His Proposal

Chapter 5

The next morning I woke up to the smell of coffee and breakfast. I laid there for a few minutes trying to think. Was Sharee in my kitchen trying to cook me a get out of punishment-free breakfast? Oh, she had no idea what was in store for her, after the stunt she pulled. I needed to make sure the children got off to school, so I rolled out of bed and headed down the hall to the kitchen.

I called down the hall for Sharee.

"Sharee, I hope this is not your way of trying to get out of trouble. The food smells good, but nice try."

She came out of her bedroom.

"Mom I know that I'm in trouble, but you don't have to rub it in every sixty seconds."

"I thought you were in the kitchen trying to save your skin."

"Nope, I thought it was you. I was coming to ask you about my punishment anyway."

The only other possibility was Gavin. Did Gavin actually come home? I went into the kitchen and there he was making breakfast, behaving like nothing had occurred the night before. The children were just as shocked as I was to see him too. We stood in the entrance of the hall just looking at him.

"You all look like you just saw a ghost or something."

We continued to stand there in silence.

"Hi, my name is Gavin, I live here with my wife and three children. My children call me daddy."

He began to laugh. I guess that was his way of breaking the ice.

Jonathon ran over to give him a hug. Sharee continued to stand next to me; the shock that I saw a few minutes before turning into what looked like anger. She did an about face and went back into her bedroom. I didn't follow her because I knew she was pissed at him and not me.

He decided he would go and talk to her. As he walked by me I told him we needed to talk. He nodded and walked on.

He walked up to her bedroom door and took a deep breath before he turned the knob to enter. She was sitting on her bed angry, in tears. When he walked in she turned to face the window.

"Why did you come back here, and what do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you and see how you were doing. I know I haven't been around a lot lately."

"Lately?"

"You mean you haven't been here at all. I don't even want to ask where you've been. I've overheard some of the conversations you and mom have had. I know about the other women. How could you do my mom like that?"

"I'm telling you the same thing I told your mother, there are no other women."

He lied to her as he lied to me. He knew he had been living a double life, and the other woman had not one clue that he was married with three children.

"Somehow I just don't believe you dad. There is no way you would spend all of that time away from us if there wasn't someone else."

He got defensive and his voice changed from that of a concerned father to an angry man.

"Listen, there are things going on between me and your mother that you wouldn't understand. There are also things that aren't your business, which means you need to stay in a child's place."

Sharee turned her nose up at him and turned away from him.

He stood up from the chair he was sitting in and walked towards the door. I heard him coming so I darted out of the doorway and back into our bedroom. I went to get dressed earlier. I still had to take the children to school. He walked out of her room and into ours.

"I'm sure you overheard our conversation. She hates me now. She looked at me like I was someone who had done something disgusting and vile to her. I never thought my daughter would ever look at me like that."

"I've been trying to tell you all this time that you needed to be here. Do you understand why I was bugging you so much? You being with this other woman is beside the point at the moment. Before you scream at me that you've been faithful, we have to put that on the back burner. Our daughter is suffering because you are not here. I believe it may be more than that, but this is what I have been trying to tell you."

"I was not hearing any of this when you were talking to me. All I heard was you talking about infidelity."

"This problem is way bigger than you and me. Our children always come first, and somewhere along the lines, your vision got really blurry. I need to take them to school before they are late. We still need to talk about us."

He nodded in my direction, I called for the kids and left to drop them at school. On the ride there it was quiet. When they got out of the car, Sharee turned and looked at me; she looked so sad. She climbed back in the car and gave me a hug, jumped out and ran into the school. I drove away, completely lost in my thoughts. I asked myself questions in my head. Why is he doing this to me? Why must my babies suffer like this? What was I really going to do with this marriage? Would be able to save it? Would we just have to let it go?  My children know way more than they should. How did they view their father? How did they view me? Would they think this mess was all my fault? I was seriously worried. I couldn't wait to get back to talk to Gavin about the questions running through my mind. When I got back to the house, he was gone, typical Gavin.