Making Decisions

Five years had passed since the birth of their daughter Meghan. Meghan, now five and Marshall, now seven were in primary school.

Steven and Camilla had seemed to have moved into a better space in their relationship.

Camilla had been wanting, for a while, to start her own business, but Steven was adamant that she stayed in her job. He wasn't one for change, or that is at least what he portrayed towards his wife. The plain fact was that he didn't want to see Camilla doing better than him financially.

In the company where Steven worked, things had gotten a lot tougher, and the stress load was on top of him.

It had been a few years since he had been in a bar. One night, after getting home, he went to shower, picked up the keys, and said to his wife, "I'll be home later."

Confused by what he said, she asked, "Babe, where are you going?"

"I'm tired, Camilla. I just need to go out and unwind!" his tone wasn't harsh but not gentle or loving either.

At 11 p.m. that evening, she was still waiting for him to come home. About two hours later, he arrived home and fell asleep behind the wheel of the car.

Michelle had mentioned that the workload was getting heavier for him, but this was no excuse to come home in this condition. After she managed to get him into the house, she locked the doors and went to sleep.

The next morning, Steven woke up, head pounding, eyes bloodshot and stomach turning. These were all effects of a hangover from the night before. He didn't go to work that day. Instead, he called in sick with a stomach virus.

Camilla just shook her head, not saying a word. She got the kids ready and went off to work.

That evening, when she got home with the kids, she noticed that Steven was drunk. She took the kids inside and sent them to their room, and closed the door. As she went to her room to get undressed from her work clothing, Steven came behind her, turned her around, and came at her.

Surprised by his actions, she looked at him in total disdain. "You're drunk!" she said calmly, trying to avert the aggression in her husband. She wasn't going to deal with this now. It wouldn't make any sense anyway.

"You took my car!" he screamed at her, clenching his fists tightly.

"Your car?" she questioned him with words, "I pay for that car, it's our car! I am entitled to use it when I want! You didn't go to work and I had the children with me. It's raining outside," she responded coldly.

He tried to advance in her direction, but because he was so drunk, he missed her and called her the most horrible, derogatory names.

Refusing to entertain this behaviour and not saying a word, she went to the children's room, closed their door, and went to sleep with them. Steven went to his room and passed out on the bed.

In the early hours of the following morning, Steven came knocking on the door. Looking at her face, he bent down and kissed her. She didn't reciprocate his kisses but instead pushed him away. "Come to bed," he whispered.

"No, Steven, this time you went too far. You've never lifted your hands to me in the past," she responded, her tone cold as ice.

Leaving her to sleep with the children, Steven went back to bed. His phone rang, "Yes," he responded in a whispered voice so as not to wake his wife up.

"Hey, it's me, I was just wondering if you would like to meet later today for drinks?" The female voice asked.

"Sure, why not, I'll meet you at the same time and place," he confirmed.

Later that morning Camilla didn't wait for Steven, she got the children dressed, dropped them at school and left for the bus. While at work, she overheard two other female employees gossiping. She knew it was about her because on approaching them, they quickly stopped. She just gave them a look and continued with her admin. She fortunately had a client that day, so she wouldn't be fully office bound.

The end of the day rolled around. Steven had arrived home before his wife. He texted her to say he had picked the kids up and got the groceries and that she should come straight home as he needed to leave again.

Because of the time of year that it was the beginning of the tax season, she didn't question him about it and just accepted that it was work related.

On arriving home that evening, he said to her, "Don't wait up, it's going to be a long night.

"Fine," she responded.

Steven picked up the keys and said, "By the way, dinner is in the oven."

Shocked at what she had just heard, she went to the oven to get dinner out for her and the children. She laughed as she saw he had bought takeout for them. This was always his solution to something when he didn't want to cook or even know what to cook.

After seeing to, the needs of her children and putting them to bed, Camilla made a cup of hot tea and went to sit on the settee watching a movie.

While watching the movie, her phone rang, "Hi Michelle," she answered.

"Hey Camilla, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing much, just watching a movie. Steven is working late, so it's just me and the kids," she responded.

"Steven's working late?" she was surprised, "interesting, since all his work for today was caught up. Oh well, listen, I'm just down the road. Can I pop around? I have a bottle of red wine. We can have a glass together since it's the weekend now."

Because of Steven's problem with alcohol, she hardly ever indulged in a glass of wine or even met up with friends, as she usually always had the kids with her. "Sure, why not," she said.

Camilla could use the company, and getting another girl's perspective on her issue at hand would definitely help.

Camilla ordered an extra pizza for her and Michelle. The pizza and Michelle arrived at the same time.

They opened the bottle of wine and poured a glass each. "Cheers!" they clinked their glasses and had a slice of super, duper cheesy pizza with pepperoni.

Enjoying the time and chatting with Camilla, she broached the issue of physical and verbal abuse. "Cams," Michelle said in a loving and kind tone, "girl, you know I love you, and I'm not about to make decisions for you. You have to do this for yourself. I will say, though, that I would never let a man treat me the way he treats you. Girl, you deserve so much better than this." Camilla burst into tears. She knew her friend was right, and only she could make this decision. She would have to think long and hard about it.

After spending a few hours, Michelle said, "I have to go, I have a family gathering tomorrow," she hugged her friend and said "I'll check in on you," and she left.

Camilla had only had one glass. The second one, she threw away and made another cup of tea and settled down for the late night movie.

Around midnight, she decided to give her husband a call, but he never answered. Around 3 a.m., she heard the car outside. She didn't get up but lay on the settee pretending to be asleep. He came staggering in and threw himself on the armchair and passed out. Camilla got up and made her way to the bedroom after seeing to it that everything was securely locked up.