Avery trusted her heart to a man who promised her forever. When he betrays her trust, should she stay and rebuild what was broken or let go and move on?
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Prepare to be swept away on a rollercoaster of emotions as Avery engages with the comp...
"Are you okay, Muffin?" Her mom's voice zoned Avery back in. She felt her mom's hand caressing her hair. Not wanting her mom to worry, she blinked her tears away.
"I'm okay, Mom. I just remembered Mama T. I will surely miss her."
Her mom sighed. "I know. I'll miss our random lunches and shopping. But, T and I got closer because of you and Dav..."
Her mom paused before mentioning David's name entirely. Though she wanted to talk about her daughter's situation, she gave her the needed time. She would wait until her daughter felt comfortable to open up freely. When her husband told her about the situation in secrecy, she cried out all the tears a mother can cry. She promised to be a solace and pillar of strength when her daughter decided to confide in her.
"It's okay, Mom. We can talk about him now." Avery motioned for her mom to sit beside her on the bed.
"There's nothing in this world I want but your happiness and peace. Yours and the baby. Your dad and I love you both." Her mom's sincerity radiated from the warmth of her hand as she tucked stray strands of hair behind Avery's ear.
"I know, Mom. I love you and Dad more for that."
"We are grateful you decided to keep the baby. From now on, we will be with you a hundred percent whatever you wish to do. I want you to know you don't have to leave Boston if you don't want to..."
Avery held her mom's hand. "I want to do this. I need to... for myself."
"I know, Muffin. I know. God knows how much I wish your pain could be transferred to me instead. But I promise you... sometimes loving yourself gets hard. It gets hard. Harder than anything you can imagine. But it's a million times better than wasting your efforts on someone who does not value them."
"I'm just scared, wondering whether I can do everything without him. But I won't know until I try. And I feel the first thing I must do is be away from here. Away from everything that reminds me of him."
Her mom gently touched her cheek. "It's normal to be scared. Just remember, Dad and I are with you."
Avery placed her hand on top of her mom's. "You and Dad need not leave. You guys can stay. I don't want you to leave the life you built here to be with me."
"You are our life. We go where you go, especially now we have our little munchkin to look forward to."
Avery felt her mom's excitement as she slowly moved her hand from her cheek to her belly. Amidst all the unpleasant events happening, all the hurts and disappointments, one good thing that came out of it was her little bean, her parents' munchkin. Both immediately declared their retirement when she told her parents about her decision to move to her grandparents' retirement home in Florida. She tried to talk them out of it; she felt guilty dragging them with her. But her parents had made up their minds. The next day, her dad filed his retirement from the consulting firm he was working for and sent feelers to his contacts in Florida for freelance consulting jobs. Her mom discussed their Boston house with their family's real estate broker.
In the morning, before David's parents came for dinner, Avery and her parents had already planned their new life in Florida. But they mentioned nothing about their decision to move. The three of them felt it best to keep their decision to themselves. Avery planned to tell Shelly only a few days before their flight. Not that she doesn't trust her, but she wanted to ensure that David would not get any ideas from Art. Maybe she didn't trust herself. She didn't want to be around when the paternity test result came out.
Once her mom called it a night and left her room, she rested on her bed. She stared at the ceiling, her hands resting on her belly. Quietly, she let her tears come out. She could lie to everyone, but she couldn't lie to herself. Every night she still cried herself to sleep. Even if she didn't want to, tears just came out. She believed she'd made the right decision. This time, she had to do it for herself.
Some day David would understand what it took for her to walk away, with every part of her wanting that 'one last time.'
Just as Avery had turned off the light on her bedside table, her phone chimed.
Shells: Art relayed your message to David. He replied, telling him the paternity test result was out. 🤨 That was fast! Money talks! I told Art to reply: tell the Marines, or he can shove it to his ass! 🤬
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