Pulled Over

It was 3:30 in the morning when Camilla received a phone call. "Morning, mam, sorry to wake you up, we just want to find out something!" The male voice said.

Just then, Camilla's heart stopped, "What is it?" she asked through her tears.

"Mam, do you have a Toyota Camry?" he asked.

"Yes!" she nervously replied. Camilla's stomach was in knots. She didn't know what next to expect.

"Mam, can you describe the driver of your car?"

Camilla described her car, registration number, and the driver of her car, explaining that he was her husband and that she'd been waiting all night for him to come home.

"Is he ok?" Camilla asked.

"Yes, mam, we pulled him over for not having his lights on while driving and a broken taillight. He's on his way home now," the officer informed her.

"Thank you, officer." she responded and hung up the phone.

Looking at the time, she sighed. "What's the use of going to sleep now?" she thought to herself.

Camilla went to take a shower, prepared her clothes for work, and started making her son's bottles for the day.

Approximately an hour later, she heard the car pull up into the driveway. Camilla carried on doing what she had set out to do. As she was busying herself, she heard the front door open and a male's sheepish voice say, "Camilla, honey, I'm home. Sorry I'm so late. Things went on longer than expected."

Camilla ignored his miserable excuse and went over to the TV to watch the latest news.

"Come to bed!" his husky voice said.

"No, Steven, it's Monday already. I need to finish preparing for work, so you go to bed."

Steven didn't need to go to the office that day as he had sealed the deal the night before.

Since Steven wasn't going into the office that day, Camilla left their son at home with him and said, "I've made all the bottles, he is sleeping now, so when he wakes up you can give him his bottle."

"Why don't you drop him by your aunt?" he asked, irritated at the fact that she would leave their son with him.

"It's the least you can do after the stunt you pulled last night," she threw back at him. Since he was staying home, she picked up the keys and took the car to work with her.

The rest of the week went off a little better due to the fact that Steven knew he had to make peace with his wife. He didn't want to arouse too much suspicion.

As the weekend approached, he made some plans with the same client as the weekend before. However, Marshall hadn't been well. They tried everything to break his fever but to no avail and ended up in the hospital with him.

Finally, on Saturday, his fever broke, and they were allowed to take their son home. However, Steven was not happy because he had to cancel his plans with Lucille (the client) and spend the weekend with his wife, helping her take care of their son.

Because he was frustrated that he couldn't escape the home, Steven started lashing out at Camilla, blaming her for him feeling trapped in their marriage. He started shouting at her and verbally abusing her.

"What is his problem?" she mumbled to herself.

Steven's name-calling was something she could never understand. Her dad and mom hadn't fought like this, nor had her aunts and uncles.

"You're just a nasty, spiteful, fat slob!" he screamed at her, took the keys, and went to the bar.

Camilla sat on the floor in their dining room crying. She picked up the phone and called her aunt and uncle for advice. They had never seen her this distraught. "Pack a few things for the night, and you and Marshall come to us for the night!" Her uncle said.

That night, Steven came home to an empty home with a letter that read: Steven, the food is in the oven, Marshall and I are at Uncle Toby's. We won't be home till tomorrow. This behaviour was not acceptable.

A few weeks had passed, and it was Friday again. "Camilla, I won't be home early tonight. I am working through the night. I'll be home quite late. I have a meeting with that client again. We need to sort out their financial affairs," he informed his wife.

"Whatever!" she exclaimed, unimpressed by his attitude of late.

Lately, Steven had hardly touched his wife. He hadn't bought her anything as a gift for a long time now.

After Camilla got home from work and fetched her son, she went through her usual routine. She didn't bother to cook for herself. She just ate whatever was on hand and fed her son what she had prepared the night before for him.

Around 10 that evening, she decided to give her husband a call to see if he was on his way home. As he answered, absentmindedly, he fogot his surroundings. Camilla heard, in the background, that he was in a bar and sounded not so sober.

"I told you I would be home late," he said, agitated and put the phone down.

Confused by what she had heard, Camilla decided to make plans for the next day without him.

Watching the time, Camilla finally dozed off.

Around 2 the next morning she woke up. The weather wasn't too cold. She went to sit on the porch in her chair and just stare at the beauty. It was so quiet where she lived.

While sitting there, an extremely masculine, handsome, slightly older, and quite distinguished gentleman walked past. He saw the tears in her eyes. "Mam, are you okay?" he asked.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Mam, where is your husband? Are you okay?" he was deeply distressed at the sight of a young lady sitting crying like that.

"I don't know where he is!" she responded through the tears.

This gentleman didn't know why, but his heart broke seeing her like this. "If I had a wife like you," he started saying, "I would never leave you at home like this alone." He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to say this to her. "Go back inside. You will get sick. Take care of yourself. Things will turn out alright. Just wait and see."

As he greeted Camilla goodbye, her phone rang."Mam, this is Officer Grady, we need you to come to the police station, please," the officer instructed her.

"On my way," she responded. Going to her neighbors, she asked them for help.

The husband said to his wife, "Leave Marshall with me, and you take Camilla." His wife nodded, kissed her husband, and took Camilla to the police station.

On arriving at the police station, Camilla walked in, looking at her husband. She went to the officer and thanked him for calling her. Walking over to her husband and saying, "We'll talk later. Just go to the car."

After that, she went over to her neighbour, thanked her, and said, "I'll see you back home."

Camilla got in the car and drove home.

The drive home had been only ten minutes, but for Steven, driving in silence with his wife felt like hours. She was angry and rightly so.

On arriving at home, Steven was still swaying from being drunk. She opened up the house and told him to go to bed. Camilla went to fetch her son and went to sleep in the room on the spare bed they had bought for Marshall for when he got older.

Later that morning, Steven asked his wife, "Camilla, what's to eat?"

In response, she muttered, "I don't know, you can make something for yourself. Marshall is with you today. I have plans with friends. See you later."

Steven was confused, "Was she really leaving me with our son, so she can go out?" Camilla saw the expression on his face. She threw her head back and let out a hard, uncontrollable laugh.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"With Michelle to the mall, girls day out," she smiled.

"I thought we could spend the day together," he was not amused.

"Tomorrow," was all she said, and walked out the door.

"What time will you be back," he shouted out the door.

"I'm not sure," she responded, "we're going to walk around and shop a little, go for lunch and a movie and maybe a drink or two."

"A drink or two," he resounded, "you can't drink!"

"Mr Middleton!" It had been a while since he had heard her say this in a harsh tone. She opened the car door and started the ignition.

Would this be a reason for Steven to change his wily ways, or would things escalate?