Happily Ever After
You know that whole fantasy about growing up with an adorable childhood friend and then having her fall in love with you leading to a happily ever after sort of situation? Well it turns out that actually does happen! Or at least it did for me. Believe me, I am legitimately just as surprised as you are. However, things are a bit messier in real life than they are in fiction. The road to happy endings is full of obstacles and uncertainty. Still, if someone were to ask me at this exact moment whether I feel okay with how things turned out, I would probably tell them that despite some major caveats, I am quite happy. So, while I am certainly no prince, I hope you will enjoy this little fairy tale of mine.
Prologue: Miracles do happen
Karina smacked her lips together to ensure her lipstick had been applied evenly. Life had been tough for Karina lately. She had been kicked out by her parents at age seventeen during her rebellious phase and had lived by hopping from place to place in the two years since. She had become desperate to the point of making ends meet by selling her body. She hated it. She had begun to hate herself in general. She was standing on a local overpass one gusty winter day considering whether she should end it all when a miracle occurred.
She had already placed one foot over the guard rail when a man driving by in a pickup truck noticed her. He hastily pulled over and parked while throwing the door open so hard it might have actually broken somewhat. With panic clearly written on his face, the man grabbed Karina's arm to pull her back from the brink. In doing so they both fell backward with her landing on top of him. Instead of getting back up immediately, Karina lay there weeping into his chest for a good 15 minutes. It must have looked insane to anyone who happened to pass by this scene straight from a particularly dramatic chick flick.
Lying in this man's embrace felt entirely different from the ones who had purchased her services over the last few months. She felt safe, secure, and even somewhat happy. This was some random man she had never met and would probably never meet again, but she couldn't stop herself from taking comfort in his tender embrace.
The man offered to stay with her for a while and suggested they calm down while talking at a local restaurant. Although her nerves prevented her from having any appetite, she accepted his offer as the embarrassment of what had just happened set in. She tried her best to enjoy the dinner placed in front of her. As the night came to a close, they exchanged contact information and soon after became an item. Things were finally looking up for Karina.
Then after a few months of dating, Karina started showing signs of pregnancy. At first they thought Karina was putting on weight from eating better. Alas, this was not the case. Her pregnancy came as quite the shock to her new boyfriend who had not yet taken her to bed. She was convinced he would berate her and subsequently abandon her. However, contrary to her expectations, he didn't get angry or lash out at all. Instead, he encouraged her to carry the pregnancy to term all the while assuring her that he would love the child as his own. Karina pretended all was well even as she accepted the man's marriage proposal; she was feeling nothing but shame while seething in anger directed toward her past self and her unborn child.
Chapter 1: Childhood Friends
My earliest childhood memories all take place in our little home in the northern part of Georgia. It was an okay place in the foothills of the mountains not too far from the Tennessee state line. It has never been the most populated area, but we weren't so far out in the sticks that we were unable to get internet or anything like that. It was a safe, if not boring place to grow up in.
All in all, it was the kind of rural area you can find all over the southeastern states; a place where everyone knows everyone else and they all wave at each other as they drive by in the pickup trucks. People around these parts weren't even close to what one would consider rich, but there was always food on the table in my house.
It so happened, that one of the families which lived nearby had a child my age. In fact their child was exactly 2 days younger than me. There weren't too many children in an area filled mostly with an aging population. There were basically no other children within a comfortable walking distance from our house. Thus, my neighbor and I spent a lot of time together over our formative years.
We did all the stereotypical stuff you think of when we were young. We carved our names into a tree with a heart surrounding them. "Kevin + Caroline" Soon after there was a comical scratch mark over the name Caroline with the name Kitty replacing it. Kitty got her nickname from her tendency to climb our favorite tree. She was simultaneously athletic enough to climb trees but would always go on to pretend to be too dainty to climb down on her own leaving me no choice but to come up after her like a fireman helping a cat down from a tree it totally could have gotten down from on its own.
Our tree wasn't just good for climbing. We would sit under the tree and read stories together. Her favorites were ones involving princesses or ladies rescued by dashing knights who were always revealed to be princes themselves. We played make believe often. She fancied herself a helpless damsel in distress and I played the role of her devoted knight. I would rescue her from the vile, and somehow always invisible, sorcerer just in time to head in for lunch.
In the afternoons we often played in the local creek looking for crawdads. Some days we would come back with a bucket filled to the brim. Other times we just enjoyed the feeling of the cool water streaming past our legs on a hot summer day. We had sunburn more often than not. I was a boy with freckles all over my face and rusty bronze hair always outside with his bff and her pale skin encapsulated by strawberry blonde hair. Kitty at least tried to block some of the sun with her frilly parasol that didn't match at all with the color palette of her swimsuit. I just popped on some swimming trunks and let nature do its thing.
Every day was more fun than the last as we played the days away. I must have thought these days would go on forever happily looking forward to the new day to come, but Kitty always grew quiet as the sun went down and it became time to head home.
As years crept by our slow life continued much in the way it had up till that point. Then tragedy struck. I remember the overcast October day one late afternoon after school. What little light made its way through the clouds created long shadows throughout the house. I was enjoying my free time after school by drawing me and Kitty in my notebook when I suddenly heard a commotion outside.
I ran to the window to see Kitty's dad, Roger, red in the face marching to his pickup truck. I had never seen him like that. Roger was always so calm and patient when I interacted with him. I knew something was very wrong. Starting to get nervous, I ran outside to check on the situation.
Upon arriving, I saw Kitty out on the porch sobbing while her mom, Karina, stood in the doorway yelling obscenities a sheltered child like me had never heard. I caught sight of his gaze fixed on Kitty with slightly moist eyes just before he sped off.
