UNHINGED

CHAPTER 1

Claire

I let out a loud sigh as my telephone rang once again. Who in the world could it be now? I was so sick of everyone asking me if I was alright. I know that they meant well, but I honestly just needed to be left alone.

"Hello" I greeted, as I plastered on my routine fake smile. That is until I heard the sound of his voice. Of all the people in the world why did it have to be him?

"Claire, we need to talk now!" he blurted with authority.

"Talk about what Vaughn?" I asked, with only mild curiosity. He paused briefly before continuing.

"You need to find another place to live." I could feel my temperature slowly rising and I knew that I was dangerously close to my boiling point.

"What's wrong with where I'm living now?" I asked as calmly as I could under the circumstances.

"The only thing wrong with my house is that you're still living there. I'm going to give you 30 days to find another place to stay, and that is being more than generous." I swear I could strangle the life out of him right now.

"Vaughn you can't do this. I've been paying the mortgage on this house for over three and a half years now." My mind was racing a million miles a minute.

"I sincerely thank you for that; however that is my house, and I will do whatever I want with it." I had to calm myself down because if I blew up it would only make matters much worse.

"Okay, then sell the house to me." I pleaded. My business was booming so I could afford to pay above asking price.

"Not an option." He quickly said.

"Why in the hell not?"  Nothing but silence greeted me. "Where am I supposed to go?" I asked him. Another pause and I could only imagine how he was pacing back and forth running his hands through his hair. He did that a lot when he was trying to figure things out.

"That's really none of my concern Claire. Besides I have a new family to think about now and I have to provide a home for them."

Them? Who in the hell was them? Now I'm no fool; I knew that he had been seeing other women. I just had no idea that he had become serious with any of them. Our children had been born and raised here for the five short years that they lived. We had so many memories here. This house was all that I had left. How could he do this to me?

"Vaughn please...don't do this." I pleaded with him.

"Just stop your whining Claire, it's already done." This was not the man that I had married, the man that I had loved my entire adult life. Over the last few years he had become a complete stranger to me.

"How can you be so cold?" I asked as my eyes began to fill with tears. "We used to love each other." I uttered. By now I was barley able to hold it together.

"Oh is that what you're calling it now?" his voice was rich with sarcasm. "Anyway, we're having a boy and we've decided to name him after me." That was it. I couldn't take it anymore.

"You spiteful son-of-a-bitch! How dare you disrespect our son like that?" I was livid.

"We don't have a son anymore Claire. He was buried 3 years ago with his sister so get over it!" he yelled into the phone. Get over it? How does one get over the loss of their children? I slid down the wall that I had been leaning on for support, and landed on the floor. I hated him. "Karen and I deserve to have our son named after his father Claire!"

Wait...what? "Karen who?" I asked angrily, although deep down I already knew. It was like everything suddenly became crystal clear.

"Your sister Karen, and I are expecting. This wasn't the way that we had planned to tell you, but we're hoping you can come to accept it." He said causally as if he was telling me what the weather was like outside.