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Brandy walked into Dr. Sumpter’s office in a nervous state. Feeling foolish about the stunt she pulled two days before. Three months of being separated from her husband, he came over to the home they once shared to get Eve.
“Hi handsome.” Brandy said opening the door, dressed in lingerie.
“Hey.” Charles replied unmoved. “Eve ready?”
The infatuated look he once gave to her dressed in lingerie was gone. The stare was replace with displeasure of her continuous tricks trying to win him back.
“I made dinner if you’re hungry.”
“No. I told you my parents are in town. My mother’s at the apartment cooking.”
“Apartment?”
“Yes Brandy. I have an apartment.” Charles replied callously. “And where’s Eve?”
“She’s in her room.”
“Can you go get her?”
He stood in the doorway checking his watch, ready to grab his daughter and go. He was not interested in staying for dinner nor hearing more questions.
“Can you please come in?” She begged.
“Brandy, my parents are in town! Go get Eve so we can head back.” He demanded.
“It’ll only take a minute. We really need to talk.”
“No we don’t. I need my daughter and I need to get back to my parents.”
“I’ll come with you!” She suggested.
“What?!? My mother does NOT want to see you!”
“She doesn’t!?” She replied, acting clueless. Brandy knew his mother was no longer a fan of hers.
“No! Dammit, Brandy stop doing this. We are separated because you cheated on me. There is no more visiting my parents together and it damn sure won’t be any more family dinners in your house.”
“Our house.” She corrected.
“Your house. I told you to keep it.”
“Keep it?”
“Yes. Keep the damn house Brandy. I’ll get another one. I’m fine with the apartment. Three bedrooms, big enough for me, Chase, and Eve.” He hastily explained.
“How’s Chase handling all of this?”
“He’s doing fine. Brandy PLEASE GO GET MY DAUGHTER!”
“What is your issue? Can’t you see I’m trying here!?!?” Brandy cried.
“And can’t you see this is over? I’m filing for divorce.”
“Charles I know I messed up but...”
“Go get Eve!” He commanded.
Brandy didn’t want to face the reality that Charles was not coming back. Thinking of one last ploy, she thrusted herself forward, throwing her arms around him.
“Bran-Stop! What are you doing?!?! The neighbors are going to see this!”
“I don’t care!” She cried, holding onto him.
“Move Brandy! I’ll go get her myself.” Charles removed her arms from around his neck.
Barging into the house, he headed straight to Eve.
“My baby girl!” He said picking her up.
“I love you Charles!” Brandy screamed.
Walking back into the foyer, Charles rolled his eyes pushing past her.
“I’ll have her back Wednesday night.” He turned and said. “Are you going to kiss Eve goodbye?”
Brandy shook her head.
“Fine. Bye Brandy.”
Replaying that embarrassing scenario almost made her dart back to the parking garage. After nights of crying while reading divorce papers, Brandy made the decision to fix her heart. She had to get better in order to be a good parent.
“Mrs. Jones.” Dr. Sumpter said, closing the office door. “So nice to have you.”
“Thank you.”
“Have a seat. We’ll just talk and determine how I can help.” She said, settling in a floral chair across from Brandy. “What brings you here today?”
She looked into Dr. Sumpter’s eyes with tears nearly blinding her vision. Not knowing what to say nor how to say it when figured out. Dropping her head into her hands, she answered.
“I don’t know. I just know I made a mess of things and I need to be fixed.”
“And how did you make a mess of things?” The doctor replied handing Brandy a box of tissues.
“Thank you.” She replied, cleaning her face. “I uh. I ruined my marriage. I single handedly destroyed a good marriage. Now, my child will grow up with two parents in two different places. All because of me.”
“It takes two to make a marriage work Mrs. Jones.”
“Brandy.” She said, lifting up her head and hands. “Please. Please call me Brandy. Mrs. Jones. I destroyed Mrs. Jones. I don’t deserve to be called that.”
“Okay Brandy. What happened in your marriage that couldn’t be repaired?”
“I cheated on my husband. My wonderful, loving, do anything to make me happy husband. And I cheated on him with some no-good idiot of a man. A man that I didn’t even want. A man who I only talked to just for some attention because I made up in my mind that my husband was going to hurt me.” She blurted.
“First things first. What made you think that your husband was going to hurt you?”
“Because that’s what happens right? It happened before. My previous relationship was with a man whom I loved so dearly. Did everything in my power to make it work although he lied, cheated, left it all up to me to take care of everything. And he hurt me time and time again. Abused me. I had no other choice but to think it was going to happen again right? Life showed me that no matter how good of a woman I am to these men, I’m going to lose.”
“Brandy. What happened was that you jumped into another relationship unhealed.” Dr. Sumpter replied sincerely. “You didn’t take that time.”
“But I did. I gave it a few months. Moved. Stopped dating or even the thought of dating.” Brandy started to cry again. “I walked away from that hurtful man.”
“Did you husband hurt you.”
She shook her head. “No. No he didn’t. And I was so mean to him. Mean for no reason. Mean to him before he could ever be mean to me. But, I had a point to prove. I had to SHOW him that I wasn’t going to be THAT woman!”
“You turned into the thing that hurt you.” Dr. Sumpter explained. “See when we don’t make peace with certain parts of our past, we tend to carry it with us. A lot of times we don’t even notice it being there. It lies dormant within our souls, waiting for a trigger. Then all hell breaks loose. Tell me. What do you want to accomplish here?”
Brandy took a minute to think. Wiping her nose and gathering thoughts. Those words were deep. It was like Dr. Sumpter put everything she felt over the years into perspective within the first few minutes of meeting her.
“I want to be a good woman again. Charles is done with me. I can’t get him to love me again. But I can’t carry this toxic behavior with me now. I’m a mother. I don’t want my daughter growing up thinking that this is how a woman supposed to behave.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “Dr. Sumpter. I have to straighten up for her. So she’ll know her self-worth, her value, and know that her mother, despite her mistakes, is a good woman.”
“That’s a great start. We’ll begin there. The goal here is not to win your husband back. But to heal those broken pieces and for you to move forward with your life releasing the past, the regret, the anger and that vengeance you wanted to so bad.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I want my baby to be proud to say that I’m her mother. And I owe it to myself as well.”
________
Two Years Later.
“Happy Biiiiiirthdaaay Dear Eeeeevvveee!” Everyone sung in unison. “Happy Birthday tooooo youuuuuu!”
Eve wasn’t thinking about blowing out candles. The new three year old was more interested in eating the princess decorated cake. Charles and Brandy blew them out for her. After making that big exhale, their eyes locked for a moment, making a freeze-frame in time. An instant that took them back to the evening they met at the bar. That small spark which landed them in the role as co-parents to a beautiful baby girl. Although they hadn’t been together in two years, there was still love between them.
“Eve! Open my gift first!” Chase said interrupting the moment between Brandy and Charles.
“Awe Look Eve!” Brandy said. “Your big brother got you a gift. Now let’s see what it is.”
She sat down with Eve in her lap, opening Chase’s gift.
“So what was that all about?” Phil asked Charles, pulling him aside.
“What?” Charles replied, pretending he didn’t know what Phil was talking about.
“That look.”
“Huh?”
“Man don’t play. If we weren’t here, you two would be ripping each other’s clothes off.”
Charles laughed. “Man stop it. Brandy and I are just co-parents. That time is done.”
“You still dating that girl?” Phil pried.
“Who Sheila? Nah, she’s too needy. I don’t want anything serious right now.”
“Because you still love your wife.” He interjected.
“Ex-wife Phil.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t man. I really don’t.”
“Look dad! I got Eve a princess piano!” Chase yelled to his father.
“Great, more noise.” Charles replied.
“I’ll keep this one at my house.” Brandy said smirking in his direction.
He flashed a sexy smile at his ex-wife. Admiring her body and smile, just a beautiful woman looking even more gorgeous holding their daughter.
“Monica, can you help me get more plates?” Brandy asked, getting up from the picnic table.
“Sure!” Monica replied.
Over the course of the time without Charles, she and Brandy became close. Monica was the only one from Charles’ side who didn’t disown or judge his ex-wife.
“Hey, hold the birthday girl.” Brandy handed Eve to Charles. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“She can walk Brandy.” He laughed.
“It’s her birthday. The birthday girl must be carried around.” She replied, giving him a sexy grin.
Walking inside of the house, Brandy felt a sharpness in her chest. It was the anxiety of seeing her ex-husband once again and not being able to kiss him. She never got over Charles. Never dated anyone knew. She took the time to work on herself without looking to fill the void with another man’s heart to possibly destroy.
Therapy, meditation, church, and any self-help book she could get her hands on, occupied Brandy’s time when she wasn’t being a mother or working. It was important to fix those toxic parts; determined to be ready if love came around again.
“Why are you looking at me like that Monica?” She asked searching through cabinets.
“You know why.” Monica grinned.
“Nope. I don’t”
“You and Charles.”
“What about me and Charles?”
“Girl C’mon! He has been eyeing your ass jiggling in that sundress all afternoon. And you flirting...Chile. Looks like a storybook romance to me.”
“Please! Charles don’t want me. He divorced ME, remember. I tried to get him back and he was adamant about being a father to Eve ONLY!” Brandy clarified.
“Well. You DID hurt his ego by... Well you know what happened.”
“Monica.” She sneered.
“You did. But you didn’t have sex. AND, time has passed. As we all know, time heals all wounds.” Monica reassured.
“Let’s say I do want him back. He’s probably moved on anyway. There could be another woman waiting for this damn party to be over, so he can go home to her. Or better yet, meet her somewhere to have a perfect date night. I’m no longer in his heart. It’s time for me to start thinking about moving on with my life. You know, start dating again.”
“You sure you wanna do that?”
Just as Monica asked Brandy the million dollar question, Charles made his way with Eve near the house.
“Yes! My therapy has been going really well. I’m no longer angry, sad, blaming myself, nor feeling sorry for myself. Being a mom is number one, don’t get me wrong. However, it has been a while since I’ve been SATISFIED.” She laughed.
“I know that’s the truth. When I divorced Tony, it was hell on me.” Monica’s eyes drifted to the ceiling, reminiscing. “Just having a man to hold you at night. Mmm, such a comforting feeling.”
“Then you met Sean.” Brandy added.
“Yes I met Sean. But, I had to make sure it was really over with Tony.”
“Tony wasn’t worth a damn.” She mumbled.
“I know that...now.” Monica laughed. “But what I mean is, I couldn’t truly move on until I knew that my heart wasn’t filled with Tony. Now answer this, is your heart still filled with Charles?”
“I can’t want any man that doesn’t want me.” She said in a drab voice, shaking her head.
Charles walked in on their conversation, startling them. “Hey um. Eve messed up her dress.”
“I-I’ll go change her. You can uh, take care of the paper plates.”
Brandy quickly grabbed her daughter, walking to Eve’s room.
His eyes adorned her walking away, waiting until she was out of sight to drill Monica.
“The hell were you two talking about?” He turned and asked.
“You fool! What else would we be talking about?” She replied giggling.
“It’s weird how you two became best buds.”
“It is but um, we understand each other, and I wanted to make sure Chase still kept a good relationship with her.”
“That was nice of you. If it were up to me, Chase would have forgotten her name.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
“Nah. I’m over being mad.” Charles replied, fumbling with the stack of paper plates. “Couldn’t take that out on the kids.”
“You wanna know something?”
“No. But I know you’re gonna tell me anyway.”
“Exactly.” Monica said pointing at him. “You two should talk.”
Charles sighed. “Monica.”
“No, REALLY talk. Without any unwarranted feelings. You guys never actually talked about things. Whatever the outcome may be, at least you two would have that.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged.
“For Eve.” Monica winked, grabbing the paper plates from Charles’ shaking hands. “I’m going back to the party. I don’t like to miss out on cake.”
As Monica walked outside, Charles stayed in the kitchen waiting for Brandy to return with Eve. Minutes later, she emerged with their daughter in a new outfit.
“There’s my clean birthday girl!” He said smiling.
Eve smiled and laughed at seeing her father.
“Brandy. You did a great job with the party.”
“Thanks. Thought we should do something good for her third birthday since birthday # 2 wasn’t very memorable.”
“I’m sorry about that. I just wasn’t ready to...”
“Don’t worry about it.” Brandy shrugged. “I understand.”
“It’s not like she’ll remember much anyway.” Charles joked.
“I do think you’re right.” She nodded, keeping an eye on Eve wiggling in her arms.
“Brandy, when this is over. Can we talk?” He asked staring at the side of her face.
“Ok.” She said, moving her eyes down. “Is something wrong?”
“No. I just think we should talk about things.”
“Things like what?”
“Us.” Charles replied, inching closer.
“Us?” Brandy asked, turning to meet his gaze. “What about us? I thought things were on track with the schedule for Eve.”
“Not us as in being here for Eve. Us as in....Me and you.”
She gave a confused look at Charles. She didn’t understand how after all that time, he wanted to talk about the two of them.
“Charles, I’m confused. It took us over a year to get to this place. Did I do something wrong?”
“No! No! Brandy. Look.” He said taking Eve from her. “We never had a chance to iron things out.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to. I mean, I wanted to go to counseling, give us a break then come back together. Anything I could think of, and all you wanted was a divorce. I gave you what you wanted. Thought that would make you happy.”
“I know. But...” Charles paused, bouncing Eve in his arms. “I still think that we should just talk. Please.”
“Okay. You can stick around and help me clean up after the party.” She gave in.
“I was going to do that anyway.” He said with a nervous smile. “Thank you.”
“Yep.”
Charles noticed the change in Brandy. Her demeanor went from desperate and selfish antics to win him back, to being at peace with letting him go. He was even impressed that she went to therapy to be a better mom and get herself together. It took a long time for him to get over being cheated on, but once he did, Charles realized he still loved her. Even during his time dating the rebound girl, Sheila. Phil calling him out only showed that he couldn’t hide those feelings any longer.
After the party, Charles put Eve down for a nap as Brandy washed dishes. He didn’t know how to start “the talk”, but something had to be said in order to get the ball rolling.
“Can you take a break from the dishes and come sit with me at the table?” He asked walking into the kitchen.
“Sure.” She replied wiping her hands on a dish towel.
“I honestly don’t know where to start.” He chuckled. “I just...I just wonder what could have been, you know?”
“I’ve been there.” She nodded. “Then, I had to leave that place because it drove me crazy.”
“I have to be honest. I didn’t want our family to end up like this.”
“Me neither. But, I messed up and I had to deal with the consequences of my actions.”
“Let me ask you.” He took a deep breath. “Did I do anything wrong? You know, while we were together?”
Brandy shook her head. “I was caught up in the idea of hurting you before you hurt me. But realized too late that, it was just a figment of my crazy imagination. You did right by me Charles. You were a good man. You ARE a good man. And I didn’t appreciate that when we were together.”
“Thanks for saying that.” He said, curling the corners of his mouth. “But I feel like I could have done more.”
“Did you blame yourself all this time?”
“Well, not fully but I felt like I shared part of the blame.”
That hurt Brandy. Her true intentions were to never make him feel guilty for cheating.
“Charles don’t ever blame yourself for what I did. That was MY choice. Based on MY past, that I didn’t let go.”
“Maybe I should have given Monica more boundaries.”
She gave a weird look to the side as Charles continued.
“I know she was around a lot but I just wanted to give Chase a normal life.”
“I know you tried Charles. You did the best you could at that time. No one can blame you for that.”
“You remember our first date?” He smiled.
“Oh man how could I forget? Beating your ass at basketball!” Brandy laughed.
Charles laughed. “I should have known you would remember.”
“What made you think of that?”
“I dunno.” He replied, rubbing his palms together. “Just thinking.”
They reminisced on their first date in silence. Small smiles snuck across their faces, waiting for the other person to speak.
“Charles, I’m sorry for not being a better woman to you. You deserved better and I gave you hell for another man’s mistake.”
“I forgive you Brandy. I knew deep down, the woman you are today was always there.”
“I wish I would have met you a looooong time ago.” She giggled. “We would be happy, working on our second baby.”
“I wasn’t always good before I met you Brandy. I had to grow up too.”
“I’m sure you did. But, I lost an amazing man. Sometimes I still hate myself for that.”
“Don’t hate yourself. The important thing is that you realized where you went wrong and did something about it. I’m proud of you for taking control of your life.”
“Thanks. It means a lot coming from you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Charles took a long pause, staring at Brandy.
“What are you thinking?” She asked with a strange expression.
“Do you really want to know?” He smirked.
“Yes! I do.”
“Getting you out of that sundress.” He uttered.
Realizing what he just said, Charles struggled with getting an apology out.
Brandy almost knocked over the chair, rushing to get up from the table.
“Um. I’m going to go check on Eve.” She said leaving the room.
Smiling all the way to her daughter’s bedroom, she couldn’t fathom what was happening.
“Look Brandy. I’m sorry.” He said following her into their daughter’s room. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Shhh. Don’t wake her. I think she’ll be out for the rest of the night.”
“You want me to stay just in case she wakes up?” Charles whispered. “You’ve been busy with the party all day. I can give you a break.”
“Um. Ok. If you want.”
They retired in the living room, hoping to find something good on Netflix. Both wondering what to do next and once again, waiting on the other person to speak.
“You wanna watch a movie or binge watch something?” Brandy asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
She rolled her eyes in his direction. “Charles. Pick something please.”
Taking the remote, he found a 90s movie they used to watch together in bed.
“Is that better Miss Brandy?” He teased.
“Yes. It is Mr. Charles.”
Halfway through the movie, the two found themselves snuggling in each other’s arms. No questions or second thoughts, just a natural feeling of being close.
“You don’t have a woman waiting for your call?” She asked resting comfortably with his arm around her waist.
“No. My last girl and I broke up.”
“Why?”
“She wanted too much of my time.”
“And you weren’t available to give it to her?” Brandy asked, shocked. That wasn’t the Charles she knew.
“I guess there was something holding me back.”
She didn’t ask another question. Part of her thought she was the reason he didn’t move on. But she didn’t want to know for sure, just in case the notion was wrong.
“No more questions?” Charles asked tickling her.
“No.” Brandy chuckled. “That’s not my business.”
“Where’s your man? Do I need to be worried about somebody showing up?”
“I haven’t had a man since you.”
“Wow!” He replied. “So nobody umm.”
“Now THAT’S none of your business!”
“Ok! I’ll leave it alone.” He laughed.
By midnight, they were in bed cuddling in the dark. Both awake, talking about random things and remembering old times.
“I think we need a rematch of basketball.” Charles suggested.
“Why? I played you seven times.” She said turning to face him. “I beat you five of those times.”
He flexed his raised arm. “I’ve been working out.”
“You always work out.”
“On occasion. But now I’m in the gym on the regular.”
“Charles. I don’t think that’ll be fair. I had a baby.”
“Three years ago!” He laughed.
“So what. It takes a while for a woman’s body to bounce back”
“Body looks good to me. I think you’ve bounced enough.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You look good Brandy.”
“Thanks.”
Her eyes danced up and down his face, lit by the living room lamps shining in. “Charles?”
“Yes.”
“What are we doing?”
“Planning a rematch game.”
“Not that. You know what I mean. You being here.”
“Brandy. I’d be lying if I said my feelings for you went away.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Whatever you want to do.”
“What do you want Charles? Me? Us back together?” She sat up. “Look, my feelings for you never left. I spent a long time praying for you to come back. Now I’m in a place where I can accept that we’ll never be together. And here you are. In my bed.”
“You hurt me. Bad. I was angry for the longest. Once I let that anger go, I remembered why I fell in love with you in the first place.”
“Why did you?”
“Because that night I met you, I saw a strong, confident, and feisty woman who knew what she wanted. I saw a woman who I wanted to build something with. A woman who could make me laugh. But somehow, that got lost.”
“I wasn’t in a good place Charles.” Brandy defended.
“I know. Guess I thought I could fix you or something.”
“We’ve delved into the past enough today. What do you want Charles?!” She demanded.
“I want us to try again. Get it right this time. Take things slow but...”
“Would you be able to fully trust me?” Brandy interrupted.
“Yes. You cheating on me had nothing to do with me. That was on you. That’s what you said right?”
She nodded in embarrassment.
“Brandy.” Charles continued. “I can’t move on. I can’t open up to another woman like I did with you.”
“You still love me?” She asked in a low tone.
He didn’t answer. Charles sat up in bed and leaned over kissing his ex-wife. Those old feelings shot through her body like a bolt of lightning.
“I still love you Brandy.” He said after their reconnection kiss.
He knew Brandy was a good woman. She just needed guidance in getting back to herself. Guidance that she had to seek on her own, without him.
She stared into his eyes. Eyes that she’d been longing to stare into since the day he left.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” He asked anxiously.
“Yea. I’m. Just. Shocked that’s all.” Brandy smiled with tears. “I never stopped loving you. I never wanted to be without you. I’m sorry I messed up and hurt you. You loved me, just for being me.”
“I know and like I said before, I forgive you. I want to be here with you and Eve. Can we work at this?”
Brandy was getting a chance to right the wrongs. Wrongs caused by a vengeance spirit. Once that demon was exorcised, she was ready to love Mr. Right, in the RIGHT way.
The true love between them needed time apart to heal every morsel of pain. But as they say, true love never dies.
The next morning, Brandy, Charles, and Eve spent most of their Sunday in bed. Although the two weren’t ready to head back down the aisle immediately, they were well on their way to begin reconciling. Charles coming back showed Brandy that life had so much more than more heartbreak in her future. He was indeed a rare breed!
So when you finally get something real, are you still hurting? You better let it go. “Rare breeds” don’t come around very often nor give second chances. I didn’t get one.
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