Through the cracks

Chapter Three

Ava adores her three children;

Millie is the quiet, reserved middle child. She is 25 years old and married her high school sweetheart after graduation. She loves her dad very much and she is his favorite child. Although she is the one that sometimes stands up to him, she is also the one that, like Ava, always finds excuses for his rudeness and short temper, much to her husband John White's dismay, who is sometimes the victim of Lucas’s bombastic personality.

She started working at the company as a stock controller after the two kids were old enough to attend day care. Her father also allows her to work on a half-day basis. Lucas offered John a job for his daughter’s sake after him and Millie got married. Lucas does not really like John, but Ava loves him. Lucas has put all his hopes of handing down the business to family on Millie and John. Millie looks a lot like her dad, but although she can be assertive, she has a soft and gentle heart, and she is an animal lover. Her children are happy and well-mannered, and she is a fantastic mother to them. Her husband is also a very entitled and kind person, and together they are a beautiful family. Sometimes Ava wishes her eldest daughter, who is 27, could find such bliss and happiness as Millie.

Iris is the wild one, the traveler, the adventurer. She doesn’t commit to anything except her job. She is clever and beautiful, but when it comes to relationships, she always chooses the wrong Mr. Right and, after a while, she is off to some exotic place on holiday to recover from another bad breakup, another heartache. She is very giving when it comes to men. Because of her lifestyle, she and Ava sometimes disagree, but Ava loves her just as much as her other children.

Iris and her father do not get along as she always angers him when she does the opposite from what he tells her to do. After business school, she started working as a broker for a respected investment bank. As she is financially independent, she does not allow her father to interfere with her life. He thinks she is an ungrateful, spoiled brat as he was the one who paid for her studies, and she owes him more respect. He thought that she would join the company after graduation, but she refused.

Their youngest son is 20 years old and Ava’s prince. Any woman will be very fortunate to marry him one day. Jayden is very attractive but in a totally different way than his father. He looks more like her. He is studying in South Africa and lives in Cape Town. He will probably not return to Namibia as he is qualifying himself as a sound engineer and there are more opportunities in South Africa than in Namibia.

When he decided that he wanted to study in Cape Town, his father was very upset as he wanted him to take over the business one day. Lucas wanted him to get a trade qualification at a tertiary college in Namibia, but Ava intervened and after lots of fighting and stress, she persuaded Lucas to let Jayden study what he wanted. Jayden followed his dreams-all thanks to his mom’s support. Lucas does not know that Ava sends Jayden more money than the allowance Lucas decided they would give him every month. Jayden is a very responsible young man and puts away most of his money so that he can start an Audio recording studio after he qualifies as a sound engineer.

When it comes to their children and grandchildren, Lucas knows that Ava can become like a tiger. She will fight and will stand up to him even if it causes a lot of unpleasantness. He rather stands back sometimes than fight her when it has something to do with one of the children or their son-in-law.

After Millie and the kids leave, Ava can do nothing else but wait for Lucas to return home as she cannot even phone him on his cell phone. She lies down for a while and must have fallen asleep. When she wakes up, the sun is already starting to set. Her body feels old, and she realizes that her cheeks are wet. She must have cried in her sleep. She takes a bath and puts on her pajamas. Ava decided that she would order pizzas later as she did not feel like preparing food. She watches television and browses through the channels and ends up watching the true crime channel again.

Long after midnight, she hears Lucas opening the front door of their beautiful mansion. She did not even hear his car in the driveway, probably because of the sound of the television. She has been watching true crime for hours but cannot recall anything she watched as her mind was creating all kinds of scenarios for Lucas and other younger women. When he enters the living room, she can see the shock on his face to still find her awake and waiting for him.

"Where were you"she asked?

"At work. Where else? I became so busy with a tender that is closing on Monday that I forgot about the time", he answered without even thinking.

She hands him his cell phone, and he looks very guilty when he takes it from her.

"Oh, I looked for it everywhere, I thought I lost it", he uttered.

She looks at his attractive face and realize it would probably be better to talk about the message tomorrow.

"I am going to take a shower and go to bed. Coming?", he asked, but he did not wait for her answer.

She realizes that she never ordered the pizzas.

When Ava gets into bed, Lucas is already there and when he reaches for her, she cannot resist, and they make love. She decides to still ask him about the message or the fact that he was not at work, but only tomorrow, as she does not want to spoil the good vibe after their intimacy. He probably first went for breakfast and then to work, she decided before falling asleep in his arms.

Sunday morning, it still bothers her, and she asks him if he knows Eva or Emma. He looks a bit confused but says:

"I know a woman consulting engineer named Eva, but I don't know Emma. Why?" Ava now knows that she has caught him cheating and, after counting to ten, she asks

"Why would Eva send you a message saying she misses and loves you?"

He hesitated for a second, or was that just her imagination?

"I don't know. Probably wrongly sent to me. Maybe it was meant for someone else. How should I know why she would send such a message? She is old and not very attractive and the message was probably for her grandchild or child or whoever she loves", he says with a light blush on his cheeks."

"Okay, but why were neither you nor your car at work? Don't lie! I asked the security guy to check. I wanted to tell you your phone was at home. He checked your office and the parking garage." She says, struggling to stay calm.

"He would not find my car as I park my car in front of the building in the street when I work on Saturdays, and I enter the building from the side not to be noticed. I also work in the boardroom on Saturdays and not in the office as I don't want anyone, not even the security, to know that I am at work in order not to be bothered. What exactly are you accusing me of? "He was becoming excited and Ava could see he was upset now.

"I am so sorry. Please forget that I asked". She quickly left the room to prevent any further confrontation.

Ava felt so relieved. She accepts the explanation unconditionally and wonders how she even doubted him for a moment. After being married for 28 years and having three beautiful children she gave him, he would certainly not put their marriage on the line for a cheap fling. Anyway, he is not a womanizer and, to be honest, not a very pleasant person. She is the only one that can love him just the way he is. She understands him, and he will never ever cheat on her. It must be the little bit of extra weight she carries as well as the fact that she will be 48 soon that makes her so insecure. It is just as she thought-just a huge misunderstanding. Imagine her being jealous of an old woman who sent her husband a message by chance. A message intended for someone else. Now she is very glad that she did not tell anyone about her suspicions as she would have looked like a real fool if she had. Later, Lucas is in a better mood and even teases her and asks if she is jealous, and she is actually surprised that he was very friendly and loving the rest of the day.

She decides to make a nice chicken salad for Sunday lunch. Maybe she should ask Jenelle if they can join the gym as she can maybe shed a few pounds. After all, she has a very attractive husband and cannot be too careless about her weight. Sunday night they made love again and this made Ava realize how silly she was to think that Lucas would even think of cheating on her.