Three Years.
Three long, grueling, emotional, straining years.
A lot had happened in the three years since Colby had gotten locked up for Brandon's murder.
C.J, who was six when his father was initially arrested, had turned nine years old; he had changed his name to Chase because he wanted nothing to do with his father, who he was convinced had abandoned himself and his younger sister.
Sawyer had just now turned six years old, speaking of his younger sister. The exact age her older brother was when their father went away. Sawyer was her mother's mini-me; she was her mother's little shadow.
Speaking of their mother, Rebecca, when her husband was in prison, had fully taken on the single mother role; she was raising her children to the best of her ability with her mother's help.
They had not returned to the states since Colby was arrested.
Rebecca was conflicted when it came to that, her husband was in prison in the U.S, but he told her to take the kids and leave, take the children to Ireland and get away from everything that involved him.
He even offered to sign divorce papers.. as you can imagine, that went over well.
"You can have Kent bring me the paperwork when he comes to visit next time," Colby said as he sat across from his wife during her first visit to the prison in over a year.
"Bring the paperwork" Rebecca shook her head. "Bring what paperwork?"
"Divorce papers," he said, and her eyes met him, and if looks could kill, he would have been dead on the spot.
"You're divorcing me?" She asked in a whisper, and he shook his head
"I don't want to," he shook his head. "I don't want to let you go, but I have to; I have to let you live your life."
"My life is with you," she stated, and his head dropped as he shook his head.
"Hell of a life you have when you have to visit your husband in prison."
"You were protecting your family," she stated plainly
"You need to move on from me," he said. "You need-" he felt a hard slap across his face, and his head snapped up to see his wife, the glare on his face was one he had not seen in a very long time
"Did that knock some fucking sense into you?"
That was two years ago...
It was complex, complicated, and messy, but she kept true to her word. She was not going to divorce him. She was not going to move on from him; he was her life just as she was his.
She got the children enrolled in school, settled into their new lives in a different country, and extracurriculars to try to keep them out of trouble.
About six months prior, they had gotten a call from Colby's lawyer, who was going to present a new case to the judge. He would offer a self-defense case to the judge and try to get his client released.
After months of back and forth in court, back and forth with lawyers and two different judges, and a lengthy and expensive court battle, it was finally decided.
The original charge of Murder 1 was thrown out and replaced with a self-defense manslaughter charger which was a lesser charge.
Colby got credit for time served, which meant he had fully served a sentence for that charge and was released.
Now, Rebecca stood in the prison's parking lot, waiting for the gate to open and her husband to walk out.
After three and a half long years, he finally came home to her.
