"Where are you off to?" Emma asked Will as she watched him get his shoes and coat on.
"I'm, uhm, I'm just going to go on a walk. You know, to get some air." Will blushed slightly as he lied to his wife.
"Ooh, can I come? This house is getting a bit humid and I need to walk around outside..." Emma asked smiling and Will's eyes widened.
"I, uhm, I don't-I don't think you should..." He scratched the back of his neck.
"Wait..." Emma pointed to him. "Are you going to the pub with your guy friends?"
"Oh! Yeah! That's what I'm doing! I'm sorry!" Will bit his lip and laughed awkwardly.
"Don't worry, I'm not stopping you!" She smiled. "You need a break. Maybe a drink could ease it off. But keep your phone on in case I need you, okay?" She raised her eyebrows and kissed him on the cheek.
"I've got it on loud, don't worry. I won't be too long!" He kissed her back and left the house. He felt bad for leaving Emma and lying to her like this, but he wanted to hear what Terri had to say for herself. He walked over to the park and saw Terri sat on the park bench. She smiled and stood up to greet him.
"You came!?" She beamed, walking closer to him.
"Uhm, yeah... Can we move out of sight? I sort of told Emma I was going to the pub, so if she looks out of the window and sees me with you, I'll be dead..." Terri nodded. "Emma can't know about us meeting, got it?" She nodded again and they walked to the shaded area.
"I'm sorry about kissing you the other day. It felt like the right thing to do, for me..." Will sighed.
"I'm married to Emma and I have two children? Well, nearly..."
"I know, I know, but I still love you, Will? Don't say that you don't love me back?"
"I don't, Terri. Not anymore. Yes, I feel bad because you were my highschool sweetheart, but I wouldn't change my life for the world." Terri sniffled.
"You shouldn't be with her. That should be me! I should be the mother to your children. I should still be your wife!"
"No, Terri. Don't pull this shit on me. You made that mistake, no-one else. YOU did. You decided to lie to me, no-one else. Maybe if you had told me when you found out, we would still be together, but now my life is better than ever."
"I was going to tell you, but Kendra-" Will scoffed.
"It wasn't up to your just-as-crazy sister to tell me or not. You could have told me. You know, when I found out that you were 'pregnant', I was over the moon. I felt as though we were finally getting back on track, and for once, I felt like I hadn't let you down and actually done something good to please you. But now I realise, YOU were the bad one in our relationship, not me." Terri wiped her cheek.
"I'm sorry, I really am..."
"No, 'sorry' doesn't cut it." Will shook his head.
"I'm not denying that your new family is amazing, but can we at least try to be friends again? You were my whole life for so long, I want at least a little bit of that back..." Will sighed, thinking about it.
"I guess we can try to be friends. But I will tell Emma in my own time, okay?" Terri nodded, throwing her arms around his body.
"Thank you so much! How are we going to see each other?"
"We are friends, not partners." He rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, I meant; when are we going to catch up?"
"Uhm, I guess I can come here sometime or, when Emma and Dalton are out, you can come round?" Terri nodded.
"I'll give you my number, two seconds." Terri got her phone out and gave out her number to Will. He put her name and number into his phone.
"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here..." Will bit his lip, looking in the direction of his house.
"Please, Will?" Terri pleaded. Will nodded.
"Okay, okay. But if you do one more thing that I don't like, that's it. Got it?" Will raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, of course. I won't, thank you!" Terri smiled. Will's phone buzzed and he opened it to see he got a text from Emma.
"Emma needs me home, I need to go. Uhm, text me about the next catch up?" Will stood up and Terri nodded. He rushed out of the park and Terri watched him disappear behind the trees.
Will rushed home and ran inside to find Emma sat on the kitchen floor. She blushed as he came in.
"Jesus, Em? What did you do?" He walked over to Emma and crouched beside her.
"I was crouching down to get the pans out, you know, to do my daily clean of them, and I got stuck, so I sat here... For a while..." She bit her lip.
"How long?" Will helped her up.
"Uhm, I don't know... As long as you've been out...? My backside started hurting, so that's why I text you... I couldn't stay there all afternoon while you were out... Sorry for ruining your drinking time! You can go back out, if you really want?"
"Emma, you should have text me as soon as you done it! And what have I told you about crouching when I'm not here, even if I am here!? And no, it was quite boring there, I'm glad you pulled me away..." Emma smiled and placed her lips on his.
"Your breath doesn't smell or taste like alcohol...?" She frowned.
"I know, I-I was drinking cola... I didn't want to get drunk and stuff..." He felt like he saved that one, even if Emma did still look a little confused.
"Okay... Anyways, Dalton has been invited to a birthday party in a few days, and I was going to go with him. You can stay here, if you want?" Will nodded.
"Yeah, I will have some papers to mark and stuff. Unless you want me to come, of course?" Emma shook her head and smiled.
"No, no, it's fine. I understand that work is more important..." She walked through to the other room and sat on the couch.
"I'll come, Ems, okay?" He sat next to her and she turned away.
"No, stay and do your work. I'll take him. If I need you, I will only be a few streets away, and I'll have my phone on me."
"Are you sure? I don't mind?" Emma turned and smiled at him weakly.
"No, stay, it's fine. Honestly." She kissed his cheek and he pulled her in closer. "Have you been putting perfume on?" She sniffed his top.
"Uhm, no, this woman hugged me in the pub thinking I was someone else." Emma nodded.
"Should I be jealous?" She kissed his neck.
"No, not at all." He ran a hand through her hair and down her back.
"That's good."
"Where is Dalton, anyways?" He looked around but couldn't see his son.
"He's upstairs playing with his Lego." She turned around so she was laying on her back and her head was resting on Will's lap.
"And how is my baby girl?"
"Oh, well, I'm fine, just a little tired and worn out." Will chuckled.
"I meant my other baby girl." Emma blushed.
"Oh..." He lifted up her top, revealing her bump and ran his hand over it. "She's good. She has kicked a lot today. I think it's every time she knows you're not near her... She done the same when I went to my parents." Will smiled.
"She's already a daddy's little princess." Emma raised her eyebrows.
"I thought I was your Cinderella?"
"You are, my Cinderella." He winked and Emma shook her head laughing. A few moments later, Dalton came down the stairs and sat on the sofa with his parents. For the rest of the day, the family sat and watched movies, eating popcorn and cuddling under a blanket until they all fell asleep.
A few weeks passed, and Terri and Will had met up on more than one occasion. They mostly went to the park or a coffee shop, but she had gone round to their house a couple times. Nothing else had happened, other than just meeting up and talking about their lives.
They had a few close calls, like when Emma arrived home early once and Terri had to run out the back door. Or the time when they met in the park and they saw Emma walking through with Dalton. Luckily, she hadn't seen them and she still didn't know about their secret friendship.
That was until the other day.
Emma was doing her daily routine when she came across something which was very out of place. She picked it off of the sofa and placed it in a little pot until Will was due to return home. Her mind was flying to every possible corner as to what it was doing there. She tried to stay calm and wait to see what Will's excuse was, but her hormones were raging and she was getting impatient. He finally arrived home, 2 hours after being out. She was sat on the sofa with her arms crossed when he walked in. He came up behind her and kissed her on the cheek and she turned her head slightly.
"Where were you?" She asked, facing the blank TV.
"I told you? I went to the park to get some air." Will frowned.
"Oh, yeah. You went to the park for 2 hours to just get some air? Just tell me the truth, Will."
"I-I am telling the truth...?" Will was getting panicky. Maybe Emma had found out? Emma held up a small pot and handed it to Will.
"What's that?" Emma asked him, her tone plain.
"A strand of hair?" She nodded.
"Whose hair, though, Will? That's the question!" She stood up and faced him.
"Yours?" He gulped, looking at the clearly blonde strands in the pot.
"Last time I checked, my hair was ginger?" She picked up a strand of her hair and looked at it. "Yep. Definitely ginger!" She narrowed her eyes.
"Emma, I-" Emma cut him off.
"Are you cheating on me? Are you sleeping with someone else? Is it because you don't want to be married? Or do you not want children anymore? Oh God, is it because of my body?" Her eyes turned sad and she looked down.
"No? No! God, no! I would never do that!" She sniffled and Will rubbed her arms.
"Then whose hair is that? Because I know for a fact that isn't a males, and even if it was, you don't know any man with hair that long." Will sighed and blushed. "Please, Will... Just tell me the truth..."
"I've not been cheating on you, I promise. I've been-" He sighed. "I've been seeing Terri. We've been grabbing coffees and gone to the park. She has also come here a few times... But only as friends!" Emma gulped.
"Her? Of all people, you chose her? I think I'm going to throw up." She rushed over to the kitchen sink. "I can't believe you. I really can't! You promised me!" Emma started crying and Will walked over to her.
"Emma... I'm sorry... But she came over to me and begged me to try and be friends with her again. I didn't want to at first, but she begged me, Ems!"
"You could have said no! You SHOULD have said no! How long have you been meeting with her behind my back?" Will bit his lip.
"It doesn't matter how long..." Emma sighed.
"Yes, Will, it does. My husband has been sneaking out of the house for hours at a time to visit his ex wife when his current wife is busy at home looking after their 3 year old while being, now, 7 months pregnant!"
"I've been meeting her for just under a month..." Emma's eyes widened. "She has changed, Em, I promise you!" She shook her head.
"A month? A whole month and you didn't think of telling me that you were seeing her?"
"I didn't want to make you angry..." Emma scoffed.
"Oh, so you dragged it out and were going to wait until when to finally tell me?"
"I don't know..." She shook her head.
"You 'don't know'? Really? Wow. I thought you told me you didn't love her anymore?"
"I don't, I only love you and our children!"
"Why meet with her, then!? If it was innocent, you would have told me, and you know that is true. You wouldn't feel the need to hide it from me. And you don't love the kids half as much as you used to before you started meeting with her." Emma sniffled.
"What do you mean? Of course I love them just as much!" He frowned.
"You missed the last Doctors visit, Will." She looked down and bit her lip.
"Wait, what last Doctors visit? You didn't tell me anything!"
"I did. I told you that I had a check up with the Doctor, and you said you would come. I reminded you several times, but when the day came, I waited here for you for 30 minutes to come home to go with me. I had to reschedule the appointment. Even ask Dalton. He came with me eventually."
"Oh, God, Emma! I'm so sorry! Why didn't you ring me?" Emma frowned.
"I did? 6 times! I even left you a voice mail." Will looked confused.
"They didn't come through... Was everything okay? Is Alex okay? Are you okay?" He asked, placing a hand on her bump. Emma pushed his hand off of her.
"We are fine. Thanks for asking. You're only 2 weeks too late." She rolled her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me when you got in!?"
"Because you were still out? I thought you didn't care, so I forgot about it."
"Emma, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for it to get to this. I love you, and I love our kids! I will do anything!" Emma looked into his eyes.
"There isn't much you can do, Will... I don't know how much I can trust you anymore..." He shook his head.
"Please, Emma? I will do anything, I'm begging you! I am so sorry!" Emma started crying, harder this time.
"I love you so much, but you don't understand how much you have hurt me..." Will hugged Emma and she left her arms hanging.
"Please, Emma, I'm begging you... One more chance? I promise I won't muck up this time! I am begging you! You are my wife and losing you is the worst thing that could happen... Please?" Emma sniffled and wrapped her arms around Will tightly.
"I think we need to have a long discussion about this tomorrow." Will nodded. "I'm going to go to bed now. Please can you sort Dalton out when his bedtime is near?" Will nodded and kissed her cheek. Emma walked upstairs to Dalton and said goodnight to him while he was playing with his cars. Just as she was about to leave, Dalton called to her;
"Mummy? Do you and daddy still love each other?" Emma bit her lip.
"I don't know, baby. I really don't know..."