Not What I Expected

Part 4

She looked around the kitchen, thinking that someone had broken into her house and decided to clean instead of robbing the place when she noticed a pad of paper and some pamphlets on the counter beside the wine. Tears sprung to her eyes and all thoughts of Ryan disappeared just as fast as they had appeared. In that moment it had been very apparent that Chad wanted to fight for their marriage just as much as she did. He had printed out a whole bunch of different information on marriage counsellors in the Vancouver area and a bunch of information on what they can do as a couple to better themselves and better their marriage. She looked through the pamphlets quickly and she was quite impressed with all the work Chad had put into this.

"Hey," Chad said as he walked into the kitchen making her jump, "I thought I'd help you out with dinner."

"Thanks," Nicole replied quietly looking up at him, "Did Hudson go down ok for you?"

"Yeah," Chad replied with a small smile, "He sure is a talker, that one. He had a whole bunch of stories to tell me...Nicole, I'm sorry that I haven't been around much over the last month."

Nicole wasn't able to respond to this immediately. She began to feel anxious and wondered if his affair had only been going on for a month, or if it had been going on much longer like she had expected it had. She wanted him to tell her everything, but every time she thought about him with her, she wanted to break things. She wanted to scream at him, she wanted to cry. She wanted to hurt him as badly as he had hurt her, but she knew that wasn't going to solve the problem. But she absolutely had no idea how to solve the problem to begin with. They were never given a marriage manual and she never thought she would be one of those wives.

"I don't think an "I'm sorry" is going to fix this problem Chad," Nicole said quietly and calmly as she looked up at him, "If you are serious about wanting to fight for our marriage, we do this my way. I can't be rushed, you have to talk to me, you have to start being honest with me. You betrayed my trust in the biggest possible way. It's not going to be easy to fix that. We will go talk to someone together and we will try to repair, together, what you destroyed."

Nicole knew she sounded like a horrible naggy wife, but she had no choice. She knew that she had to guard her heart more than anything right now. She wasn't about to let herself get hurt again.

"I understand," Chad replied as he moved closer to her, "I am completely committed to working on our marriage and repairing the damage that I caused."

"How long Chad?" Nicole blurted out, instantly regretting the question.

Chad gave her a confused look. By the looks of it, he wasn't sure what she was asking. She didn't want to know details, but she did want to know how long they were seeing each other and she wanted to know if they were ever together in this house that the two of them shared together.

"How long were you seeing her Chad?" Nicole asked again, this time specifying what she meant, "And were you ever together in our home? But please spare me the details."

"I've been seeing Anna for one year," Chad replied quietly as he looked down at his hands, "And we have been here a few times..."

Nicole took a deep breath and held it in for a moment before slowly exhaling. She realized that this might be more difficult than she had expected. Her heart hurt even more when he told her how long they were together and that they had been here, in their home, together. She just couldn't wrap her head around the information he had just shared with her.

"You know what..." Nicole breathed as calmly as she could, "I can't do this right now. This is too much for me right now."

"Nic...Please give me a chance to explain," Chad pleaded as he reached for her hand, "Don't give up yet. Give me one chance."