CHOICES Ch. 3

Six months had passed since Rafe and Evelyn's wedding. The distance between them grew daily. Evelyn often felt they were going through the motions, asking each other about their day, having increasingly mechanical sex. Evelyn's comfort was her baby boy. Although she knew she was spoiling him Evelyn spent hours holding him, rocking him and singing to him. He was her only link to Danny and she cherished every second she spent with him.

When she held her infant son murmuring loving words to him and inhaling his clean baby scent she often felt Rafe's eyes on her. Often she would colour and look away hastily, feeling guilty for reasons she could not explain. She and Danny exchanged weekly phone calls for her to keep him up to date with little Daniel's progress. Every smile, every gurgle, every laugh, every movement was reported to his father. Evelyn often heard a yearning in Danny's voice clearly he wished he could be there. Evelyn felt the same yearning she wished he was there too.

Evelyn never felt strong enough to ask the question uppermost in her mind. Was he still seeing Jamie Lyn and was their relationship deepening? It made her crazy knowing there was another woman enjoying his gentle touch and warm kisses. Her mind quieted when Danny told her he was no longer seeing Jamie Lyn. Evelyn was about to ask why then she realized she didn't care, she was just glad it happened.

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Danny oversaw the last of the grain harvesting. His back ached and he could feel his shoulders stinging with sunburn. His skin felt coated in chaff and his mouth burned with thirst. He did not think he would ever get used to life on the land. He missed being in a plane so bad he could not stand it. Every time he heard a crop duster he stood immobile drinking in the sight and sound until it faded from sight.

He had stopped seeing Jamie Lyn a month ago. She kept pressing him to say he loved her and make a commitment. He couldn't do it, he did care about Jamie Lyn but every time he tried to say the words she so badly wanted to hear they stuck in his throat. There was only one woman he felt that level of emotion for. It was the same woman who was now lost to him.

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Evelyn slammed the oven door after seeing the meal she had carefully prepared was ruined. Rafe had taken to staying out late drinking. Evelyn knew the atmosphere between them was becoming increasingly unbearable. Yet neither of them talked about it, it was the proverbial elephant in the room. It was the realization that they had married the wrong person. Evelyn tried not to listen to the rumours that Rafe was seeing other women. She knew she should be furious but really she was just tired. Tired of pretending that she was living in domestic bliss. She was tired of pretending that the man she truly loved was the one she was married to. When in fact that man was living in another part of the country.

She heard the screen door creak and knew Rafe was home. She tried to school her features, tried to look like she was pleased to see her husband. She could tell from his stumbling step that he was drunk. Sure enough he appeared in the doorway, his face flushed, his eyes glazed and swaying like a tree in a high wind. He glared at Evelyn belligerently;

'So why are you looking at me like that, Mrs. McAuley?'

Evelyn could not help flinching at the use of her married name.

'I don't know what you mean Rafe.'

Rafe smirked in a threatening manner as he stalked towards his wife, the stumbling step all but gone in his anger.

'Don't you look at me like I'm dirt!' he roared suddenly.

Evelyn flinched trying to back away finding her back pressed against the counter. She could hear little Danny start crying as he was woken by Rafe's yelling. He gestured towards the nursery;

'Now the brat is squawking, a man can't get a minutes peace.'

Evelyn felt her rage rising; 'That is our son Rafe and he is not a brat!'

Rafe smirked again as he walked away from her,

'That kid is not mine and you know it,' he approached her suddenly his fists balled, 'You goddamn whore!' his fist shot out and connected with Evelyn's cheekbone, she heard a muffled crack before the world spun and turned black.

To be continued…..