The story will go back in time to around 2004 from this point on until it catches up to 2009. Then the narrative will start to move forward again. I won't mark every single chapter with a timestamp after this. Let me know if anyone finds it too confusing.
Where the Streets Have No Name
Chapter 5
Going back five years...
Edward finished his shift at six, but unlike the other days when he would rush home to care for his infant daughter and clinically depressed wife, he decided to hit the corner bar to drown his sorrows. He was rapidly reaching the end of his rope and didn't know which way to turn to keep it all together.
Their fight the night before was the last straw. The heated words and Carmen's sobbing face swirled before his eyes as he signalled the barkeep to refill his glass.
He was bone weary, and not just from the 12 hour shift he just worked. He was tired of Carmen's daily hysteric fits, of constantly worrying whether Ella was being fed and changed in his absence, and above all, whether his wife had once again fired the nanny or not. They were on their third already, and Ella wasn't even six months yet. After what he had witnessed the night before and the general trend of events over the last few months, his conviction had solidified that it wasn't safe to leave Ella alone with Carmen.
His in-laws in New Jersey were hardly of any help. Other than vocally blaming him for all of Carmen's woes, they never lifted a finger to ease things for the couple. His own parents from Illinois, despite their disappointment, provided money and concerned phone calls. They even asked him to consider moving back to Chicago so they could play a more active role in caring for Ella. But Carmen was reticent. She wouldn't hear of a move. She had some kind of an insatiable need to prove to the world that she could do it on her own. That she was a good mother. Her failures only fuelled her stubborn mission rather than dissuade her.
As he lifted the third... or fifth round of Jack Daniels to his lips, he wondered how he had managed to screw things up so thoroughly, so fast.
He knew he should go home. Ella needed him, and whether she liked to admit it or not, Carmen needed him too. After all, he did give her his word that he would be there for her every step of the way.
For Ella. For Carmen.
He promised her she wouldn't have to change her life for the baby. That everything would work out just fine.
He had thought he was doing the honorable thing when he asked Carmen to marry him.
He had thought he was doing the right thing when he went out on a limb to convince her that she should keep the baby. Why wouldn't she, when she had the father of the baby ready and able to support them? Wasn't that what all women wanted? To have a loving home, a doting husband, and 2.5 kids?
How could he be so wrong?
AN: There's no doubt I'm heading to be the casualty of the "Drabble War". Hehe! I'm nowhere near finished! Check out the stories by the lethal fic-warriors. Some are actually complete already.
Thank you Lulabelle98, HeidiJoVT, and Dinx.