*** Summer ***
Mummy comes into her bedroom smelling like flowers and her hair is wet. “Bubble bath!” I shout to her.
“No sweetie, Mummy had a shower, you can have a bubble bath later,” my mummy tells me, and I clap my hands. I love bubble bath.
Mummy gets dressed and I get my baba and she holds my hand as we go downstairs.
It smells delicious down here. I see the big guy who brought my mummy back for me and I am happy to see him.
“Up!” I shout to him as I stretch my hands up in the air as far as they will go. He does loud laughs and picks me up. He only needs one arm to hold me, he must be strong like superman!
“Good morning, Sunshine! Would you like some pancakes? Your mummy told me they are your favourite.” I clap hands again. I like this big guy. My mummy is extra smiley when he is about. The other guy made her sad and sometimes cry like a baby. But not this guy, this one is good.
We all sit at the table with our pancakes. Mummy drinks coffee, big guy has bacon and I have syrup and sliced strawberries, mummy cuts my pancakes the best way. This is the best day.
My mummy is happy, I am happy, and the big guy is happy. We are all happy together.
"Summer, this is Aiden," my mummy tells me.
"No," I shout back to her. I want to name him. He is a teddy bear. "Teddy Bear!" I tell them as I point to Teddy Bear. They both laugh, and Teddy Bear hugs me up as he does more of his big loud laughs.
"Ok, sunshine, I can be Teddy Bear for you."
*** Melanie ***
The locksmith has come and changed all the locks for me. It has cost me my spousal support from my ex but it’s worth every penny to help get rid of Ryan. He still hasn’t returned.
I decide to put all his stuff in my front garden by the gate and text him and tell him I am pregnant; we are over, I choose my baby over him and I always will.
There is a box, a suitcase and two carrier bags of his stuff, such a small amount to show for our time together. It’s pathetic, really. However, this is a true reflection of Ryan’s investment in us as a couple: there isn’t any.
My sons are staying with their father until this has blown over and he actually said to me, “Thank god you’re finally seeing sense, Mel. I am relieved you’re finally seeing his true colours.”
I shut the blinds and curtains and lock all the doors and windows and settle upstairs with a book, a boxset and plenty of snacks and drinks.
I wait for Ryan’s onslaught, but nothing happens. After about an hour he pulls up in a black taxicab and I watch him from my bedroom window as he saunters up to my front door and posts something before loading his belongings into the back of the cab. As he gets into the back of the cab, he looks up at the bedroom window and for a fleeting moment we make eye contact. He grins at me and raises his hand before flipping his middle finger at me and then he starts laughing at my shocked expression. I loved that man, built my world around him, and this is his response.
As I watch his cab drive away, I know I will never see him again. Part of me is relieved, part of me feels guilty that my baby will never know their father and part of me feels destroyed that he didn’t even try to fight for us. After all this time and everything we have been through, he has happily walked away from me and our child.
I go to the letterbox and retrieve the envelope he posted. An untidily scrawled letter falls out.
~~~~
Mel,
I never loved you. Never. You were cheap and easy and gullible. You have always been pathetic and desperate for my love and attention.
You are shit in bed. I mean like really shit; what man would ever want to fuck you when they have landed a wife as beautiful as mine? You were never in the same class as Eva, even for all her faults she always kept a bit of self-respect but you… you are simply pitiful.
You are full of saggy bits and stretch marks, your fanny is all loose and vile and your tits are like deflated pancakes. You’re fat and ugly and dress like a cheap tart.
I don’t want you to have a child that *might* be mine, I don’t want to be associated with a common whore like you and so I relinquish all rights and responsibilities to you and anything you spawn.
I used you and you let me because you are a sad, needy bitch.
Don’t contact me again, I don’t want to see your pock-marked face ever again. You repulse me and I would be ashamed if anyone found out about us.
Fuck you
Ryan
~~~~~~
As I finish reading, I wipe the tears from my face. I will not shed another tear for that piece of shit. It’s time to concentrate on the positive things in my life and Ryan Jefferson was not one of them.
I have been thinking about making contact with Eva. It will be awkward but I need to apologise to her and her little girl, I need to make her understand how Ryan had manipulated us both but in different ways.
I kept hold of Eva’s home phone number from Ryan’s phone. I snuck it out one night when my insecurities started to get the better of me and I am glad I did now.
I call the number. “Hello?” There is laughter in the background as she answers and it fills my heart with hope. Eva has managed to move on and find happiness for her and Summer away from Ryan; hopefully I can too.
“Hi Eva, it’s Melanie Storey. Please don’t hang up on me. Can I come and talk to you, please? I am no longer with Ryan, and I need to talk to you about a few things.”
There is a bit of silence. “Well, normally I would tell you to go fuck yourself but my mother has just cancelled on me and so I have a couple of hours spare. Don’t be too long, I have other stuff to do today.”
She hangs up but I can’t say I blame her; I wouldn’t have acted with half the decorum she has. And an olive branch is still an olive branch even if it’s a short one and she pokes me with it a little first.
I rub my tummy and talk away to my little jellybean growing away inside me. “We are going to meet your big sister Summer soon.” And I pray to the almighty that Eva lets them know each other. I want my baby to have some connection to their roots.
*** Amber ***
It is late when we get home and there are minimal guards on duty. I am slightly disappointed that more people don’t see Preston and I arrive home together, holding hands and kissing. Now I have opened my heart, I cannot wait for the whole pack to see us finally together and happy.
“My bedroom or yours?” I ask him. He continues to kiss me down my neck, sending shivers of desire throughout my body. This is a new side to our relationship, a side I have been scared to succumb to and now, feeling everything, I have been denying us both, I am overwhelmed by the accompanying emotions.
“That depends, Red. What are we going to bed for?” he whispers to me, sending thrills directly to my core. I cannot wait to be as one with my mate. My Mate! Wow!
“Everything. I want everything, Preston.” He growls at me as he smashes his lips against mine, slamming me up against the wall and extracting a surprised squeal from me.
“Are you going to stay the night with me, Red?” I know he has wanted this for the longest time, for us to sleep in each other’s arms and wake up in the morning together, like a proper mated pair.
“Tonight, every night, forever. If you still want that too?” He bites my ear, making me giggle in response.
“Move in with me. I love you, baby; I want to fall asleep and wake up next to you until the end of time, but I don’t want to live with your brother.” A massive smile spreads across my face.
“Our bedroom then?”