10. Sean - The Tragedy
Chapter ten
Sean - The Tragedy
S he missed her little farmhouse; big city Chicago life was not her happy place but it was her consequence. Life was tolerable although she lived in fear of Sean for herself and the girls; her existence, heart-wrenching. They had been living in Chicago for eight months and Christmas was a few days away. She was on a ladder wallpapering a dining room for a client who lived in her complex. She could make some extra money to give the girls special gifts they had picked out of the big Sears Wish Book.
Just as she was finishing an intricate cut a man’s soft voice spoke. “Merry Christmas, sweet Edie.” She’d know his voice anywhere yet she was afraid to turn around in case she was mistaken. Her hand went instinctively to the locket around her neck. When she turned those beautiful aqua eyes were filled with tears. He walked toward her and lifted her down from the ladder pulling her into his arms. The kisses were life-giving oxygen filling her with love and hope.
Of course, all these months since she saw Christopher, she had put on a strong happy face. She carried herself with as much dignity as her guilt would allow and cried only in the darkness of the night. Her loneliness was real but she couldn’t confess it even to herself in the light of day. Somehow, she wore her consequences like badges of dishonor proclaiming she was responsible for the life she was forced to live.
“I had to see you, Edie. I couldn’t help myself. You are a part of me like a tattoo inked on my heart. It will always be there no matter how I try to forget. I love you more than life.”
She tried to speak but words escaped her. Her desperation hit her and all she wanted to do was get her girls and run away with Christopher. She didn’t care where; she just wanted to be with him where Sean could never find them, but she knew she had to stay and he knew it, too but before he left she had to put her hands on his gentle face and run her fingers through his hair. “I will always love you, too, Christopher.” Somehow, she felt he had given her a transfusion of hope to keep her living but for how long she could only guess. And just like that…Christopher was gone.
On her twenty-fifth birthday, Sean made reservations to take her to a club to see her favorite musical group. She was wary; he didn’t treat her to nice things. With her stash of fabrics, she sewed a cute outfit of hot pants, a vest, and a blouse that was the perfect fashion statement for her white Go-Go boots. Seated at a round table for eight, a couple arrived and greeted Sean as if they were friends. They were more than friends. This was a sexual relationship and Edie was sickened by their talk and roaming hands and feet under the table.
When she returned from the restroom, the lead singer walked through the crowd and the spotlight landed on Edie. He crooned ‘For once in my life I have someone who needs me.’ The crowd cheered and applauded. She was flattered but tried to downplay it as fear crawled up the back of her neck like a rattlesnake ready to strike. She knew she’d have hell to pay and she didn’t have to wait long for her punishment to sink its fangs.
With hundreds of eyes on her, as the singer went back to the stage Sean jerked her from her seat and dragged her through the venue by the hair. Outside he knocked her to the ground in the filth of icy slush and threw the keys under the car. He growled, “If you’re home when I get there, I’ll kill you.” Crawling under the car to retrieve them, she knew he was all business. She rushed to pack and loaded her girls in the car and drove one hundred fifty miles to her mother’s apartment not knowing if she would take them in. Her mother wasn’t happy but agreed to let them stay until Edie could figure out what to do.
Two weeks later on an icy stretch of country highway, Sean, extremely drunk, drove off an embankment and was tragically killed instantly. The horror of it all played over a million times in her mind, grief becoming her constant companion. Though he was cruel and unpredictable, she never wished for such a fateful ending. Guilt ate at her like a cancer, a bite at a time. Somehow, she tried to convince herself that she could have made a difference- perhaps she could have saved him and the girls would still have their father. But just like that, Sean was gone…Forever.