Twilight is the creation of Stephanie Meyer, to whom I will be forever grateful for her gift .
This story is actually meant to be a part of Coming Storm, at some point the two will interconnect. Please, read and review. I need all the help I can get. Thank you all so much. Cap ctr
Discovery of Hope
Chapter One
Had I been asked two weeks ago, if I could envision a future where I had loss all hope, I would have asked if you were crazy. Sure, my life wasn't perfect, but I had three beautiful daughters whom I adored, and a wife with whom I had been hopelessly in love since I had met her. The problem was, she no longer loved me.
I can't really condemn her for not loving me, because in her eyes, I had given her plenty of reason. Nothing I had done per Se, rather, she had stopped loving me for what I was, or rather, for what I wasn't.
We met when she was a freshman in college, and I was, as always, trying to figure out what to do with my life. At twenty-six, I had not finished school, could find nothing that I was particularly good at, and had the misfortune of being born with uncommonly good looks. Even worse, I had just inherited a small fortune from my father at his death.
The combination of my looks, the new sports car I had purchased with a portion of my inheritance, was sufficient to convince Anna that I was an "up and coming", with a brilliant future.
I tried to tell her that I had no idea what to do with my life, that I was forgetful, and hopelessly inept at anything I tried my hand at. But, as besotted as I was with her, I found myself unable to convey my warnings with sufficient gravity, to make her believe that I was serious. To see the true me. The man who sets his car keys down to put on a coat, and then have to spend an hour looking for them. The man that would forget which bills were due, and when. The man that had not only never finished school, but had never stayed at a job for more than nine months. The man who had been told repeatedly by his father that he would never amount to much, because his head was always in the clouds.
It was a bitter self-fulfilling prophecy. I had heard such things from my father since I had been five years old, I couldn't not believe him, and I heard his condescending voice every time I tried to find success.
It is not my father's fault that I am a failure, but he sure didn't help.
Anna had finally had enough. She gave me an ultimatum, either "man up", and do something with my life other than work as a welder at the foundry where I had been employed for a record three and a half years, or she was going to divorce me. She was tired of having a husband she was ashamed of, tired of having to hide the fact that she was married to a blue-collar worker from her fellow nurses at the ER. I had misrepresented myself to her, she told me, convincing her I was a winner, when in reality, I was a loser.
The harsh words hurt, but she had made no attempt to hide her feelings since the day she realized that I wasn't a blazing success, and wasn't likely to be. She felt that we were unequally yoked, she was a certified genius, who could have been anything she wanted, and I...wasn't.
My wife felt that I had caused her to waste her life by marrying me, and after the children were born, Anna had returned to school to become a registered nurse, instead of the doctor she had always envisioned herself being, back before she had the misfortune of meeting me. Somebody had to make a "good" living in our family, she told me scornfully.
After twelve years of marriage, I had returned to school, determined to prove myself worthy of my wife and children. I had left my job at the foundry, taking a maintenance job at the University and a pay cut, in order to earn free tuition, have the time to actually attend class(I was working on average, twelve hour days), and state benefits for my family.
My determination payed off, and that semester proved to be the first time in my life that I had ever earned an A in school. Three, in fact, and two B's.
I remember how excited I was to show my grades to my wife. As it was Christmas, I gift-wrapped them, and that night, after the children had gone to bed, I gave them to her.
Upon opening her gift, she looked at my grades, her eyes marginally widening in surprise. I chortled happily, beaming with pride at my first taste of academic success. Looking up at me, Anna's eyes narrowed "What are you so excited about?" she asked me, genuinely puzzled "You only took remedial classes. Your thirty-seven, for crying out loud, if you can't pass algebra, English, and psychology, with all the other freshmen, then you're an even bigger loser than my mom says you are!" she finished with a venomous hiss.
As we were visiting her mother for the holidays, Anna had kept her voice down, for which I was grateful, but I was also crushed by her reaction, and more than a little embarrassed by the realization that she was right. I was excited about earning good grades in classes attended by students half my age? What was I thinking?
"What are you talking about?" I asked defensively, trying to cover up how much her words hurt me "Your mother likes me." She should, I had spent years trying to earn her approval. It had only been in the last two years that she had finally started to warm up to me.
"She despises you, Jordan! She laughs at you behind your back. The only thing she values about you is your DNA, which somehow weeded out your countless flaws, and graced our children with a few of you physical traits. Thank God they got everything else from me. Without that piece of meat between your legs, you would be worthless to her." Anna scorned "Me too, come to think of it."
Pain and rage battled within my shattered heart. She had said similar things to me before, but never with such vitriol. I had thought that by doing well in school she would have been at least somewhat proud of me.
As usual, I was wrong.
Standing up, I grabbed my coat.
"Were are you going," she sneered "going to run away from our discussion like always? Going to go find someplace where you can cry in private?"
"This isn't a 'discussion', it's a castigation. I am leaving before I say something I regret."
"Pussy!" she spat, knowing how much I hated it when she used profanity.
I left our room, and after checking on the girls, went downstairs to the front door, passing my mother-in-law.
"Going out?" she asked pleasantly.
"Uh, yeah..." I stuttered, wondering if she had heard us upstairs. "Just running down to the convenience store to grab some diapers. Can I get you anything mom?" I asked, watching her face for any of the contempt Anna had informed me of.
"Oh, I'm good," she said "although maybe you should pick up a lotto ticket while you're there, your luck could only get better." she finished, smugly.
She knew.
I grabbed the car keys from off the counter and fled.
Driving down to the convenience store, I mulled over the recent exchange with my wife and mother-in-law. It appeared that my wife was right, her mother loathed me.
I sighed painfully. Where had it all gone wrong? I had only ever wanted what was best for my family. I was by no means anyone special, but I worked hard, first at the foundry, than later at school. Hoping that the harder I worked, the greater the chance she would love me again. Maybe even respect me.
I had failed.
It seemed that Anna was determined to never love me again, she had made up her mind about that already.
Walking into the store, I wandered aimlessly down the aisles, picking up a treat for the older girls, and diapers for the baby.
When I took my items up to the register, I was involuntarily shaken out of my stupor. There at the check out, were two of the most beautiful people I had ever seen, a waif like brunette, and a man with hair like copper. They shared one distinctive trait, blazingly green eyes.
"Will that be all for you sir?" The man asked kindly.
"Yes, thank you." I said faintly.
"Edward!" chided the beautiful pixie "you forgot, any purchase over ten dollars gets a free lotto ticket."
"Of course, Alice. Sorry, I forgot." he said, taking the ticket from her, and handing it to me.
"Um, thanks," I said "but I didn't pick any numbers."
"Oh that's okay," said the man "it's a...quick pick."
"That's right," said the girl "hold on to that ticket, I have a feeling you are going to get lucky."
"That would be a first." I muttered, causing the girl to smile sympathetically.
Going out to the car, I unlocked the door and put my purchase in the passenger seat, the lotto ticket I put in my wallet. Buckling up, I put the key in the ignition, turning it.
Nothing. The car was absolutely dead. I tried again, with the same result.
Punching the steering wheel, I finally swore. What else could go wrong? This car was brand new, Anna's baby. She was not only going to be pissed, she was going to be pissed at me!
I got out of the car, locking it up. I started the five mile walk home, wondering how I was going to tell my wife and avoid another tongue lashing at the same time.
"Give me your money!!"
Startled, I looked up to find myself surrounded by a bunch of young thugs.
"What!" I asked in disbelief.
"You heard me asshole," the young man in front of me demanded, trying to hide his nerves through false bravado "give me your money, or I'm gonna stick you full of holes."
"First of all, I don't have any money, I spent it on diapers," I said, lifting my arms to show my purchases. "Secondly, why would you want to do something like this? Gang initiation?" Looking around at the young men, I asked without thinking "Whats the name of this gang? Dumbasses'R'us?"
The next thing I knew, I was tackled by four or five of the guys, who proceeded to pound me to a pulp for the next two minutes, until a car started driving up the street towards us.
"Lets beat it man!" I heard one of them say.
"One more thing," I recognized the voice of the kid that had demanded money "this."
My chest exploded in pain as a knife was jammed in between my ribs.
"Lets go, you moron!" I heard their footsteps fade into the distance, as I concurrently heard a car screech to a halt beside me.
"It's going to be kind of hard to enjoy his newfound wealth if he is dead, Alice."
"I know Edward," sang a familiar voice "but this had to happen. We Need him in our cause. There are things that only he can do."
"I'll get his car home, tell his wife about the attack."
"Like that cast iron bitch would care. She has never appreciated him for what he was, nor for how hard he worked. She absolutely refuses to see the goodness in his soul!"
"Lets see how this plays out. I'll get his chest if you get his arms and legs."
My trip to merciful darkness was suddenly disrupted by another stabbing pain, a series of them in fact. Two to my chest, one to each of my extremities. I started to thrash, until a wave of comfort washed over me, eliminating the pain, and sweeping me into oblivion. The last thing I heard was the pixie's musical voice saying: "I can't wait to see her face when she sees him after this. Nobody mistreats my great- grandson and gets away with it. Edward, call the boys and tell them to have the sharks blood ready."