Six years ago in Seattle
Addison glanced up from her reading as Derek walked through the trailer door. He came to sit on the bed in front of her and started talking.
"I was indifferent." Derek admits.
"What?" Addison asks shocked that Derek was finally admitting to it.
"You know, in New York. Before Mark. I was indifferent towards you."
"Yes." Addison agrees.
"I was absent." Derek tells her.
"Yes."
"I'm partly to blame, for our marriage."
"Yes."
"I'm sorry... and I'm working on it."
"Okay." Addison says softly. "Okay, Derek. I pleased that you finally admitted that it wasn't just me who had a hand in destroying our marriage. I know that what I did was awful and I regret it every single day but I was desperate and wasn't thinking clearly. I thought that you didn't love me anymore and Mark was there telling me how great I was and that you were stupid for taking me for granted and I made a stupid mistake. I can't go back and change it. But I love you, Derek and I want us to get through this. I've put up with living in this trailer in Seattle cause if it meant that I was with you then I was ok with that. I'm hoping that we won't be here forever. But I needed to make this work. I couldn't lose you again."
"Oh Addie, I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot. I've finally realised that I don't want to lose you either. I know I need to make some changes as we can't go on like this. But I need you to help me. Maybe we can talk and tell each other what we need to get through this."
"That's what I've wanted for so long, Derek. For us to really talk and for you to listen to me. I love you and I want you to be more like the man I married. I know he's in there somewhere, he just got too focused on his work to even notice his wife. I know I made a lot of mistakes too and I'm so sorry. But please give us a real chance to work on fixing our marriage."
"Oh Addie, I'm still the man you married I promise. I just needed some help to realise that. From now on I want to make things better. I don't want to wake up one morning and find that I've lost everything that makes life worth living."
"Derek, I think in order to move on we have to go back to New York and face it head on. At least to sort some things out from the life we left behind. We don't have to go back permanently if you don't want. But we need to move into a house. Either here in Seattle or back in New York. I don't want to go on living in limbo in this trailer for much longer."
"You're right Addison, in order to move on we need to go back and face it. I guess we also need to go and see our families as it's been a while. We left so much behind in New York and it's time we went back and dealt with it all."
"Ok well should we talk to Richard and arrange some time off and then we can book some flights. We don't need to stay at the brownstone, we can stay in the Hamptons or in a hotel. I think we need to go back to the brownstone at least to arrange some of our things and decide if we want to keep it or sell it but we don't have to sleep there if you don't want to. If you do think that one day we can face it, then we can always redecorate it and make a fresh start in it. Or if it's too much we can find a new home. Either in New York or here in Seattle. I don't want to force you into anything you don't want, so I want it to be something we both decide on."
"Ok well let's just sort everything out with Richard and fly out to New York before we start making plans on where we're going to live. You're right that we need to face it but let's just see how it go and we'll decide on what is right for us. I guess if we moved back to New York we'd be closer to our friends and family again and I know you miss it, Addie."
"You're right, let's just take things a step at a time. I can't quite believe we had this conversation. But I'm so glad we did."
"Me too, Addie. Now I'm pretty exhausted so I'm going to take a shower and then I'll come and join you."
Six years later in New York
Addison woke up from her dream and turned around to see her husband sleeping beside her. She remembered how everything had changed for them that day as Derek had admitted to his indifference and absence. Now everything had changed for the better and she had Derek and the family she had always wanted. Their children Henry and Annabelle, had brought so much joy to their lives.
Addison was so grateful for everyday she got to spend with Derek and her children. She didn't like to think what could have happened if Derek hadn't admitted to his part for the state their marriage had been in back then. Maybe she would have lost him completely and they never would have had Henry and Annabelle and that thought was unbearable to her.
Now they had so much to look forward too and in a few days they were heading off to Europe on a vacation that Derek had booked for them and the kids were going to spend some time with their grandma.
Addison couldn't wait to spend some quality alone time together as however much she loved Henry and Annabelle, it would be nice to get to do some of the things they didn't always get time to do since they had, had children.
Hope you liked the start of this sequel to my Christmas story with flashbacks to my idea of when they started to fix their marriage back in Seattle. I thought that was always a good place where they could have worked on things after Derek admitted his absence if they'd really talked more about it. I was thinking that I'll maybe put some flashbacks in the story now and then of the previous 6 years of them working on their marriage and maybe times like when the kids were born in the flashbacks. While also writing about their present day lives on holiday and their lives as a family.
