Libby

Being sick for an entire week, Libby could barely get out of bed. The doctor couldn’t find any sign of what was ailing her, but everyone knew grief was gripping her from the inside just as it had twelve years ago. Jenna came by every day with her girls after dropping her son, Trent, off at school to help cheer her mother up with child cuteness.

It wasn’t long before Jenna had enough of her mother’s moping. “Mom,” she said, holding Anna in her arms in the doorway of their downstairs bedroom, “enough is enough. We all want Mikayla back, but you can’t ignore the other people in your life because you miss one person.” Jenna was not going to allow her mom to sulk anymore. After a shower, Jenna suggested a little exercise might do Libby some good. On the way from the house, Libby checked the mail.

Jenna screamed, “Mikayla, it’s Mikayla. I would recognize her sloppy left-handed scribble anywhere.”

Jenna waited patiently as her mother read it for what seemed to be too long, but then she handed it over to her daughter. Jenna started to recite it out loud, giving her mother another way to understand Mikayla’s words.

Mom,

I understand my last letter gave you false hope, and I know this comes as a shock to you. I’m very happy, and I know love, real love. The love like you and Dad share. The kind of love that you sacrifice everything for. You might not understand it, but I knew you would never approve, and I chose love over my family for that reason. Please know that I’ve battled that decision for years, but I love him more than anything, and not a day goes by that I wish I couldn’t have both my love and my family, but I can’t. I live a good life with a good man who has never hurt me. It may be hard to understand but when you find love that doesn’t make sense, it actually does because love never makes sense.

For instance, I never understood the love you had for Jenna, Blake, and myself. I appreciate it now. Believe me, I know the love you have for me. Sometimes, motherly love doesn’t make sense, but then again, it does. You gain weight you can never lose, you deal with a lot less sleep than you could ever imagine, and your demands and savings account plummets, yet you would do it all over again.

Maybe in that weird analogy, you might comprehend why I would leave my family for a man I knew you never could like. I’m not sure if I’ll make contact again but know I love you more than ice cream and cherry pies.

Mikayla

Jenna stood speechless as her mother said, “There wasn’t anything in this world she loved more than cherry pie and ice cream. It was her; I can tell from the spirit of the letter. It was how Mikayla talks. And if I had to guess, she has kids, my grandkids.”

Jenna started to speak, but the words didn’t come out at first. “Did she say what I think she said?”

“She stayed willingly. She went willingly. My own life has been taken from me because of her.” The gravity of the words couldn’t quite work their way into her mind, and she fell to the ground as tears and wails escaped her.

“Mom, let me get you back to bed.” Jenna tried to get her mother up, but her weight was too much for Jenna to bear, and soon, Anna and Emmy had joined the heap, crying with their grammy.

* * *

Taylor

Looking in the mirror at the large bruise cascading down her arm, she attempted to find something that would cover the discoloration because she had plans with her sister. The last thing she needed was the strong-willed Alyssa to know what went on in her marriage.

While she tried to dress Dexter for the afternoon out with his beloved auntie Alyssa, she stood in awe of her immaculate house, admiring the home she’d spent the past three hours scouring. In her mind, maybe Blake’s outburst would be less if she put more effort into those areas of life that were important to him, like the house.

Lifting Dexter was getting harder as her stomach grew each day bigger and bigger with her little girl. Grabbing her keys, she was startled by the ring of her cell phone when she saw Jenna’s name on the screen. They’d never been very close, but, she answered, expecting an emergency.

Hearing the normally cool Jenna right away in her wild and animated voice, Taylor put Dexter down, barely able to understand Jenna’s jumbled words. She made her way to the door, grabbing Dexter’s tiny fingers. Putting him in her car, she reversed quickly out of their drive to get to Libby as quickly as she could.

* * *

Jenna met her outside when she pulled up to her in-laws’ house where police cars lined the street. Immediately, she left for the park with the three demanding toddlers. Everyone she loved was hurting so much, and she didn’t know how to help them. In her thoughts, though, she wondered how she could help those hurting around her when she couldn’t even help herself.

* * *

Colette

Whenever David made love to her, she never questioned her decision to choose him. David was a tender lover, always had been, in the midst of the hatred that plagued her early on in their relationship. Though he was dominant when she first met him, he gave into her so much more as Colette because she chose him in the end.

He only cared about her happiness, in every facet of their life together, and their sex life was no different. Waking up to an empty house, since Maribel had taken their kids the previous night, she found David between her legs, which was a perfect way to start the morning. One more suckle of her clit and she was a goner as her orgasm raged through her. Satisfied he knew how to make his woman come, he popped his head up with the same cocky smile he had in the farmhouse.

“Now that is what I call a wake-up call.” Colette said, pulling him into a kiss. She loved his taste, especially when she could taste herself on him.

“I love you. I want to start every morning buried in your pussy!” As he settled by her side, he played with her nipple, hinting he still was a bit frisky.

“Babe, I want to hide from the real world today, believe me!” she said, sliding her hands down to his erection and stroking it lightly. “But…”

“No buts, Cole. Right now, the universe consists of you and me.” They were both aware that the letter Lucas had mailed from Florida last week should have made its way to the Miller family house.

He’d memorized Colette’s body over the years, so it was effortless when he hovered above her, pushing slightly, entering her with both emotion and passion. Her words, “I choose you, I choose you—always,” were what David waited for. Locking their eyes together, as well as their soul, he increased his speed, pushing her over the edge.

She moaned while he came inside her. Pulling out, he trailed kisses down her thighs, then worked toward her core, sucking up every little bit of cum from her. Looking at her from her pussy, he smiled. “Like I was saying, Cole, we need this time, just the two of us.”

There would be another moment to talk about the next stage of their plan, one they hadn’t quite figured out yet. But right now, David worshipped her body, kissing her mouth again so she could taste herself on him.

* * *

Colette was ten when it all began. She never knew it had a name. It lasted for the next five years, but then it ended with his departure. She had decided to live at home while attending Western Washington in her hometown, which was when the plans changed. She couldn’t; no, she wouldn’t live at home with him, so she scrambled last minute to share a room with Jill, her best friend.

Now, she would redeem herself. She owed it to the ones she left. No one understood fully what she fled from. Well, maybe, just maybe one person would.