1.10 - Even Miracles Take a Little Time (Part 1)

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

Sorry i've been gone for a while, guys, this chapter took a really long time to write for some reason. Normally, i've been getting chapters out every day or so, but now that school's starting back up soon, i'm going to have less time to write and to play sims, which really sucks. Also, i've been having trouble with some of the poses i wanted to use, and they just haven't been showing up in the pose player. Again, it really sucks. After getting frustrated because these poses just weren't showing up, I decided to just cut them from the story. Again, sorry about that. This chapter is actually the first of two parts, because this chapter is abnormally large. This part features the tales of Meredith and Grant, while the next part will tell the stories of Khloe, Ryder, and Gavin, the children. I hope you take the time to read it, as I've worked really hard on this chapter in particular. All comments are appreciated :)

***************************

Meredith's POV

I re-read the post three times, checking for mistakes. I told myself that, and I also asked if I really wanted to discontinue my blog. I loved being a blogger, it was the one thing I really connected with after I moved out. But, these past few years, it’s been getting tougher and tougher to live with myself. This was a way of saying goodbye to who I really was, and saying hello to the woman I want to be. Who do I want to be? I want to be a faithful wife and a devoted mother.

Gary and I were seeing each other for about a year. After that, I had to break it off. I had to realize that I was in love with Grant. What  I had with Gary was just a convenient way with coping with everything else going on. It was an escape from reality that I didn’t realize I needed. When I did realize it, I had to break it off. He agreed it was for the best, and we decided to go our separate ways.

I was cancelling my blog because I was sick of what I did. Whenever I wrote a post on that blog, I was just reminded of the woman who cheated on her husband. I hated that woman, so I had to say goodbye to everything that still tied her to my life. I nodded, knowing this was what I wanted to do, and hit the “Post” button.

I laid back in my chair, reading the post from my blog. I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. Time to get the kids up for school. I stood up and woke up the kids.

“Gavin! I said ‘Get up’! NOW!” I yelled. Gavin had a problem of not listening to me. Whenever I woke him up for school, he would ignore me and roll back over. It was like this every single day with him. He was a huge couch potato. Khloe and Ryder listened to me, and were downstairs making breakfast.

Khloe was eating her cereal when she looked over at Ryder. “So, when are you going to tell mom about your new girlfriend?”

Ryder dropped his spoon and glared at Khloe. “Shut up.”

“Girlfriend?” I asked, smiling.

Ryder hesitated, and then sighed. “Yeah, her name’s Lucy. We’ve only been dating for like a day, it’s no big deal. She just moved here with her mom.”

“Why don’t you invite her over for dinner tomorrow night?” I asked. “We could make a big family dinner, huh?”

Ryder looked at Khloe then back at me. “I guess that would be fine.”

I nodded. “Good. Talk to her today.” I finished. I put the dishes down and walked outside to get the mail. I opened the mailbox, which only held a singular envelope. It was a donation for my blog, with a letter telling me not to shut it down. It was signed Gary Ghee. I closed my eyes, took the money, and threw the letter in the dumpster. Gary writing to me made it clear I wouldn’t be able to escape the guilt.

“What’s going on, sweetie?” My mom asked from across the table. The two of us sat in the coffee shop. I was sipping on a frappichino, while she was sipping on an energy drink. Over the years, her hair greyed and her wrinkles became more apparent. I called her to get some coffee after work.

I started tearing up. How would I tell my mother that I cheated on Grant? I put my head in my hands and tried to pull myself together. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What? What’s going on?”

I looked her in the eye, feeling the tears brim to my eyelids. “Mom, I cheated on Grant.”

Mom looked at me with sympathy, and grabbed my hand. “Oh, sweetie…”

“I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone, but I…I just couldn’t handle it anymore.” I said, tears running down the side of my face. I wiped them away with my sleeve.

“When did this happen?”

I sniffed. “Years and years ago, when Gavin was still a toddler. It’s over now, but it’s killing me to keep something like that from him and I don’t know what I should do.”

Mom craned her neck to look at me. “Sweetie, you have to tell him.”

My voice was down to a whisper now. “I don’t know if I can break his heart like that.”

“Listen to me, Meredith, when I cheated on your father, I didn’t tell him. I ended up hiding it from him. I thought he would never find out, but it only made it worse. I ended up losing everything because I wasn’t up front and honest, and I don’t want that to happen to you. I know you love your kids, and It may hurt them at first, but they’ll get over it.”

I looked at her, wide-eyed. “Oh my god. The kids. What am I going to tell the kids?” The tears fell faster. “They’re going to hate me.”

Mom shook her head. “Sweetie, they won’t hate you. They may get a little mad, but they won’t hate you. You don’t hate me, right?” I shook my head, and she continued. “It’ll get better, but you have to tell Grant. You can’t keep it from him.”

“You can go in now, Mrs. Villiers,” the facility assistant told me as I approached his office. Grant was sitting at his desk in his lab uniform, typing something up. He looked up and smiled as he saw me. “Hey.” I said.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I was just stopping by to check in with you. How’s work?”

“Terrible, They have me doing lab reports all day today. I wanna just get home, and curl up with you  and watch movies for the day.”

I smiled, but him saying that broke my heart even more. “Too bad we have bills to pay.” I joked. “Tomorrow night, Ryder’s girlfriend and her mom are coming to our house for dinner. You can be home that night, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” He said.

Something told me to just tell him right there, but something held me back. I didn’t want to tell him that while he was at work. I decided to just tell him when he got home that night. I said goodbye to him, and headed home to wait for the kids.

Gavin was the first one to head in the door. “Hey, mom.” He said.

“Hey, where are Khloe and Ryder?” I asked him.

Gavin rubbed his eyes. “Khloe had Drama club after school, and Ryder had Debate club.”

I smirked. Khloe was in Drama and Newspaper club, while Ryder was in the Debate Club, the Football team, and he was the president of the music club. Gavin, however, was not in any club. “Why don’t you join a club?”

Gavin laughed. “None of them interest me.”

“You love to paint, why not join art club?”

Gavin shrugged. “We’ll see.” He grabbed his backpack. “I’m going over to Eli’s, okay?”

I sighed. “I hope you’re doing your homework over there.”

“I am, mom. I have to go, see ya.” He said before closing the door.

I fell on the couch. I was really worried about Gavin, he was gone all the time, and when he was home, he was lazing around in front of the TV. I’m hoping his grades are good by the time we get his report card.

A few hours later, Grant walked in the door. “Hello?” He called.

He walked in the living room and saw me sitting on the couch. “Hey.” He looked around. “Where are the kids?”

“Khloe’s at Katie’s house, Ryder’s at his new girlfriend’s house, and Gavin’s at Eli’s house.”

Grant shook his head. “I don’t like that Eli kid, he seems like trouble to me.”

I shrugged. “Nothing we can really do about it.”

Grant took off his coat. “What’s up?”

In that split second, I finally decided to tell him. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

He looked at me for a moment. “Of course, what’s up?”

I stood up. “Before I tell you, I need you to promise that you will eventually forgive me. I know it might take a while, but I need to know I won’t lose you. Please.”

Grant froze. “Meredith, you’re really scaring me. What’s going on?”

I held my hands in front of me. “I slept with Gary.”

Grant dropped everything he was holding. I heard some glass shatter in his briefcase. He stared at me with no emotion, nothing, and grabbed his coat. He put his coat back on and headed for the door.

My heart sank. I ran up to him and grabbed his arm. “Please wait, I can explain.”

“Get the hell off me.” Grant snapped.

“Grant, please-“

“GET THE HELL OFF ME!” Grant yelled, pushing me back. He marched out of the door and got in his car.

“Grant, where are you going?” I yelled, desperate.

He put on his sunglasses in the driver’s seat.

“Grant…” I begged.

He started up the car.

“GRANT!” I yelled.

He pulled out of the driveway and drove out of the neighborhood to God-Knows-Where. I watched him leave, and fell on my knees, sobbing hysterically. I feel like I just lost the one person I love the most.

Grant's POV

Day 2

The alarm clock shook Grant awake. He rubbed his eyes before glancing over at the time. 6:30. Time to get up for work.

I sat at the couch of the hotel room I was staying at watching the news and eating cereal. I was getting ready to put my suit on when the phone buzzed. I pulled the phone out from my bag.  It was my dad. Without hesitating, I answered the phone. I didn’t say hello.

“Grant?” Dad said.

“Hey, dad.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at that hotel on the edge of town.”

“…”

“Is there a reason you called?”

“Meredith told us what happened.”

I put my head on the edge of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. It was only last night when Meredith confessed that she cheated on me with Gary. I rubbed my forehead. “Okay.”

“I’m worried about you.”

I had to force myself to not laugh. “Thanks, dad, but I’m doing fine.” I said, almost sarcastically.

“Look, I know what she did was absolutely terrible, but-“

“You know what, dad, I gotta go.” I quickly pulled the phone from my ear and hung up the phone, watching to see if my dad would have called back. He didn’t. I decided I would worry about the whole thing later, and just focus on work today.

Again, the facility was having me work on lab reports. I hated it, I would rather be working in the field than sitting in my desk all day filling out lab reports. I rubbed my forehead in frustration when I was buzzed in on the intercom. “Mr. Villiers, there is a girl here who is saying she is your daughter. Should I send her in?”

I immediately stopped what I was doing and pressed the button. “Um…Yeah, send her in.” I minimized the lab report and saw Diane, my assistant, escort Khloe into my office. Diane closed the door behind her, and Khloe stood in front of my desk, not saying anything.

“Hey Khloe,” I began. “What’s going on? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” I asked.

She looked to the side for a second, before looking back at me. A tear fell down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly.

I nodded. “Okay.” I muttered. I took my lab coat off and buzzed Diane in. “I’m taking a lunch break, I’ll be back in a little while.” I took my finger off the intercom. “Come on, sweetie, let’s talk.” I put my hand on her back and led her out of the office.

After the two of us had some lunch, we got back in the car. As I was pulling out, I heard Khloe say, “When are you coming home?”

I kept my eyes straight ahead, thinking about what to tell her. I didn’t know, and Meredith didn’t know either. “I don’t know, sweetheart. Probably not for a while.”

Khloe silently nodded, and I could hear the tears escape from her eyes. She started sniffling as she wiped her eyes.

“Listen, Khloe, I don’t want you to worry about me or your mom. We’re going to be fine, regardless of what happens. I just don’t want you worrying about this. What happened isn’t your fault, or either of your brothers’ faults. This is just a mistake that your mother made, and until I get over it, I won’t be coming home for a while.” I briefly looked over at Khloe. “You and your brothers can come visit me whenever you want to, okay? I’ll come pick you up myself.”

I pulled into the parking lot of Khloe’s school. She stared at the school and glanced at me. “I still have to go to school?” She said, voice shaking.

I laughed. “Of course you have to go to school.” I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Come on, I’ll sign you in.”

Khloe sat there,  unmoving. She put her head in her hands. “Dad!”

I swiped the keycard through the slot on the door to my room. Work today had killed me; Lab reports all day, and I had to do overtime because of all the time I took with Khloe. I didn’t tell Meredith about it, I figured it didn’t matter. As I walked in the door, a woman sitting on the couch stood up. “Long time, no see, red.” She said with a smile.

I stared at her in disbelief. “Selena?”

She giggled. “I guess it’s been too long for you to remember my name, we were pretty young back then, huh?”

I put my bag down and took my coat off. “What are you doing here?” I said, half snapping.

“I moved here with my daughter a few weeks ago. I heard you were in town, so I figured I would say hi.” She walked over to the hotel art hanging up on the wall.

“I didn’t know you had a daughter.” I said.

“Well, it has been a while.” She turned to me. “Speaking of which, I heard you went off and got married. Not long after we broke up, too. I heard something about kids, too.”

“Is that why you’re here?” I asked her.

She walked towards me. Her footsteps were almost completely silent, and she stopped when she was a few inches from my face. “Oh, Grant. My world doesn’t revolve around you anymore.” She walked past me. “In fact, the only reason I even came by was because my daughter is dating your son.”

I froze and turned to her. “Which one?”

“Riley, I think his name was?”

I shook my head. “Ryder.”

“Oh, right. Anyway, Meredith invited Lucy over to her house for dinner tonight, so I have to find somewhere to eat. Know any good restauraunts?” when I didn’t answer, she walked towards me again. “Since you’re probably not going to that dinner tonight, considering you’re in a hotel room right now, what are you doing for dinner? Wanna go somewhere, catch up for old times sake?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to start this with her again. “Actually, my daughter told me she wanted me to go to that dinner.”

“Not Meredith?” Selena asked.

All I could do was shake my head.

"Oh, too bad." Selena said, slightly disappointed.
I don't know why, but i decided to just take her with me. "Do you want to go with me?" I said, laughing.
Selena thought about it for a second, then smiled. "Sure."

Ryder opened the door. His face carried a slight sense of confusion when he saw me, and he turned to Selena. "Um...Hi."

"Ryder, this is Ms. Miles, Lucy's mom."

He nodded in understanding. "Okay." He stepped inside the door. Please, come in" He held the door open for me and Selena. Inside, Khloe, Meredith, and a girl who looked a lot like Selena, I could only assume must be Lucy. Everyone looked at us in confusion. "Mom?" Lucy asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it turns out that Ryder's dad and I are old friends, so he invited me to the dinner tonight." Selena said with a smile. Meredith's eyes darkened as she hurried back into the kitchen. Khloe gave me a look of anger. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

Gavin had snuck away to avoid the big family dinner with Ryder's new girlfriend. After I had called him up and told him to get his ass back here, he came without a word. He didn't say anything to me about living at the hotel, which is more than I could say for his two older siblings, who asked me questions about it every day.

Lucy and Selena told us about how they lived in Twinbrook, where Selena worked as a stylist and Lucy was trying to become an actor. Lucy's father left them when Lucy was a baby, so her mother raised her by herself, since she didn't have any other family to fall back on. I hated to admit it, but I was actually kind of impressed with Selena. Back when we were dating, she seemed to be the needy girl who had to get everything from other people, but here she was; a self-made woman and a single mom. I didn't think she'd actually do it.

 After dinner, Meredith started clearing the plates for dessert. "Grant, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?" She said in that tone, that meant she wanted to talk to me about something. It didn't take a genius to know what that was.

"What the hell is this? You don't talk to me for days, you finally decide to show up to this thing, and you bring some other woman with you? Is this your way of getting back at me?" Meredith said, almost shouting.

"I felt my face heat up. She of all people should not be getting mad at me. "First of all, you know why I haven't been talking to you. Second of all, I thought you wanted me to go to this thing for our son, and third of all, i'm not dating her. Even if I was, it's none of your business anymore." I said, my finger in her face.

Meredith shook her head. "Please tell me it's not one of your exes."

"She is, she's the woman I dated before you." I stated, my voice stern. "Are we done here?" I asked, making my way back to the dining room.

After the dinner was over, Ryder and Lucy decided to go see a movie. Rather than dropping Selena off at her house, we decided to go get drinks at the hotel I was staying at. We told each other stories about our kids, and we told each other stories about our partners. I was kind of avoiding the subject, though, because I knew what it was going to lead up to. "Why are you staying up here?" Selena asked.

I didn't answer for a few seconds. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, shouldn't you be at home right now? With your family? Why are you staying up here? Did something happen?"

"Nothing I like talking about." I snapped. I didn't mean to, but I only found out about it a day ago.

Selena gave a sympathetic nod. "I understand."

I turned my stool towards her. "It's just...You give so much to the person you love, you're willing to give anything to them. Hell, you do give everything to them. Somehow, it feels like it isn't enough to make them stay."

Selena turned back to her drink and shrugged. "You can never make anyone stay. If they want to leave, they'll leave, regardless of what you give them. You just have to know that if they leave, they were never worth your time." Selena said with a smile.

"So why did you leave, then?" I said, putting my drink down.

Selena paused, holding her drink upright, but not sipping. "Because I didn't want to depend on you anymore. I didn't want to have to rely on you for everything, because I knew it would eventually screw me over. For a while, I was proud of myself . I had my dream job, a decent house, and some great friends. It was only when I got involved with some guy I wasn't married to and became a single mother when I realized I would screw myself over wherever I went." Her eyes sparkled as she looked at me. "I considered moving back here, you know."

I laughed. "Why?"

Selena shrugged. "For you. I thought you were maybe still single, and not a day went by in Twinbrook that I didn't miss you. I was considering moving back to Starlight Shores, but then I found out you were married with two kids, and a third on the way. So, I stayed. I raised Lucy the best I could, and now we're back here."

I took a sip of my scotch. "Lucy's a good kid. I'm glad Ryder's with her, he seems really happy with her."

Selena giggled. "You know, Ryder is almost the spitting image of you when you were his age."

I laughed along. "Don't I know it. Lucy looks too much like you, too."

Selena laughed. "Yeah. Seeing the two of them together tonight reminded me of when we were in high school." Selena commented, looking at me with her deep, full blue eyes.

"You know, for the record, I thought you were worth my time. I thought for a while that you were the girl I was going to marry."

Selena smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah. That's why it broke my heart when you left."

Selena walked closer. "Well, I'm here now."

Without thinking for a second, I jumped into a kiss with Selena.

I led Selena up to the hotel room. For once in my life, I wasn't thinking about the consequences, and I felt like I was a teenager again, without having to worry about my kids failing school, or sneaking out, or my wife cheating on me. For tonight, I focused on the girl I was in love with.

1.9 - Karma Kills

The house was quiet after the court case was over. Grant and I barely talked about it. Everyone congratulated me after the court case was over, but I didn't know how to respond. It didn't feel right to be congratulated on something like that.

     I couldn't get over it. The entire situation was just terrible. Joey killed her mother and sister. I kept running that sentence over and over in my head, like it wasn't done sinking in. She killed them...

     I can understand why she would be angry at them, but I just don't understand how she got too angry.

     I woke up with a jolt, sweat pouring down my forehead. I breathed quickly and shallowly as I tried to calm down. I kept my eyes open, staring at the darkness that enveloped my room. I looked over at the clock. 4:12 a.m. I just decided to get up early this morning and I got up to fix a cup of coffee.

     

     I sat on the bar in the upstairs kitchen, drinking my coffee and reading my book. Grant opened the door and walked in. "Meredith? You okay?" Grant asked, his tone serious.

     I couldn't say anything, I just nodded.

     Grant slowly closed the door and walked up to me. He sat in the barstool next to me and grabbed my hand. "What's going on? You've been getting up earlier and earlier every day since the explosion."

     I closed my book and looked up at him. "I can't sleep anymore." I said simply. "I just can't sleep without thinking about the whole thing."

     "What whole thing? What Joey did?"

     I nodded.

     "Look, Meredith, Joey's in jail. She's going to be there for a long time. While she's there, she's going to get help. Whatever she did is over now, and she's not going to do it to anyone else ever again."

     I shook my head. "What about her daughter?"

     "What about her?"

     I stared at him. "Her mother just went to jail. Now she's being taken care of by her only parent she has left, who works a full time job and has no idea what he's doing."

     Grant shrugged. "It's not your problem. It's Gary's."

     I gaped at him with disbelief. "How can you say that? It is my problem!"

     Grant let go of my hand. "How the hell does that make any sense?"

     "Joey went to jail because of something I was accused of!" I yelled.

     Grant threw up his hands in exasperation. "You didn't kill Courtney or Kristy! Joey did!"

     I was about to retaliate, but Grant turned his back on me. "You know what? You just stay up feeling guilty, I'm going back to bed." Grant slammed the door behind him.

     I watched him go and sat there, hands together in front of me. I put my head on the table and let the tears flow free.

     Grant and I hadn't made up in a long time. We didn't talk about what happened, but we went about our days as if everything was normal. In the meantime, We had a lot of birthdays to celebrate. Gavin aged into a toddler.

      Khloe and Ryder's birthday came not long after, and they aged up into children, both gaining the excitable trait.

Pretty soon, it became my birthday as well. I was dreading turning into an adult, but it couldn't be helped. I decided to get a makeover and buy some new clothes as a birthday present to myself.

 As my birthday fell on spooky day, we decided to go to the fall festival when it opened. Our plan was to get back early enough so Khloe and Ryder could go Trick or Treating, and then me, Grant, and my mom and George could hang out at our house.

      When we got there, Ryder and Khloe immediately ran up to me. "Mom! Let's all enter the pie-eating contest!" Ryder exclaimed.
     Much to my dismay, I decided to enter anyways. I was always afraid of eating contests, because I was afraid I would get sick if I ate too much.

 ...And I also got pie all over my face, which I was not happy with.

      Suprisingly enough, Ryder beat everybody in the contest, including his own father. "Woo! I won!" He yelled as he jumped up and down.

      I didn't have much time to celebrate though, as I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I ran away from the stand so my kids didn't have to see me puking in the open.

      When I returned, Grant didn't seem like he was too happy with his stomach, either.

      Khloe, however, was obsessed with the haunted house they had set up. She kept going through over and over again by herself.

      I can't say my experience at the fair was the best one, because towards the end, I felt like throwing up again, and Me and Grant fought for the bathroom.

      Around 4 o'clock, we left the festival so we could get dressed up in our costumes. Khloe wanted the two of us to match, so we both got hot dog costumes.

      Ryder and Khloe helped Grant out with his Zebra costume.

      Eventually my mom and George came over in their costumes. My mom came dressed as a cheerleader, and George came as an astronaut.

The four of us spent our night eating the food that my mom brought over, drinking whatever alcohol was left in the fridge, and mooching off of our kid's candy when they came home from trick-or-treating. All in all, it was a good day for my family.

     I pulled my car up to the side of the road and got out of the drivers seat. I walked around to the other side of the car and pulled out the bags of groceries. I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell with my elbow.

     I heard almost silent footsteps, and Gary answered the door. He frowned when he saw me. "Hi."

     "Hi. Can I come in?"

     Gary nodded and opened the door, motioning for me to come in. The house was a mess; plates were scattered all over the table and near the sink, random stains from drinks covered the surface of the floor, and clothes lie over all corners of the house. "Sorry about the mess, I've been really busy lately so it's been kind of hard to clean."

     I nodded. "I understand." Grizella sat on the carpet in front of the tv, playing with blocks. She giggled as she played, which made me smile.

     I turned back to Gary. "I, uhm, I bought you some food and diapers and things for the baby." I began. "I figured you might need some help with getting groceries and things like that." He grabbed the bags from me and frowned. "Thank you."

     Moments of awkward silence followed before I spoke. "Gary, listen, I feel terribly guilty about the whole thing with Joey." Gary crossed his arms. "I feel like it was my fault she went to jail, and I know that might not make a lot of sense, but i'm trying to make it up to you and Grizella. So, anytime you need anyone to watch Grizella or help you with anything you need, please just ask me."

     Gary didn't say anything. He just kept his arms crossed and looked me in the eyes. I reached into my purse and pulled out a slip of paper with my number written on it. "Call me whenever you need to." I put the piece of paper on the counter before heading for the door. I was about to open it when Gary interrupted it. "Could you maybe help me clean this place up?" Gary said, his voice shaking a little.

I immediately turned around and smiled. "Absolutely."

     It was late when I finally left Gary's house. I was able to help him clean up his house and put Ella to bed. He offered to make me something to eat before I left, but I told him I should probably be getting home to my family, my husband was probably worried sick.
     When I walked in the door, it was around 10:30. Grant sat in the living room watching TV, back to the door. I closed the door, and Grant noticed the noise. "Glad you made it home." he said.
     I scoffed. "Yeah, I made it home." I put my purse down on the counter. And turned back to Grant. Grant had aged up recently, and he wasn't that happy about becoming an adult. I looked around the room. "Where are the kids?"
     Grant, not even looking my way, frowned. "I put Gavin to bed a while ago, and the kids have been asleep for about an hour." He turned off the TV and stood up. "where were you?" he asked.
     I put my hands behind my back and looked right in his eyes. "After work, i went over to Gary's."
     Grant looked at me for a long time. I could feel the anger through his glare. "Why?"
     I shrugged. "Because he needs someone to help him."
     Grant rubbed his brow. "Meredith, we talked about this. What happened to Courtney and Kristy wasn't your fault."
     I quickly cut him off. "It wasn't Gary's fault either. Or Ella's."
     Grant nodded. "Ella's."
     I sighed. "Gary's struggling, Grant. He doesn't know what he's doing without Joey. I can't just ignore them, I have to do something for them. For both of them."
     Grant shook his head. "what does that mean?"
     "It means I'm going to help out whenever I can, whether you like it or not."
     Grant was silent for a long time. "What about OUR family? The family you already have?"
     "Give me some credit, Grant. I've been here for our family, and I will continue to be here for our family. I'm not leaving anyone. But, that little girl is my family, too, and I want to make sure that she grows up well without her mother."
     That was enough for Grant. He started laughing and headed for the stairs. "I can't believe this shit." He muttered.

      Regardless what Grant thought, I still went over to Gary's every day after work and helped out with Ella. I brought over things for the baby sometimes, and whenever Gary had to pick up an extra shift at work, I would always babysit. He would either make dinner himself or pick something up on the way back, so I would always have something to eat.
     Grant barely talked to me anymore. He either ignored me when he saw me or immersed himself with our kids so he wouldn't have to talk to me. Grant was picking up extra shifts, too. Somedays I would have to leave early to take care of my kids because Grant was working late. Part of me knew he was doing it on purpose, but i didn't let it bother me. This gave me more time to be with my kids.

      One day, we had put Ella to bed early and I was helping Gary tidy up the house. Gary stopped cleaning and looked at me. "Listen, Meredith, thank you so much for everything you've done for me and Ella. It really means a lot to me."
     I smiled back at him. "It's the least I could do for you and Ella."
     Gary nodded. "Things have just been really hard since Joey got arrested, and it's nice to know that people like you are still willing to help out."
     I shook my head, and looked into his dark chocolate eyes. "I don't know if I could have left you alone."

Without thinking, I slammed my lips into Gary's.

      It was all a blur, I couldn't think about anything else but how much I loved Gary. I didn't want to think about anything else. I just let it happen.

I somehow let myself make the worst mistake of my life.

1.8 - Falsely Accused

After Joey and Grizella had moved in with Gary, life went on as it normally should have. The fall settled in, making the fiery-colored leaves fall all around us in the colder weather. I was taking off of work again, as I found out I was pregnant a second time. It came as a surprise to me, as I was so focused on everything else that by the time I realized I was pregnant, I was five months along. "I just figured you put on weight." Grant said before I slapped him on the back of his head. 

      Grant, in the meantime, had sold the laptop I had bought him and bought a new one. When he wasn't spending time with me, he was on the internet or writing poetry on his laptop. I didn't mind much, The old one was getting trashed anyway.

      Grant was always a thinker, and he tended to write these deep poems about life and everything else. He even wrote some of them for me. I was kind of surprised how good he was at it.

      When he wasn't spending time with me, writing poetry, or reading up on gardening or tinkering on things around the house, he was helping me out with the twins, who were getting bigger and bigger every day.

      Soon enough, it was time for me to give birth. Grant drove me to the hospital as fast as possible and got George and my mother to babysit the twins. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy who we named Gavin, after Grant's favorite musician Gavin Degraw.

      Gavin's birth meant I was able to get back to being a Lifeguard. I worked out on the treadmill every day for multiple hours so I could get back in shape. Having three kids usually had a tendency to ruin that.

     One night, a couple months after Gavin was born, I was writing a post on my blog when I heard Grant's voice from downstairs. "Meredith! Come down here, you need to see this."
     Grant had the news channel turned on. His eyes seemed to be blinded from everything else but what was going on. I sat down next to him and watched. A fairly attractive female reporter held her hands crossed in front of her as she spoke.
     "About an hour ago, an explosion was reported from the town of Starlight Shores. Firefighters were able to contain the blast, but much too late as the residents of the house were killed in the explosion. Investigators are struggling to identify the bodies and contact their families, and trying to decide whether or not the explosion was really an accident."

 "Oh my god..." I gasped.
     "I called my dad already, they're okay." Grant informed me. "Just...how can the world be like this? Two unsuspecting people just died tonight..."
     I put my head in my hands. Grant put his arm around me and kissed my head. We stayed like that for maybe a half hour or so, listening to what was going on elsewhere.

     I jumped up when my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize. I walked into the bathroom and answered the call. "Hello?"
     "Hello, may I please speak to Meredith Villiers?"
     "Yes, this is she." I said, voice shaking a little.
      "I'm detective Turner with the FBI, in regards to the deaths of Courtney and Kristy Rein."
     I froze, dumbfounded. "What?"
     "This may come as a shock to you ma'am, but we have the investigation well underway. I'm afraid that you are one of our prime suspects in the case."
     I could barely speak as the agent continued talking. when he was finished, I thanked him and ended the call. I walked outside of the bathroom, horribly shaking.

      Grant saw me shaking and his expression changed completely. "What's wrong?" He asked.
      I held up my phone. "The FBI called. Courtney and Kristy were the ones in the explosion. And they think I did it."

     The next week was terrible. I was preparing myself for the court hearing the entire week. Grant told George about what was going on, and he was so outraged that he volunteered to be my lawyer, free of charge. "I'll fight to the death to keep you out of jail, I know you didn't do this."
     It made me cry to think of how kind he was being to me. He worked with me all week on what I was going to say to the judge and the detective in the courtroom. The next day was when the hearing was taking place, and I couldn't sleep that entire night.

     "The Plantiff calls Meredith Villiers to the stand." Turner said.
     I silently arose and took my place at the stand. I looked to George, who silently nodded at me. Grant was in the audience. He gave me a soft smile, which made me feel a lot easier. My mother was babysitting the kids while we were gone.
     Turner walked in front of the stand. "Mrs. Villiers," He began. "How would you describe your relationship with Courtney Rein?"
     "I'm sorry, I don't understand."
     He took a few seconds to rephrase the question. "How did the two of you meet?" he asked.
     "Courtney got married to my father when I was a teenager." I told him.
     "Were the two of you on good terms?" Turner asked.
     George immediately stood up. "OBJECTION. Irrelevant."
     The judge looked at him. "Overruled." He turned back to me. "Answer the question, Mrs. Villiers."
     I looked down at the ground, then back at the detective. "No, we were not on good terms."
     "And why not?" He asked.
     "I don't know, she just never liked me."
     Turner nodded, then continued. "What age were you when you moved to Starlight Shores?"
     "19."
     "And who were you with?"
     "Courtney and her two daughters."
     "And how would you describe your life at home?"
     I looked at George, who nodded. "It was awful. They made me do all of the cooking and the cleaning, they made me wear the most terrible clothes, and they kept me as a shut-in until I moved out."
     "You seem to be harboring quite a grudge against a woman who just made you do a few simple chores." Turner said with a sneer. "What about your two stepsisters, Kristy and Josephine? How did they treat you?"
     "They played pranks on me, and they jumped me one night as I was going to a dance."
     "And I understand that Courtney forbid you from going to that dance because you didn't finish your chores?"
     I hesitated for a moment and nodded. "Yes."
     Turner turned to the jury. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a prime example of an over-rebellious teen revenge murder. Courtney and Kristy Rein were murdered by this woman because she felt that she was treated unfairly as a girl. That is all." Turner said, returning to his seat.

      The case continued on, and the jury seemed to be unwavering. I held my head in my hands as I silently panicked. I can't go to jail. I can't go to jail.
      George picked up his papers and set them down. "Defense calls Josephine Rein to the stand."

     "Ms. Rein, how would you describe your relationship between Ms. Villiers and yourself before she was able to move out?"
     Joey hesitated for a second, then answered. "I was awful to her, me and my sister both were."
     "Yet, when you needed a place to stay, Ms. Villiers was the only one to offer you a home?"
     "Yes." Joey said simply.
     "Why?" George asked.
     "She's just a kind person, I guess."
     George paced back and forth. "If I recall correctly, you just recently had a baby, is that correct?"
     "Yes." Joey said.
     "Kindly tell the jury what happened when you told your family that you were pregnant."
     "I told my sister first, and she yelled at me and told my mom, who kicked me out. that was when I went to live with Meredith." Joey said.
     Geroge sighed. "Can I tell you something, Ms. Rein? I think Mr. Turner is right. I think it is a revenge case, but I don't believe Ms. Villiers did it. I think it was you."
     Turner arose. "Objection, he's badgering her."
     "Mr. Davidson, he's right." The judge said.
     George ignored her. "I think you rigged the house to explode by taking your boyfriend Gary's experimental explosives that he made himself, and rigged the house to explode so you could finally get your revenge on the only family that you've ever known, am I right?"
   
 

  Joey looked down at her hands and a tear rolled down her cheek. She looked straight into George's eyes and confessed. "You're right. It was me. I won't let Meredith take the fall for this."
     Turner stood up. "Shut up, Joey."
     Joey stood up as well. "No!"
     The entire courtroom fell silent. "Let me tell you why I did it. My mother and my sister were the only two people I ever loved in this world, before my fiancee Gary. I loved them so much, I did whatever they did. I treated Meredith like crap ever since I met her, just because it was fun. Then, when it was me that needed help, they kicked me out on the street without a second thought. They didn't love me like I loved them." Joey was screaming now. "So, you see, I HATE them. I hate them so much that I wanted them to burn in hell for what they did to me." Joey finished.

The police took Joey to prison not long after the hearing. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison. I just watched them cuff her and take off, thinking about her fiancee and her baby, and what was going to happen to them. Tears were running down her face as they carted her off. "Tell Grizella I love her." She whispered to me on the way down the aisle.

"Oh, Joey..."