E I G H T Leaving
Sarah’s POV
Today was the day. I was finally leaving the son of a bitch, and he was getting a singing telegram.
Happy birthday to me!
I could only hope that someone was getting a video of this for me.
I wanted to see his, and her, reactions when they got the singing telegram.
It wasn’t my fault if they should so happen to get the singing telegram while he was at that incredibly important meeting with the company he was hoping to score a newer, bigger contract with.
We were all packed and ready to leave. There was nothing for us in the house.
The papers were straightforward. He would get the house and keep his 401K, while I got custody of the kids.
I also maintained control over their IRAs, their trust funds, college funds, and any inheritance they may get.
I was more financially responsible than him.
At least, according to the bank statements that I found.
My lawyer sent the documents to a financial forensic expert to go over them.
I was just trying to make sure that I knew where his money was.
All of it.
We, thankfully, had a few months to go over everything while I continued collecting more information as the weeks turned into months.
The fruits of our labor? Because I was considering not murdering him while living with him, even if I was pranking him daily, an act of hard labor.
It was hard work keeping the murderous thoughts at bay.
Like when his mouth was open or when he would try to have sex with me.
The fruits of that hard labor produced approximately 1.
7 million dollars in multiple accounts, which he had tried to hide from me.
That would certainly give me the little boost I needed. Jenson and Petey were out for blood. And so was I. We were all fully prepared, papers ready, and I couldn’t wait to see his reaction.
“Explosive,” Row thoughtfully said as he laughed, “That man…is going to be so pissed he can’t have his cake and eat it too.”
I loved the way he laughed. Always had. The way he tossed his head back and really lost himself in it.
Lately, his smiles have meant more. His kisses on my forehead have meant more.
It’s just been wonderful. Everything has started to mean something more since the night I kissed him.
When he kissed me back, falling into him, melting together. Until he stopped it.
He was right, though. I wasn’t ready for him.
I wasn’t ready for a relationship. But…I was hoping I would be.
The legal separation papers had been drawn up.
There was a six-month separation period, during which the terms of the divorce could be discussed and agreed on.
If there were no disagreements, the divorce could be finalized before the separation period was over.
But the catch was, both parties had to agree to it.
I knew he wouldn’t want to wait. Not with his mistress getting bigger and bigger by the day. The due date looming.
I walked out the front door for the last time.
All of mine and the boys’ belongings were packed and waiting for us in our new apartment that Row had managed to get us in sooner.
He promised he’d help us unpack, and we’d go out for dinner and have movie night.
He promised to be there to help me with everything.
I believed him.
He’d never broken a promise to me, and I didn’t think he was going to be starting any time soon.
Not in the last fifteen years had he failed to follow through on anything he’d promised.
He moved heaven and earth, and I didn’t know how I was just now seeing this.
I slipped the key back through the mail slot in the door.
I was loading the boys into the car with the last of our belongings when the mailman drove up, stopping at the bottom of the driveway.
He smiled at me, packages in hand, along with a box full of mail. He set everything on the front porch. Packages showcasing the latest dildos, anal beads, and lube prominently displayed. There were many ‘samples’ and magazines.
“You were a great beard. Never would have guessed,” the man said in passing, walking back to his mail truck.
“Neither would I. Who guessed he could have been hiding his real self all this time?” I commented before sliding into my driver’s seat.
Starting the engine, I knew instinctively that somehow everything was going to be alright.
Everything was going to get infinitely better.
I just had to keep us moving forward. If I could keep going that way, I knew we’d be okay.
Walking through the door of our new apartment, the boys went running, as I tried to tell them to be careful of the boxes, but looking up after dragging in our bags, my jaw hit the floor.
The apartment was completely set up. The kitchen was clean, no boxes anywhere.
The dining area was set up, with flowers in a vase in the middle of the table.
All of the furniture I’d been buying and putting in the storage unit was set up in the living room.
I continued down the hallway. I could hear the boys laughing and playing.
I peeked into the room, following their excited screams and squeals, and found bunk beds in two of the three bedrooms, their names on the doors.
The boys were playing in the one with the door marked with Carter’s name on it at the end of the hall.
“Mommy! I thought you said we had to- to, um, work hard to put our stuff away,” Carter said when he spotted me standing in the doorway, taking in his room.
It was done up in superheroes. Superhero sheets, decals on the walls, and an Avengers rug on the floor by his bed.
Tears were in my eyes. This wasn’t what I had planned for the day.
Tears filled my eyes as I watched my boys playing.
“I know. Just be careful, okay, Carter? Mav? No jumping off the top bunk!” I gave my best stern face I could, but with watery eyes and a happy heart, I looked into Mav’s room.
It was decorated with dinosaurs from wall to wall.
He had bunk beds, but the ladder wasn’t in his room.
Tears were streaming down my face when I heard him.
“Sarah? Boys?”
Row. I stepped out of my little guy's room, walking, then moving faster. It was like my feet were propelling me forward. When I saw him, I threw myself at him. Arms wrapping around his neck, his arms wrapping around my waist, tears staining his shirt, as I tried to thank him, to tell him how much I appreciated him. It was incredible. I wasn’t prepared for this, nor was I expecting it.
“Row! Unc!” the boys shouted, coming and hugging both of us.
“Mommy? Why you crying?” Mav asked me, his voice sounding scared, like he wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I think Mama’s cryin’ cause she’s happy, boys. This is your new home, and it had some surprises Mama wasn’t ready for. You wanna help me show her what her room looks like?”
“Yeah!” Their little voices cheered, racing back down the hallway.
Row held me for a few more seconds until I could get myself under control, and then led me down the hallways to the most beautiful bedroom I’d ever seen.
It was light, it wasn’t cluttered, it was airy, and I felt like I could breathe.
There were fresh flowers on my dresser, my favorite beige, fuzzy throw tossed over the corner of the end of my bed.
“You did this?” I turned, looking at him.
The earthy tones of the room, the natural wood, the sun coming in, the modern twists, but keeping the understated.
I didn’t know how the hell he’d managed it, but he did.
This was my Pinterest dream bedroom. When I met his gaze, it was heated, intense, sincere, like what he was about to tell me was the most important thing he’d ever tell me.
“I’d do anything for you.” He didn’t move his gaze, but he held mine, like a lifeline, like he was sharing the secrets he’d kept locked tightly inside the vault of his heart.
“All three of you.”