Perfect Doesn't Last Forever

Prologue

Hey Everyone! I'm so glad you're found yourself here! This is the sequel to "In a Perfect World" and it will follow Brittany through approximately her first year of college as she juggles her responsibilities as a mother and her social life. This prologue goes fifteen years into the future from where "In a Perfect World" left off. Please guys, don't give up on this story; everything happens for a reason. There will be a short explanation chapter at the end of this talking about my motives for writing the sequel this way. Thanks guys!

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Perfect Doesn't Last Forever- Prologue

Eighteen years have passed since I gave birth to my daughter, Hayley Marie Walsh. Seventeen years since I told her father, Damien Williams, that he was a dad. Sixteen years since I graduated high school. Fifteen years since I left home. Eleven years since I got my credential in Elementary Education. Ten years since I got married. I'm eighteen years older now and I have the perfect family I longed for all those years ago. At thirty-four, I live with my wonderful husband and four beautiful kids as a third grade teacher. I live almost one-thousand miles away from my childhood home and since the day I left, I didn't think I would ever find myself standing at my parent's doorstep, ringing the doorbell, like a complete stranger. But that's what I am doing.

I knew that today I would find everyone I need to see all in one place, at home with my parents. The second the doorbell goes off, I hear a young woman yell to her family that someone is at the door.

"Dad! Nana! Granddad! Door!" she yells, her voice seeping through the door. I shiver at her voice, vaguely aware of who she is. Bracing myself for what I would find at the other side of the door, I take a step back and look back at my family, sitting in the car parked at the sidewalk, but my husband gives me an encouraging gesture and I step back closer to the front door. My bright and shining husband is my rock, he reassures me whenever I need it and he is a great father. He helps my through my grief and encourages me to do whatever I want.

"Hi," someone say breathlessly, when the door swings open. I stare at her as she stares back at me. Her hair is thinning, changing to a pale brown; her eyes are tired, but still full of life. Wrinkles decorate her face, but she is still just as beautiful as I remember. I look at my mother and see the outline of other people gathering behind her. My dad, Jessica, a four year-old girl, and a man I don't recognize. I catch a glimpse of a familiar face that has aged since I last saw him and he looks at me for a second before ushering back a teenage girl, a middle and elementary school age and boy outside.

"Honey, who is it?" my dad asks, but when he sees me, his eyes fall. The man I don't recognize picks up the four year-old, who is wrapped around my mother's legs, and carries her out to the backyard where the others disappeared to.

It is just my dad, my mom, Jessica and me. The family I lived with for most of my life. The family I left behind years and years ago. It is tense and the air is filled with mixed feelings; their anger, relief, worry, and my weariness. "Brittany," Jessica squeals, reacting first and pushing past my parents to envelop me in a bear hug. I hug her back, wrapping my arms around her waist, and relish in the familiar feeling I missed all these years.

"Hi Jessica," I whisper, letting her go. "How are you?"

"I'm great!" she exclaims, she is glowing as she steps back to examine me. "How are you doing? It has been so long."

"I'm doing great," I assure her, looking back at my family sitting in the car on the sidewalk. My husband smiles at me before returning his attention to our four kids sitting in the back. "Hi mom, hi dad," I say shyly, readying myself of the wrath I would soon face.

"Brittany, come in," my mom says tensely, pulling me into the house after a moment of contemplation. She leads me into the living room and we all sit down, but before I can say anything, she speaks, "What are you doing here?"

"I..." I trail off, unsure of what to say. I mean what do I say to the family I abandoned fourteen years ago? "I... just wanted to see how you guys were."

"After fourteen years, now you want to know how things are going?" my mom says in disbelief. "You lost the right to know the day you left." And with that she stands up and storms out of the room, leaving me with my dad and sister. I feel tears forming at the corner of my eyes, but I refuse to cry. I cannot cry. I spent countless nights crying over how much I disappointed my parents. This was nothing different.

"I'm really disappointed in you Brittany," my dad says gravely. "I didn't think I could be this disappointed in my daughter after she got pregnant in high school."

"I'm sorry dad," I choke out, tears threating to come out. Disappointment was what I feared most. I didn't want to disappoint anyone anymore. I left because of it. "I didn't mean to. I promise. I wanted things to be better and I couldn't make anything better."

"Jessica," my dad sighs, dismissing her from the room. Jessica quickly scurries away, probably joining everyone else. He is the patriarch, the one who deals with the delinquents in private. "You picked a hell of a day to just show up."

"I'm sorry; I guess I'll just leave then." I get up and start to walk out of the living room, but I want him to know my purpose. I am an adult and I can make my own decisions now. I don't need my daddy's permission and I don't need his blessing, but there is nothing I can really do when everyone is keeping me from fulfilling my task. "I wanted to see her, I have that right."

I walk silently to the front door, about ready to accept my defeat, but just as I open the door, I hear a few voices from the hallway behind me.

"You don't have to do this," a man's hushed voice warns as the footsteps grow closer.

There are more incomprehensible whispers, but I turn around, my hand still holding the front door open, and find myself looking at the man I fell in love with all those years ago, my mother and my darling, now eighteen year-old daughter, Hayley.

"Hayley," I whisper, taken aback by her stunning beauty. I always knew she would grow up to be a gorgeous young woman. Her eyes are perfect- dazzling green- and her brown-blonde hair flows perfectly, just like her father's. She is perfectly proportionate: skinny, but not too skinny and muscular, but not too muscular. She looks like I used to.

"Mom," she concedes, walking slowly towards me. This is the moment I dreamed for over and over again during the past fourteen years.

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So chapter one will start around the beginning of Brittany's first year of college. I hope you guys enjoyed! Please don't hate me though... Trust me, there is going to be a lot of drama coming up! Please don't stop reading! Vote and comment! Thanks guys! <3