The Weaker Sex (Unedited)

Chapter 20

I managed to finish college with the stellar grades I wanted then earned my teaching credentials a year and a half later. Tobias and I had been engaged for about two-and-a-half years and I'd been working as a student teacher at Blair Elementary. He had taken over the family general store business and was now preparing to run for mayor. He had just finished collecting the necessary amount of petition signatures to get his name on the ballot. Half the town was behind him, but the other half was rooting for Jeffrey Johnson who had also just gotten his name on the ballot. Peter wasn't happy about it, but I had all faith in Tobias to be a top competitor. He had this position locked down.

It was another beautiful summer in Virginia and my family was coming over to visit and help me make the finishing plans for the wedding. While most people thought that because we'd been engaged for so long and he didn't seem to be moving towards actually marrying me, we weren't going to tie the knot, but Tobias had sat me down and promised me that as soon as he won the election, we were getting married. The election was only a few months away and with the work to be done, it'd be here sooner than anyone of us would imagine. My mom and sisters and I were sitting down at the café where Tobias and I had gone to on our first date.

The centerpieces hadn't been chosen yet and I was completely stumped as to what they should look like. Emily walked through the door greeting us with hugs and kisses on the cheek before taking a seat. She was joining us to help us choose the centerpieces. I excused myself to go and grab another muffin from the front, but just as I grabbed a cellophane wrapped muffin, a voice stopped me mid-grasp. "So, you think you have what it takes to be a Delaney?" I turned to find Michelle Crawford, sitting at the table to the side of me in all her blonde glory.

I released the muffin and faced her. "I don't want to argue with you." I said.

"I can't believe he dumped me for you." She looked me up and down, rolling her eyes at the end.

"I don't think it happened in that order."

"You shouldn't be wearing that ring, I should. You're weak and he knows that."

"Michelle look, we're all adults here."

"What do you guys even know about each other?"

"Everything,"

"Everything, huh? And you're still marrying him. Does he know all of your secrets, do you know all of his?"

"Absolutely, now if you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to plan."

"Secrets will ruin a marriage."

I hated it when people got into my head. She was right, secrets did ruin a marriage, but I didn't have any that were, that big. Well, I-I couldn't tell him everything, he wouldn't be able to take it, but then again he had told me all of his painful secrets. By looking at the Delaneys they were the image of a perfect family, but deep down, Peter pushed Tobias to his limits and nothing he ever did was enough. That hurt Tobias a lot, which was why all he ever did was work, work, work, work, work. I was sure that was difficult for him to tell me that. I guessed that meant I had to share my last painful secret.

When we'd finally decided on lilies for the centerpieces, we wrapped it up and went home. I was still living with the Wells, but most of my days were spent at Tobias' home. For graduation his parents had helped him buy his first home. Well, actually it was his grandfather's home and his father's childhood home. It'd been in the family for decades, but now the deed belonged to Tobias. It was a beautiful ranch home with 3 acres of land that stretched all the way vertically where Tobias had a stable full of horses. He had a nosy neighbor to the right by the name of Christine Whitman. She was an older woman, maybe in her early 70's. She carried around a cane that somehow helped her move incredibly quickly.