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63– Adaline
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2025-05-02 14:06:10
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To Hate, To Love, And To Wed Epilogue– Michael
“Why do I feel like I have to hustle for my wife’s attention?”Caleb snorts, sipping his whiskey.“It’s not funny, man,” I scowl. “Are you jealous of your kids, Michael?” he asks, mockery in his voice.“No.”“No?” He raises a brow.“Yes… fuck, Caleb, they keep taking her from me.” I grumble. “Sometimes I just wish…” I look out the window, and the first sight that hits me is my wife and kids running around barefoot in the mud.No… I won’t give this up for anything. I don’t wish for anything else. This is my family. I have a family, a fully functional family. My daughter just turned four, and my son will soon be three. And my wife radiates with so much beauty. She embodies grace, wears her role of motherhood with happiness and pride.My Adaline… my woman…As though sensing my gaze, she lifts her eyes to mine. “Hey baby,” I wave with enthusiasm. I know she can’t hear me because my voice is muffled by the glass. But her shoulders shake with a giggle as she gestures the kids towards my
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 105– Adaline
Two weeks later…“Hey.”Michael’s head snaps up from his tab. The moment his eyes meet mine, a smile stretches his lips. “Hi.”I shut the door and stride into the room. My knees buckle on every step. My eyes drag across his face, my brain trying to understand how this man who should be a ghost is alive and pulsing and looking more beautiful than ever.I plop down on the couch, a breath tumbling through me. It’s been two weeks since he returned. We’ve barely spoken since. I just come into his room, sit, and gaze at him for hours. Until I tire myself out.It’s starting to settle in.Michael is alive. And well.He’s here…The nightmares are gone…The pain is slowly fading.“How long will you continue this way, Ada?” He asks, setting down the tab.I drag a hand through my hair, shifting in the seat to get more comfortable. “You understand why it’s taking me this long to come to terms with this new reality, don’t you?”He nods, lips puckered. “I do.”“I’m happy you’re home, Michael. Reall
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 104– Adaline
I’ve been silent for hours.My mind has been reeling for hours.I have tried my hardest not to scream… or reach for the ghost in front of me.Questions claw at my soul.I saw everything crumble… I saw it. And yet, I question if my vision was correct.Michael’s face twists as he stares at me, waiting for a reaction.I have none.In the past month, I’ve gone through the phases of grief—denial, anger, bargaining… depression. I was just about to embrace acceptance, I was about to embrace this new normal.But here I am, watching the new normal bleed into something I’ve been desiring for days.“Are you hungry?” Those are the words I manage, the only coherent though I can conjure.Michael’s eyes twinkle. “Is that really why you want to ask?”My fingers shake as I clasp them together. “I. . . Made your favorite.” I scoff, “I make it everyday with hope that you’ll come home.”Tears drop my eyes, pelting against my forearm.Silence stretches a moment.Michael lets out a slow breath. “I’m home,
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 103– Adaline
Joy is nestled to my side.Fluff is having her zoomies.And I am in pain. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally.“We’re yet to find a body.” The investigator my father employed says for the millionth time in the last thirty days, and it takes a lot of self control for me not to leap out of my seat and pounce on him.“We pay you a lot of money… and yet all you bring to me is bad news.” My voice is calm.I didn’t even know my voice could get this low. But isn’t that what grief does?I don’t know what life wants from me.I don’t know why it’s so hellbent on taking everything until I’m hollowed out.First, I lost my mom before I even became a teenager.And then I got a hardheaded father who seemed to prefer keeping his emotions bottled up rather than talking with his only daughter.Then I lost my child barely three weeks into finding out I was pregnant.Now? My husband is dead too.I’ve given everything. There’s no more to give.And the one thing I’m asking… my husband’s body, they don’t want
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 102– Michael
A lot can happen in two weeks.You can bury hope.You can exhume rage.You can learn that even blood doesn’t mean loyalty.I’ve grieved. Not just for what I’ve lost, but letting myself believe that I could leave this life behind and not have the consequences come crawling after me.I thought love was an escape.Turns out, it was bait.The moment I stepped away to build a life with Adaline, they saw the vulnerability I mistook for strength. The humanity I thought I could afford. And they pounced.And who did they send?Austin.My nephew. My own blood. A boy I raised like a son. A boy whose hand I held at his mother’s funeral. A boy I kept away from this dirt so he’d have a future I never got to choose.He came back into my life like a ghost. Soft and quiet and broken. I welcomed him. Trusted him. And he watched me. Took note of my routine. Found the cracks. And sold them.Sold me.I get it when strangers come for me. That’s the code of the business. Bound by blood and secrecy. We eithe
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 101– Adaline
Silence strangles us. The smell of antiseptic and medicine and sterile environment fills my lungs. But most of all, it’s Michael’s scent that makes it all bearable—these walls, this brightness, this loss… Michael makes it bearable.I’m tucked into his chest, with his arms firm around my waist, holding me like I’m the only thing keeping him from shattering. Even then, I know he’s shattering.His body is shaking. His throat is vibrating. And yet he’s silent. He’s keeping the pain inside, all for my sake.I don’t need him to hide the tears from me.Perhaps it’s not just the tears that he’s struggling to hide. Maybe it’s also the shame, the self-loathe and blame, because he believes he’s the reason I’m going through this. He’s inadequate.He failed me.That is not what I believe. Not in the slightest. “Michael…” I murmur into his chest, nestling deeper into the heart hammering erratically.“Hmm,” he hums, fingers spearing through my hair.“You don’t intend to be silent all day, do you?
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 73– Adaline
A few more days at the hospital wouldn’t kill anyone, would it?The normal would be: it wouldn’t. But with a man like Michael who operates very differently from the rest of us in ways that makes us seem like the lesser beings, a few days in the hospital ripped him apart.He became more cranky. Not
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 72– Adaline
Strained sounds echo through the bathroom. Michael’s knuckles pale as he grips the edges of the toilet tighter, wretching out the bile in his throat. I rub my palm in circles over his back and heave out a breath.“There… let it all out,” I mutter.Michael slaps my hand away as he staggers up on his
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 71– Adaline
Two mornings have gone by, and Michael is still asleep. His chest rises and falls steadily, lashes fluttering, brows twitching every time he mumbles something in his sleep.The nurses say that’s a good sign. That he’s dreaming now. That it means his body’s starting to come back online, slowly.But
To Hate, To Love, And To Wed 67– Adaline
“Because you needed to be safe, and power is the only thing that keeps bloodthirsty men less thirsty. He handed them power so his wife can keep her head.”My skin is shivering, pricking with a desperation to rip apart as the words sink into my mind. My first response is a small breath. The second
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