(Continued from last issue)
David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.
DIANE
Although my heart was pounding with fear, I held David’s gaze icily, and answered him with a confidence I didn’t feel: “How is taking the kids to visit my family crossing a line? What line is that?”
“We both know exactly what’s going on here; they’re not just visiting your family, you’re keeping them away from me and l won’t stand for it!” he swore, banging his fist on the front door behind me over my shoulder, the force of it making me flinch reflexively.
“What are you going to do about it? Go pick them up from my family?” I scoffed, knowing full well he would not do that, as that would mean explaining to my family why he was not home to start with.
“No, that would be stooping to your level to play stupid games, which I’m not about to do. You want to make me fight for my kids? Fine; bring it on – in court!”
“What?”
“You heard me; I thought we could handle this like two mature adults and keep it civil for the sake of the children, but you’re obviously not above using them to play your stupid games; so, we’ll let the courts handle it. I’ll be calling my lawyer first thing tomorrow morning and instructing him to file an application for custody. You can expect to be served by the end of the week,” he said threateningly.
“You wouldn’t!” I gasped in shock and horror. This was not the way this was supposed to go.
“I wasn’t going to, until you pushed me. Earlier, you asked what line I was referring to, when I said you had crossed a line you would wish you never did; well, this is that line. My presence in the children’s lives isn’t up for discussion, or your stupid games, Diane! I’ll see you in court,” he swore, then pushed me out of his way to the front door with such force that I slammed into the wall beside it.
As I heard his car engine start in the driveway, my legs gave out beneath me, and I slumped to the floor.
DAVID
I had not planned to threaten Diane with a custody battle, but as soon as I did – and saw her reaction – I immediately knew it had been the right move to make, even though I was not sure I would actually go through with it.
The truth was that I did not really want to take the children away from her. I just wanted to be able to see and spend time with them, without having to jump through Diane’s hoops to do so.
And in there, lay the crux of the matter – control. Diane was trying to use the children as a power card to control me, and I suppose I really should not have been surprised by that, because that was what Diane did; she plotted and schemed and engineered situations to work to her advantage.
By threatening her with legal action, I was taking that control out of her hands and putting it in those of the legal system, and that was the fear I had seen in her eyes – the fear of losing control.
Furthermore, by being the one who had put that fear there, I was now the one in control, and it felt great turning the tables on her, and beating her at her own game. I could, of course, have put a different kind of fear in her eyes by getting physical with her, and God knows I had certainly been tempted to, but that would not have given me the same satisfaction this had.
In any case, if I had, she would no doubt have used that to play the victim card, and make me out to be the villain; I was glad I had not given in to my first instinct – which had been to throttle the living daylights out of her.
As it were, I was leaving with the upper hand, and if her pride did not get in the way of her admitting defeat and backing down, I suspected that I would be hearing from Diane, calling me to come and see the children, long before my lawyer was supposedly meant to be calling her.
JULIE
David returned to the apartment looking as smug as the cat that ate the canary, but he was earlier than he normally was after a visit with his children; so, I was a tad confused, and carefully tried to probe for more details.
“Hi, honey; welcome back,” I greeted him with a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re early.” “Yeah; the kids weren’t there; so, I didn’t stay long,” he explained, with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
This time, I was unable to hide my confusion, or contain my curiosity: “What? How come? Where were they?”
“According to Diane, they were ‘visiting’ her family, which was absolute bulls**t; we both knew she was just playing games and keeping them away from me.” “Oh no; I’m sorry, honey, that’s awful,” I answered sympathetically.
“I’m surprised you’re taking it so well; aren’t you mad?” “Of course I am, but I’ve got a plan, and everything’s under control; so, it serves no purpose to get upset,” he shrugged again.
I was trying to muster the courage to ask what his ‘plan’ was, when probably sensing that I was about to ask for more details and clarification, he abruptly changed the subject: “What’s for dinner?”
“Rice and chicken.” “Sounds delicious; I’ll go freshen up and let you get on with it,” he answered, and with a quick kiss, turned and headed to the bedroom.
I sighed as I heard the door close behind him; things between him and I were better than they had been in a long time, and there was no doubt that we were closer than we had ever been, and yet moments like these reminded me that there were still parts of him that I had not managed to reach yet; bits and pieces of thoughts and feelings he kept to himself behind locked doors that I was not sure he would ever give me the keys to.
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