Chapter 7
Linda entered her home to be embraced by the warm atmosphere. After a long day at the office, she could use a cup of coffee right now. She entered the kitchen to find her husband sat at the breakfast bar reading a newspaper.
"Hey honey." She greeted her husband, kissing him on the cheek from behind.
"Linda." He acknowledged. "How is Stephanie and the baby?"
Linda frowned, "You haven't been to see your daughter?" She made her way to the opposite of the breakfast bar and faced her husband.
He looked up, "Clearly I haven't. Something wrong with Steph?"
"No. Everything is well with Steph and the baby. Why haven't you seen her daughter? Are you not at least concerned for her wellbeing?"
Vince looked at his wife in a ridicule manner, "Of course I care about Stephanie!"
"So why haven't you gone to see her?"
Vince paused. As Linda watched her husband, she could see disappointment in his eyes. He probably thought he'd never see the say his daughter become a mistress.
"Well?"
"I don't want to see him."
"So you haven't visited your daughter because of your future grand child's father?"
"It's not ridiculous. I don't like the fact that he turned my daughter into a mistress." He said, disgusted.
"You were Paul once." Linda reminded her husband. "But I still managed to forgive you. The difference between you and Paul is that you never left me or your children. Paul left his wife. From what I heard, the marriage seemed like a business deal or something like that anyways."
"I cannot believe Stephanie ever got involved with a married man." He said, ignoring his wife's comment.
Linda sighed, "Look Vince, yes it was wrong. She should have learnt from your mistake." Vince raised his eyebrow. "But you can't help who you fall in love with. Paul's feelings towards Stephanie seems genuine so we need to give him a chance, for the sake of our daughter and granchild."
He nodded, he didn't like it and he didn't have to but damnit his wife is right. "How about you invite them over for dinner on Sunday?"
"Good idea. I'll give Steph a ring now."
Linda made her way to her office to make the call to Stephanie, missing the unknowing smile on her husband's faceā¦
"Yes mom, we'll be there at 7 for dinner. Bye."
"Bye sweetie."
I put the telephone back in its base and turned to Paul who is sat next to me on the couch. "So Sunday dinner at my parents." I informed him, looking down at our joined hands.
"Yes Steph. Can't really object now since you've confirmed it with your mom." He chuckled. "You okay?" he must have sense my uneasiness.
I looked up, "Yeah I'm good." This is the first time I'm bringing him home, obviously I didn't before considering how we first started out. I couldn't help but worry about my father's attitude. I remember him throwing a punch at Paul during my in-out of oblivion state.
"Is it about your father?" my head snapped up at his question. "Hey, the first few months of our relationship was me venting out my feelings to you. I was selfish. Now I want you to open up."
I looked at him in surprise, wow, our relationship has certainly taken a U-turn. I took a deep breath, maybe it's about time I opened up to someone. "My father and I never had the best relationship during my adolescent years. When I found out he was having an affair."
Paul looked at me in surprise. "Yup, father like daughter I guess." I smiled weakly. "I've always had this dream, well I thought it was a dream anyways, of my father on the phone. I stood outside his office in our home and I heard him say something along the lines of 'if Linda never got pregnant, I would have left her in a heartbeat'. Then when I was 15, I came home early from school because some jackass broke my hand and I went to see if he was in his office. And he was. With her. She was getting frustrated at the fact that he was still with my mom. That's when I realised that my dream, wasn't a dream. It was a memory, a bad one that I pushed to the back of my head. I never thought he could do something dishonest."
"Something dishonest? Not to come to your father's rescue Steph but I was in his position once."
I'm lost for words. I'm her. I became the woman that I grew up hating. I became the woman that caused an earthquake in my father's relationship with me. "At least you don't have children." Looking back at how Paul and I first started out, I finally got how and why my father and that woman became involved. Although the woman knew my father was married, just like I knew Paul was married, we both continued to see them anyways. What was in it for us? Some sort of validation? But validation to what?
I sigh, "Look I'm not exactly proud of how we first started out because I should've known better. There's not a day that has gone by without me wishing you were single when we first met."
Paul pulled me to sit on his lap and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Married or not, I'm damn happy that I found you."
I turned to face him, "Me too."
The Wife's POV
As I sat on my husband's swivel chair in his home office, I evaluate the recent events and the life I built with the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
Where did I go wrong as a wife? I closed my eyes. It's not me. It's her. I'm seeing red all over again. I open my eyes for it to settle on our wedding picture. I picked it up and saw how happy we were. But knowing the real truth behind Paul's proposal now, I am angered. I threw the frame across the room, hitting the wall and broke into pieces in the floor. Just like my heart.
I thought he proposed because he loved me. Because he needed me. Because he wanted to have a family with me. Because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. But now I know, it was all a lie. Since I can't have my happy ending, then how dare she have hers?
I cradle the gun in one hand. Got me looking so crazy right now. I'm pretty sure I'm standing at the edge of the world right now. I load the black revolver that I just bought this morning. One by one the bullet goes into its right place. I don't exactly know how many I'll use but what the hell.
I knock back the whiskey, the burning sensation travelled down my throat and poured myself another shot. Your love's got me looking so crazy right now. Reality gave way and it opened up before me.
I vow that they will never be happy. I vow to destroy them.
