The Affair

My mother always talked about my father. She would go on and on about him. She always talked about how much she loved him, how much she missed him. And of course, I asked if I could see him. I asked if I could meet my father. But every time I asked she would always say no. As I got older I tried to reach out to him. I tried so many times but I never found him. Sure I found things he wrote. I found out things he did, but I never met him.

I still remember the day she told me about him. I was about ten years old and I had come home from school. I walked into the house to find that she wasn't in the living room. She wasn't in the kitchen and she wasn't even in the bathroom. So I went and looked in her room and there she was laying there on her bed crying while holding a box of tissues. "What's wrong mom?" I slowly walked up to the bed and touched her arm. She quickly turned back to look at me. Her makeup was smeared all over her face and hand tons of tissues scrunched up in her hands. "Oh, Alexandria, it's just you. I thought it was Jacob..." Even at such a young age my mother always told me that James wasn't my father. She called him really bad names. I could tell as I got older that she didn't like him. "What's wrong mom? Was it something I did?" Her eyes grew wide as she quickly sat up. "No no no no honey. It's not at your fault." She picked me up, sat me on her lap and started petting my hair. "Then what's wrong?" She started thinking for a second before looking at the door. She stared at that door then looked back at me. "Have I ever told you how I met your father?" I shook my head. She wiped her eyes a little then continued talking. "It was the summer of 1791. James had always beat me, always told me what to do, and always scammed good people out of their money. He used me repeatedly. I know you won't understand much of this until your older but I swear everything is true."

*Knock knock.* Alexander heard a knock from downstairs but chose to ignore it so he could keep writing. *Knock knock.* "Ugh. Don't people know that I'm busy?" He took the steps downstairs two at a time. "I have so much work to do and no one lets me get anything done anymore. I'm already stressed as it is." He opened the door to find a young woman standing there. She had a long red dress that covered everything except her chest. She had her hair in the face but he could still tell she was wearing make-up to cover up the marks and bruises on her face.

"My name is Maria Reynolds. I know you are a man of honor, I'm so sorry to bother you at home but I don't know where to go. I came here all alone." She looked down and her hands before looking back up at the man. "Well, if that's all you wanted to say, then I'll be going. Have a nice night." Alexander went to close the door but heard her say something else. He mentally groaned. "My husband's beats me, cheats on me, and is mistreating me. Suddenly he's up and gone. I don't have the means to go on." So what does she need me for? "I could give you a loan or walk you home? If that's what you want. But I have things to do." She slowly nodded as she turned to leave. "Give me a minute."

Maria stood outside contemplating whether this was a good idea or not. Her thoughts were interrupted as Alexander shut his door once he was outside. "Sorry. I brought some money. And I had to get my coat." She looked at him thinking, he brought a coat for me? Her face as he put the jacket on himself. "So what do you do?" Maria asked genuinely curious. "Well, I fought in the war. I'm a lawyer and a politician. Being a lawyer isn't easy. Do you know who Aaron Burr is? Well, he's this guy that despises me and he thinks he is better than everyone. He is-" Maria stopped listening after she realized that he was going to stop talking. Why this man James? Why did it have to be this man? "Hey! Are you listening?" She nodded as she realized that he asked her a question. "I'm sorry, what?" She looked around at the streets before looking back at him. "I asked if you were married? I'm sure a fine young woman like yourself has to have someone." Was he not listening to me before? "Yes. How about yourself?" She sighed as they continued walking.

"Yes. Her name is Elizabeth Schuyler. She has two sisters and-" He stopped talking as she stopped walking. "Well, do you want to come in?" She asked moving her hair out of her face. "No that's okay. Here is thirty dollars. I have to get back to writing and-" He stopped talking as she grabbed his hand. He looked at their hands that were joined and she looked at him as she slowly pulled him into her house. "I really shouldn't be here." He looked at the house as they walked through it. He moved around a vacuum cleaner and suddenly felt chilled as he felt the cold air from an air conditioner. "It's okay. You can finish it later. I don't want to be alone right now." They walk up some stairs and into the second room down the hall. "I really should go." He turned to leave but stopped for a moment. He slightly turned around and saw that she was sitting on the bed with her hands on either side of her as she slightly leaned back. "Just stay." He awkwardly turned around and looked at her. "Hey." He gave her finger guns and slowly started walking away. I need to leave, Alexander thought to himself. She got up from the bed and walked up to him. Before he knew it, her lips were on his. They both knew how wrong it was, but they both did it anyway.