Phases
Author:© WebNovel
Chapter 1: Chapter One: Past
The screen door swung shut, moving fast at first then in slow motion as it was caught by the hydraulic slide.
His tail lights pulled out of the driveway, lit for a second, as he paused, then nothing as Edmund never let up off of the gas.
Cassiopeia King, finally exhaled. She didn't know when she’d started holding her breath, or even for how long she’d been holding it. She filled her lungs again and let it out once more. She wasn’t sure when it had become more good than bad, but she was glad to be done.
All done. Done with the fighting. Done with the drama. Done with the lies.
Done with the father of her unborn children. She was awestruck at how a relationship of 6 years, no matter how bad, could actually end in a single defining moment.
Tears streaked hot and fast down her cheeks. Six years, lost. Two perfect souls, gained. She stroked her belly and spoke to her babies softly.
"We are so better off without him. Don't worry. We've got each other." As if sensing her distress, the babies within her, moved against her hand, rolling smoothly and just a little painfully beneath her skin.
"Yes, we are fine." She assured them. "What's past is done."
Giving her belly a final pat, Casse closed the front door on her past, literally and figuratively, and turned into her house to clean up her present.
Her kitchen was a mess. Edmund had ransacked the place looking for her 'rainy-day' money. He'd found it and had let it be his down payment back into bachelorhood.
"Hope it was worth it." She shook her head and righted a chair, placing it back at the dining table. The pots and pans would be easy to clean up. The broken glassware...not so much.
"I hate sweeping." she groaned, placing the last chair in its place while stepping gingerly past a broken mug handle. As was her habit, her cleaning was fueled off of her anger and frustration, and done while talking to herself the whole time. Within the hour, the kitchen was as good as new.
Casse stood back to survey her work.
"Not too shabby." She said, then sighed and cursed under her breath as she walked through the untouched living room and down the hall to get to her destroyed workroom.
The door was still partially open as Edmund had kicked it in. The door-jam was splintered and the lock was twisted. Even from the hallway she could see quilting squares and cook book pages littering the floor and design desk. The long hours of enjoyment spent in her own, personal room flashed in her mind. Her cookbooks. Her sewing supplies. Her quilting notions. Her Korean drama dvd collection...
"So glad that is over." She soothed herself with the reminder that this was the last time."Good riddance. On to a new chapter." Pushing the door fully open, she stepped inside, ready to put her room and her life to rights.
Three weeks passed, and like clockwork, her phone rang.
Having expected the call, Casse checked the caller ID, smiled, and declined the call. In the next 10 minutes, Edmund called 4 more times. Each time her phone lit up, as she had the ringer off, and the caller id 'PAST' flashed across the screen as the phone vibrated in her hand. Each time, she declined the call, not even letting it ring out.
"Mrs. Marks..." The nurse called from the doorway leading to the exam rooms. All of the heads in the waiting room looked up, seeing who had been called, and silently noting their placement in line be seen by the doctor. Every prenatal appointment was the same. Wait to be called. Wait to be seen. Wait to leave. Casse stood, gathered her purse and water bottle and made her way past all of the waiting eyes.
"It's Ms. King..." She corrected the nurse on the way back to her assigned examination room.
"Good for you." Mayflower Duncan, worked at the OB-GYN office that Casseopia went to, but she was also a member of her birthing group at the Women's Center. After giving Casse a high-five and advice to never let him back in, May assured her the doctor would be in shortly, instructed her to pull her pants low on her hips so her doctor would have no trouble finding the babies, and walked back down the hall. Knowing already that the doctor would in fact, not be in shortly, Casse decided to answer the phone the next time 'Past' called.
"You've reached Ms. King. How may I help you?" She smiled at the sound of his in-drawn breath and pause. She could see clearly in her mind the furrowing of his perfect brows and worry in his beautiful grey-green eyes. Those eyes, they had been the beginning of her downfall.
"Casse...."His deep, slightly husky voice reached out over her phone, dripping honey, and sweetness and promises. When had she become immune to its effects...she didn't even know.
"Delete my number, Edmund. Forget that you know me." Be straightforward. No beating around the bush. Mental hi-five.
"I'm on my way home." He'd gotten her in the past with these very words. Words heavy with secret meaning and passionate memories. Before, she had been undone by the cocky smile she could hear when he spoke. Once upon a time, she'd been driven to distraction by the mental image of his full lips smiling on the other end of the line.
"Tell your mother I said hello. Do not call me again."She waited, letting what she had said sink in.
"Casse, I'm on my way to our home. I'm going to..."
She cut him off sharply.
"Mr. Marks, if you break into my home, I will be calling the police. You no longer live with me. There is nothing between us but air, do you understand?"
She could hear his breathing, could almost see his long fingers tapping against his thigh as he thought furiously for a way back in. She had seen this process play out so many times in the past.
"Momma...what about our baby?" Casse closed her eyes. Not from regret but from frustration. She'd been right. He hadn't been listening when she'd told him about the twins.
"My baby, Edmund. We have nothing together. You ruined it. Live with your decision. Stop calling my phone." Hearing the doctor approaching from the hall, Casse ended the call. She wasn't going to cry. She was done crying for him. Did she miss him?...no. Well....maybe, sometimes in the middle of the night when the smell of his cologne came up out of his pillow, or when the settling of that old house made strange noises. But even then, she'd been through it so often by herself...Hell no! She wasn't shedding any more tears for him.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone