Hello my lovelies, sorry I haven't posted a new gem in a while, been a little busy but I've had this story on my brain for minute.

As usual, I don't own these amazing characters, I am just taking them on a ride! They will be returned to the Duffster!

Dedicated to ProfTweety. Hope you feel better soon, babe!

Inspired by "You Never Lied" by Morgan James

~~~~~~~~~ERSL21~~~~~~~~~~~

"You told me from the start that you were never mine."

A breezy autumn day in wine country, Napa, California the future Mrs. Raydor is prepping for her big day with her mother and friends. The room is filled with the joyous laughs and cries as Sharon prepares to marry her college sweetheart, Jackson. Their romance has been no whirlwind but it has been just perfect in their eyes. "Shari, just say the words, and we can leave right now." Mrs. O'Dwyer whispers in Sharon's ear as she fixes her veil. Sharon looks at her through the mirror and shakes her head 'no' and replies, "Mom, I don't have cold feet, for the thousandth time today." Mrs. O'Dwyer just smiles and tucks a loose strand of hair behind Sharon's ear and says, "I just had to make sure, sweetie." Sharon reaches for her mom's hand and squeezes it and says, "I know and I love you for it." They exchange smiles and they here a knock on the door followed by a deep voice, "Shari, are you ready?"

"Yes, Daddy. Be right out." Sharon announces. Her mother opens the door to her beaming father standing there awaiting his beautiful daughter. "You look beautiful, sweetheart." He says to his wife. She smiles as if that's the first time he's ever said those words to her. Sharon leans over to her childhood best friend, Melody, and says, "I found my Daddy, in Jack." Melody smiles at her, and rasps, "You sure did, Shar." Sharon stands up and walks to her dad, beaming with joy. "Shari, you look just like your mother the day she met me at the end of the aisle." He proudly states, holding his arm out for his princess. "Thank you, Daddy." She utters before placing a gentle kiss on his cheek and looping her arm with his. "You are very welcome, Peppermint." As the party heads to entrance of the sanctuary, Mr. O'Dwyer whispers to Sharon, "I have the getaway car parked out front." Sharon looks and him smiles and mewls, "Daddy!" He looks her square in the eyes and says, "I just wanted you to know you have options."

"Daddy, no I don't. I'm marrying Jackson today." She states firmly. He nods in understanding.

The rest of the wedding goes off without a hitch. The reception was full of dancing, laughs, hilarious toasts, and plenty of alcohol. Later, that night Sharon realized it was too much alcohol for Jackson to handle. They spent the majority of their wedding night on the bathroom floor of their hotel suite, because Jackson spent most of the night vomiting, while Sharon was the good wife and rubbed his back in her wedding gown. Their marriage wasn't consummated on their wedding night; in fact, it was 2 days later before it ever happened. Sharon never once complained. He always kept the severity of his drinking hidden from her and it was easy to do since they didn't cohabitate before the wedding.

Although she never complained to Jack, she never forgot it.

"The things that they show you, your eyes better see/ When somebody tells you the truth you better believe."

Year three of the marriage and things have not gone as smoothly as Sharon would have hoped for. She learned that marriage isn't some fairytale, it's filled with a lot give and take. For the most part she's been doing the majority of giving and Jack has been doing all the taking. He started law school last year, while she started the police academy to help pay his tuition. They agreed that once he passed the bar, she would start at USC. So far she has enjoyed her time on the police force. There have been times she couldn't see herself doing this longer than she had to, and there have been times where she could see it as a meaningful lifelong career. Today, she recieved some of the best news of her life, she is 12 weeks pregnant and she is excited to share the news with Jack. She called Jack at his internship and left a message with the receptionist, to come straight home today. She has cooked his favorite meal, Shrimp Etoueffe with garlic knots paired with his favorite red, Merlot. She has candles lit and set in their tiny studio apartment, that she hopes they will be moving out of before the baby arrives. She framed the sonogram picture and placed in a gift bag in his seat. She is beaming with joy and excitement and she wants to tell someone so badly, but she wants Jackson to be the first to know. Sitting at the table she watches the sky turn from day to night and the candles almost burn out. She gives up around 9 p.m. and blows the candles out and lays on the couch and cries herself to sleep. She is jolted awake by a loud crashing sound, that she realizes is Jack when she opens her eyes. He has knocked over the lamp in the entry way. "Shar! Shar! Where are you? I hit big tonight, baby!" He shouts not seeing her on the couch. "Jack, I'm right here. You can stop screaming." He stumbles over to her and almost sits on her legs as he falls to the couch next to her. She hums and looks at him and swallows deeply before she asked the hard question, "Jack, where did you get the money to gamble with?" He looks at her, and answers her question with a question, "Why does it matter? I won!"

She shakes her head and asks, "Jack can you just answer my question?"

He huffs and responds, "Fine, Sharon, I got it from the kid's Education account." She stays silent and walks over to the table and grabs the gift bag off the table and returns to the couch and drops the bag in his lap with a little more force than necessary, but he needed to know she was pissed.

"What's this?" He inquires.

"Open it and you'll find out." She sarcastically replies.

He rolls his eyes and opens the bag and pulls out the frame and reaches to switch on the light on the end table. He looks at the picture in the frame and is speechless. He looks up at Sharon and then back down to the picture and then back up at her, who now has tears streaming down her face. "Congratulations." She rasps and turns and walks toward the bedroom. "Sharon! We're pregnant?" He beams as she continues to walk down the hall ignoring him. "When did you find out?" He asks following behind her. She reaches the bedroom and turns around and utters, "Today." Before she slams and locks the door. "Look, Sharon, I'm sorry I didn't come home right away. I just had the feeling in my gut that I was going to win big tonight and baby, I did. I won $3000! That's the next installment on my tuition.

Behind the door Sharon's tears have increased as she rubs her belly, praying that he will be a better man by the time their child makes their debut in the world. Jack continues to rant outside the door and eventually Sharon, opens the door and lets him in. He apologizes like he always does and kisses her belly as he climbs in the bed. His loving action towards their unborn child, gives her a little hope to hold onto as she falls asleep in his arms.

"Now you're gone/ I've got nothing left."

The Raydor marriage has reached its boiling point. So much so, that Sharon called Melody and asked her to come pick up Emily and Ricky and take them to her parent's house in Napa for a week. She has discovered so much about Jack over the last 10 years, but what she has learned over the last 3 months has been heartbreaking and devastating to say the least.

Sharon meets Melody in the driveway with the kids and their bags, after getting them buckled in and kissing them she closes the door, and Melody asks, "Sharon, are you sure you can do this all alone?" Sharon is trying her best not to cry in front of the children, and nods, 'yes' and says, "I married him alone, I'm going to separate from him alone." Melody squeezes her best friend's hand and muses, "Call me and I will come right over when I get back from Napa. Okay?" Sharon nods and pulls her into a hug and whispers, "Thank you, Mellie."

Mellie and the kids leave and Sharon returns inside and awaits Jackson's arrival. She has prepared all the necessary evidence to prove her case. Over the past few months she has discovered that he has had several affairs. One resulted in a pregnancy and the young lady had an abortion that was paid for by Jack and the physician sent the bill to their home. How dumb could Jack be? She wondered that day, but she never said anything to him about it. She had hoped he would come clean on his own but it never happened. She went for her yearly exam 2 weeks ago and she was told by her doctor that her one of STD test came back negative. Luckily, it was curable by a few doses of antibiotics. She couldn't believe that her husband, that she loved with all of her heart could be so foul. But if she was honest with herself he never lied to her about who he truly was. He always showed signs of his philandering ways, his abuse of alcohol, and his gambling tendencies, but they never were so blatant until he became complacent in their relationship.

He once was caught cheating on her in college but she forgave him, because she believed his ridiculous lie of it was a "fraternity ritual" to sleep with a neighboring sorority girl. She always chalked his drinking up to his fun times with his frat brothers and as a normal college experience. She couldn't judge she had spent many nights in college drunk in her sorority house, but she managed to never betray him or do anything that would embarrass him during any of those nights.

The gambling never was severe, he participated a few local poker tournaments on campus and he won most of them. There were never large stakes. So, she felt no need to be concerned.

Here she is years later looking at his suitcases packed and waiting for his arrival. Walking past the mantle and seeing their wedding picture out the corner of her eye, she stops and picks it up and as she looks it at, a tear falls onto it and lands on him. "Where did it all go wrong?" She muses aloud. She hears his key turn in the lock, and she places the picture back on the mantle and heads to the table, where all of her evidence is lying out. He walks in and notices the suitcases, and scans the house for her. "Sharon, are we going somewhere and I don't know about it?" He inquires walking into the kitchen spotting her. "Not exactly." She rasps. "Well do you mind telling me what's going on?" He inquires.

"Sure. Have a seat and you can read all about it." She muses.

He takes a seat and she hands him the bill for the abortion. He looks over it and immediately begins to start a lie, "Sharon, this has to be some type of mistake. Wrong address maybe?"

"No, Jack. I thought so to. So, I called the credit card company to see if the bill had been paid and sure enough it was paid with our credit card." She states looking him directly in the eyes and he tries so hard to think of another excuse.

"Look, Sharon…" He starts but she interrupts. "Save it, Jack. We have some other matters to attend to." He swallows hard as she slides the next object in front of him. He looks over the paper and as what he has read dawns on him, he jumps up from his seat, "Sharon, you've been cheating on me! How could you do that to me? I know I haven't been the perfect husband!" Sharon sits back and folds her arms and calmly says, "Jack, I've never cheated on you, not even when I had the chance. Don't try to turn this around on me. You are the adulterer not, I. You not only slept with other women, you got one pregnant and then I'm sure you begged her to have an abortion like you did me a few years ago, and then you caught an STD and brought it home to me. Instead of being a smart man about your escapades you chose not to wear a condom and got caught twice. So here we are." Jack looks at her unable to believe that she would dare bring up the abortion, after Ricky. "Sharon why do you continue to bring up that old situation?" He asks sitting back down. "Jack, it was no situation! It was our child, that we made!" She screams. "You continue to act like I made our child by myself and you know damn that's not how it works." She rants. "Well, if you would have gotten your tubes tied." He mumbles. "You know what, Jack, just stop talking. I'm done." She says as she slides the final envelop across the table. "What is this?" He rasps.

He pulls the papers out and reads them. Unable to believe what he is reading, he utters, "Sharon, you can't be serious right now? Legal separation, is that what you really think is going to happen here today?"

She stands up and says, "I don't think, I know that's what is going to happen today. I have already taken your name off the account for the children. Our joint account has been closed. You will notice a check in that envelope with your half. I canceled all the credit cards. We can sell or keep the house your choice. However, as of right now, you will not be here when the children return. We can meet with the lawyers tomorrow to set up a visitation schedule and decide what to do with the house. Frankly, I don't want it, but it holds a lot of great memories for the kids especially, Em. So, please be mindful of that. Now, Jack if you could please leave, there are two officers outside waiting for you. Please do not return, because the locks will be changed."

He is still sitting there in disbelief. All those years and she still didn't believe his charms. He really is slipping on his game. He thought he had her charmed and wrapped around his little finger but today she shattered his little theory. He stands up ready to spew something that Sharon was sure to be foul, but before he could get it out, Officer Sanchez says, "Sir, this way please." Jack looks in his direction and turns to look back at Sharon, and rasps, "It's not going to be that easy to get rid of me, O'Dwyer!"

"Don't worry, I'm ready for the battle, Raydor." She says as she rolls her eyes. He walks towards the door and grabs his suitcases and begins to walk out the door, and turns to look at her and spews, "Of all the women I could have had, I chose you. You should have considered yourself lucky!"

"That's enough, sir!" Officer Sanchez yells startling Jack. Officer McGinnis escorts Jack off the front porch as Officer Sanchez turns around and says, "Sorry, Mrs. Raydor. Have a glass or two of wine and take a nice bubble bath and try to forget the jerk." Sharon smiles at him and says, "You can call me Sharon and thank you. I will try my best."

He nods, and replies, "Yes, ma'am. Please don't hesitate to call us if he returns before the locksmith arrives."

"I won't." She affirms. Officer Sanchez closes the door and like clockwork Sharon falls to her chair and starts crying. Not tears of sadness but tears of freedom. She spent too many of her years being manipulated by a man that she thought loved her the way she loved him. She spent all these years hoping that the man she fell madly in love with wasn't just a façade. Sadly. He never lied to her, she just chose to overlook all his truths and believe his lies more.

"Wow! Jack really was an asshole." Andy says before sticking a piece of cotton candy in his mouth.

"Yes, he was. But I can always give him credit for never hiding who he truly was." She muses wiping a piece stray sugar from his face.

"Yes, but you were a woman in love, and he took advantage of that." He says grabbing her thumb and licking the sugar off.

"He's not the only one to blame, Andy. I allowed it, so I take the blame as well." She says smiling at him.

"Well, I'm just glad you dropped the loser." Andy says before stealing a kiss. She breaks the kiss as they need air and agrees, "Me too." They both laugh as they walk hand in hand to the edge of pier to watch the sun set over the ocean.

She pulls a piece of cotton candy off the cone and says, "Andy, thank you for the being the man, I can trust with all of my secrets."

"It is my pleasure be that until death does us 'part." He muses pulling her left hand to his mouth and kissing her wedding band before stealing the piece of cotton candy, causing her to erupt with laughter.

{The End}

~~~~~~~~~ERSL21~~~~~~~~~~~

I look forward to reading all of your nuggets of appreciation.

XOXO