Kiersey.
I'm writing to let you know that I've left. I've had enough time to think this over and I've decided I can't do this. I can't stomach the idea of fathering another person's child. I'm not going to raise a bastard. And why should I wait for us to have another baby when I could easily have one just as soon?
I'm going back to Sienna. She came back to me in January, just so you know. I turned her away, but now that your baby isn't mine, oh well . . .
I would probably have waited for you to be back from work but Sienna is impatient, we're flying out in a few minutes. Besides, knowing you, your crying theatrics would only make me more late.
Oh, and, I left your copy of the divorce papers on the dining table. Sign them and mail to the address on the form.
Don't look for me, Kiersey. I'm never coming back.
Best of luck,
Rocco Lips.
Hot tears cascaded down her cheek as she she reread the letter for the fourth time. A sob escaped her lips and she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle back the others. A subconscious part of her mind was telling her nobody would hear her bawl her eyes out but she wasn't even listening.
Rocco's cold words stabbed her heart over and over till it became a shriveled, wrinkled sponge, beating faintly like a dying pet. She picked up the divorce papers again and read through it, gnashing her teeth in anger and hurt.
After reading the paper the first time in the room, she had checked the closet and bathroom and found all his stuff gone. Same as the other rooms in the house and even the living room she had passed through. Her tiredness had made those missing details escape her notice earlier.
Rocco had left. He hadn't thought twice before divorcing her. He had gone back to his ex-wife, whom she had only met when she had come to their wedding.
The bastard had been in contact with Sienna for four months, and had probably been balling her too! He treated her like she had no brains and hit her at his slightest bubble of anger and he had the guts to cheat on her!
That sonofabitch!
"Fuck you, Rocco," she whispered, fisting the divorce papers in her hands. "Fuck you."
The bastard had probably been looking for a way out of their marriage before, why else would he leave so suddenly and readily go into the arms of his ex? The ex he had bad-mouthed so many times she had started to think he was jealous.
Their apartment was on the highbrow side of the city, and although she could manage the rent on her own, it wouldn't be for long. Her teacher's salary, although it was much, couldn't sustain her living here. The rent fees was a little over seventy percent of her salary and then she'd have to spend more money in the course of her pregnancy. For her baby when he/she was born.
Moving out was the best option. She would move to another part of the town where the pay was more affordable. She might even buy a house, who knows.
For now, she'd send his stupid papers back to him with her own hate letter and focus on rearranging her life. A life without Rocco.
Surprisingly, the latter thought brought peace to her. It was like a cool breeze had drifted directly through her, settling her nerves, easing her headaches, calming her tear glands.
She could do this.
Yes, she could. She didn't have to live in fear of an abusive husband's next lash out. She didn't have to feel the burden of his overbearing self over her shoulder. She didn't have to look up to someone and be treated like a hare-brained teenager.
All this new thoughts were like a whole new revelation to her. She never fully realized how stupid she had been to succumb to her husband and let him treat her anyhow. He had pretty much closed her off from the rest of the world and turned her into something else.
That piece of shit!
A weight she never knew had been in her chest—in her soul—lifted off, leaving a rory trail of tranquility in it's wake.
Her baby finally had a chance. She didn't have to worry about keeping him/her or not. She didn't have to worry about the poor baby growing up in a dysfunctional family. About it getting used to seeing his mother being hit, or worse, being hit too.
In all of her twenty seven years, she had never felt so . . . free.
She placed a palm over her tummy lovingly and smiled. Her wish had been answered. Her baby was going to grow up and have the best times in the world. She could even get lucky and find another person to fall in love with again. Someone she'd find true and lasting happiness in. Someone who would love her baby as his own and have many more with her.
Picking up the pen beside the paper, she started to append her signature.
Kiersey rummaged through her clutch purse and finally came up with the Vix inhaler. She dabbed the little container of liquid on her little handkerchief and plugged a deep breath down her nostrils. The fresh heady mint smell filled her head and lungs, filtering out every other smell.Kiersey found herself smiling like an addict inhaling drugs as she pulled in the next minty fresh breath.Her nausea had started up again just this morning and after she'd thrown up her pancakes breakfast outside the hospital today, a pregnant stranger had advised her to get a Vix inhaler.God bless that woman.Tucking the Vix and the handkerchief back into her purse, she sat straighter and breathed in minted air. A redhead teenage girl and her mother came to seat beside her and she nodded her head in greeting. The two looked distraught and Kiersey wondered what could have brought them to this part of the h
"What is it this time?" she questioned in a squeaky voice. She could feel her tear ducts getting busy already."Mrs Lips, you must understand—""That you guys are a bunch of careless, useless crap? Just tell me what you've done wrong this time. Let me guess, there was a mix-up in the name?"The woman winced and gulped visibly, darting her brown eyes around the room, as if she felt Kiersey would attack her any minute and was searching for any form of defence."What is it?" Kiersey screamed, standing up from the chair. The woman's fidgety ways and expression was greatly pissing her off. If she kept on delaying the news anymore, she might just jump over the desk and scratch her eyes out.The elderly woman blinked and swallowed again. She wouldn't take her eyes off the sheet of paper. "The reason there was a mix-up was because the sperm sample had been tagged for discarding. We did a recent
The sun was just brightening up the afternoon when she pulled her brown BMW out of the hospital parking lot into the light traffic. She glanced at the digital clock on her dashboard and sighed.One twenty two.She had been rather been hoping to make it back to school in time for the second segment of the day after lunch break, but then, she hadn't known she was going to get some more bad news in the hospital—bad, perturbing news that would require her withgoing school for the day. On the hunt of a guy who lived on the other side of the city—and inadvertently, on the hunt of her sperm donor; her baby's daddy.She glanced at the piece of paper again. Ryan Vice. Twenty four years old. She was supposed to be looking for a Ryan Vice who lived in a trailer house in Springfield.She rubbed tiredly at her eyebrows. That was if she found him. People that lived in trailer houses didn't mean to stay in it for long, and Kiersey
She wasn't really shocked when, on getting to the trailer home, a big haired, kohl-eyed girl informed her in a monotone that no fucking Ryan lived in her home. Rather, she was just sad. It wasn't like she had expected to find Ryan Vice so easily, but confirming her suspicions still didn't hurt less.Chewing on the corner of her bottom lip, she glanced at the girl from the window of her beemer. The latter stood with her hips cocked on the extension porch and eyed her back. Kiersey swallowed the urge to roll her eyes. It seemed like she had caught her in her worst mood.She wondered if she get more 'friendly' information from the girl. She didn't look to be older than nineteen, or even eighteen and, from the torn pants and checkered top she had on, Kiersey didn't think she was well off. She wondered if she could dare offer her money for some more information. How would the girl see that?But then, she reasoned, she m
It was almost two thirty when Kiersey found herself back on the highway on her way home. She pressed a button to ease down her window and breathed in fresh air. Her hunger pangs were acting in again. After the pancakes she had thrown up this morning, what remained was the diet coke she had bought from a vending machine in the hospital and the junk from the gas station. If she had been in school, she'd have bought lunch or even made one in the staff lunchroom.She sighed and leaned back in her seat. But she was stuck trailing a nameless, faceless guy that had donated the sperm for her baby.The hospital had suggested utero testing of the foetus, it would have been easier that way to know without running around looking for the guy. But that also came with the risk of miscarriage and that was a risk Kiersey was most definitely not about to take.Ryan Vice was definitely in Cali. She was going to have to take days off
She took her finger off the indicator and stepped on the gas, going after the black car.As she zoomed after the car, the absurdity of the what she was doing struck her. She wasn't even sure if it was him. A cream sedan car had slid behind the Mustang, obstructing her view of the number plates.What even if it was him? she thought. What would she do? She had nothing with him and was even relieved to not be with him anymore. They were due for divorce mediation next week and then wouldn't have to see each other again for the rest of their lives. So why was she about to make her presence known?Yeah, he had lied about his whereabouts (if the Mustang was him at all), but that didn't mean a thing, did it? She couldn't care less if he had gone to Antarctica, or still lived somewhere in Illinois.So why was she on the chase after his car? she questioned herself again.
She struggled hard to fight it. She knew was was happening to her. Her disordered senses had probably decided it had had enough and was shutting down—she was going to black out. So she struggled hard to fight it. To push back the darkness that was steadily creeping towards her, shutting down everything in it's wake."No," she mouthed.She was aware of the strong, warm arms around her slowly lowering her into a warm cushion. Then she was aware of his face looking down at her in worry, it was the only thing in focus.He's probably going to call 911, she thought. Or the police. She had destroyed his car after all.Oh, the car.She remembered the fender bender and tried to shake her head. When had things gone from plowing into a car to fainting? She wasn't fatally wounded and dying, was she?Still confused, she struggled to grasp the reins of her world. She
One would think life would cut her some slack after the whole kerfuffle of the afternoon, but then it turned out it wasn't quite done with her yet. She barely trudged her way out of the elevator to her apartment when her phone started to ring. It was Kevyn, and of all times to call.She swiped her keycard and stepped in, immediately toeing off her flats. Then she found the nearest sofa and sank into it. She so very much wanted a cool, aromatherapic bath right now, but she didn't see how she could possibly postpone Kevyn's call. Her brother had a record for being paranoid, especially when it came to matters concerning her.So, sighing heavily, she swiped the call to pick."Key," said Kevyn in greeting. "Are you okay?"Kiersey was even too tired to roll her eyes up. "Come on, you can do better than that. And what makes you think I'm not, kiddo?"She could just imagine her brother r