It was 4 o'clock in the morning and Robin still didn't come home. That behavior had already become customary in him. He left the law firm, Locksley LLP, and he went partying with his friends. While, she was at home like the perfect mother and housewife.
Regina had known Robin six years ago. She had fallen in love with that lawyer. He was a widower and he had a small two-year-old son back then. The chemistry between Regina and Robin was strong, and she got along very well with the little one.
A year after they met, she was already Roland's mother and it was evident that Robien and Regina loved each other enough to get married. They married in the spring, in a beautiful ceremony on the shores of a lake, in the Mills family farmhouse.
Everyone knew that they were a wonderful couple. No one could doubt the love they had. Therefore, it was for two years, until Regina's fertility problems became evident. Robin was very excited to be a father again, but Regina was even more excited. She wanted to materialize the love they had, but that couldn't happen.
Regina had been very sensitive, both because of the impossibility of having children, and because of the treatments and hormones provided. She cried almost all the time in solitude. She tried not to neglect her work, in her father's company, or neglect Roland. Robin was aware of this situation, but there was little he could do.
Soon, Regina would stop working to dedicate herself to care of the home and Robin's son. Attempts to be a mother made their relationship monotonous and Robin was less concerned about being a father. Over time, Regina resigned herself and felt Robin's indifference to her pain.
The morning conversations were about Roland, some event in Robin's office, or some social meeting they should attend.
"Saturday is my parents' anniversary party". Regina commented something melancholy. "I don't know what I could give them, but I think that this trip to Bora Bora could be a good idea". She finished preparing Roland's lunch box
"As you wish..." He was not paying much attention to her. Robin was making his tie in front of the mirror in the living room, while he watched the news on TV
"Well I remind you that, if you go to any date, lunch, or golf, please be here by six at the latest, to prepare for the party. Also, you must remember that today is the meeting in the school of Roland at night". Instinctively she went and finished arranging the tie. "I already made you coffee and French toast". She turned to the stairs and yelled at the little boy to come down. "Roland you're going to be late..."
"Again... He will be late again! ... But all this is your fault. if you hadn't let him watch TV until late". He reproached him, while he sat at the kitchen counter for breakfast
"We're not going to start over Robin. He wants to accompany me, and he just stays in bed with me, because he falls asleep supposedly keeping me company". She was still doing her homework, she was serving cereal to little Roland
"You're spoiling him, Regina. He can't be under your skirts all the time". He was still in his know-it-all pose
"He is not..." She turned and took a deep breath. "Roland was not under my skirts. He is a very sensitive child and defends his mother. That's it!"
"You see? That is the attitude that has it wrong. That's why he has problems at school and does not know how to defend himself". He finished eating his breakfast, while he leafed through the newspaper, talking without looking at his wife
"Not that..." Again she was breathing deeply. "That's not true, Robin. Maybe you would understand more about what happens with our son, if you were more at home and you behave like his father from time to time". She was upset. It could not be that Robin was behaving that way
"He knows that I have to work. Or… who is going to take care of you? Who is going to give you the life you are used to?" He put on his suit jacket and he took his briefcase
"Don't put that as an excuse. You know that I have my money". She was annoyed, because he was taking an irrational defensive attitude. "I take care of Roland every day, I listen to him and I give him love. That is also important Robin"
"Do not take that attitude either Regina that you are not her mother after all". He opened the door and he slammed it shut, leaving the apartment and leaving the brunette with the word in his mouth.
You are not her mother after all. Those were the last words of her husband, which were rumbling in the head of the brunette, making her feel bad. She returned to the kitchen automatically and drowning her tears, she began to wash the dishes. The eight-year-old Roland, he went down the stairs and went to hug his mother. The boy had not realized the state of his mother. She returned the hug without stopping doing what she was doing
"I'm sorry, Mom. I hope my dad didn't bother with me. Is that yesterday I had many nightmares again". The boy was sad and he played with his cereal while he ate it
"No baby. Your dad is not upset with you". She wiped away her tears quickly trying to hide. She dried her hands on the apron and she went to hug her little one. "You are a very good boy. All mothers would like to have a son as good as mine". She took the child's cheeks with her hands and she kissed him on the forehead. "Because you are my little…"
"Why are you sad mom?" Roland had realized that something was happening to his mother. "Did my dad tell you ugly things again?"
"No my love! Your dad never tells me ugly things ... Where do you get that". She adjusted his hair and she adjusted his uniform shirt. "It's just that mom has some allergy. That's all!"
"I'm sorry mom!" She could try to cheat the child, but he had heard more than one fight between his parents. In these, his father always ended up offending his mother
"Oh, come on! Remember that this afternoon we will have lunch outside, wherever you want my love. Until we see dad in the afternoon for the parents' meeting ... He sure takes us to dinner in a beautiful place". She smiled at him and finished getting ready to tell Roland to go to school.
The little boy shrugged and he said nothing more. He finished breakfast and took his backpack and his lunch box. He was really quiet all the way, while his mother tried to make jokes and she talked about the traffic and the mothers of his classmates.
The boy gave a strong hug to his mother and got out of the car with his things. Before the boy closed the car door, he said to his mother in a serene tone
"He will not come!" And the boy closed the back door of his mother's truck.
Regina was paralyzed at the affirmation of her young son. It seemed that, like her, Roland was certain that his father did not want him, or at least he did not care about them. The cornets of the cars in a row took her out of her thoughts.
She did not cry all the way. She just could not. She was so hurt at that moment. To think that Roland was suffering made her fall apart. In fact, her life had become hell, but at what moment she had pulled her son to that hell. She did not forgive herself.
She crossed paths with her neighbor, the bachelor of the lower level. He greeted her kindly, but she barely responded with a half smile and a nod of her head. She was in another world, a world of suffering in which it seemed that she had settled.
"Regina, are you okay?" David said, noticing that his neighbor was distracted
"What? Ah ... Yes, yes ... Of course, I'm fine David, thank you". He smiled sweetly, and got into the elevator.
She arrived at the luxurious three-level apartment and closed the door. She leaned against it sighing. She let go of the keys in the usual place, she took off her shoes and she climbed the stairs to her room. Regina prepared what she was going to wear. An elegant black dress, semitransparent, with small flowers. Matching black heels. She would look beautiful and dedicated to her son.
Already in the shower, she collapsed. The brunette fell on the floor of the shower, crying with intensity. She could not believe that he was so unhappy loving Robin as much as she loved him. That's how she was for a long time.
The hours passed and Regina was able to calm herself. She took a nap, she straightened her hair, she put on makeup and she got dressed. Regina looked amazing with those clothes. She turned to see the bedside table where there was a picture of Robin and her, where she had just the same dress
"What happened to us?" She tried not to get sad again and she kept adjusting.
Regina remained looking at herself in the mirror; sighing and she continued to arrange herself. When she was ready, she went to look for Roland at school
"Mom, you look very beautiful". Little Roland smiled at him and his dimples made him look adorable
"Awww ... Thanks my little man!" She kissed her son and continued on her way. "What do you think about going to that pizza place that has a big park? That place you like a lot..."
"Yes mom, yes!" The boy seemed very excited.
They went to that place, made especially for the children to have fun and the parents to relax. They ate and then Roland went to play. Meanwhile, she wrote to her husband, to remind him of the meeting she had that Friday night, but she never got an answer.
Regina had written text messages to Robin, but Robin seemed not to have read them. She did not used to bother him, because she knew that her husband was a very busy man. In that instant, a familiar voice brought her to reality
"Regina? What a surprise!" The man said smiling to the brunette
"David!" She got up immediately adjusting her clothes. "Yes, what a surprise! Is that your daughter?" She observed the girl who seemed familiar to her. She bent down slightly to see the little blonde. "Hi little girl!"
"Yes Regina, she is my daughter Emma. Emma, this is Mrs. Regina, my new neighbor. Greet her," The gentleman said, pushing the little one lightly in the back, so that she would greet the woman
"Hi Regina!" She held out her small hand and she smiled at her
"Emma! Lady Regina, it is said ... And it is said it is a pleasure to meet her". He was a little sorry. "Excuse me Regina, my daughter Emma is not shy at all"
"Relax, David". She smiled relaxed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Emma". She returned the gesture to the girl. "Don't worry. My son, on the other hand, is very shy. There he is, playing with the air guns". She pointed in the distance to her little son
"You are Roland's mother?" The little girl said as if nothing
"Emma, manners please". David said warningly
"Nothing happens, David. However, how is it that you know my son?" She smiled at the blonde and stroked his head. She was curious
"He goes with me to school. He and I are in the same course and he is very kind to me... As I am the new girl". Emma said and then turned to see her father. "Can I go play with him dad? Please, please, please!" She made a gesture of begging with her little hands
"Of course, you can!" He laughed watching his daughter run to where her little neighbor was. "She is so dramatic". Now he was smiling when he saw Regina. "That she took it from her mother". He laughed sadly. "Go, it is a surprise. I imagine that at night we are going to the same meeting..."
"Give it for granted!" She also smiled at him. With a wave of her hand, she invited him to share the table. "I didn't know you were married". She cleared her throat. "Excuse me if I look a bit nosy, it's just that I usually talk with mothers or with my son…"
"It's okay!" He smiled at her charmingly. "I was married!"
"Oh!" She was intrigued. "And what happened?" She took of her soda. "Excuse me... I'm curious, especially if it's the father of Roland's new best friend"
"Ha, ha, ha... I told you that is fine Regina. No problem... Well, she found a doctor who gave her the love that I did not... Or that I want to think about". He smiled and shrugged
"Surely, you had found many women who fulfilled the same function before". She smiled at him with malice and disbelief. "Excuse me; it's not my intention to judge you..." Regina had lost faith in men and that was evident
"Ha, ha, ha... Why don't you think somebody can be unfaithful to a man without this one having struck the first blow?" He seemed funny answering Regina not upset. He saw her shrug and drink from her drink. "Well, it was not like that. I just became obsessed with work and neglected her and Emma for a while. When I wanted to remedy the situation, it was too late". He turned to see his daughter play. "Fortunately, it wasn't too late to keep my daughter and receive her love". Now he saw the woman with sweetness
"Wow! How sweet of you!" She felt that he was sincere, but she was very hurt, as she easily believed in someone she barely knew. "At least you take care of your daughter, which is important!"
"And..." He hesitated a few seconds whether he should ask her or not. "I also have curiosity…"
She smiled wickedly, turning to see Roland. "Shoot cowboy!"
"What has happened to you so that you doubt everything and everyone?" Now he was serious. He really liked Regina from the first time he saw her in the supermarket near the building where they lived, or from the day, that he realized that beautiful dark-eyed brunette was his neighbor
She wasn't bothered by David's question. It had been four years of loneliness and pretending happiness. Four years of silence. "Let's say that I have not done well and that they have lied to me enough to know what is true and what is a lie". She looked at him intensely, smiled at him in a sarcastic way, and then returned to watch her son from her.
He watched her carefully. No doubt, there was pain in her words. It was a pity that such a woman, who looked like an excellent mother, as well as being a spectacularly beautiful woman, was maltreated and neglected by her husband.
"Your husband is lawyer Locksley, isn't it?" He had seen him in the common places of the building, and he looked like a boor.
"Yes, he is my husband…" She claimed, trying to look neutral
"He is a lawyer. Then it's your fault. You should know that lawyers always lie". He said it without malice and of the most natural
Regina stared at him stunned. He was quite right, even if that was just a joke. "But let's soften the issues, which look like two old talkative". She was joking with him now. "Do you have your daughter this weekend?"
They continued talking as if nothing. He told her how his ex-wife had moved to the city for his good luck. Now he could have his daughter one weekend and another no. That's how they spent their time until it was time to leave. They met again at the entrance of the school.
David's ex-wife was waiting for him, along with her new husband. She could not stop looking from time to time, while the parents of Roland's friends talked to her. Robin did not answer his calls. Parents and third grade children were formed, and Regina waited to be the last. Her husband did not show signs of life. She could only repeat in her mind the words of her little one: He will not come!
She went out for a moment to the main entrance, to leave a voice message to her husband. She asked her little one to wait for her sitting quietly, keeping her father's empty space. She heard the answering machine again
"Please Robin. Don't do this to me! Don't do this to your son! You promised him that you would come to his meeting and he really wants to believe in you, he wants to believe in his father. Please ... Robin, I beg you! Don't do this for me, or because I am in the middle. Do it for your son..." The sound of the culmination of the waiting time interrupted her in her plea. "Shit!" She whispered trying to hold back her tears. She clasped her hands at her waist and walked towards the garden
"He will not come... Right?" He said approaching her.
The man's voice made her scare and turn suddenly. She saw it with surprise and then with something of shame. She looked away from the man and she nodded with regret
"No. He will not come. But… it is about his son David, that he is going through a situation in which he needs a father figure..." She looked at him with tears in her eyes
"I know! Emma told me that a boy named Peter bullied him and he is always bothering him. Emma defended him yesterday. She thinks she's the savior!" He came closer to her smiling. He took her by the arms and spoke to her with total honesty. "Do you want me to attend the meeting with you? All for Roland to feel supported"
"Would you do that for my son?" She was shocked by David's kindness. "I don't want to cause you problems". She had a couple of months greeting him in the hallways or talking about frivolous things in the gymnasium of the building
"Please, Regina! It would be a pleasure for me". He offered her his handkerchief and saw her wipe away tears. "I'm not Roland's father, but I'm a father, and I know what's important. Let me help you!"
She looked at him for a couple of seconds, stunned. That man was really lovely. He couldn't stop getting lost in his blue eyes. Those eyes that told her the truth. Then she gave him a small and chaste kiss on the lips and answered him
"Help me David!" She took him by the hands and she thanked him with her eyes. Then she released him and walked inside the school.
He was in shock from the kiss. He smiled pleased as he turned to watch her walk away. Of course, he would help her and if it was in his hands, he would make her take a long vacation from her marriage.
This story will continue...