Chapter 13

Trish boarded the plane back to Toronto early Thursday morning. It was December 22nd and she had four full days off to spend Christmas with her family. Words couldn't describe how nervous she was to see Ron. She had feared the worst for a few weeks now, but had hoped maybe he sent that text message in haste.

She tried to push the incident in the ring between her and Randy from her mind. Unfortunately, it was all she could think about. In the 20 years she's been with Ron, she never once thought about another man, let alone erotic thoughts about one. It took all the restraint she had not to give into her urges that day. She could remember so vividly the look Randy was giving her and knew he had to feel the same way she did.

She purposely avoided contact with Randy that night. She felt bad for doing it, but the incident in the ring was too dangerous. She had convinced herself that it wouldn't have happened if her marriage wasn't in shambles and if Randy didn't miss Sam so much. She even went as far as snagging a ride with Beth to the airport the next morning. She didn't say goodbye or wish him a Merry Christmas. But, neither did he.

Randy's flight landed in St. Louis. He was beyond excited to see Al and to spend some time with Sam. Though his last interaction with Trish was constantly on his mind, four days with Sam was exactly what he needed to clear his brain of any thoughts of Trish Stratus.

He avoided Trish like the plague after their "bonding" in the ring. And he felt terrible about it. He had worked so hard to become a better person. He prided himself on the changes he had made to his overall persona and avoiding Trish was an old classic Randy-ism. He used to do it to the conquests of the night all the time…get off, get out. But this time, his heart was hurting, and his brain was screaming at him 'Now who's the douche bag?'

He pulled into the driveway and instantly saw Alannah waving to him from the window. He ran into the house with a huge smile on his face. "Hey baby girl! Come here and give Daddy a hug! I missed you so much!" Al ran to him and jumped into his arms "Daddy! Daddy! I missed you too! Mommy said Santa is coming soon!"

"She did, did she? Hmm…well, I think she may be right! I hope you've been a good girl for Mommy while Daddy's been gone! Or else all Santa's going to bring you is coal!" She nodded and giggled.

"Where's Mommy at honey?"

"Um, in the kitchen."

"You think? Well! Let's go find her!" He said, picking Al up and carrying her into the kitchen.

"There's Mommy!" He said as walked in, still holding Al.

"Look Mommy! Daddy's home!" Alannah said as Randy put her down.

Sam turned and looked at Randy. She let out a smile, but didn't seem overly excited to see him. "Hey baby."

He walked over to her and gave her a hug and a kiss. It wasn't exactly the type of greeting he thought he was going to receive from her. Something felt…off. It was like she could care a less that he was even home. Randy immediately felt guilty…but there was no way she could possibly know about Trish. So he assumed she must be pissed at him…but why, he had no clue.

Trish walked into the house after arriving home and what she found took her breath away. Boxes were packed and scattered throughout every room. Ron's SUV was in the driveway, so she knew he was home. She slowly walked up the stairs, dodging the boxes lining the hallway. She walked into their bedroom and found Ron throwing the rest of his clothes in a suitcase.

He looked up startled as he heard someone enter the room. "Trish! You're home early…I wasn't expecting you for a few more hours."

Trish looked at him, the heartbreak burning in her eyes, her voice trembling, "Yeah, I guess you thought you had a few more hours to get all your stuff out before I got home…what were you going to do? Leave a note? Or maybe a text message?" Her pent up anger slowly started seeping out once she realized he was trying to take the coward's way out.

"I wasn't going to leave before you got home. I just wanted to have everything packed."

The awkward silence began to take over the room as the two of them stared at each other, both trying to find the words they wanted to say.

"So you're leaving me?"

Ron looked down at the floor. He couldn't make eye contact with her. He didn't want to see her heart breaking.

"Look at me Ron. Are you leaving me?" She asked calmly, though her whole body was trembling with a mix of emotions.

"Trish, I…" he hesitated before picking up papers off the bed. "I want a divorce," his words coming out barely as a whisper.

Trish immediately started crying, her bottom lip quivering. "So that's it? You're not even going to try and make this work with me?"

Ron threw his hands up, "We've tried to make this work for months now! Let's not continue the torture!"

Trish threw a disgusted look at him, "Torture? Being married to me was torture?" Her knees felt weak. She can't believe he just called their marriage torture. She finally fell to the floor and began sobbing uncontrollably.

He bent down next to her, trying to comfort her. "No, Trish, being married to you wasn't torture. But I think that I had a preconceived idea as to what our marriage was going to be…and this isn't it."

Trish looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot with tears streaming down her face, "What did I do wrong?"

He sighed and sat next to her on the floor, the tears starting to build in his eyes as well, "You didn't do anything wrong. You know, the day you retired from wrestling, I thought we were finally going to have a normal life. A life where we both had normal jobs with no traveling…an 8 to 5 job where we would get to spend evenings and weekends with each other…away from the eyes of the media. But that's not you, is it? After wrestling, you went on that cop tv show. Then you started the yoga studio…next you made a yoga dvd and video game…then you were going back to wrestling to promote the dvd and video game…then you were on the tough enough tv show…then you started filming Bounty Hunters. It was at that point I realized that I was never going to have a normal wife that didn't need to be in the spotlight anymore. And I can't fault you for any of this, but it's not what I'm looking for in a wife. I want a wife that can focus her time on building a family…not traveling all over the place, doing tv promos. I thought you would open the yoga studio and that would be it. But let's face it…you're more in love with your work than you are with me."

Trish was speechless. She wasn't exactly sure what to say. She finally understood the disconnect between the two of them. He wanted a life that she couldn't give him and he had too much respect for her to ask her to change for him. But to say she loved her work more than him was not fair.

"How dare you say that I love my work more than you! The only reason why I let work consume me is because I can't have children and you refuse to adopt! How can we build a family if there are no children? You were my only family, but I didn't think I had to provide you with constant attention!"

"I'm not asking for constant attention! I just wanted a wife that was actually home instead of traveling everywhere! I thought you left the WWE for that main reason!"

Trish sat there in amazement. How could they both not realize just how wrong for each other they truly were? All she could do was whisper "How did you not realize this before we got married? We spent 15 years of our lives together before marriage. How could you not know the real me? And why didn't I see any of this?"

He shook his head, "I'm not sure. They always say love is blind. I thought you were the type of woman that I wanted. Maybe it just took me this long to figure out you're not. But I know instead of being unhappy, we should end things now before we hate each other and say things that we may regret or don't mean. Let's at least try to salvage a friendship."

She nodded. She wasn't sure if she wanted the divorce, but if it was what he wanted, she would grant him that wish. Why should she continue to fight for a marriage that he doesn't want? She stood and picked up the divorce papers, signing her name on the line. Her body felt numb after she handed him the papers. This was truly the end.

It was as if a montage of their life together began running through her mind. She envisioned all the happy times they had spent with each other….The first kisses and first dates, meeting each others parents, vacations, their proposal, and of course their wedding day and vows. It was then that she realized, life is series of moments, some good and some bad, and it's uncanny how within seconds, the consequences of these moments can change the paths of our lives forever. Yesterday she was married, and within seconds - BAM, she wasn't.

"What about the house?"

"What?" Trish asked, being pulled out of her epiphany. It was like she heard what he had asked, but she couldn't comprehend it.

"The house…do you want to buy me out?"

Trish shook her head, "I don't want the house…too many memories. Let's just sell it. We can divvy up the furniture as well."

Ron folded the papers, trying to accept the fact that their marriage was over. "Ok…I'll have my brother put it on the market for us."

Randy walked into the kitchen after putting Al down for the night. He grabbed a beer from the fridge, cracked it, and sat down at the kitchen table. This was the first free moment he had to himself all day. Sam had gone to the movies with her mother and wasn't going to be home for another hour. He thought about how distant she's been with him today. He assumed she was mad at him but thought it was odd that she hasn't said anything. It's unlike Sam to not address something that's bothering her…when she's pissed, you better believe she's going to tell you.

His thoughts moved from Sam to Trish. He couldn't help but wonder how things were going back home for her. Was she fighting with Ron, or making up, or maybe just avoiding him entirely? He thought about texting her, but quickly dismissed that thought. He was supposed to be concentrating on Sam and not thinking about Trish.

As he took another chug of beer, he noticed a cell phone sitting on the china cabinet. He stood up and walked over to it. It was a simple looking cell. He knew it wasn't Sam's…he bought her an iphone last year for her birthday. Suddenly, he heard Al crying in her room. He put the phone back down and headed up to her room. He assumed she had a nightmare which meant Daddy to the rescue!

An hour later Sam returned home to find Randy and Alannah watching Dora the Explorer in the living room. "What is she still doing up? I thought I told you to put her down at 8?"

Randy turned and smiled, "I did, but she had a nightmare."

"So?"

"So, I brought her downstairs to calm her down and hopefully get her to fall back asleep."

"By watching Dora? Yeah Randy, that'll put her to sleep." Sam bitterly spit out while walking over and picking Alannah off of Randy's lap.

"I'm sorry Sam, but I don't understand what the big deal is?"

"The big deal is that when she has nightmares, you rock her to sleep or lay with her in our bed until she falls back asleep! You don't let her stay up watching cartoons. Do you realize how much of a bear she's going to be tomorrow morning?"

"I tried to get her to fall back asleep. It wasn't working, so I resorted to my next idea. I'm sorry if my parenting skills aren't as wonderful as yours! I still don't understand what the big deal is!"

"The big deal is now she's going to want to watch cartoons every time she has a nightmare! And guess what, you won't be home to stay up with her so it'll be me! Like it normally is!"

"Like it normally is? So what do you want me to do Sam? Quit wrestling? Then how do you propose we make a living? We definitely won't be able to afford this house, and you'll have to go back to working full time as well. Is that what you want?"

"No, it's not what I want. I'm just frustrated! I'm practically raising her on my own! Then you come home swooping in like her hero! You never have to discipline her, or tell her no…I do! I'm always the bad guy!"

Sam stomped up the stairs with Alannah, making an attempt to put her to sleep. An hour later she came back down.

"I'm sorry Randy. I just get frustrated at times."

"I'm sorry too." He said, standing up and giving her a hug.

She pulled out of the hug sooner than Randy wanted. "It's fine. I'm going to go take a bath and go to bed. I'm exhausted."

Randy nodded as he watched her walk up the stairs. "Oh hey Sam, do you know whose cell that is in the kitchen?"

"What? What cell?"

"There's a cell phone in the kitchen sitting on the china shelf. Whose is it?"

"Oh! Um, it's Mackenzie's mother's phone. Mackenzie and Alannah had a play date earlier today before you came home. She accidentally left it here. I'm supposed to meet her tomorrow to give it to her."

Randy nodded as Sam continued up the stairs. He had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. She was being so distant and odd...something was wrong. Immediately the thought of cheating entered his mind, but he dismissed the thought. Why would Sam cheat on him when she's always so concerned with him being unfaithful? If she was cheating on him, she would care a less about what he does…or who for that matter. Other than her strange behavior, he had no reason to even think she would cheat on him. And he refused to be insecure with his marriage. He trusted her and that was the end of it. He's not going to resort to questioning her constantly like she does to him. He trusts and loves her…end of story