An excerpt from Happily Ever After (c)2022
Sitting
down in her mother’s rocker, Ophelia snuggled Dimitri into a peaceful
sleep. She stared at his sweet, innocent
face and, for a moment, all the cares of the world went away. She forgot about her spirited seven-year-old,
her mischievous three-year-old, and her inquisitive-to-the-point-of-lunacy
toddler. For a second, she was just a
mother with three sleeping children. She
was a mom who managed to do it all- alone, or so it often seemed. She knew that they were loved by their father
and that he was working hard to provide them with a good life. But did he still love her as he did when they
were young? That, Ophelia no longer knew
for certain. She loved him, but things
had changed.
After
the first book was a moderate success as a romance bestseller, her family threw
their approval of her writing hobby
at her. No longer was she a college
dropout with a new baby; Ophelia was an author.
It felt good, she thought with a smile.
She was heavily pregnant and exhausted from chasing Damian every day,
but she made sure to rise before the sun to get in a few hours of writing, and
her second book was delivered on time.
With
two small children, time became hard to find.
She wasn’t sleeping well because Eirene nursed around the clock and
Damian was acting out due to jealousy at being displaced. Ophelia felt like a zombie; gone were her
days of getting up at four in the morning to write. Add into that a postpartum body that refused
to fit into any clothes that she owned, and her self-esteem plummeted. She was shocked with her first bout of
morning sickness from Dimitri; she scrolled through her phone and found that,
in the months since Eirene had been born, she’d had sex one time. Once. After that night, which had been a rare
moment when both kids were sound asleep and she had been able to have a glass
of wine with her husband on the balcony, she had laughed that she was out of
shape, exhausted, and couldn’t remember the last time they were intimate. Her husband had responded by telling her that
he loved her before seducing her under the stars. It had been perfect.
Two
weeks later, she had sat in the bathroom and cried.
Ophelia
never told anyone that, of course. She
never confessed that she had been hoping to have a break so that she could
rediscover herself and focus on her writing.
That would have made her too selfish, too unmotherly. She had tried to
find the time in-between caring for her children, homemaking, and four months
of near-constant puking to write on the third book in the series, but it seemed
hopeless. When Dimitri was born, she
swore that she would get back on track.
After all, she was an old hat at mothering. She could handle the addition of another
infant. It was just like riding a bike.
Only
it wasn’t.
She
loved her children more than anything, but Ophelia felt like a constant
failure. She met their unending needs
while meeting none of her own.
Friendships fell by the wayside; she had no energy to put toward
them. When they were together, it seemed
that all she did was argue with her husband.
He would ask about her day, she would tell him how awful it was, he
would offer solutions, and then BOOM!
She would end up crying in the bed they rarely shared, while her husband
disappeared into his office to do work he had brought home. She requested an extension on her deadline,
then a second. Nothing in her life was
working.
Ophelia
gently placed Dimitri in the center of the bed, surrounding him with pillows
and turning on the baby monitor she had brought from home. Stepping outside, she could hear the sounds
from the main house and debated keeping to herself or pulling out her laptop to
work. Her desire to be with adults won
out, and she clipped the portable receiver to her belt, slipping into the house
through the kitchen.
“Trinity
College Dublin is a very good school,” Annie said as Ophelia entered the main
room. Hesper was sitting on the couch
next to her mother, looking as though she were going to cry.
Talos
walked next to his sister and poured a cup of coffee. “Please,” he muttered. “Let’s get around to the real reason she
wants to transfer.”
“Hesper? Is there something you want to tell us?” While Hesper looked a wreck, it was Evadine’s
voice that quivered. For a moment,
Ophelia thought her aunt might break down.
Hesper
gave a long pause before she heaved a sigh.
“I’m in a relationship, and I’m very happy.” She looked back and forth between her
parents. “I know that I haven’t always
made the best decisions, but this time away has really given me an opportunity
to make better choices.” Talos sighed
loudly, and Hesper looked up at him.
“You know, this would be easier without your running commentary.”
Ophelia
knew the look that Talos gave their younger cousin, his anger mixing with
amusement, and she couldn’t imagine things were going to end well. “I’m just waiting to see how you manage to
sugarcoat the relationship you
have. You are going to tell your parents
with whom the relationship is, right?”
For
a moment, Ophelia wanted to stand up for Hesper. Annie had given her enough background that
she knew why Talos was angry, but Hesper was so young and free. In many ways, Ophelia envied her. Why shouldn’t she have her bout with young
love? Maybe he was a terrible person,
but if Hesper wanted to spend her time with Duncan, so be it. Before Ophelia could interject, Evadine spoke
tentatively. “Hesper?”
“I’ve
been dating Duncan for the last few months.”
Hesper’s
father, Karsten, had been silent but asked incredulously, “Duncan? Annie’s
Duncan?”
That
was enough to send Talos further off, and Ophelia reached out for his arm when
he moved in front of her. “Now wait a
second!”
“Take
a breath, Talos,” Ophelia whispered gently, giving a tug on his arm. He never looked back at her but didn’t pull
away.
“Yes,
Annie’s former boyfriend.” After a brief
pause, Hesper added, “He is slightly older than I am-”
“What’s
slightly?” Ophelia had wondered when Stavros, who was
only a month younger than Talos, would take a stand.
Hesper
didn’t answer. Talos yanked his arm from
his sister’s grasp, answering before taking a long drink of steaming
coffee. “Thirty-five.”
“That’s
fifteen years!” From his tone, it was
clear that Stavros wasn’t happy.
Ophelia
wanted to run to Hesper, wrap her arms around her younger cousin, and wish her
well. She knew that Talos (amongst
others) would be none-too-pleased, but it seemed awful that Hesper had no one
on her side. Even her twin sister,
Livana, was quiet. Finally, Evadine
spoke. “Hesper, dear, I think it would
be wise for you to stay home. Return to
University here. See how you feel come
summer break, after you’ve spent time with your friends and dated boys your own
age.”
“Do
you not remember why I was expelled in the first place?” Hesper asked, standing. “Those were my friends, and the boy in question was my own age!”
“I
just don’t think a relationship like you describe is good for the long
term. You are both in different parts of
your life. He’s a grown man-”
“And
I’m a grown woman! I’m sorry, Mana, I don’t want to go against
you. I don’t.” Hesper shook her head, her eyes settling on
her mother and a tear falling down her cheek.
“But I know how I feel. And I
want to continue exploring life in Dublin- with Duncan.”
Karsten
stood and reached for his daughter.
“Your mother is right. Let’s
discuss the matter again when you complete this semester of study. Then, if you want to look into transferring,
that’s a conversation we can have over the summer.”
But
Hesper was having none of that suggestion.
“There’s nothing to discuss! I
can make my own decisions, regardless of whether anyone here agrees.” She looked at the group gathered. Ophelia tried to send quiet support when
their eyes met. “I’ll be returning
tomorrow after the burial. Please,
excuse me; I’m tired, and I’m going to bed.”
Without waiting for any acknowledgement, she walked away.
“I
would love to smack some sense into her,” Talos muttered under his breath while
he refilled his coffee.
“Don’t
you think you’re being a bit rough?”
Ophelia picked up a cup, and her brother filled it with a rueful
chuckle.
“Don’t,
Lia,” Talos said, calling her by the pet name her siblings often used. “Don’t turn this into one of your chick-lit
stories for bored, lonely housewives.”
“Ouch.”
“You
know what I mean. This isn’t one of your
happily-ever-after love stories.” He
nodded toward her. “Use your marriage
for that. Look at you guys: met as kids,
survived university, married, children, still happy.”
And that just shows how
much you know, Ophelia thought. Instead, she asked, “Have you even bothered
to ask Hesper what she wants?”
Stavros
stepped beside them and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Hesper doesn’t know what she wants. She’s a kid.”
“I
was married at near her age.” Ophelia leaned against the wall and waited for
his rebuttal.
Her
cousin shook his head and kissed her on the cheek. “You were always much older than your
years. She’s not. None of the other girls are: not Hesper, not
Liv, not Addie.”
“It
doesn’t really matter what any of you think,” Annie said, approaching with a
sleeping Xerxes tucked into her chest carrier.
“Hesper is an adult. She can date
whomever she chooses.”
“Aine,
if you don’t-”
“What?” She scoffed at her husband. “Wishing now you could take my driver’s license
away and put your little lady back in the kitchen? Please, Talos. The day I stand behind you just for the sake
of a unified front is the day that I’m dead.”
“Or
sainted,” Ophelia chuckled.
“I don’t understand how you can be so calm
about this,” Talos said, exasperated.
“You know what kind of man he is!”
“I
knew what kind of man you were and, yet, here we are!”
“I
almost think we should go,” Stavros said to Ophelia with a wink.
“This
is going to make great fodder for my next book.
Not on your life.”
Ignoring
her comment, Annie continued. “It doesn’t matter what type of man he was or
what type of man you were- that’s the past.
What if Duncan’s changed? Would
you want to be judged by all the things that you’ve done?”
Ophelia
was still surprised that Talos kept his anger in check with Annie. His wife seemed to be the only person in the
world that Talos could always see clearly.
He shook his head. “Regardless
of whether he’s a worthless dog-”
“Talos!”
Annie chastised while Ophelia choked on her coffee.
“-or
God’s newfound gift for womankind, he’s still too old for her.”
“I
agree,” Stavros added.
Annie
sighed. “I have no response to that.”
“Finally.” Talos grinned when she narrowed her eyes at
him then pointed his finger between his wife and sister. “Between the two of you, Hesper will be in a
white gown in no time.” He patted
Stavros on the shoulder, and the two walked away while he pretended to lament
married life.
“I
don’t see how you don’t kill him,” Ophelia said, refilling her coffee.
“Me
either.” Annie looked down at her
sleeping son before adding with a smile, “We make cute babies, so he isn’t all
bad.”