Untold Secrets

Chapter Seven

The above picture is included in a scene in this chapter. See if you can find it :)

"Get the boys and put them in the car. We don't have much time." Alex orders while packing his own things. He didn't care for most of his personal items except for some clothes and a few of his mother's things. The last thing he grabbed was his hidden bag of cash that he had built up throughout the years. He didn't know where they would go or what they would do so he had to be prepared. All he knew was that this is what Norma wanted and he wasn't going to turn her away. Not again.
"I've got to get some of their clothes. I'll be back." Norma tells him as he walks out to the car with his bags. He places them in the trunk, watching her walk across their shared lawn.
"Do you want me to go with?" he calls out to her.
"No. I've got it. You stay with the boys." she calls back. Alex glances in the back window at the young boys who are already buckled into their car seats and are looking up at him curiously.
Alex glances back at the dark house, worrying for Norma's safety. Alex knew better than to just wait for her to come back out. He needed to be sure she was safe and the only way to do that was to go in there with her.
"Dylan, I am going to unbuckle you. But I need you to stay in your seat until I come back." Alex says, undoing the clips on his car seat.
"Where are you going?" Dylan asks.
"To get your mom. I'm going to lock the doors. When you see us come back out, unlock them. Okay? But only if you see us." Alex says slowly.
"Okay." Dylan says eagerly, excited to be treated as a big kid.
"Don't unlock it for your daddy or Katie, okay?" Alex asks again.
"Okay." Dylan says again with a nod. Alex nods back and closes the door, locking it before walking to Norma's house. He can hear the shouts before he even steps onto their porch.
"You think I wouldn't find out?" Norma shouts at him, shoving clothes into her suit case.
"She means nothing to me, babe. I love you. Okay? I always have. I'm sorry. Just don't go." Sam pleads.
"I mean nothing?" Katie asks.
"What? No. I mean...give us a second, okay?" Sam asks Katie.
"I sure meant something to you a few minutes ago. You said you wanted to marry me." Katie reminds him.
"You two have a nice life." Norma says, trying to walk past Sam. He grabs onto her arm, pushing her against the wall.
"Sam-" Katie says with surprise. She had never seen him so violent before.
"You can't leave!" he shouts into Norma's face.
"Take your hands off." Alex says, appearing right behind Sam. Sam glances back at him before tightening his grip on Norma, making her cry out in pain and drop the suitcase she was holding.
Alex was quick to act, grabbing Sam by his shirt and pulling him away from Norma. He lands one punch in Sam's jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Piece of shit." Alex mumbles, accenting the last word with a kick to Sam's stomach. He casually picks up Norma's suitcase and grabs her hand, leading them outside.
"Alex, babe, I'm sorry. Okay? Don't leave me." Katie says, running out after them. Alex nods at Dylan in the car who reaches forward and hits the unlock button.
"Alex, please. Don't leave me here." Katie cries, grabbing onto his arm.
He ignores her and opens Norma's door, getting her safely inside before closing the door and turning to Katie.
"I'll mail you the divorce papers." he tells her as he puts Norma's bag in the trunk and closes it. She continues to grab at his arms and clothes and anything else she could manage to grab.
"Please, Alex. I'll do anything. I will!" she pleads with him.
He slides her hands off of him and gets into the car, shutting her out. He turns the key and glances over at Norma who is looking back at her boys.
"Alex! If you go, don't even think about coming back!" Katie shouts angrily, banging on the window.
"Please baby." she cries desperately.
He puts the car in reverse and slowly backs out of the driveway. He hesitates on the street, looking back at Norma.
"Last chance to back out." he offers to her. She smirks at him, her split lip stinging at the movement.
"If you're looking for a way out, Romero, you're not getting it from me. I'm ready." she tells him.
"That's all I needed to hear." he tells her, driving away from their homes and toward their future.
"Where are we going?" Norma asks after an hour in the car.
"North. Not sure where to. Any suggestions?" he asks.
"Wherever the car takes us." she says, leaning back in her seat. She looks back at her boys who are both passed out in their car seats.
"What made you come with?" Norma asks, her head resting against the cold window as she stares at the dark sky.
"I...I didn't want to abandon you again like I did six years ago." he tells her honestly.
"My mother used to say that we should never regret the things we do, only the things we don't. But I do regret letting you go." he says, glancing over at her blue eyes. Her dark hair is resting on her shoulders in curls while her pink lips pull up into a smile.
"Did you love Katie?" she asks him.
"I did. At first. But...not for very long." he says, watching the road disappear beneath the tires of their car.
"Why did you stay with her for so long?" Norma asks curiously, her fingers toying with the ends of her dirty old dress.
"I think I stayed with her for longer than I should've because saying I love you is easier than saying I don't." he explains.
She looks over at him, her eyes scanning the soft lines of his face.
"You don't agree with what I did." he states, noticing her silence.
"I think you should be honest, always." she tells him. He chuckles, glancing at her.
"Even if it hurts?" he asks.
"Even if it hurts." she says with a nod.
"Well if that's the rule...you've had grass in your hair for some time now." he says with a smirk. She rolls her eyes and puts the mirror down in front of her to retrieve the grass from her brown locks.
"Asshole." she mumbles with a smile.
Alex pulls off to the side of the road and shuts the car off.
"What're we doing?" Norma asks, looking around but seeing nothing but a field of grass and the dark night sky.
"You'll see. Get the boys." he says, getting out of the car. While she gets her boys, he opens the trunk and finds the boys' jackets as well as his own.
"Norma did you grab a jacket?" Alex asks, looking around the trunk at her.
"Uh, yes? Maybe? I don't think so, actually. I was in such a rush." she says, pulling Norman out of the car and settling the three year old on her hip while he falls back asleep on her shoulder.
"I have an extra." he says, grabbing his other jacket. He puts on his own jacket before kneeling in front of a sleepy Dylan and tugging his jacket on for him, zipping it up.
He stands back up and takes Norman from Norma's arms, allowing her to put her own jacket on while Alex rests Norman's jacket over his sleeping body that rests against him.
"Where are we going, Alex? Shouldn't we be driving?" Norma asks, zipping the off white jacket over her denim old dress.
"This way." he tells her, walking through the field. Norma grabs Dylan's small hand and pulls him along with her behind Alex and Norman. The wet grass brushed against Norma's bare calves, adding to the cold that Norma felt. As they continued to walk through the grass, more and more flowers appeared around them. Norma looked around, appreciating each and every beautiful flower that sprouted up from the wet spring soil beneath them.
"Will you at least tell me how much further? It's cold and the boys are tired." Norma says, catching up to Alex.
"Here is good." he says, sitting down. Norma looks around with confusion before looking back at Alex who is sitting in the field of flowers.
"Alex, wha-"
"Trust me." he says, reaching for her hand and gently pulling her down. She sits next to him, settling Dylan in her lap.
"Why are we here?" Norma asks quietly, looking up at the bright stars in the sky.
"I came here once. I was coming home from a visit with my aunt. It was just me and my mom and we had bought some sandwiches at a gas station down the road." Alex begins. Norma smiles at the memory of Alex's mother and leans against Alex's side. She rests her head on Alex's shoulder while she slowly runs her fingers through Dylan's hair, lulling him back to sleep.
"We were going to eat in the car but it was so nice out, the weather was just perfect, so she stopped the car right where our car is. We got out and walked to this spot. We ate and talked and she sang to me. It was the last time she ever sang to me." Alex says, resting his cheek on top of Norma's head while his thumb traced shapes on the back of Norman's tiny hand that rests in his large one.
"It was the last time I saw her genuinely happy." he adds sadly. Norma can feel his sadness and reaches over to squeeze his thigh comfortingly.
"Thank you for bringing us here." Norma says with a smile, watching as the dark sky slowly lightens.
"Wake up." Alex says, gently waking up both boys, raising his head off of Norma's.
"Are we home?" Dylan asks, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Not quite, honey." Norma tells him, helping him stand up. Norman lifts his head from Alex's arm and looks around before smiling at Norma.
"Mommy." Norman says, crawling over to take Dylan's place in Norma's lap.
"This is what I brought you for." Alex says, looking at the sky that is changing colors from dark blue to orange.
"Alex." Norma whispers with a smile as she watches the change. The rays of sun slowly light up the field ahead of them, the light taking its time to reach the spot where they sit. Norma slowly stands up, closing her eyes and letting the sun soak into her exposed skin, bruised skin. Alex's dark eyes remain on her, admiring how truly at peace she looks in this field of flowers. She was lost in her own thoughts and pleasures while he was lost in her.
"Beautiful." Alex whispers with a smile. Norma opens her eyes and nods.
"It is beautiful." she agrees, not knowing that it was she that Alex was referring to.
"This is all ours. The grass, the flowers, the wind and the rain. No one is looking for us." Norma says, turning to Alex with a smile.
"We are finally free." she says with excitement. She finds herself getting lost in his eyes. The way they were once a dark, intimidating brown but as the sun kisses them they seem to become liquid caramel, swimming around the black of his pupil, framed by long lashes that cast shadows along his eyelid.
"Mommy, the flowers!" Norman shouts with excitement, running around, his little extended fingers brushing along the flowers he passes. Norma giggles and joins him, running around with Norman and Dylan, making each boy squeak with happiness.
The running turns into jumping which turns into dancing. Norma twirls around gracefully while the boys continue to squeal and jump around her.
There was something in the way that she danced, as if no one was watching. And maybe that's how Alex fell in love with her, like no one was watching. He wanted to so delicately put his lips on hers, as if to say that he was there for her. That he was watching.
She stops twirling and looks over at him, the sunshine running through her unruly hair, casting a halo of light around her, making her look even more angelic than she already did. Her hand reached out to him, silently asking a question.
They had pushed each other away so many times, yet, here they were, peacefully existing for each other in a field of flowers. They would always find each other.
Because he loved the way that she smiled and the way that she said his name and the way she puts him in his place.
He would remain by her side for as long as she lets him. No matter what, even if she chose someone else, he would never abandon her. He would wait for her, like a dancer waits for their applause.
And just like that, his hand found hers, and they were dancing in the sunlight in a field of flowers.

So this started as what was going to be a filler chapter but I think it turned into something...poetic? I don't know. I'm not disappointed. I hope you guys aren't. And, as requested, the moment that Alex gets to put Sam in his place.
Also sorry for the double update. I just got so into it and I had time so... why not? xoxo