Dark Days

You Ain't Woman Enough

©JRF2016

I walk away leaving Reid standing there in the middle of the street, unable to respond. Conner was standing on the porch staring down the road at the two of us and as I walk up the front porch steps his smile grew wider. "You and the Sheriff kiss and make up?"

"Not so sure about the make-up part yet," I say as I put my hand on Conner's arm and give it a slight squeeze. "I'm heading inside. I've got a lot of stuff I need to do before bed tonight." He nods as his gaze locks on Reid still standing out in the street.

I go straight up to our room and grab that bag of mine that I still hadn't unpacked from the last fight, break up, whatever and I sling it over my shoulder. I start back out the door, with my hand on the knob I let out a long, sorrowful sigh. I turn back to look at the room I had shared with Reid one last time. My heart was crumbling again. I swing the door open and finally make my exit. I assumed I would go back over to Sam's like I was going to do last time but Gracie caught me in the hall. "Mommy, where are you going?" I stop and look directly into those bright, shining blue eyes of hers. The same blue eyes that her dad and her big brother have, those eyes of hers still look at me with adoration and love. I am not even sure what Reid's eyes hold for me anymore. As I stand there staring at this beautiful little girl tears started rolling down my cheeks again and I don't want to leave her. "Mommy are you leaving again? Is Sam taking you away again? I don't want you to go! You're my mommy!" Gracie stomps her little feet in a small tantrum and runs over clasping her little arms around my leg. Just as she latches onto my leg Charlie comes over the top of the stairs, smiling at the two of us, until he notices the bag on my shoulder. His smile quickly fades. I kneel down to her level looking closely into those big, tear-filled eyes and I know I can't do this, I can't break her little heart, again, just because her daddy's an idiot. "I'm not going to leave you, baby." I lie, "I was just coming to your room. I thought we could have a sleep over in there, just you and me, just us girls." She squeals right in my ear and I thought for a moment I might actually be deaf. She takes my hand in her little hand and pulls me toward her bedroom. As she pulls me passed Charlie I notice he had his smile back on and he nods to me as we breeze by him.

I had just gotten Judith settled into bed after her warm bath when someone taps on the door. I turn to see Charlie standing in the doorway. "Rachel," he says with a loud sadness in his voice, "Earlier, when I revealed dad's big secret, I," he pauses as he drops his head and pinches the bridge of his nose, just like Reid always does, "I didn't want to hurt you, but I thought you needed to know. I've been thinking, though, maybe I was wrong. Maybe it shouldn't have been me that said anything." I smile a little as I stand to my feet holding my arms out to him. He starts walking toward me at the same time and we meet in the middle of the room in an embrace. I run my fingers through his ever thickening dark curls, "Geez, kiddo. I think you need a cut." I laugh as he jerks his head away from me. "No way woman, nobody is getting near this do with any scissors!" We both laugh as I reach over and tickle him. We wrestle around on the floor for a minute before leaning against the foot of the bed. I peek over the edge to see if our roughhousing had woken Gracie. Thankfully, it had not. She was so wore out from playing tea party with me all day that she would probably sleep for a week. I probably would too for that matter. I wrap my arm around Charlie, "I told you before, you did the right thing. If you had left it to your dad he may never had told me. It would have eventually come out, but it would hurt so much more. It's hard to believe but I know it would." I pull him in tighter to my side, "Thank you for being the good man that you are Charlie and telling me the truth. No matter what your dad says or how mad he might be right now, you did the right thing, and I love you."

{Reid's POV} As I cross that last step bringing me to the second floor I see Charlie in Gracie's doorway. He starts talking as he enters and I soon realize he was talking to Rachel. I creep over to the edge of the door and listen. He was apologizing to her for ratting me out. Not only was I jerk for cheating on her but I made Charlie feel bad about telling her. I made him feel bad for doing the right thing. I've been the worst father and husband on the planet lately. There was a long pause without a word from either of them and I wondered what was going on. I peeked around the corner and saw Rachel with her fingers in Charlie's hair just as she made a crack about him needing a haircut. They both wrestled for a minute laughing. It was so nice to see Rachel with a smile on her face. That smile of hers could light up the darkest night. I listened a little longer as the two of them talked. She loves those kids and they love her. I'm tearing this family apart, I need to do something to fix this and quick before I lose all of them. {end Reid's POV}