I'd like to take a few words to thank the many readers who have commented and reached out to me. Good and bad alike, I appreciate those who make the effort. Where applicable, I've tried to apply some the sounder advice. As far as content and direction of the stories... well, to each is own they say.
Blindsided represents the "out of nowhere" shocker that completely throws you for a loop. Many of us (all of us?) have made a bad decision that haunts our conscience. What happens when fate steps in, and takes it out of our hands?
(I write and self-edit/proofread. It's all part of my therapy. My apologies for spelling or grammatical mistakes)
**I never thought I would have to be so specific but based on one specific comment from an anonymous reader, I feel somewhat compelled now. I write for enjoyment and therapy. The enjoyment is trying something new and challenging myself. The therapy part involves the entire process, it's good for my recovery, that is why I also self-edit and proofread. That is why I chose not to seek an editor. I'm neither arrogant nor lazy. I post, my very amateur work for free. If you
can'
t look past the errors, please pass on my stories. I mean no disrespect.
Hey... I don't like everything that I've read on Lit either.
Cheers,
C_T
**
Blindsided
Both of us had a later start. Well, later than most of our friends. I didn't meet my soon to be wife, until I was 25. She was a year older than me, so we found ourselves in similar positions. Both of us had dreams of marriage and children.
We met at my cousin's wedding. In fact, we were set up in a way. You see, I was in my cousin, David's wedding party and Carol was in his fiancé's. We first met at their buck and doe fundraiser, then the rehearsal party and of course, the wedding. I lived out of town, so my interactions with the entire bridal party was limited to those three functions. I was to escort Carol down the aisle and of course partner with her for the bridal party dance.
I can't say that my attraction to Carol was love at first sight. At first, I thought she was snobby, but I later learned I misunderstood the signals of a guarded, shy woman. During the reception, and after a few drinks, she became warmer, and we spent much of the night talking and dancing. My cousin kept wiggling his eyebrows at me at every opportunity, as he could see the relationship slowly blooming. The night ended with a friendly kiss and while I was back in my hotel room, I had to admit Carol had piqued my interest.
It wasn't that I hadn't had many chances to date; the problem was I had been burnt a few times and it seemed my desire to find a woman to marry had been taken advantage of more than a few times. There was the classic gold-digger (yes, I was doing very well financially). The, 'I like to flirt and make my man jealous' girl and my last one was a control freak that made it difficult to go out with the boys. Yes, I wanted a family, but she had to be... the one.
Carol and I spent the whole afternoon together at the day after party and when she asked me to dinner with her family, I was inclined to rework my travel plans and stay the extra day. Dinner at her mom's was more comfortable than I thought it would've been considering our recent meeting and all, but her folks were a delight. Her older brother and his wife seemed equally nice, and I was instantly drawn to their little girl, Kendra. My obvious interest in the little girl seemed to endear me to Carol and her family even more.
That was the beginning of a long-distance relationship that blossomed with every visit I made. After 6 months I was spending every weekend at Carol's apartment and was soon a fixture at her parents' table every Sunday for brunch before I left. This past weekend was the most important for Carol and me. We spent all day Saturday talking about our past relationships and more importantly, where we saw ours' going. Much like me, Carol had a series of bad relationships that left her questioning whether marriage and a family would ever be realistic for her. By the end of the night, not only were we on the same page, but our goals aligned perfectly, and that was the first night we had sex. Sure, we had kissed and fooled around a little, but I think we were both waiting for the other shoe to drop, like all our relationships in the past. While neither of us were virgins, we both lacked experience, but for the first time in my life I understood the fireworks analogy to sex and love.
"Okay... is it just me, or was that incredible?" It came out so freely, I didn't realize how desperate that sounded until I finished. When she saw me blush, she leaned in and gave me a deep passionate kiss.
"All my friends talk about getting their world rocked in bed... and now I can really understand what they meant. It was beyond incredible Jason!"
I took a breath of relief as my knee-jerk outpouring of emotions was not only embraced but reciprocated. That Sunday at brunch, we informed her family that I was going to move my business here as we had agreed on pursuing this relationship permanently. Of course, Carol did the trip to my hometown (2 hours away) to meet my family. My parents were hooked on Carol Immediately. My mom was sharing all our family secrets on day one. My sister Gail was surprisingly friendly. We seem to have some kind of sibling rivalry, for what reason I never knew, but the girls seemed to get along great despite the 4-year age gap.
As a self-taught investor working independently (straight commission) with a larger firm. I was able to do almost all my work from any location, as long as I had my encrypted laptop with me. The small percentage that required a social dinner or coffee was never a mandatory component, but some people preferred to meet the person who handled their hard-earned money. I had established a fair share of blue-chip investors and had made rich people richer. As lucrative as that was, the stuff that really got me pumped was helping a young family plan for their and their children's future. I haven't been in the game long enough to see any of those come to fruition yet, but the writing on the wall was very positive. So, I moved in with Carol and used her living room and the coffee shop down the street as my main working areas.
We talked about getting a bigger place after we got married and started having children, as we both wanted at least three. Call it the pragmatic part of my brain, but we decided to wait for such a purchase until we were married and knew we could conceive children. Mother nature doesn't always have the same plans as you do.
Due to the distance of our relationship in the beginning, I only knew her friends slightly, from the occasional dinner or get together. Truth was, I wasn't a huge fan of her best friends, Lisa and Barb. Call it male intuition (if there is such a thing), but something about them, told me if marrying Carol had a drawback, it was having to be around them often. Lisa's husband Kip seemed like a decent guy, but she clearly wore the pants, to the point where I was uncomfortable sometimes by the way she spoke to him in public. I was somewhat relieved when I shared my feelings with Carol and after she winced, she agreed with me. I asked if she ever confronted Lisa about it, but she said it wasn't her place to interfere... we disagreed about that.
Mike on the other hand was as obnoxious as Barb. Now, I would say Barb had a big personality that was tough to be around, but Mike was a narcissist through in through. He knew everyone, knew everything, was always one up on you no matter what, and if I had to hear him "not brag" about his big cock anymore, I was thinking of drugging myself.
"I shit you not Jason. Having a huge cock isn't as great a gift as you'd think. Sure, the women say they love it, but get one who can really take it? There aren't many. Thank God Barbie loves to get stretched. Did you know she has no gag reflex and can swallow a 12-inch dildo? Yeah, my Barbie's the real deal."
I was thinking bottomless whore, but who am I to take shots at another guy's wife. Anyway, things carried forward for Carol and I and within 4 months of my move I had proposed, and her reaction was everything I could've imagined. Both of our parents were ecstatic, as were her brother, Emily and Kendra. Even my younger sister Gail, found it in her to be happy for us putting the sibling rivalry aspect on the back burner for now. On reflection, I think my parents stoked it by one too many, why can't you be like Jason rants. Where I had found a lot of success, my sister 3 years my junior, bumped from job to job, always looking for the next upgrade, even if that upgrade was just who she worked with. Don't get me wrong, I loved my sister dearly and would move heaven and earth for her if she needed it and suspected she felt the same way about me.
We agreed on a short engagement, both of us knew this was it and we couldn't wait to start our family. So eager we were, that Carol went off her birth control three months before our wedding. Being pregnant on her wedding day would have been the icing on our cake.
Three and a half weeks before the wedding Barb and Lisa had sprung a surprise trip to Jamaica for 4 nights. It was her last hurrah, they explained to me. I shared my reservations about her being alone on a trip with these two, knowing I didn't trust either as far as I could throw them. While she tried to assure me, she offered me an olive branch by inviting my sister to go with them. She'd tell Lisa and Barb it was a chance for her to get to know her future sister-in-law better. I had to admit that I felt better about the trip now and despite the fact that I had to pay for my sister, I felt I had dodged an uncomfortable bullet for sure.
Everything had come into place in my life. I was marrying the woman of my dreams and just the day before our nuptials, she shared that she was indeed pregnant and that our family was to start quickly. The day was small, intimate and perfect. Family and a few friends celebrated with us until the wee hours of the morning. Carol and I were set for our next chapter. We decided to stay in her apartment until the baby was born, since we were busy getting ready for that, and with the second bedroom we had the necessary space to start. I hadn't told her yet, but I was looking at country properties, so we could build our own perfect home.
"Okay Carol, take a few deep breaths and get ready to push when I tell you." The doctor was up tight to Carol's birth canal. I was standing up by her head holding her hand and guiding her through the breathing techniques we learnt.
"You got this sweetie. Doctor says you're almost there." I wiped her brow with a damp cloth and kissed her red cheek. "We're finally going to start the family we always wanted honey." She looked up at me and gave me a tired smile. She was exhausted, her labor having started some 8 hours ago. I watched the doctor send his nurse out before he coached her for the next push.
"Okay, Carol. This could be it. I want you to focus on the contraction and when I say push, give it all you got... okay?" His eyes were glued to Carol's face. "Here we go... one, two, three... push!"
The sounds my wife made scared the shit out of me and made me grateful for being a man. What a woman's body must go through is unbelievable. I watched her face get redder, her hand squeezing the blood from my own as I reminded her to breathe. Then just like that, the relief on her face was instant. I heard a small whack and then the beautiful sound of a baby crying filled the room. I leaned in and kissed my wife's forehead, then looked down at the doctor who was busy preparing the baby.
"What is it doctor Harrison?" He took a few moments, and I could see a snipping motion. It hit me that he didn't ask me to cut the umbilical cord, but it was no big deal.
"It's... she's a girl." He said calmly. I guess he had no reason to be excited. It wasn't his child.
The anticipation got the best of me, so I stretched out from my arm that was holding Carol's hand and looked over the sheet divider. I couldn't wait to see her, no matter how much blood she was covered with. I had no idea what to expect, but I never expected to see what I saw.
