Through the cracks

Chapter Five

Ava must have fallen asleep on the couch and woke up early with a headache. Millie offers to bring Kristy home, and she is glad she does not have to drive to fetch her.

"Mom, you look like you partied through the night? I know we left a bit early to get the kids to bed, but at what time did you leave? Seems we missed out." Millie jokes at her mother's condition.

"I should really stop drinking, I suppose", Ava responds as to why she looks so tired and worn out.

"Where is dad?" Millie then asked while looking around the room.

"He just went to get some take-out, seeing that we are both too tired to cook today." Ava lied.

Millie's phone rang;

"O s**t, I forgot that was today," she said to him, who Ava believed was John she was speaking to.

"I have to run, mom. I will speak to you later. I forgot we had something planned today with friends." Millie said and then jumped in the car.

When Millie leaves, she takes a long bath and goes to her room and closes the curtains. Kristy comes and lies on the bed with her. She tries to phone Lucas as she did all night, but he still does not even answer the phone. She would not know where to look for him even if she wanted to. All she can do is wait until he comes home. Lucas does not come home on Sunday and Ava just cries herself to sleep.

Feeling exhausted, Ava does not go to work on Monday and spends the day in bed. In a way, she did not want to talk to Lucas, but the uncertainty also drove her mad.

Monday night, Lucas comes home late. He walks into their room and puts on the light. She is calm now and waits for him to tell her the truth.

"It is not what you are imagining. Yes, I had an affair, but Violet is not my child. I do not know whose child she is, but she is definitely not mine. I also went to her over the weekend to end the affair as I choose you. I love you “he says.

She looks at him and desperately wants to believe him. At least that arrogant woman who was putting her down will learn her lesson. Lucas chose me, she thinks to herself.

"Have you told the children?" He asks.

"Not yet “she replied.

"Are you going to tell them?" He asks.

"Lucas, you have to give me space to decide please. Even if you are sorry and want me back, I still need to process this. You always told me and the kids to be honest. You said we should never lie to you. You lied to us. How long has this been going on?"

" It was really only about a year", he says.

Well, as least, it explains why he is not the father of the child she thinks to herself. Surely they could not start an affair and have a child within a year. At this stage, Ava only had one more thing to ask.

“Her name-Is it Eva? So, Eva is not an old grandmother, but is she even a Consulting Engineer? She asks. He just shook his head.

"She has not been working, and I was supporting her. She used to work at a clothing shop where I buy my suits." He replies.

It felt like there was nothing more to say at this stage.

”Will you please move to the guestroom until I make a decision regarding our relationship” she asks.

They spend the next few days avoiding each other. She is trying to make sense of the situation and still needs to tell the children. He is almost never home anymore, and she believes he is working to avoid confrontation and more questions and patiently wait for her decision.

Ava makes an appointment with her two daughters, Millie and Iris, at a local coffee shop. She tells them everything and asks them to please not judge their father as she also must take part of the blame. She was not paying attention and was so relaxed in her own little world that he might also need a partner that would do things with him and give him more attention. Millie just listened with tears in her eyes. But Iris was not having it.

” Nonsense. He is 50 years old not 15. If he had a problem with anything regarding your relationship, he could have told you. You cannot take any blame. If the situation was the other way around, he would have gone ballistic and chased you out of the house. He only thinks about himself, his money and his needs. What happened to always telling the truth as he expected from us?" Iris rants on

Ava knows that it is probably the truth, but she defends Lucas and Iris jumps up.

"Whatever. You will always defend him, so if you want to forgive him, just do whatever you want. How do you know that he is telling the truth now? Get a private detective and find out if he is telling the truth. But if you just want to take his word for it, then please do, but next time I will just say I told you so “, Iris says.

Millie just said:

“Mom, maybe it is not such a bad idea to make sure. I am sure he just made a mistake and that he regrets it, but it won’t hurt to make sure”.

Ava jumped up and said:

“Thank you for your support. He is your father. How can you be so cruel? I should just have kept this to myself."

She storms off, leaving them to sort out the bill for the coffee and cake they ordered but never enjoyed.

A day later, she phones their son Jayden. His sisters had already told him, and she could hear that Iris probably convinced him that Lucas was still not being honest, so she kept the conversation short.

She already had a fight with the girls and does not have the strength to fight with Jayden also. He is also not very close to his dad and will always protect her, so he will not be objective anyway.

Millie comes around that afternoon and Ava gets the feeling that their son-in-law, John, has turned her against her father as she is now convinced that Lucas is lying. Millie cries and Ava can see she is struggling, but at this stage she cannot really be close to her daughter and comfort her as she herself is still mourning, and she wants to fix her marriage and not lose Lucas at all costs. When Millie leaves she can see the pain in her daughters’ eyes, but she does nothing. She just let her leave.

Ava is ready to talk to Lucas. She has decided to forgive him and give their marriage another chance. It is late and Lucas is still not at home. She phones him on his cell phone, but it just rings. She phones the company and the security says he has already left the office long ago.

She goes into the guest room, and although she feels guilty, she goes through his belongings. She finds a bag and goes through the stuff inside. Among the clothes inside, she finds a note. “I am so glad you finilly decided to diworce Ava” she reads. There is a list of things that must be done

1. We must now change our daoghter’s surnames to yours – she reads

2. You must change your wil to include us as to what wil happen if sumthing happens to you.

3. Violet must meat her sibelings.

4. I want to be your wive as soon as the divorce is final and life in our house.

"Where is that" Ava wondered? And her spelling is horrible. Did she not go to school at all?"

The list goes on and on…. What is wrong with this woman? Why did she not w*****p this to him? At least her spelling would have been rectified as the spelling is so bad that Ava had to read the note a few times to understand what she was trying to say. It is evident that this woman was not well-educated.

And I am the stupid one?? Ava thought through her tears. She goes to her room with a cup of tea she made after reading the note and Kristy tries to comfort her. Tomorrow I will find a private investigator. She thinks before falling asleep as she takes a sleeping pill with her tea to avoid another sleepless night.