THE DOMINO EFFECT

Making Sacrifies

Yesterday she needed to forget her pain and she tried to use her husband to do it.  Meghan was happy he rejected her because she wasn't in the right frame of mind to ask him to do what she did.

She put on a light blue sleeveless dress with black sandals then go downstairs for breakfast. She sees George was already at the dining table and Arthur was in his Mosley basket asleep. She assumes George must of woken up and seen to him during the night since she remembers getting up only twice.

"Morning", she says to the table.

"Morning cara", says George looking at her.

The other occupants greet Meghan  with a cheerful Good morning. She walks over to Sofia, George's grandmother and hugs her,

"It's so good to see you Nona.  You are looking really well".

Sofia cries, "My nipote(grandson) has his wife and child finally. We must have the priest bless this marriage before you leave. He owes me a favour I donated a lot of money to the church".

Meghan knew Sofia meant well and she thought she and George got back together out of love. The family didn't tell her about the egg and sperm theft. They wanted her unburden and Meghan understood that, which is why she said.

"We must arrange that as soon as possible I assume the blessing can happen anytime".

"We will get everyone together and plan it.  I am so happy to be here to see it. Will the day after tomorrow be too soon my dear?"

Meghan looks at George who nods his head.

"Tuesday is fine and I'm sure your family will love to see your first great- grandchild Sofia".

Meghan notices that Maria has tears in her eyes as did George. They eat breakfast and talk about the blessing some more.

"Your wedding dress is easy enough to buy in town", says Maria.

When breakfast was over Antonio helps his mother-in-law to walk to the living room.

"Thank you for doing this for her Meghan I truly appreciate it".

"It's fine George I know how important she is to all of you. If I can give her just a little bit of happiness after the months of pain and suffering she has had it's worth it".

After breakfast they make their way to town to order a cake and buy a wedding dress. Meghan choose a ball gown style dress with layers of tules and a sweetheart neckline in white.

They have lunch at the restaurant of the chef that cooked for them on their first day. Tuesday came and with it the blessing. Meghan couldn't help thinking of the last time she was in a church with most of the people she was with now. She had to remind herself she was already married and this was just a blessing.

She said a silent prayer at the altar that her marriage gets better. She and George hadn't talk about her begging him to have sex couple nights ago.  With planning the blessing and running around there was no time to talk about the elephant in the room.

Meghan knew she would've used him for comfort but she knew as much as she hated him. She still loved him but that wasn't an excuse she was wrong for what she did that night. After the party to celebrate the blessing she asked him to come to her room.

"I'm  sorry for using you like that I want you have sex with you to forget my pain and again I'm sorry. I want when we if we have sex again it's because we both want it. I don't want you to hate me and I don't want Arthur growing up in a household where his mother and father hate each other. Or he sees us fighting like cats and dogs. I want to let go of my anger towards you George and I think we should go to couples counselling when we get back home".

"I never wanted you to feel I would reject you again cara. We're married now and yes I did feel like you wanted to use me only for my body. The thing is Meghan I'm still in love with you and I never stopped loving you. And I'm still angry with myself for how I treated you. I think we could both use some counselling because we're still angry at someone who is no longer here to defend themselves. I'm willing to go to counselling I too want our son growing up in a loving environment and not a hostile one."

Meghan makes to leave, "If we both put the effort into this marriage we can make it work. The love is already there its finding it and reclaiming it we need to do". 

She turns and look at George, "You're right we still love each other but we have a long way to go to get to that place of healing that we both need so desperately. We can never go back to what we were before but we can start by being friends", she leaves his room.

She goes and look in on Arthur he was awake so Meghan pick him up and sits with him on the chair in the room.

"God can I do this, forgive my husband and start our married life afresh. I genuinely meant what I said earlier. I want our son to grow up in a loving home. Please help me to find the strength to forgive George and Emma for the hurt they have caused me. I so want to be happy in my marriage lord please help me". 

Meghan finish her prayer and kisses her son's forehead. "I'm so happy to have you Arthur so very happy. I love you so much I hate what Emma did but I'm happy she gave me you". 

Meghan leaves the room and bumps into George, "How much of that did you hear?"

"All of it,  we will work on our relationship and hopefully the forgiveness will come in time. We're married parents now and that brings with it responsibilities and commitment. Like I said before I want a real marriage with you. I want our family to survive and thrive and I'm happy too we have a son", she hugs him and he returns the hug.

She moves away from him and wipes her eyes, "If we are going to make this work I need to be in the same bed as my husband". She reaches out and takes his hand, "I don't want to lose our family either. There will be no sex for now instead we will work on being comfortable with each other again".

"Okay".

That night Meghan ask the maids to move her stuff into George's room. On their last day in Italy George's family throws them a barbecue. As Meghan sits on the terrace eating her meal whilst looking out at the orchard she feels a hand on hers,  it was Maria,

"Thank you for giving my son this chance".

Seeing Meghan's face she continues, "No he didn't tell me but why else would you have moved into his room".

"I have to say I was dreading coming back here who wouldn't be. I mean the last time I saw you guys I was being humiliated but you've all gone out your way to make me feel welcome. In fact your whole family has thank you because it's been a pleasant visit."

"Even having the blessing?"

"I made an old woman happy and it was nice to have a blessing in a church. Although I had to remind myself at the alter that I was already married and George couldn't say he was married to someone else".

"As a woman I feel your hurt and pain the trust will come in time", Maria squeezes her shoulders and leaves.

George comes outside and sits beside her, "I'm gonna miss this place. There is something very peaceful about it".

"You're not wrong".

"Mom and dad have volunteered to look after Arthur while we go on our honeymoon if you want. I told them I would talk to you first and let them know your answer".

"I think it's a good idea it gives us sometime to ourselves to get to know each other again but.."

"You want Arthur with us", finish George.

"Yes I do we don't have a nanny yet for him and I know he's less than a month old. So he will be taking up a lot of our time while we're on our honeymoon but I'm selfish and I want my family close to me".

"Then we take him with us".