Chapter 3

Sunday Claire and her mother sat in the living room eating beef nachos and watching the Super Bowl. The Saints won thanks to Logan's performance and he was named MVP of the game and he was awarded the game ball. A reporter asked him what he planned to do now that he had won his first Super Bowl game and he flashed his perfect white smile into the camera lens.

"Of course I'm going to Disney World Mark, but I'm also going to go home and love on my wife, who has been a rock through this season, and all the others, to me. She's been incredibly supportive, more than any woman has a right to be, and I'm taking her on a vacation to some exotic place to show her my thanks."

"What do you plan on doing with your first game ball?"

Again with that perfect smile Logan says, "You know what; I think it's time to start a family, so I want to put this football up somewhere and then one day take it down to throw around with my son in the backyard. That's what I am going to do with it."

Claire picked up the remote and flicked the television off, fighting the urge to throw the remote at the television instead of putting it back on the table. She wouldn't cry. She was finished crying over Logan Maxwell. He would never again be the reason for her tears. That much she could control.

"I'm going to bed mom." Claire stood and turned to walk off down the hallway toward her room.

"Claire honey, are you alright?"

Stopping to rest her forehead against the door frame of the living room Claire sighed. "I guess so mom. I really don't know right now though. I watch him smiling and saying all of that and I think to myself that was the man I fell in love with. Then I remember that was only an act and that Logan isn't like that at all, that he killed his family, and that he doesn't love his wife or appreciate her at all. That's when it hurts the most, when I remember that."

A tear slid down Darcy's cheek as she crossed the floor to where her daughter stood. Wrapping her arms around Claire she pulled her close. "Darling, you are trying so hard to be strong, to not give him any more of yourself, but sometimes it's truly better to feel the emotions, and to allow yourself to work through them all. If you cry they aren't tears for him, caused by him, they are tears for you. It's not weakness, its strength."

"I guess so; I just want to think about the fallout that will come tomorrow when they serve him with the divorce papers. It's not going to be nice, it's going to get ugly; I just feel it." Hugging her mom back, Claire stepped back and turned back toward the bedroom. "I'm going to lie down and think. I'll see you in the morning mom."

Darcy didn't say anything as she watched Claire walking away. She said a silent prayer that God would strengthen her daughter and bring her some peace of mind in this whole situation. This whole situation was a lot to bear without someone to help lighten the load, and Darcy needed to hold on to her faith through this.

Claire slept in later than she had in years Monday morning. When she rolled out of bed at eleven thirty she noted that the pain was not nearly as bad and moving around was easier. That was something after all. After a shower and changing her bandages Claire headed to the kitchen to look for her mom. She found her sitting on the couch watching some talk show on the television.

"Morning mom, you could have waked me."

Turning her head to see Claire, Darcy smiled. "Yes, I could have, but you needed the rest. Do you want me to fix you a sandwich or something for lunch?"

"No I can get it mom, thanks."

Heading to the kitchen Claire turned her cell phone on, shocked to find no missed calls and no texts sitting in her inbox. She had expected something from Logan by now. After fixing a sandwich Claire headed out back to the garden. She took a seat on the bench there and ate her lunch. As soon as she had finished the sandwich her cell phone went off, ringing angrily.

"Hello?"

"What in the hell do you think that you are doing? Are you absolutely insane Claire? You want to get a divorce? You really think that there would be anyone else who would want you?"

"I'm not divorcing you because I want someone else to want me Logan. I could care less if I never date again. You have done enough to make me never want another man in my life again. I'm divorcing you because I cannot take the abuse anymore."

He blew out his breath on the other end of the line heavily before speaking. "You can't handle the abuse huh? Ya know if you didn't piss me off and bring it on yourself you wouldn't have any abuse! Who the hell will believe you anyway? No one, that's who. This divorce of yours, you can have because I'm sick of your sorry ass, but you better believe that it won't be easy on you. You are still my wife until this is finalized. There is nothing that you can do about that either."

"Oh Logan please, this isn't about telling anyone what you've done, who you really are. This is about breaking free. The lawyer knows, that's all," Claire said not ever remembering standing up to him this way before. Maybe it was the distance between them making it possible for her.

"Yeah, okay Claire. My lawyer will be talking to your bitch lawyer, and me and you my dear wife; we will be talking again too."

He slammed the phone down in her ear and she sat there, cell phone in hand, staring out at the fall flowers in bloom. She wanted to put everything out of her head and just get on with her life but it was hard to do when your husband hated you, and you had fallen out of love sometime during a beating.