Home Wrecker

Twenty Four

I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

I wish I could just hear the conversation, I wanted to know how it was going, if she would confess or say it was really theirs. If Harry would yell, if he would finally break it off with her.

I guess technically in all senses besides a legal one, they were already broken. Not because of me or any other one person. Because the world had a funny way of leading you down your path. And when I thought of it that way I didn't feel bad. Not at all actually, because Stephanie was the mountain that Harry had to climb up and over to get to my valley.

**

The door clicked and I heard the soft pitter patter of her feet walk into our home. It was nearly eleven o'clock at night.

"Why are you sneaking in like a teenager in your own home?"

It was a scene like the movies, as I sat in wait on the living room couch. The lamp was on and she turned the corner to see me.

"I-I'm not sneaking. I thought you'd be asleep." Stephanie stumbled all over her words, she knew she was caught.

"Which I'm assuming was part of your plan."

"I didn't have a plan. I stopped by a friends and it took a little longer than expected." Lies.

"You don't have friends."

"Yes I do. Her name is Lynn and she runs a local online business like me."

"Anyway, why don't we talk about why I've been calling you all day, yes?" I raised my brows in mock interest.

"I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to listen–"

"Stop it, Stephanie. I need you to explain to me why Cheryl is calling asking if we've received the ultra sound pictures that she sent over a month ago?"

"Harry, it's not what it sounds like. I did get those, and I also have mine. They are separate pictures."

"Alright, then take me to your next ultra sound, or at least one doctors visit. Prove to me that you bare my child."

"That's also something I need to talk to you about. I lost the baby. I just found out today. It's why I was so angry and upset."

"Convenient, when I want proof there is none. Show me the pictures side by side."

"I lost Cheryl's weeks ago, Harry." She was crying now and her words were forced as if she was trying to make her words sounds believable but they weren't in the slightest. I couldn't be mad though. I hadn't lost a child at all, I was gaining the ability to have one with someone I truly cared for. I was gaining the right to a life of happiness with my heart and soul. The woman with the body of a goddess and the soul of an angel.

"I don't care. Stephanie just tell me the truth, please. I beg of you, I can't stand one more minute of this back and forth, I don't want to hate you, I want to love her." My eyes widened a bit at my confession but I could barely grasp the thought to care.

"So it is another woman." She sat beside me. Her face held understanding, not of the situation but of a final confirmation of my infidelity.

"I should have let you go a long time ago, Stephanie. I shouldn't have let this continue. We are not cut out for this, for each other. My soul is made only for hers and yours is made for another as well."

She stayed quiet, but it wasn't an angry silence. He couldn't understand why.

"Why did we ever think we could be together? Even when we first started dating we fought".  Stephanie sighed, all hope she had was lost like a ship at sea. "Why did we let it get this far?"

"Because we were young. We were forced into thinking that because our parents were a certain way that's what love really was. But Steph, love is what you want it to be and what you make it. We are not the same people we were all those years ago and you need to let go of your perfect image of me just as I have. I love Bev, she is my entire world and I want you to have that. I want that for you more than anything."

Stephanie's breath caught as she looked up again. She finally understood. Bev.

Beverley.

"What?" She could barely even speak.

"I said you deserve–"

"Beverley?"

"Yes."

"Beverley."

"Yes."

Stephanie sighed. She didn't know what this feeling was.

"She's a child, Harold."

"She's eighteen, Stephanie. And she is the woman I love. I know that I didn't find her the right way, but I know in my soul that she fits perfectly in my heart. She is my heart. And I don't mean for that to hurt you. I want that for you, I want you to love and be loved the way Alena loves me. The way I love her. It's the most amazing thing and I can not wait for you to find a man that makes you feel this way."

"Harry, she's a teenager."

Stephanie couldn't hear a word, all she heard was a name.

'Beverley.'

"Stephanie, stop. She is a woman. Just as you are."

"We were gonna have a baby and you were having an affair with a teenager." This made Harry upset.

"We were never going to have a child, Stephanie. Thank God though, right? An unfaithful man as a father and a liar for a mother? What great parents we'd make."

"How dare you. I did it in as effort to save our marriage, but there was nothing to save. You were giving yourself to a teenage girl." Stephanie shook her head, she was mixed in shock and disbelief. She knew in her heart that he was with another woman, but she didn't know that it was the girl who lived twenty feet away.