Sherryl Woods - Stealing Home

M addie focused on the wide expanse of mahogany stretching between her and the man whod been her husband for twenty years. Half her life. She and William Henry Townsend had been high-school sweethearts in Serenity, South Carolina. Theyd married before their senior year in college, not because she was pregnant as some of her hastily married friends had been, but because they hadnt wanted to wait one more second before starting their lives together.

Then, after theyd graduated, there had been the exhausting years of medical school for Bill, when shed worked as an entry-level bookkeeper, making poor use of her degree in business, just to keep their heads above water financially. And then the joyous arrival of three kidsathletic, outgoing Tyler, now sixteen, their jokester, Kyle, fourteen, and their surprise blessing, Katie, who was just turning six.

Theyd had the perfect life in the historic Townsend family home in Serenitys oldest neighborhood, surrounded by family and lifelong friends. The passion theyd once shared might have cooled ever so slightly, but theyd been happy.

Or so shed thought until the day a few months ago when Bill had looked at her after dinner, his expression as distant as a strangers, and calmly explained that he was moving out and moving onwith his twenty-four-year-old nurse, who was already pregnant. It was, hed said, one of those things that just happened. He certainly hadnt planned to fall out of love with Maddie, much less in love with someone else.

Maddies first reaction hadnt been shock or dismay. Nope, shed laughed, sure that her intelligent, compassionate Bill was incapable of such a pitiful clich. Only when his distant expression remained firmly in place did she realize he was stone-cold serious. Just when life had settled into a comfortable groove, the man shed loved with all her heart had traded her in for a newer model.

In a disbelieving daze, shed sat by his side while hed explained to the children what he was doing and why. Hed omitted the part about a new little half brother or sister being on the way. Then, still in a daze, shed watched him move out.

And after hed gone, shed been left to deal with Tylers angry acting out, with Kyles slow descent into unfamiliar silence and Katies heartbroken sobs, all while she herself was frozen and empty inside.

Shed been the one to cope with their shock when they found out about the baby, too. Shed had to hide her resentment and anger, all in the name of good parenting, maturity and peace. There were days shed wanted to curse Dr. Phil and all those cool, reasoned episodes on which he advised parents that the needs of the children came first. When, shed wondered, did her needs start to count?

The day of being completely on her own as a single parent was coming sooner than shed anticipated. All that was left was getting the details of the divorce on paper, spelling out in black and white the end of a twenty-year marriage. Nothing on those pieces of paper mentioned the broken dreams. Nothing mentioned the heartache of those left behind. It was all reduced to deciding who lived where, who drove which car, the amount of child supportand the amount of temporary spousal support until she could stand on her own feet financially or until she married again.

Maddie listened to her attorneys impassioned fight against the temporary nature of that last term. Helen Decatur, whod known both Maddie and Bill practically forever, was a topnotch divorce attorney with a statewide reputation. She was also one of Maddies best friends. And when Maddie was too tired and too sad to fight for herself, Helen stepped in to do it for her. Helen was a blond barracuda in a power suit, and Maddie had never been more grateful.

This woman worked to help you through medical school, Helen lashed out at Bill, in her element on her own turf. She gave up a promising career of her own to raise your children, keep your home, help manage your office and support your rise in the South Carolina medical community. The fact that you have a professional reputation far outside of Serenity is because Maddie worked her butt off to make it happen. And now you expect her to struggle to find her place in the workforce? Do you honestly think in five years or even ten shell be able to give your children the lifestyle to which theyve become accustomed? She pinned Bill with a look that would have withered anyone else. His demeanor reflected a complete lack of interest in Maddie or her future.

That was when Maddie knew it was well and truly over. All the rest, the casual declaration that hed been cheating on her, the move, none of that had convinced her that it really was the end of her marriage. Until this moment, until shed seen the uncaring expression in her husbands once-warm brown eyes, she hadnt accepted that Bill wouldnt suddenly come to his senses and tell her it had all been a horrible mistake.

Shed drifted along until this instant, deep in denial and hurt, but no more. Anger, more powerful than anything shed ever felt in her life, swept through her with a force that brought her to her feet.

Wait, she said, her voice trembling with outrage. Id like to be heard.

Helen regarded her with surprise, but the stunned expression on Bills face gave Maddie the courage to go on. He hadnt expected her to fight back. She could see now that all her years of striving to please him, of putting him first, had convinced him that she had no spine at all, that shed make it easy for him to walk away from their familyfrom her without a backward glance. Hed probably been gloating from the minute she suggested trying to mediate a settlement, rather than letting some judge set the terms of their divorce.

Youve managed to reduce twenty years of our lives to this, she said, waving the settlement papers at him. And for what?