Sweet Beginnings

Chapter 1 - Memories...

DJ set his standard issued camouflage duffle bag down on the chair next to the door and shut the front door. He put the chain in the lock. And pressed the button on the answering machine. He had a message from his mom in New Mexico. And one from his sister in Canada.
He tossed his keys into the bowl on the entry table and looked around his tiny apartment. The cleaning lady had left the mail on the counter. He skimmed through it. A few magazines, the electric bill, the rent slip, a medical bill, and a letter from Mandy Bogart. He dropped the other mail back on the counter. They could wait.
He flopped down on the futon in the middle of the room and took the letter out of the envelope and began reading her letter. He always felt as if he were right there hovering over her shoulder or sitting next to her when she wrote about something she experienced. She was always good about keeping in touch.
Man, he missed her! His mind often took him back to the 3 days they had spent together in India. They had ordered room service and stayed in the room the entire time. They laid bare their souls. There was nothing they didn't tell each other. He wondered if she ever thought about the time they had spent together.
He decided to call her. It had been quite a long time since he had really talked to her. He always seemed to be on the go for the army. It kind of made him feel like a Nomad all the time. Never really settling down anywhere permanent.
He guessed that also attributed to his lack of communication skills especially during basic training, but he felt he owed it to her intriguingly long letters to write a decent letter or call at the very least. If it weren't for those letters he probably would have never made it through basic training at all.
He kept thinking about those three days in India. Hot days and nights, room service, long serious talks, laughing til they cried, and just loving eachother. It felt like an eternity ago. He knew she was in a relationship, but he knew that she would always consider him a close friend. Even if she didn't love him that way anymore.
He didn't know what kind of man Smitty Kingston was but he hoped he was treating her well. Mandy and Smitty had been together only two years when she became pregnant. He said specifically he didn't want children, so he divorced her quickly. She had told him that she was willing to get an abortion if he wanted, but Smitty had moved on to bigger fish she guessed.
It hurt Mandy a lot, but she knew that you can't force them to love you no matter how much you love them. Mandy had the baby and decided to go on to get a degree. She hadn't been going to college maybe a year or so and she met Mitchell Frankford.
He was intelligent, fun loving and he was crazy about her and Grace. They dated a short time and he asked her and Grace moved in with him. She became pregnant within a few months. Surprisingly Mitchell was thrilled and he proposed.
They were married by the justice of the peace and they all seemed very happy.
Mandy worked on and off during the pregnancy and so did Mitchell. They both worked so much they hardly saw one another. But they seemed happy. Soon Graham was born and things seemed to be getting stressed between them. But Mandy kept her chin up and pretended that there was nothing wrong.
Mitchell's drinking became a source of continual strife between them. Mandy knew about his late nights at his buddies and the bars and the girls he went home with. She did her best not to badger him with questions about where he had been and who he was with.
She trusted in God to keep him safe and to help him get home each night. Every fight they had was about how much he drank and how much he spent on his vices that the money could be going to something else that the children needed.
Every time they fought, they always made up. He promised to be more attentive and spend more time with the family and drink a little less.
Everything was good for the most part so Mandy worked part time and cared for the children. Mitchell seemed to work around the clock more than ever. Mandy could feel the gap ever widening between them. Soon Mandy was pregnant again. Just when it seemed things got worse, things immediately got better for a time when there was another baby on the way. Mandy thought it was because Mitchell was old fashioned about pregnant women being in a fragile state of mind, emotional, etc...
But Mandy knew that would change as soon as the baby was born. He wasn't physically violent, just had harsh words with her sometimes. But she enjoyed being pregnant all the same. Wesley was born and Mitchell's parents watched Grace and Graham for a little, while they got used to the new baby being in the house.
They had the house to themselves, except for the baby and it felt like a short honeymoon again. Mitchell worked two jobs and Mandy worked durning the day. They paid a neighbor to watch the children and everything seemed to go well until Mitchell lost one of his jobs.
Then he decided to go to college and work part time. He worked and went to college for almost two years and then Mandy became pregnant again. Grace was eight, Graham was five, and Wesley was three. They all were thrilled that she was pregnant again. Mandy didn't know if she could go through another pregnancy.
Mitchell promised to be more attentive and spend more time with the family, but Mandy knew he was secretly seeing someone. He rarely slept in the same bed as she did and they were rarely ever intimate. She knew he was falling out of love with her. She always left little "I love you notes" in his lunches.
She was devastated when she went to his work one day to drop off his lunch that he forgotten and saw him kissing one of the the girls he worked with in the back room. She left his lunch on his desk and quietly left. She pretended not to know and tried her best not to cry when he finally told her he was moving out. She told him she was ok with it. He planned to have the kids that night and bring them back in the morning. They left and she went to lay down. She cried herself to sleep that night. It seemed so dark to her when she awoke sometime after midnight.
She cried out. She wanted to die. She couldn't move. The silence was so deafening. She wrestled within her soul. She loved Mitchell so much! How could he do this to her? She had given him everything!
She struggled to get up out of bed but couldn't. She dragged herself down to the floor. And crawled to the phone and dialed the only friend she could think of. The phone rang one...... two...... three....times.
Diane Argenta was the preacher's wife at their local church and she and her husband had retired early for the night and when the phone rang she had no idea who could be calling them so late.
She answered on the fourth ring. Mandy was weeping loudly into the receiver... Diane knew immediately that it was Mandy. "What's the matter, dear? Is there something I can do for you?" Mandy had a lump in her throat that wouldn't go down.
She managed to say the word "Prayer" and then broke down into sobs again. Diane immediately started to pray aloud for Mandy. She prayed until the sobs stopped and Mandy was able to speak. They prayed together for what seemed like hours.
Mandy finally saw the sunlight coming through the window as a sign that God had not given up on her. Tears filled her eyes again and ran down her tear stained cheeks, God and Diane had brought her through the worst part of an awful night.
Mandy and Diane talked until Mandy felt that the darkness had left her. She thanked Diane profusely and hung up. She took a shower and began her day. She went about her duties before she went to work. Mitchell brought them home.
She kissed the children before she left. And kept herself busy and didn't let her mind wander and think about Mitchell's departure throughout the day. She knew that God would give her strength to get her through. He always did. A month later Mandy had the twins by cesarean delivery. Mitchell's parents congratulated them both. Mandy was still groggy from the medicine they had put in the IV but she saw her babies before the nurse took them to the nursery. Mitchell stayed by Mandy's side during the delivery process and he got to cut the cord for both babies.
Mitchell told her that there was a boy and a girl. They had only picked out names for boys. Kane was one and Kaleb was the other. But now what where they going to do? Mandy lay there thinking of baby girl names and only one stuck out to her, Katarina. Mandy had caught a bad flu bug after the twins were born and was bed ridden for two weeks. Mitchell came and watched the kids while she rested. Mandy was very grateful.
Soon Mandy was up and around and enjoying the new babies. Mitchell's parents visited from time to time to check on her and the children. Mitchell sent money as much as he was able and came to visit less and less. He had a highly stressful job that kept him away most of the time and it made it easier for Mandy not to see him on a daily basis.
The children missed him, but that was his life. Mandy made the most of it and tried to keep her mind off of the whole mess. Mandy's parents helped her find a good lawyer and she kept full custody of the kids. She allowed visitation rights to Mitchell. A few months after the divorce Mitchell remarried as Mandy had suspected he would. She wished him no ill will. She hoped that he was happy with the choices he had made.