Disclaimer: All the events and character description taken place in this story is COMPLETELY FICTION. No copyright infringement intended. All characters are copy written to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this story. It should be viewed only as entertainment.
Chapter Sixty-Three
The sticky, hot weather in Hendersonville, Tennessee was made bearable thanks to the air conditioning in the brick state building that the afternoon meeting was to be held in. Kurt was seated at a red oak conference table. To Angle's right was his long time lawyer, Michael Santicola, who had flown down to Tennessee with him for this mediation. The conference room was quiet; too quiet since the new Mrs. Jeff Jarrett had not graced them with her presence yet. Kurt used his thumb to play nervously with his gold wedding band. He couldn't believe that he actually had to fly down for this. There was no way Karen had a case against him.
"This is unbelievable. We fly almost a thousand miles to be here today and we're here before she is. She lives not even ten minutes away." complained Angle, turning his head to look over at Mike who simply put his hand up to show that he understood his client's frustration.
Kurt's comment, that broke the silence of the conference room, caused the appointed mediator to look up from her documents from where she sat at the head of the table. The look she shot Angle was that of a strict librarian who was about to scold a petulant child who was disturbing the peace. Angle mouthed 'sorry', and in response she returned her gaze back down to her forms.
Kurt wanted to laugh aloud at the sight of this woman. Her silver hair was wrapped in a tight bun on top of her head while she wore a crimson red outdated business suit complete with linebacker like shoulder pads. To think that she was the one person who would decide if Karen had enough evidence to take her sole custody case to court.
For fear of getting another evil stare, this time, Angle leaned over to his right to whisper to his lawyer after glancing at his wrist watch:
"If she doesn't show up, won't she just throw this bullshit case out?"
Before Mike could whisper a reply back, one of the large wooden conference doors opened and both Jeff and Karen Jarrett came strutting in like they owned the place. Jeff was wearing a pink Hawaiian style collared shirt and khaki shorts. Kurt's ex looked like she was a diva who had just stepped off a fashion runway. She was definitely dressing the part: head to toe designer clothing complete with sunglasses that she hadn't even taken off. Trailing behind them was Karen's own attorney who seemed to have followed suit with his clients, and showed up late.
"Sorry we're a little late. We were dropping off our kids at swimming and tennis." Karen explained as she finally lifted her sunglasses from her eyes and perched them on top of her head of hair, that was swept up in an up-do.
"Why the hell is he here?" piped Angle pointing his finger in the direction of the self proclaimed King of the Mountain, Jeff Jarrett.
This meeting was about Kyra and Kody: Karen and his two children. Jeff Jarrett had no business being there at all. Knowing Karen, she was probably going to run her mouth so much that she didn't need her new red neck hubby's support or even a lawyer to speak on her behalf.
"He has a right to be here." Karen told him back in a dismissive tone of voice while Jarrett pulled her chair out for her to sit like a true southern gentleman.
"What are you talking about? He has no rights because they're not his kids!" Angle retorted with anger.
"Mr. Angle, please remember that this is a formally sanctioned meeting to decide what is the best interest of your children. A bit of social decorum would be appropriate." The mediator advised fixing her wire framed glasses on the bridge of her pointy nose.
After Kurt had been warned, Mrs. Jarrett decided it was time for her to give her passive-aggressive answer back that she knew was only going to get under his skin even more:
"Oh, they will be his children when I am granted sole custody of them." She promised with the Cheshire cat smile, taking a seat directly across from her former husband.
Kurt slowly shook his head while his blue eyes stared back at Karen with all the hatred he was feeling for her at the moment. God, he would have given anything for his two older children to have been given to him by Stephanie and not that vindictive, selfish bitch that was sitting before him.
"Just stay calm, okay? Chill out, we don't want to make a scene." Santicola whispered to Angle placing a hand on his muscular arm to try and diffuse the anger he could see building in his client's face.
"Why are you even here, Kurt? Why do you care if I want full custody? You're living the good life up in Greenwich with Stephanie, who has already given you a shiny new life complete with a new Angle son." commented Karen as she spoke with put-on enthusiasm to further drive home her point.
Kurt furrowed his eyebrows at the same time his mouth gapped open with disbelief. Was this woman for real? How could she think that about him when those children were his just as much as they were hers.
"What does my life with Stephanie have to do with how good of a father I am or how much I care about Kyra and Kody? Yes, I've moved on and got remarried, so did you! Yes, Steph and I have a child together and another one on the way, but no new children could ever replace Kody and Kyra!"
"Mr. Angle, your volume..." The mediator pointed out this time waving a pen back and forth in her hand.
It was at that point that Karen's new husband, Jeff, decided to speak out to the father of the children who had been living with him in his Tennessee home for the past few months.
"You know what, Kurt? You really are nothing but words. I've been involved with Karen for the past year and I can count on one hand the number of times you saw those two kids. They need a father who's going to be there for them twenty-four-seven, not just a good time daddy who spends time with them when he feels like it."
"I'm going to tell you this only once, Jarrett. Shut your God damn mouth when it comes to my kids, or I'll come right across this table and shut it for you!" threatened Angle as he forcefully slammed his fists down with a loud thud.
The outburst caused both Karen and the mediator to jump in place while Jeff and Kurt locked eyes like they might actually fight right there in the conference room.
"Do you see this behavior? How can I be forced to subject my innocent children to this? We need to go to court!" Karen screamed out before the mediator could speak. She spoke in a whinny voice that was obviously over dramatized.
Kurt felt like he was in a nightmare. He was getting so angry by the Jarretts passing judgment on him as a father; especially, Jeff. How dare that guy sit there and speak to how many times Angle was able to see his two kids. Did he know the truth? The fact that Karen would make up excuses as to why plans had to change and he couldn't see them every time he planned a visit to Pittsburgh while they were still living there? Or how about when Karen uprooted the children to move down to Tennessee without even telling him first? How the hell could he be a good father when he wasn't included in anything that had to do with his two oldest children?
"Do you want to go to court? Because you're making their case every time you have an outburst." Mike whispered warning his client of the fact that he was in fact, playing into Karen and Jeff's hand.
"Can we please regroup and focus on the reason we are meeting today? My client and I flew down here today to set the record straight and prove that he, in no way, poses as a possible detriment to his children. Mrs. Jarrett has no evidence of any harm or neglect to have befallen either child while in his care. There is absolutely no solid ground in regard to her petition for the removal of my client's legal parental right to have visitation with his children." Michael Santicola protested eloquently on behalf of Kurt.
"Oh, please, I was married to him for ten years. He was an addict; out of his mind on prescription pain killers, and was barely ever home. Hell, for the first four years of Kyra's life, she didn't even call him 'Daddy' she called him 'Kurt'." Karen interjected in a bitchy voice that was still an appropriate volume.
"Oh my God, really, Karen? You and I both know that my pain killer addiction was a result of me getting so physically worn down because I was busting my ass for the WWE to give my kids the life that I only dreamed of. I'm completely rid of all that now. I submit to random drug screening at work." Angle retorted in a heated voice that he was struggling to keep a civil volume.
"At your work, which is the company that your new wife's family owns." She replied with an eye roll to show that she wasn't convinced that he was on the straight and narrow.
"That's right, and I haven't taken a single pill since I quit cold turkey two years ago when we were still together. You're full of shit, and don't even talk about when Kyra was little and I was never home. It's not like that now. Each and every one of my children know who I am and call me 'Daddy'. " continued Kurt making his own defense to everything that Karen was throwing at him.
"Okay, Kurt, you want to talk about your more recent sins? What can you tell me about this copy of a police report from a certain DUI arrest from a few weeks back? Or were you so drunk when it happened that you don't remember it at all? Well in case you don't, I'll tell you what went down. My two angels were left with your wife while you were locked up over night at the county jail. I had to come all the way to Connecticut to collect my kids early because you were too busy getting drunk." Karen retorted pulling the paper copy of the arrest report from her lawyers stack of papers so she could pass it down to the mediator.
"You make it sound like I was out at a bar getting drunk during the day. My wife and I had a disagreement. I was in a lot of pain as well because of a rib injury from the night during a RAW match. I went to a local diner and ordered a few cups of coffee that had some alcohol in them. I needed something to take the edge off since I can't take any kind of pain medication. On the way home, I ended up getting into a fender bender and a cop pulled up on me. That's how it happened. I was alone in the SUV. None of my children were even with me. They were in no danger because they at my home with my wife, Stephanie." Angle pled, turning his attention to the mediator who was looking over the police report.
"Oh and was Stephanie watching the kids when Kody got that huge bump on his head? The answer is no. You were the one who was supposedly watching him when he fell and got a concussion. When I brought him home, his pediatrician couldn't believe the size of the bruise on his head. I had him document his comments." Mrs. Jarrett added pulling yet another paper from the stack in front of her lawyer so that it could be given to the mediator.
"Come on, do you believe this? He's an active little boy. He and his sister will playing in the wrestling ring when he accidently fell out of it onto the ground. I was only a few feet away when it happened. I had him looked at by an EMT that we have right there at the arena. Kody was fine. He even wanted to go back into the ring and play once the show was over." explained Kurt as he could feel himself starting to get emotional because Karen was making it seem that he had carelessly endangered his eldest son.
The mediator didn't seem to react at all to Kurt's own oral defense of each piece of evidence that Karen had slid in her direction. She simply sat there, scanning over each document. She wasn't really buying Karen's bullshit was she?
"As passionate and sincere as you are portraying yourself to be, Mr. Angle. I believe that the testimony along with the documented evidence that Mrs. Jarrett has presented me with today is enough for me to accept her request to present her case before a judge. The court date will be given to both parties in well enough advance to accommodate for any travel arrangements that need to be made. This meeting is adjourned." She finally said aloud before she began to collect her forms and papers together.
"You've got to be kidding me! She has no evidence that I'm not a good father to those kids! I love each and every one of my children with all my heart and soul! This is bullshit! I shouldn't have to be on trial for my right to be a father! I provided and loved Kyra and Kody since day one and I continue to do so!" Angle hollered out as his voice cracked with an over flow of emotion. His tears began to flow freely making him bring his hand to his face to wipe them away.
Karen actually scoffed at the display of emotions that her ex-husband was performing. He was quite the actor when he found himself in a domestic or legal mess. The tears were never hard for him to squeeze out when he needed to.
"Save your theatrically long winded speech for the court room, Kurt." Mrs. Jarrett commented with a smirk, before ushering her husband and lawyer out of the conference room in order to leave Angle to pity himself. It was what he did best.
Paul felt like this red Humvee was in auto pilot while he sat at its helm. He felt so disconnected that he had no recollection of when he had actually left the Angle home, nor when he had merged onto the highway heading north. He wasn't going back to his place. There was nothing awaiting him there but an empty house that was as dreary as he now felt. Levesque was driving home; his real home. Back to where his life had begun as Paul Michael Levesque; Before he was given his character names Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Triple H that millions of people the world over knew him by. Paul was no longer Triple H. He had relinquished the ownership of that name when he quit World Wrestling Entertainment. He didn't fucking care. Vince could have Triple H's WWE legacy and do whatever he wanted with it. It was the knowledge that he had just told his child that he was no longer going to see her, that was eating away at him.
"If I'm not a husband or a father...Who am I?" He muttered aloud to himself while he tried his best to fight back his tears.
Levesque was sure that little Aurora Rose was doing enough crying for both of them. He couldn't even fathom how hard this was for her. He was a big strong man and had been reduced to a blubbering mess at the prospect of being without his daughter. His child was only three years old. How would she possibly be able to make sense of him walking out on her? Paul hoped and prayed that she wasn't going to blame herself. He had told her that it was daddy's fault that he said and did things that were wrong. Levesque was more than willing to take full responsibility for all of it; that was why he had made it a point to not include Stephanie at all when giving their child the reason why he would no longer have contact with her. He loved his child far too much to poison her mind against her mommy.
Paul stuffed away his sadness and brought his focus to that of being stoic and emotionless as the Hummer slowly crept up his parents driveway. He was determined to seek the sanctuary of his parents' loving home without blind siding them with his devastating news. Sure, he wasn't naive to think that it all wouldn't come out eventually, but for his arrival, he was going to play it cool.
Both Patricia and Paul Sr. had seen his red Hummer pull into their driveway as they were just finishing up a late lunch. They had just spent time with their son and granddaughter the day before. It was a bit strange for him to be coming back home to visit so soon.
"Well this is quite a pleasant surprise! We weren't expecting you to be back so soon and without calling, but I'm so glad you're here!" Patricia gushed the moment she opened her front door and saw her son on the other side of it.
Paul Jr. was able to muster a weak smile before stepping into the house and embracing his mother in a hug. It was so comforting for him to be somewhere where he was welcomed and wanted. He really needed family right now.
"Good to see you again so soon, son. We've already eaten but I'm sure your mother could fix you something." Paul Sr. commented before getting his turn to hug his boy.
"It's fine, Dad. I'm not hungry."
Mrs. Levesque hadn't taken her eyes off of her son. She was scrutinizing him. Something was very wrong. She knew him and could tell when he was upset. Even his color didn't look good. What was going on?
"Are you all right, sweetheart? You don't look well. Did something happen?" Patricia inquired taking her son by the hand and pulling him back over to her so that she could look directly into his hazel eyes.
"Eh, I had a really tough couple of days, Mom. Can I just go upstairs to my old room and lay down?" Paul pleaded, not wanting to divulge the circumstances surrounding his return home.
His mother desperately wanted to continue to press for him to reveal what it was that was weighing so heavily on him. Looking into his eyes, she could see so much sadness in them. She would do anything to help him overcome it. But he didn't want to let her in. That was his choice, after all, he was a grown man with a life of his own. All she could do was there be to support him when he needed her and his father.
"Of course, son. Go right ahead and take a rest. Your father and I are here if you need anything." replied Patricia as she lovingly squeezed her son's large hand to show her sincerity.
"Thanks, Mom." He muttered back before leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead before he removed his hand from her grasp, and left to ascend the staircase.
"What do you think that was about? He didn't even come with a duffel bag or anything. Do you think he's staying with us and taking some time off from wrestling? That's not like him." Mr. Levesque pointed out to his wife after their son was upstairs and out of earshot.
"I'm worried about him. He's not himself."
Upon reaching his childhood bedroom, Paul allowed himself to simply collapse down onto the double bed. His head was pounding. He closed his eyes tight, wishing that he could erase all of the mistakes he had made in the past with regards to Stephanie and Aurora. The sad fact was that he couldn't. His fate had already been sealed today. Levesque turned to the only escape he knew which was sleep. Because of how sad and lethargic he felt, he was out in no time. It was a deep sleep that could only be had by someone who was depressed.
It was in the late afternoon that Stephanie and Aurora went out for a mother-daughter date to get some ice cream at a local Greenwich shop. It had been a few hours since her daughter had had her melt down because of her daddy saying goodbye to her. After a decent nap, the three year old seemed to be much calmer. It was a perfect opportunity for the two of them to get out of the house and just spend time together.
"Is your ice cream good, sweetie?" She asked her daughter with a smile.
Aurora Rose was sitting next to her mommy in the booth and was quietly spooning tiny clumps of ice cream into her mouth from the glass bowl. Her daughter nodded slightly before she placed her spoon down into the melting chocolate scoops letting its handle clank against the glass bowl's rim.
"Did you get a brain freeze?" Steph then inquired with a giggle.
The three year old shook her head and then laid it down on the restaurant table with her left cheek pressed up against the surface. Her little eyes clacked open and closed a few times as she looked over at her mommy who was still observing her, while eating her own dish of ice cream.
"Everyone loves you, sweetheart. I love you. Granny loves you. Pop loves you. Kurt loves you." commented Stephanie before she tucked her bottom lip into her mouth and brought her hand to her daughter's back to rub it.
"Daddy wuvs me." The child muttered before popping her pink bottom lip out.
Stephanie breathed in deep. It was obvious that her ex-husband was still on her little girl's mind. Steph knew it would be foolish for her to think that a mere few hours and a few scoops of ice cream could make her forget that she was no longer going to see Paul. It was going to take time for that wound to heal. Steph could only hope that her and Kurt could give her little girl all the love and warm for her to realize that they were a family even with Levesque gone. Hell, she thought of Kurt as her father months before, so it wasn't a stretch to think that Angle could once function as the father figure in her life.
Before Stephanie could come up with an appropriate reply to her daughter, her cell phone rang causing her to begin to rummage through her Coach handbag for it. Finding the phone at the bottom of her bag, she brought it out and saw the two white letter words "Kurt's Cell".
"Hi honey, how did the meeting go?"
"Hi babe, not good..."
"Why, what happened?" Steph quickly asked back sounding a bit surprised to hear that it wasn't a walk in the park like she figured it would be for him.
"Ah, let's save that conversation for when I get home. I'm just about to make my connecting flight now. I'll be home later tonight. How were you and the kids today?"
"Umm, well, we'll have to talk about that later too." She replied in an exhale while using her free hand to brush her daughter's soft light brown hair away from her angel face.
"Oh boy, well, I miss you and the kids. I'll see you later tonight, okay? I love you."
"Okay, I love you too. Bye."
"Mommy, we go home?" Aurora whined as soon as her mother ended her phone call.
"Sure, we can go home. Do you want to have the waitress put your ice cream in a container so you can take it with you?"
Aurora shook her head and then pushed the ice cream bowl away from her. She just wanted to go home; to see her favorite stuffed animals: Flipsy, Kitty Cat, and Puppy Dog. They would be right where she had left them in her bedroom. Her toys didn't leave her, they were hers forever.
Stephanie did as her daughter asked and brought her home. The moment she stepped into the laundry room from the garage, the child ran straight through the kitchen toward the staircase, not even bothering to acknowledge Cathy and her little brother who were finishing up a snack of apples.
"Where is she off to in such a hurry?" Catherine asked her boss when she saw Steph slowly enter the kitchen.
"Probably to her room to play. Thanks for watching my little man so I could spend some time with my first born." Stephanie commented with a smile to show her gratitude. She knew that Ms. Scot was being paid to take care of her children, but she still appreciated her.
"He's a joy to take care of. I hope you and Aurora had a nice time together. It's good for her to get some one on one time with you, especially with baby number three coming next year." Cathy chuckled gesturing toward Mrs. Angle's abdomen.
"Oh I know, I can't believe I'm going to be a mother of three. I'm so excited." Stephanie gushed bringing her hands to her flat stomach.
"Did you need me to stay through dinner?"
"No, that won't be necessary. I'm going to whip up the kids a quick dinner and then put them to bed. Kurt's coming home tonight and I'm sure we're going to have a lot to talk about. I'll see you tomorrow at the usual time though." replied Steph while she slid the tray off of her son's high chair and then unbuckled him.
"Okay, I'm going to take off then. Enjoy your evening with your family." Ms. Scot told her boss with a smile as she watched how happy Andrew became when his mother lifted him out of his high chair and into her arms.
After Cathy's departure, Stephanie took a substantial amount of time in her home office to attempt to read through her work emails and send a few replies out. It wasn't long into getting into work mode, that she began to wish that she hadn't let the nanny go so soon. She was constantly having to look away from her laptop because her busy one year old had toddled over to something in her home office that would be in small broken pieces in less than a minute.
"Oh no, no, sweetheart, don't touch!" She would quickly shout out before running over to her son who would hold up the expensive trinket for her to see with a smile on his face, like he had found for her something she had misplaced.
Her tasks were finally accomplished with her one year old on her lap with him occupied with her favorite office supply. Thank God for sticky notes, because ripping away each colored square paper from its stack provided Andrew with sufficient entertainment so that his mother could do her job at home.
By the time dinnertime rolled around, she was satisfied with her progress of pushing through her paper work that had been building up with her absence. She retreated back to the kitchen and made her and her children dinner.
"Are you not hungry, Aurora? Is your belly still full from the ice cream?" Steph asked when she noticed that her daughter wasn't eating very much of her meal at all.
"No, I no hungwy, Fwipsy gonna eat it up." explained the three year old as she pushed the face of her stuffed otter into her plate so he could have a taste of Mommy's cooking.
"Wow, I didn't know river otters liked chicken breast, corn, and carrots." chuckled Stephanie while she broke apart the pieces of chicken on her son's high chair tray so they would be small enough for him to pick up and eat without her having to worry about him choking.
"He like it. He a spes-seal otter that Daddy getted me." Aurora proclaimed and then followed her words up with her best attempt at how a river otter would sound while it ate table food.
The sound of his big sister playing caused Andy to turn and watch her as he tried to mimic her silly sounds. The smiling toddler grabbed hold of one of his pieces of chicken and then reached out from his high chair with it toward the direction of his sister and her stuffed animal. Perhaps he wanted to get in on the animal feeding as well.
"No, Fwipsy not want your food, baby broffer." Aurora Rose scowled while at the same time making the stuffed animal hide under the dinner table.
Her remark made Andrew turn back around to face his mother. He then offered her the same fist full of chicken pieces.
"No thank you, sweetie, that's yours. Mommy has her own plate of food." Steph told her son before forking a bite of food into her mouth.
When dinner was finished, it was Andrew who was first to be changed into his pajamas and laid down in his crib. Aurora, being a big girl, got to have special story time with Mommy before she had to go to sleep.
"Do you know what book you want me to read to you?" Stephanie asked while tucking Aurora into her colorful bed sheet.
"Yeah, I want my Daddy-Mommy-Aurora book." replied the little girl as she then pulled the photo album out from under her pillow.
Stephanie let out a little sigh as she adjusted her seating on the edge of her daughter's bed. She wasn't going to get off that easy with "Green Eggs and Ham" or "Goodnight Moon", which had been the usual choices by her three year old. Now, thanks to Paul, her daughter wanted her to pour over pictures from their failed marriage. Of course she would do it since it was for her child, but it didn't mean that she was in the spirit of doing so. Maybe she could sway her daughter to another actual book.
"That's a photo album, silly. It's not a story book."
"It a story, Mommy. Daddy told me. I tell you." Aurora quickly answered back pointing to the cover.
Stephanie gave her daughter a weak smile as she then waited for the child to begin to re-count what her father had told her about the photo album.
"Daddy-Mommy-Aurora book by me." She announced before opening the cover to the first page of pictures.
"Oncey time Mommy wuved Daddy and mar-weed him." Aurora Rose explained pointing to Paul and Stephanie's 2003 wedding picture.
"Ven baby me hided in Mommy's big belly. See, dar I am." She said smiling up at her mother while pointing at the pregnant picture of Stephanie from 2006.
"Yeah, you're right, you are in my big belly." Stephanie acknowledged her child before giving her a kiss on the side of her face.
"And wook, Mommy! I den born and Daddy holded me!" The child exclaimed pointing to her first photo with her daddy.
"Aww, Aurora, you were so precious, sweetheart...My tiny baby girl." Stephanie gushed pointing to another picture from the delivery room that Paul had taken of her holding her newborn daughter while lying in the hospital bed.
Stephanie gently ran her hands through Aurora's beautiful, soft brown locks of hair while the child creatively narrated the rest of the photos. Steph couldn't help but smile at how creative her child was being with each new picture. She could see Aurora's eyes light up with so much excitement as she told her little story with the pictures. Of course, the story had to come to an end when the child reached the plastic pages that were blank with no more Levesque family memories to fill them up.
Aurora became silent when her eyes fell on the empty pages. It was like her little fairytale had been abruptly cut short. She really wanted to say that Mommy, Daddy, and Aurora lived happily ever after, but that wasn't really how the story went.
"Ven the book over cus Daddy weft Mommy and Aurora." She admitted in a disappointed voice that showed her sadness.
"That wasn't the end of the story, after Mommy and Daddy went their separate ways, Mommy fell in love with man named Kurt who made her smile and loved her and her little girl very much. He married Mommy and moved her and Aurora into a big new beautiful house in Greenwich. Then, because they loved each other so much, they had a little baby boy named Andrew. And everyone lived happily ever after." Stephanie said with a smile as she finished off the story for her child.
But what about Daddy? Did he live happily ever after? Aurora Rose narrowed her eyes and used her hands to flip through several of the blank plastic pages. She looked back at her mother before questioning her storytelling.
"Dat no in the book."
"Well, it's not in that photo album, but it's in the new one Mommy has. I'll show it to you another day. But now it's time for bed." Steph told her child bringing her face close to gave her child a kiss. She then moved back to where she was at bedside.
The little girl's mind was still focused on that book, the Daddy-Mommy-Aurora book. Her fingers filed back through the last few pages of pictures. She focused her eyes on the last family picture that had been taken of her with her parents when she was a year old.
Why did Mommy have to have a new book? Why couldn't she know what happened to Daddy in the story? Maybe he was naughty, but he was sorry; didn't that mean something?
"Mommy?" Aurora asked grabbing her mother's shirt before Stephanie was able to stand up to do her finishing touches of tucking the little girl in.
"Yes, honey?"
"Why Daddy have to go away? Can he go in time-out ven say he sor-wey? Like when I bad and pushed broffer ven had to sit on the steps. Can't Daddy come back, Mommy? He no mean to do bad fings." Aurora Rose pled with her innocent eyes wide.
Stephanie felt a wave of sadness overtake her. It ripped at her heart to hear her child begging for her father to be forgiven. It killed her because she knew that her three year old didn't understand the specifics of the situation and what it was that her daddy had done. It wasn't the child's job to justify her father's wrong doing.
"Oh sweetheart, it's very different when grown-ups do bad things. Grown-ups know right from wrong and when they choose to do something wrong, then they're stuck. There is no quick fix like time-out to erase what they did, especially when it hurt little children like you and your brother. I'm sure your daddy loves you and that he's sorry for what he did. Now he needs time away for a while." explained Steph in a voice that was strained while she tried to contain her emotions.
Aurora's bottom lip trembled slightly before it popped outward. She looked down at the other side of the page where there was a picture of her daddy smiling at the camera with only him in the picture. She wished he hadn't done any bad things at all.
"Aurora, I love you with all of my heart; you and Andrew. The only thing in the world that I care about is loving you and keeping the two of you safe and happy, okay? Now, put your photo album away because it's night-night time."
"Night-night, Daddy." Aurora whispered and then leaned down and gave the picture a quick kiss.
Stephanie had to take a deep breath and hold it to keep her composure. She felt so torn apart between what she thought in her heart was best for her children, and how her little girl was feeling at that very moment.
She gently lifted the album from Aurora's bed as soon as she closed it. She placed it on the small bookshelf next to the child's nightstand before going back to the bed to say a final goodnight to her daughter.
"Good night, sweetheart. I love you a million bunches and always will." She professed as she gave her child a nice long hug and then another kiss.
"Night-night, Mommy." Aurora replied before turning onto her side to get comfortable.
Knowing the normal bedtime routine, Stephanie flicked on her little nightlight before turning the light off in the room. The bedroom door, she left half open. Once out into her upstairs hallway and away from her little girl, the tears began to flow from Steph's eyes like a tilde wave that had just spilled over a dam. She cried silently while moving across the house toward her master bedroom. With a good amount of force, she pushed open the double doors to move into the room. Stephanie allowed herself to fall onto the bed. She let out a sob that was muffled by her bedspread.
"Stephanie?"
Angle stood frozen in place at the entrance to the master bedroom. His eyes were wide with concern as they stared at his wife crying on their king size bed. Had something happened while he was away? Was she hurt? Was it one of the kids?
The sound of his voice calling her name caused Steph to sit up and look in his direction. Her sparkling blue eyes pierced his when their eyes met. Upon returning home, Angle thought that it would be his wife who would be comforting him because of Karen taking him to court; now it looked like that it was Stephanie who needed to be consoled.