like that. It's not like she flushed things down it when she was younger. Why would she do that all of a sudden?" I could tell how upset Prim was with the realization that Bella did something wrong.
"Well, I think she's finally old enough to realize that he's not here much. She talks to him on the phone whenever he has time, but those conversations usually last a few minutes, and then he doesn't call for days." Gale was the dumb one who didn't understand that Bella knew he wasn't around. He still looked at her as a baby who didn't have the brain capacity to recognize her settings and people. Anyone in the right mind would know that children recognize their parents at a very young age, but Gale has proved many times to me that he's not in the right mind for many situations.
"I just don't understand why she would choose today of all days to flush his ties down the toilet. Her birthday isn't for another six months, and Christmas isn't for another three." Prim was aware, along with the rest of my family and his family, that Gale missed three of Bella's birthdays and never made an appearance on Christmas two years in a row.
"He texted me last night saying he would be home this morning, but he was going to be leaving tomorrow for a two week trip to British Columbia." The rain started to slow down and the cars were beginning to move again. Usually I would hang up to give my full attention to the road, but I figured it was okay to talk a little while longer since the cars weren't moving that fast.
"But this isn't the first time he announced he was only going to be home for two days..or I guess one since he still isn't back." I could hear the confusion laced in Prim's words.
"The recital's on Saturday, Prim." Saturday was the day of Bella's dance recital. Bella had been talking about it since the class started last December. She was enrolled in a ballet and tap class, though she preferred tap. Gale had put it in his calendar in January, and promised her ever since that he would be there. When she found out that he wasn't going to make it, she ended the call on my phone and went upstairs. She didn't cry though, which I found very strange. I realized later on that he had let her down so many times; she didn't bother making the effort to cry. It angered me more than anything.
"Oh my god, I can't believe he did that to her. Everyone's going! Her own father should be able to go! I would flush his ties down the toilet too. He broke too many promises, Katniss." I smiled at my sister's words. It was nice to know that somebody else felt the exact same way I did. Whenever I would get frustrated or cry and called my mother, she would always tell me that it would get better; that he would work less and spend more time with Bella and I. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-laws would all say the exact same things. Prim was the only one who truly understands how I feel.
"I know, and I'm honestly sick of it. I can't put up with it anymore. But I have to go. Traffic is improving, and I want to have my full attention to the road." I looked in my rearview mirror at Bella. She was focused on coloring the picture of Belle more than anything else.
"Okay, I'll let you go. Before you do hang up, I have one last question for you. Where on earth are you going? Unless it's important, you would never drive in a storm."
"Do you promise you can keep a secret, Prim?" I knew she could keep a secret; she knew every single one of mine and never told anyone. I just needed the reassurance.
"Of course I can! Where are you going?" I looked at the paperwork over on the passenger seat before replying to her.
"Well, first I'm going to a lawyer, and then I promised Bella I would go to that bakery in town to buy her a cookie since Gale disappointed her once again. She wouldn't agree to anything else but a cookie from this particular bakery. I've never been there before, but mom buys bread and cookies from this place all the time. Ever since she gave Bella one, she wouldn't stop talking about them. I promised I would buy her one soon, and Gale's disappointment seemed like the perfect pick-me-up."
"Okay...but why are you going to a lawyer? Is this the secret part?" I looked at Bella in the backseat and lowered my voice.
"Yes, Prim. I'm going to a lawyer to get divorce papers. I'm going to divorce Gale."