Mistake 1, part a.

Roo (Ruth) Stewart, or should I say Roo Macklin sat in the living room of her home which she shared with her husband Brett Macklin and six year old daughter Martha. Ever since she had met Brett her life had become complicated, sighing she got up and went to the kitchen to start making dinner, when Brett got home from work, dinner would be expected to be waiting on the table for him, six thirty sharp, no later, no earlier, just like everything else with him it had to be what he said when he wanted it. Come to think of it he was still the same as when she met him, and to be honest the only reason she even spoke to him was to make herself out to be something, something she felt she wasn't. Maybe she should of specified what that something she wanted was, cause she had gotten something not what she wanted, but it was something, something destructive, something that got so out of hand that she was pregnant before she even knew the truth about him and after Martha was born she had no choice but to insure her child's future and marry him, he didn't love her, he just love the fact that he had a way of twisting her arm just the amount needed to make her do anything, and that anything didn't just stop with his demands for dinner on time or for the house to be spotless when he arrived, it had gotten so out of hand that Martha, his own daughter was to be out of his sight until after dinner and then she was to be put to bed only seeing him long enough to say got night. He was self centered, coming and going as he pleased, sometimes for weeks just because he didn't feel like putting up with her, or because the girl from work that Roo knew nothing about was more as he liked to call it, classy.

'How did I get myself into this mess' Roo thought to herself, well that was actually a stupid question though, she knew exactly how she go into this, she'd just been focusing on one thing instead of the consequences. If only she'd just tried her best to get along with her new step mother Alicia, then maybe it wouldn't have gotten so far out of hand that her own father had to turn his back on her and send her far away to boarding school.

She didn't know what had happened to her life, it was just like yesterday she had been a fourteen year old girl with a father she could tell anything to, and then that, that, that... arrrrr, why did he even have to fall in love with her in the first place, she was his daughter and he choose Alicia over her! 'As soon as she came along my life got complicated' she told herself, she was right too, she was pregnant at fifteen, married soon after to someone that deep down she would of hated if her circumstances had been different, and now at twenty one her life had still gone nowhere, well that was probably exaggerated slightly, she loved her daughter Martha, right from the bottom of her heart, that was the reason why she married Brett in the first place and kept holding herself together and dealt with him as best she could, making sure that Martha knew as little as possible about what her father was really like.

"I'm home" Brett's voice called from the front door.

"It's only six though" Roo replied, her heart skipped a beat in fear, she hated it when he came home early.

"Yeah I called you and left a message. Didn't you get it?"

'Oh, no' Roo thought to herself, this was most likely going to turn into a screaming match. "No, I didn't get any messages today".

"Oh, ok" Brett said putting his keys down on the edge of the bench and then looked at the table. "Where's dinner?"

"It's coming".

"Well I'm home so it should already be here" he told her raising his voice.

A rush of fear ran through her again, if the yelling wasn't bad enough that business suit he was always in made it even harder to get through to him, unlike most business men, Brett didn't have a work mood and a home and family mood, it was always just the same old heartless, money making, self centered, vain, clod blooded man her was. 'Ok Ruth pull yourself together, you can handle him, just like you've handled him in the last six years'. "Look Brett, I do my best to get your dinner on the table when you want it, now you can't expect me to be a mind reader who knows ever day that your going to decide to show up here early" she yelled, relaxing her shoulders in satisfaction on how that all came out.

Brett just sighed impatiently and sat down with his back turned to her, "very well then".

Roo just smiled, she'd gotten the better of him, which wasn't exactly an everyday event, the last time she could remember being the one with the last word was about a month ago. "I thought you said you canceled that meeting this afternoon" she started, trying to make some sort of conversation.

"Well some important issues came up that need to be addressed" Brett explained, not sounding to least bit concerned about what he had missed.

"You know Martha was devastated when you didn't show up to see her".

"It was a ballet recital not the end of the world, I'm sure she'll live" looking up for a second from the newspaper he had started reading.

"You just don't give a damn do you Brett, she's your daughter, our daughter, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Roo exclaimed, getting more and more worked up, how could anyone be so heartless?

"Yes, I just had more important things to do".

"No, Brett, you didn't, our little girl doesn't even know you cause you don't give a stuff about even asking how she is every once and a while, you spent every fathers day off on business trips, had extra work on her birthday and the least you could of done was taken five minutes to talk to her over the phone, but you didn't did you".

"Look, Ruth, I put a roof over both of your heads, so don't you start with me about who does what".

"I wasn't talking about money, I was talking about Martha, but she obviously isn't anything to you, all you care about is money" Roo screamed, no realizing that Martha was in the next room listening to the whole thing.

"I don't have to put up with this" Brett explained in a low harsh voice before storming out.

Roo, felling more stressed then she had in the last week, sighed and sat down at the table, berrying her face in her hands. "Mummy" Martha started as she came into the room with tears running down her face, "is daddy coming home this time?"