Marriage and Family
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Sam came down the stairs at Danny and Michelle's house and sheepishly entered the kitchen. She was still embarrassed about the fact that she cried on Danny's shoulder for a couple of hours last night. That wasn't her intention, but after holding everything in for the past three months, the floodgates opened and she couldn't stop the tears once they started falling.
"Good morning." Michelle smiled, handing Sam a cup of coffee.
"Morning." Sam greeted, gratefully taking the cup. She definitely needed coffee today.
"How did you sleep?" Michelle asked, sitting across from Sam at the table.
"Like a rock. Once I hit the pillow I was asleep." Sam explained.
"I'm not surprised." Michelle told her. "I knew you'd be exhausted from all that crying you did."
"I'm sorry about that." Sam apologized. "I really didn't mean to fall apart like that."
"Don't worry about it." Michelle assured her. "It happens and it's ok."
"Yeah, but…"
"No buts Sam." Michelle cut her off. "You don't have to apologize. There's nothing to be sorry about. Sometimes we all just need to cry and let it out. Sometimes that can make us feel better."
"I do feel a little better." Sam admitted, taking a drink of the coffee. "I've been trying to put on this happy face for Claire for so long that I guess falling apart was inevitable."
"I think you're right." Michelle agreed. "But you don't need to put on a happy face for us. If you want to talk, we can. And if you want to completely avoid the topic, we can do that too. It's totally up to you."
"Thanks." Sam smiled.
"So what are your plans while you're here?" Michelle smiled.
"Well I think Danny is going to try and set up a dinner tonight to catch up with Vivian and Jack." Sam replied. She also wanted to go visit Leslie, but that could wait until tomorrow.
"Yeah Danny mentioned something about that. I think he's outside right now calling them to set it up." Michelle nodded. "Any chance I can drag you out of the house for some shopping today?"
Sam laughed. "I think that could be arranged."
Saturday, January 2, 2027
Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue.
No matter how many times I repeat that phrase in my mind it doesn't seem to help me much. I know it's not a nice thing to say or even think about another person, but there are definitely times that I hate Victor.
And you know, it's not that I hate him so much as I hate the way he acts. I take care of him during the day while Martin is at work, but do I get even a simple thank you from Victor? Do I get any kind of sign that he appreciates what I do for him? No. I get yelled at. Everything I do for that man is wrong!
Yet Martin can come in during the evenings or on the weekend and sit with him for a half hour and that's all Victor raves about—how Martin is such a good son and takes such good care of him. Argh!
It's not that I'm selfish and want to be thanked for what I do. I could deal with Victor if he simply ignored what I do. But instead he finds fault with everything I do. 'My coffee's too hot…now my coffee's too cold…I didn't want sugar in my coffee…I wanted cream instead…this coffee tastes funny…you're trying to poison my coffee.'
I wasn't trying to poison his coffee because I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't waste perfectly good poison on him.
Martin was drawn out of his reading by the ringing of the phone. He stuck his Kleenex bookmark in the journal before getting up from the couch and answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey are you busy right now?" Danny asked.
"Well hello to you too Danny." Martin greeted.
"Sorry." Danny sighed. "Hello Martin. Are you busy right now?"
"No, not really. Why?" Martin wondered why Danny would ask him that. "Did Sam's flight get in last night? Is she ok?"
"Yes and no." Danny replied. "Sam's flight did get in last night and she's not really fine."
Martin's heart sunk. "What's wrong?"
"Why did you tell me that you and Sam are having problems again?" Danny asked, ignoring Martin's question.
"Oh." Martin knew what this was about now. "I don't know Danny. I guess I just didn't want to bother you."
"Well Sam would probably kill me if she knew I was telling you this, but when I went to the airport last night she was a mess. She was just sitting down in a chair bawling her eyes out because of what's going on between you two."
"She was?" This surprised Martin. He was beginning to think that Sam didn't care about their marriage. But she must care if she was crying in the airport.
"Yeah." Danny answered. "In between sobs she told me the whole story—at least I think it's the whole story but it's possible she left some things out."
"I appreciate you telling me this Danny. Up until now I was beginning to think that Sam didn't care anymore. I mean she rarely calls me. I'm the one who has to call her. She acts like she doesn't want to be around me."
"Can you really blame her though?" Danny asked. "I mean Martin, you're one of my best and closest friends, but how in the world are you that dense and oblivious? How could you not see what Sam was going through?"
"I don't know." Martin answered. Since he started reading Sam's journals he was asking himself that same question and had yet to come up with a good answer. "The only answer I can come up with is that I only saw what I wanted to see. I wanted to see that my family was getting alone and that everything was fine. So that's what I saw. I ignored all signs that something was wrong."
"I don't think you can ignore the signs now." Danny pointed out.
"I don't think so either." Martin agreed. "I'm not surprised that she didn't want to talk to me though. After reading her journals…I mean, after going back and thinking about the past…"
"Martin, are you reading her journals?" Danny had a feeling that's what Martin was saying before he backtracked.
"Yes, but you have to promise not to tell her." Martin sighed. If he kept telling everyone that he was reading her journals, there was no way he would be able to keep it from her. He made a vow to quit letting it slip out because if he wasn't careful, the whole world would find out. And he couldn't keep the whole world from telling Sam.
"Oh dude, you are going to be in such big trouble when she finds out." Danny shook his head in frustration.
"I know." Martin nodded. "But it's the only way I can think of to find out exactly how to fix things with Sam. Reading them has given me a lot of insight into what I've missed."
"I won't tell Sam, but I'm not condoning this either." Danny finally relented. Originally he had thought that Sam deserved to know and was going to tell her about it. But in the end, he decided it wasn't his place to tell her. She would most likely find out on her own anyway.
"Thanks Danny." Martin heaved a sigh of relief. "How is Sam now?"
Danny was outside on the porch using his cell phone to call Martin. He had come outside so that Sam wouldn't wake up and overhear him calling Martin. He looked into the kitchen and saw Sam drinking coffee and talking with Michelle. "She looks like she's doing a little better. At least the tears have stopped."
"That's good." Martin was glad that she wasn't crying anymore.
"If you are so worried about Sam finding out you told me, why did you tell me anyway?" Martin asked out of curiosity.
"Because I thought you should know what your wife is going through and I know that Sam would be too stubborn to tell you herself." Danny replied.
"Well thank you." Martin was glad that they both had such a good friend.
"So what are you going to do about this?" Danny asked.
"I have no idea yet." Martin confessed. "But Sam and I really need to talk. There are a lot of things that we need to say to each other."
"I agree." Danny told him. "And it wouldn't hurt you to try and make up for forgetting your anniversary either. That really hurt her a lot."
"I know. It was a stupid mistake." Martin replied. "Is she still hurt about that? It happened months ago."
"She seemed upset about it last night." Danny answered. "Said something about how that showed her how low she ranked on your priority list."
"That's not true." Martin protested. "She's very high on my priority list. I just forgot."
"That may be the truth, but I'm just telling you what she said." Danny replied.
"We're going to have to sit down and have a long talk when she gets back." Martin told him. "Has she mentioned when she's coming home?"
"I think she's just planning on staying today and tomorrow before heading back. At least, that's what she told me last night." Danny explained.
"Good." Martin exclaimed. "That will give me plenty of time to read the rest of these journals and start planning what I'm going to say to her."
"Sounds like a good idea." Danny told him. "Look, I better go. I just wanted to give you a heads up about Sam."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
"No problem." Danny shrugged. "Talk to you later."
"Yeah. Bye." Martin hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. He couldn't believe that Sam was really that upset about what was going on with them. He was really starting to believe that she was perfectly fine without him, but maybe that was just an act for Claire.
He chastised himself for yet again ignoring the signs that she wasn't fine without him. Looking back, he could tell it in her voice. There was always something that made him wonder if she was just faking it and wasn't doing well with their separation. He did have to give her credit though. She was a good actress. He bet that Claire was well convinced by her charade too.
Now that he knew Sam was probably just as torn up as he was about their situation, he vowed to find a way to make everything up to her—if she let him.
"It's a good thing we stopped shopping when we did or else I wouldn't have enough money to get back home again!" Sam exclaimed with a smile on her face as she released the grip she had on her shopping bags and plopped down on the couch.
Michelle sat next to Sam after putting her bags down too and sighed. "Well that was fun."
"Yeah. It was." Sam nodded in agreement. "Thanks. I needed that."
"No problem." Michelle smiled. "You know I love any excuse to go shopping!"
"So do you ladies buy out all the stores?" Danny asked, coming into the room and placing a kiss on Michelle before taking a long look at the bags. "Do we have any money left sweetheart?"
"We have plenty of money darling." Michelle smirked. "Most of these bags are Sam's."
"Oh." Danny laughed, looking over at Sam. "So do you and Martin have any money left?"
"Ha ha Danny." Sam chuckled. "For your information, we hit a lot of really good sales today."
"Yes, extremely good sales." Michelle agreed.
Danny saw a familiar looking bag from Victoria's Secret. "Oh I see you went to my favorite store." He tried to reach for the bag so that he could see into it but Michelle yanked it away from him. "Hey! Why can't I see what you bought?"
"Because maybe I want it to be a surprise." Michelle told him.
Danny pouted, making a weird face and going over to sit in a nearby face.
"Oh quit pouting you big baby!" Michelle playfully bossed him around.
"I'll pout if I want to." Danny told her.
"Whatever." Michelle chuckled and rolled her eyes. "He is such a baby sometimes."
"It's nice to see that some things never change." Sam stated.
"You know I am still in the room." Danny told them. "It's not polite to talk about someone when they are sitting three feet away from you."
"Sorry." Sam and Michelle apologized with a chuckle.
"Anyway," Danny rolled his eyes, "I called Viv and Jack. They are meeting us for dinner tonight at seven."
"Great." Sam smiled. "It will be nice to see them."