Chapter Seven: Betrayal's Revealed

I continued to see Derek every day. Anthony and Erin were too preoccupied to notice. Slowly the pain of Anthony's betrayal faded away. Why did it matter what he was doing? I had Derek now. It felt so good to be with Derek again. I had forgotten how much I truly did love him. Or maybe I had just made myself to forget so I could be happy. My simple life was gone, washed away the day Derek showed up at the door of my house. I didn't know if Anthony knew about my affair with Derek. I slept at home every night. I at least tried to keep it a secret, unlike him who didn't come to bed some nights. I knew he was in Erin's room. There were a couple times when I thought about calling the police. She was underage after all. One night I was reading a magazine in bed. Anthony was nowhere to be found, at least nowhere, where I cared to look. I heard a very faint knock at the door. "Come in," I called. Tyler poked his small blond head in the door. He was still small for his age. I knew that he got made fun of a school sometimes. He didn't seem to care though. He would come home and skateboard. He'd had his cast taken off and the very same day he was in the basement trying new tricks. Soon he'd be able to go outside. It was late March and most of the snow was gone. I could see Tyler was troubled, "What's wrong Tyler?" I asked, concerned. "There are noises coming from Erin's room," he said looking at his feet. Rage bubbled up inside me. Tyler knew what those noises were. He knew what his beloved sister was doing with my husband. He looked so sad. I thrust the blankets off the bed and threw my magazine to the floor. Tyler jumped. "Tyler honey, just sit in here, I'll be right back," I stormed down the hall and stopped outside Erin's room. I could hear muffled moans coming from inside. My anger threatened to explode. I threw open the door to find Erin on top of Anthony, her large breasts bobbing as she rode him. I flipped on the lights and cleared my throat. Erin rolled off my husband lay stretched out on the bed, totally naked. Anthony jumped up in surprise and started sputtering about how it wasn't how it looked. "Well it looks like the two of you were having sex, is that not what it was?" I screamed. "Skye-" He started "I don't want to hear it Anthony," I yelled, "Tyler came in to my room upset, saying he could hear noises coming form this room," Anthony looked down at his feet in shame. Erin stood up and slowly put on her robe. The robe I had bought her with my money. "And you!" I screamed at her, "I took you into my house and look what you do!" I slapped her hard across the face. I couldn't keep my anger and hurt inside anymore. I hated this girl. I didn't know who she was anymore. "You should talk," she whispered, holding her cheek. "Pardon me?" I demanded. "I said, you should talk, you go out every day to the blond man's house," she yelled at me. That stopped me in my tracks. "Derek," Anthony said quietly, "I'll kill him!" he yelled. He hurriedly pulled on his pants and a shirt. "Anthony no!" I cried. He pushed past me and ran down the stairs. I ran after him in desperation. I couldn't let him go to Derek's house. I couldn't let him hurt Derek. I grabbed his arm and yelled, "Anthony! We have to calm down and talk, we have some big problems," He stopped and his face softened. "Oh Skye, I'm sorry," he pulled me close to him, "I didn't mean to hurt you," He started to sob like a child. I held him tightly. We went into the den and talked all night. "I don't want to leave you, I love you, I'll never do it again, please, I love you," he was crying. I loved Derek but this was my husband, I couldn't give up on our marriage, I had to give it another try. I had to try and make it better. "Okay Anthony, I love you too," I hugged him tightly. We kissed and for the rest of the night we sat silently together in the den. What was I going to tell Derek?

The next day I went to Derek's house. Anthony begged me not to but I insisted on telling him the truth. When he answered the door and smiled and pulled me inside kissing me. "No Derek, we need to talk," I said, pushing him away. He looked concerned. "Anthony and I are going to try and make our marriage work," I started, "So..so.I can't see you like this anymore," tears filled up in my eyes. I fought them back. I had to be strong, I could show any sign that, that was not what I wanted. I prayed that Derek wouldn't pick up on my sadness. "No, Skye, we are meant to be together," Derek picked up my hand and tried to kiss my but I turned away. "I'm sorry," I said sadly and turned towards the door. "No, NO, NOO!" Derek screamed, "Not again, I won't lose you again!" I saw the wild anger in his eyes and I fled to house. I could hear things breaking against the walls and smashing on the floor as he threw everything he owned. I jumped in my car as quickly as I could and drove away. In the rearview mirror I saw Derek come out of his house and fall to the ground in defeat. My tears blurred my vision and I swerved to the other side of the road. A car horn blared and I turned the steering wheel hard. I wiped away my tears and made it home safely. I didn't want Anthony to see how devastated I was. I had to save my marriage. I had to.

In April, we had a wedding to attend; Rachel and Wesley would be married on the 25th. She was so excited. I was happy to spend all my time helping her with everything. It helped me think about something other than Derek. I knew he had been drinking a lot lately. Nikola told me about him staying up late at night and drinking. She could hear him talking to himself in his drunken stupor. This situation reminded me of Trevor. It gave me a very bad feeling. If anything happened to Derek, I would want to die. Anthony and I were getting better slowly. He no longer slept in Erin's room. I of course didn't insist the Erin leave my home. I couldn't do that to Tyler and she was my half sister after all. I could forgive and forget. I didn't realize how much I truly loved Anthony until we made love again. I really did love him, even if I loved Derek. I didn't want to hurt Anthony. I was Rachel's maid of honour. I wedding went off without a hitch. A totally normal wedding, though all through the ceremony I was expecting some long lost love of Rachel or Wesley's to come charging into the church to stop the wedding and confess their undying love for one of them. I always expected the worst now. It was better to be prepared I thought. We invited Wesley to work in our house so he and Rachel could be together. It turned out that he was a very good cook and he helped Roberta out a lot in the kitchen. I was happy the weather was so nice. I enjoyed taking walks by the lake in the sunshine. I liked to spend time with nature to think about everything. Tyler and Erin would both be passing their grades. Tyler would be on to high school next year. At first Erin tried to get Anthony to come back to her. I stopped that fast. "Come on Tony, just one more time, she'll never know," I heard her say from the hall way outside the den. "No Erin, never again," Anthony told her firmly. I smiled, happy that he had enough control to deny her. "Aww, come on," she cooed. "NO!" he yelled and he came storming out of the room. He saw me standing there and his face turned crimson, "Skye, nothing-I didn't-" He stammered.

"I know Anthony, it's ok," I told him. I went into the den to find Erin sitting on the couch with a robe on tied up loosely at the waist. She had nothing on underneath. "Erin," I said. She smiled bitterly. "If you ever try anything with my husband again, you will be out of here so fast so won't know what happened, and you'll never see Tyler again," I told her. She didn't even flinch. She just stood up and brushed past me. My hands clenched into fists in fury. Sometimes she made my so angry that I wished I had never taken her in. She deserved to be left out in the cold with nowhere to live. She paid little or no attention to Tyler now. It was like he was invisible to her. He would say good morning to her but she wouldn't answer. The sad look on his face broke my heart. I tried so hard to spend as much time with him as I could but he just didn't want anyone but Erin. He became even more reserved. He never had friends over and he stopped telling us about his skateboarding like he used to. I still watched him outside now and he was getting better every day. The only time he looked even remotely happy was when he was skateboarding. Anthony and I were sitting in bed one night a week after Rachel's wedding. Wesley had moved in the house with us and they seemed very happy together. "Anthony, I think we should take Tyler to see a psychiatrist," I said. "Do you think that is necessary?" he asked. I was surprised he hadn't noticed the way Tyler was acting. "Yes, I do, he is very withdrawn, I think he might be depressed even," I told him. "Alright," Anthony switched off his light and lay down. I sat there for a moment. I was disappointed in Anthony's reaction to Tyler's obvious problem. It was like he didn't really notice him either. What was happening to Anthony? He used to be so caring and protective of Tyler, but now he barely even noticed his presence. Anthony had changed since Erin and Tyler had come to live with us. And I think it was Erin's fault. He was actually becoming like her. Self absorbed and oblivious to whom he was hurting. This was not the man I married. This was not the brother I remembered. Anthony was a slave to his surroundings. When he came to La Vie, he became greedy and was always asking Gregory, his father to buy him one thing or another. Now with Erin here, he had become like her. Only thought of himself. I cried myself to sleep that night, wondering if there was any way to save my marriage, or more importantly, if I even wanted to.