SISTERS [outer banks ff]

The lovers: Ruby Cook and John Beck

" Alexandra," Ruby looked up at her boyfriend.

He smiled at her," my beautiful girls." He placed a small kiss on Ruby's forehead.

" I love you," Ruby said to him before looking at her firstborn crying in her arms. 

They soon returned home with their newborn. They loved each other, as a family.

John was a good father. He played well with Alexa and he was around. He never wanted anything to hurt her or her mother. But some men don't know how to stay out of trouble. 

Ruby got pregnant again. Before the baby was due John went to jail for aggravated assault under the influence. He got into a fight at the bar after getting fired. A rough night turned into five years of doing time before he broke out. 

When he returned he had two daughters. Alexa who was six and a three-year-old named Riley. He was nice to his daughters. But jail turned him sour to his lover.

He started with comments on the housework she didn't do cause she was working to care for her kids. Then with a few more drinks, it was commented about how she looked, how he didn't know if Riley was indeed his because he could never be attracted to her in the first place. Then he started getting violent... and Ruby turned into a new darker person as well. As if John's wickedness infected Ruby like some disease.

The sisters turned into collateral. Caught in the crosshair of two "passionately" in love parents. 

What could they do?

They lived too far out of town for anyone to hear. No relatives were alive nor were townspeople worried about them. 

Alexa and Riley often took care of chores while their parents fought or loved or made a mess of the house in some way. They made dinner, did the laundry, and cleaned every inch of the house.

But sometimes when they couldn't fight their parent's eyes then came the demeaning comments, the teasing that went too far for young girls, and occasionally their father's hand but never Ruby's.

Somewhere deep inside Ruby was still their mother. She knew those five years John was gone. John saw fights and gang affairs but Ruby got to see the girls in daycare and nursery rhymes. She knew the sweetness the girls could bring them. But they needed to be saved first.

Under all the darkness she hoped she and John could change. Give the girls a better life. But it was too late, they were already gone. Lost to their love for each other.