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Chapter 12

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Ashley sat quietly at the dinning room table; the sun was trickling in through the open windows. The bright sun was warm against her skin as she sat there with her hands folded on the table. She was absolutely speechless. She didn’t know how to react to this situation, nor did she know what she should do. The video of her husband saying all the things that she would be pleased to hear, he had said and more.

When she had woken up this morning, the first morning she had woken up in her own bed in the last couple weeks, Aiden had been gone for at least an hour or so. She had made her way down the steps into the dinning room when she saw a rose and her iPod on the table. On her iPod cover, there was a blue sticky note that said ‘Play’.

With a smile on her face, she pressed the button expecting something romantic from the man. Instead, on the small screen, Aiden sat at his desk. His face was completely neutral, she could not read it. He spoke each word with a certain amount of meaning that hit Ashley hard. Ashley had sat down in the nearest chair and listened intently. He spoke for twenty minutes before closing the video.

“I’m not sorry for doing this, Ashley. It is for the best. I cannot live a lie, and neither should you and the children. You deserve to be happy. It’s better to start now, before it gets too complicated. I love you. I love the children with all my heart. Ash, just please be happy.” The video cut off and the screen went black before it went to the main menu.

She didn’t know what to say, what to do. She just sat there stunned.

Small feet padded across the dinning room floor, pulling the young girl away from her thoughts. Ashden held Teigue’s hand as they made their way to their mother. Both children looked like they just had gotten out of bed. Their hair was tossed about, and their clothes where scrunched up.

Ashden looked at his mother, “Mommy, where’s daddy? He didn’t wake us up.”