The Anchor

Chapter 9

To Sharon, it seemed like Trevor was finally contributing to the family, just like she said he was going to. He would leave first thing in the morning and come home around the time she and the girls came home. Trevor stayed busy during the weekends doing projects around the house, paying for large pieces of it from his own wallet. He was great with the girls and took them everywhere he went on the weekends, leaving her with time alone to work on proposals and other projects to further her career. One weeknight, while winding down after girls were in bed, Sharon and Trevor were watching TV in the living room. Their relationship had come a long way for her to be able to be in the same house as Trevor, much less the same room. His nightly habit of going to bars, drinking late and coming home after she went to bed had come to a stop a while ago and she did not have to nag at him to get everything done. Yep, She thought the relationship was moving in a positive direction!

"Sharon, where did you grow up?" Trevor asked, somewhat off topic.

"Here in town, you know that!"

"I know here in town, but where? What street?"

"On Elm, across from Corrine's grade school."

"Really??! I had no idea."

Perplexed, she said "I'm surprised that I never showed you that house while we were driving around looking at houses to buy."

"That's Ok...What was it like growing up around here?"

"It was okay, I guess. The commute to school was really easy, being just across the street." Sharon said.

"Did your dad watch you as you would cross the street?" Trevor asked

"Not normally. He was usually too drunk or hung-over to bother remembering that I needed to go to school. The only time that I remember my dad being up that early and not hung-over was when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade. It was the morning after John Lennon was killed in New York. At the time, I was just excited to see my dad up and active. I connected the dots later in life, when my mom and dad were younger, they loved The Beatles."

"That's a horrible way to be a kid... a drunk dad and no mom. Did he ever sign permission slips or have teacher meetings?" asked Trevor.

"No. The teachers and the principal knew my dad and knew what he had become after Mom's accident. I was safer at the school than at my own house 20 feet away," said Sharon. She bit her lip as she thought about something. "I just realized that I had no support at my house growing up and I still got straight As! What kid is supposed to do that?"

"Looks like you turned out pretty good" said Trevor, as he shifted in his seat.

"I turned out great considering the fact that I did not have much of a childhood and that I had to look after myself from a very early age! But other than that, I am great!" Sharon said in a blast of emotion that was not directed at Trevor, but was very real.

Trevor was silent.

"Sorry." Sharon said, as she wiped one eye to stop a tear. "My mom's anniversary is in a couple of months. How come I miss my mom without even though I don't have many memories of her?"

Trevor remained silent as he reached for her leg to try and soothe her.

"When she was alive, she would walk me across the street and be waiting for me when school got out to walk me home."

"What did your dad do for a living?" Trevor asked.

"Richard was a welder," Sharon said. "We always had money coming in from different jobs that he would do for friends or drinking buddies. Some of them were legit, some where under the table. After my mom died, I remember my dad not going to work for a while because he was so sad or drunk, I was too young to know which."

"Did someone come take care of you when he was like that?" Trevor asked.

"There were people that came to the house while I was at school. I asked Richard before he died who those people were or who had sent them but he had no clue what I was talking about. I always assumed that it was a charity that came in and cleaned our house and brought us groceries."

" That's really..."

"Mommy...." A quiet, guilt-ridden voice came from the entrance to the living room. Reagan was up and wanted a drink.

"I'll get it for her." volunteered Trevor.

"It is late, I need to get to bed. Are you going to sleep upstairs tonight?" Asked Sharon.

"Not tonight, I need to get an early start. The foundation guys are coming tomorrow and I want to beat them to the site," explained Trevor.

"Trevor, I love you. Thank you for listening to me tonight. And thank you for everything else."

"You're welcome. I love you, too." Trevor said.

Sharon turned and walked up the stairs, thinking what a nice night it had been.

Trevor got Reagan's sippy cup, picked her up and kissed her on the cheek.

"I wuv you, daddy. You are the best daddy in the entire world" Reagan squealed.

"I love you too Reagan. Good night." Trevor said as took her up the stairs to her bedroom.

As Trevor was getting himself ready for bed, he wondered how long he was going to have to continue to lie to Sharon. Their relationship was better than it had been in years simply because the money stress was removed from her. He hated lying to her, but at this point there was nothing he could do about it.

The next morning, Bob appeared at the back door and knocked quietly.

Trevor waved him in.