Death in Absentia

"It took the better part of a year for him to get his mind back together. He was under psychiatric care for years after that. And in all that time he had no idea what you did, or why. You couldn't have broken him more completely if you had run him over with a bulldozer.

"Three years after you disappeared, somebody suggested that he file for divorce and move on with his life. He couldn't do it. He always held out hope that one day you would just show up at the door. He almost lost it again at that point. It was some seven years after you vanished that he was fit enough to make the decision to move on with his life. It was the hardest thing he had ever done when he filed the paperwork to have you declared legally dead. In legal terms it's called 'death in absentia.' It almost killed him too, letting go of you after all those years. He had every one of his brothers and sisters, his mother, his boss from work, and even his therapist beside him when he had to appear before the judge and explain the reason why he wanted you declared dead. It was a solemn day for everybody and there were tears enough all around to fill a swimming pool. But he did it, he persevered and he moved on from you.

"Jason and I met at a barbecue at a mutual friend's house. I had lost my husband a couple years before in a car accident and Jason had been stumbling through life without any purpose after your death. They introduced us and left to see what would happen. We talked for the rest of the day. Afterwards we started seeing each other as friends and occasionally went places together with our kids. What happened was the kindest man in the world helped me to understand the tragedy of my husband's death and gave me something to look forward to. After we got to know each other better he said he wanted to marry me. But he said he would ONLY do it if I heard his complete story first. Up until that time he hadn't said very much about you or his problems. We rented a little cabin in the woods near a lake and he spent the next two days telling me every detail about his mixed up, screwed up life. He even told me about the mental hospital and his counseling sessions. He spent almost the entire weekend crying and talking. I felt so sorry for him. I felt angry toward you. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so heartless and cruel and do to him what he told me about. It was beyond belief. On the third day we just sat by the lake and held hands. We didn't say a word. On that day I fell in love with him and have loved him more and more each day since. We married a year later. Rose was born the following year. We chose to name her Rose because she symbolized our love and rebirth and even though a rose has thorns we knew that whatever thorns we would encounter in life we would meet them together. Together, the two of us, until the day one of us dies.

"I've lived with your ghost ever since I met Jason. A ghost that has haunted us as a family ever since you vanished. An evil ghost. A ghost of the unknown. I don't know what's going to happen today but I pray to God that you are exorcised from our lives once and for all.

"Just know this. I would never abandon him like you did. I love him more than you ever could. I'll be beside him forever. You almost killed the kindest and gentlest man I've ever met, just by going poof into thin air."

Maureen sat back and unclenched her fists. She was so angry she was shaking. But she said it, she said her piece and hopefully that cruel, heartless bitch sitting across the room understood a little about what she had done. If she still had no clue then there was no hope for her, she was nothing more than a rabid dog that had to be put down.

"I... I never... I didn't know. I couldn't know that just leaving him would cause so much pain."

"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T YOU STUPID, SELFISH BITCH! All you were thinking about was you, how much fun you were going to have, and all the men you would have in your bed. HOW COULD YOU BE SO GODDAMN SELFISH?"

The two women just stared across the room in silence.

"Mom, we're home, where are you?" came the call from the front entrance. "You wouldn't believe what..." Rose stopped immediately seeing the brunette sitting across the room. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know we had company."

"Where's your father?" Maureen asked.

"I'm here," Jason said as he came up behind his daughter. "What's going..." The sentence was unfinished when he saw Alycia across the room. Even though her head was down there was no mistaking it was her.

"Hello Jason," she muttered looking up at him.

He just stood motionless with his mouth open.

"Uh Rose honey, why don't you call Olivia and see if you can go over to her house for a little while?" Maureen asked. "You can show her your new iPhone."

She shooed the young woman out of the room and stood in front of Jason looking him square in the eyes. She whispered softly "Jason, look at me. You need to do this. You can do this. You're strong and I know you will do what you have to. Just remember that I will never leave you, but right now I'll be up in the bedroom. If you call I'll come running, but I don't think you'll need me. Now just sit down and talk to her. Please?"

Jason focused on his wife and a little tear appeared in one eye. She was right. He had to do this no mater how much it hurt. He would be okay as long as his wife, his love, was near by. Removing the smile she gave her husband she put on a steely sneer and turned to look at the woman in the chair across the room one more time before going upstairs and closing the door. If looks could kill then the brunette would be dead where she sat.

********

It was almost midnight when Maureen heard a car pull up out front. She leaned forward in the old wingback chair and looked out the window. She saw Alycia walking down the front walk and getting in the taxi parked there. It drove away and she sat back and relaxed waiting for her husband to come up.

An hour had passed and she was getting worried. She started to get up and go down to find him when the door opened. Jason walked in looking like a little boy whose puppy had just died. It was obvious that he had been crying because of his puffy, red eyes. But they were together now, the two of them in their bedroom. He never said a word. He just walked over and knelt in front of his wife wrapping his arms around her legs. He put his head down on her lap and let out a sigh. She reached out and stroked his hair as he breathed quietly. They didn't move for the longest time.

Maureen broke the silence by whispering, "Are you okay?"

He lifted his head and looked up into her eyes. "Yeah, actually I think I am. It went a lot different than I had expected. But it's over. She's gone and we'll never have to worry about her ever again. Right now I feel like I've had a 24 year old weight lifted from my shoulders. I've still got a lot to process but I think everything will be okay."

She smiled a crooked smile not knowing whether she was happy or sad.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered.

"Yeah, a little. But tomorrow I want to go over and see Mom and I'll tell both of you all the details, at the same time. Right now I'll give you the high points. I don't know if you two talked before we came home but she told me the reason she left. You won't believe it. Do you want to hear now or tomorrow?"

"What did she say?"

"Get this. She said that she had a number of affairs with men almost since the day we got married, maybe a dozen or more over the years, even when she was pregnant. She said that I never satisfied her in bed and found that other men could ring her bell a lot better than me. She met men at work, at bars, and even one in the grocery store. She said that after she left she had an endless stream of men in her bed and even wound up marrying some of the better lovers. She sounded like she was bragging! I never had a clue. It sure puts her in a different light now. I could never have imagined she was a slut like that. God, what a horrible person I married. I was so in love with what I thought she was and thought she should be that I never saw what she really was, a down right sneaky whore."

"Oh my God! Did she really say all that?"

"Yeah, and she seemed quite proud about it, arrogant almost. She didn't seem to have any remorse about anything. She never shed a tear or apologized. The worst thing was that she never asked about Jeremy or Bethany, at all. What a heartless bitch! I'm sorry that I ever wasted a second worrying about her when I should have been here for my family. I'm so sorry she ever came between us. Nothing like that will ever happen again."

"It's over and we can go on with our lives now. I love you Mr. Woods. I always have and I always will. Take me to bed and hold me."

They stood and held each other tightly the way lovers do. No words were necessary, they communicated with a touch, a man and a woman, so much in love, hearts beating in unison. Maureen thought about the lies that Alycia told, lies that would allow the man hugging her to be whole again, to once and for all exorcise the ghosts and demons of his past. Everything would be okay from now on. A smile crept up on her lips as she hugged him back.

Jason whispered, "Tomorrow on the way over to Mom's I want to talk about that second honeymoon I've been promising. We deserve it so I'll take the time at work and we'll go in the spring. What do you think about that?"

"Sounds wonderful, except that I'm not so enamored with Italy any more. What do you think about Tahiti?"