Just Say Yes [COMPLETED]

Chapter Sixteen

Flashbacks

I remember, about a year ago, being in the kitchen cleaning up when Jarrod randomly grabbed his keys and walked out of the house without saying a word. Now that I think about it he was doing that a lot and he also started to take his phone calls outside away from us.

Honestly, I was just so tired of trying to make this marriage work for the sake of the children but I was the only one who was putting in the effort. I mean, back when I caught him cheating, I had planned to get a divorce but he told me that if I did I would be ruining our family. I would be tearing the kids life apart and then the family would find out and be upset that we didn't handle this privately. He pleaded with me and apologized; he told me it'll never happen again and he made good on that promise...for awhile. 

For two years we went to couple therapy and I could honestly say I saw a change in him. He began to listen more and we started to have family dinners more often. He even became more active in the kids lives; his relationships with the boys grew as he attended their sports games, helped them with homework, and just spent the necessary time with them that they needed. Jaylen on the other hand was very cautious around him. My baby girl was very aware of the things her dad had done, not the cheating, but she remembers the way he treated them before he changed. Of course Jarrod tried reassuring her that he had changed but I don't blame her for being cautious. 

Everything was going great for those two years. He was there for the twins 6th and 7th birthday and for Jordan's 4th and 5th; they were so happy but then things changed... again. It was two weeks after we celebrated Jordan's 5th birthday when Jarrod started drifting off from us again. He started off by missing a few games and then it was all of them, he forgot to pick the children up from school, he started to come home late again and then there were days where he wouldn't come home at all. It felt like I was the only one putting in the effort to save our marriage and it was true, seeing as he stopped coming to our therapy sessions. I knew those past two years were too good to be true but I still held onto that little bit of faith. I can see now that I was stupid to have any faith in him, but I can't change the past, only our future.

Then one day a year ago when the twins were 7, something started happening with Jayden. It started off with him having low fevers then he developed these blister like things in his mouth that put him in so much pain. I gave him benadryl because I thought he was having a small allergic reaction but then his stomach started to bloat and these purple spots appeared on his skin. That was it for me, I packed everyone up in the car and I rushed him to the hospital. It was nice knowing that his pediatrician was George, I felt like he wouldn't hold back anything regardless of how terrified I would be. I told George everything that has been happening to him and he took Jayden to run some tests. Waiting in that waiting for a few hours was the worst time of my life. I called Jarrod 10 times and he never picked up, I reached out to the rest of his family to see if they could contact him but to no avail he didn't answer them either. The second George came back through those doors I knew something was not right. The day I found out the Jayden was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, I felt like the ground disappeared from under my feet and I fell to the floor crying. George and the oncologist reached out to St. Jude and they caught them up to speed on Jayden's diagnosis and to my surprise they already had a clinical trial going on, so he wouldn't be over treated. 

For months, Jayden did over 30 rounds of radiation and 4 rounds of chemo. He constantly asked for his dad but Jarrod was nowhere to be found; that was the last straw for me. During the first few weeks it was hard for me to explain to Jordan and Jaylen that Jayden won't be coming home with us for awhile. The entire family came to see him and encourage him to keep fighting, they brought him flowers, toys, and cards. Lauren was nice enough to swing by during her busy world tour. Just before his 8th birthday, he beat cancer! 

During the time were we needed Jarrod the most he wasn't there, actually a fellow coworker that worked at our family funeral home, told me they saw Jarrod one day with a red head woman and a little girl. That information took the breath out of my lungs; immediately I contacted Kat and asked for her help and she agreed. 

So, as I sit here and watch my healthy beautiful children dance on the dance floor, I realize that in three days time, I will officially be divorced from Jarrod Jones.