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All my love,
Addison
Patrick nudged Addie awake as they started down the long gravel drive. How she managed to sleep nearly the entire way was beyond him. Thankfully, it had given him some time to think about what he wanted out of this time with family. He knew he’d have to tell his wife about the pregnancy and the fact that he was still seeing Michele. Either he did it or Michele would do it as she’d continuously threatened. The only reason that she had even let him get away without first letting the cat out of the bag was because he promised that he would finally tell Addison the truth. And maybe he would. He’d have to eventually anyway, he knew that. But on the off chance that he and his wife still had a shot, he wanted to try. Perhaps it was possible for them to forget everything they’d both done to hurt one another and move on from it. If his parents could do it, maybe they could too.
Patrick had begged Michele to have an abortion, knowing the wrath he’d face due to the pregnancy not only from his wife but also from work and probably most of all from his parents. She had refused and had clearly decided she was having this kid with or without him in the picture, which made Patrick wonder if she’d really been on the pill at all. Either way, the way he saw it, he was fucked. Addison had already filed for a divorce and moved out, so he wasn’t holding out a lot of hope there, regardless of what did or didn’t happen at the lake.
“What time is it? Did I really just sleep the entire way?” Addie asked groggily, interrupting his thoughts.
r /> “Yeah, it’s after ten. What do ya think? Should we wake ’em or carry them in?” Patrick asked, pointing towards their sleeping children in the back.
Addie sighed. “Carry them.”
Once they’d gotten the boys settled in their beds, Addie put on a pot of coffee and settled things inside the house while Patrick finished bringing in the rest of their bags. When he returned, he could see that she appeared to be upset and upon further inspection that she’d been crying.
“Is everything okay?” he asked gently.
Addie rubbed her eyes and headed for the bathroom. “Yeah, I’m just tired; that’s all.”
“Hey, Addison,” he called.
She stopped and turned. “Yeah?”
Patrick exhaled slowly. “I want to apologize for doubting you about this Hammons character. I should’ve done more, before. But I promise from now on I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that you guys are safe.”
Addie smiled weakly. “I know.”
“I’m going to get set up in the guest room; you can take the master.”
Addie turned back towards the bathroom, but what she said next nearly knocked him to the floor. “Actually, I was thinking that maybe tonight you could hold me the way you used to.”
“You got it.” Patrick replied as he picked up his suitcase and headed for the master bedroom, unable to hide the smile in his voice.
Addie quietly closed the bathroom door, turned on the water and let herself slowly slide to the floor. She sobbed until she could sob no more and then reached for her phone, opened her email, and read through the email once again. She read the words once and then again, just to make sure they were really there.
From: William Hartman
Date: 01/21/13
To: Addison Greyer
Subject: Mercy
Dearest Addison,
I’m happy you’ve left town as I think it’s the best thing for you and the boys.
After reading your letter, I did some thinking, and as much as I hate to admit it, you are right. It doesn’t appear that there is a happy ending for us the way I’d once hoped. I will say that when I heard you’d planned to leave town with him I was furious, wondering how you could betray me, or rather betray us, like that. But then the more I thought about it, the more it started to sink in that you’d made these plans before the incident this afternoon with your car, and I think I finally realized that it would always be this way with him. I finally understood that, no matter what, he’ll always come first in your life, for no other reason than he’s the father of your children.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is just too much for me. I want you to stay put, Addison. I want you to work it out with your husband, if that’s what you want to do. Either way, maybe what happened today was for the best, if nothing else so that we could finally see how dangerous this relationship is for all of us. Also, for what it’s worth to you, I want you to know that I do love you, in my own way, I guess. But I would be lying to the both of us if I tried to keep up the front that one woman would ever be enough for me. Unfortunately, I’m just not made that way, and while you say that you’re okay with it, trying any further would have been disastrous to us both.
William
After a while she stood and washed her face then hopped in the shower and let the hot water wash over her. She knew she shouldn’t be so upset. Isn’t this what she’d wanted? For William to walk away? If he was going to leave her in the end, anyway, didn’t it make more sense for it to happen now? It was better just to rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with; she got that. But, if that were the case, then why couldn’t she make herself believe the words he’d written were true?
Twelve
The next few days went by mostly in a blur. The boys were having a blast, fishing and running amok on the property. They’d been blessed with pretty warm weather, which was fairly unusual for January, even in Texas. Addie immersed herself in work, trying to get caught up on everything she’d fallen behind on, in addition to the growing number of leads from the agency. When she wasn’t up to her ears in work, she threw herself into her family, going on hikes, and spending as much time with the boys as she could. In the evenings after dark, Patrick would start the fire, and they’d roast marshmallows, sip hot cocoa, and tell ghost stories until it was past bedtime for boys. Once the boys were in bed, she read while Patrick worked, and then they’d sit and talk for a while about everything and nothing. While it was almost easy to push her incessant thoughts of William out of her mind in the daytime, it was nearly impossible once the sun went down. But even though Addie was heartbroken, she couldn’t help but notice how normal it all felt being at the lake as though if she just tried hard enough, she could pretend everything was okay.
