Stolen Love (7 page)

“I need a mother, my mother.”

Charles had left work the same time Ashley did.

He stopped and got some flowers to put on his parents grave.

When he got to the cemetery, he saw Ashley's car. He walked up and saw her at his parent’s grave.

He stood back and he heard what she said to his mother.

When she finished talking, she put her hands over her face and began to cry, telling his mother she was confused, and how she really wanted to see her mother.

Charles walked up to her.

She looked at him and said, “Sorry.”

He helped her to get up. Then he held her in his arms, he broke down and started to cry. “I’m sorry for hurting you, all your pain is my fault.”

“I’ll never hurt you again, I love you.”

He held Ashley tight. All his pain came back from that day when he heard Marley was his daughter.

They walked over to the bench. They sat down trying to comfort each other.

He told Ashley, “Seeing you hurt, brought back the hurt I felt when the social worker said, ‘Go get your daughter.’”

“Those were beautiful words to me, but the way I got my daughter hurt me so badly.”

“I made a mistake when I hurt you, but my daughter will never be a mistake.”

“I will never be sorry she was born.”

Charles looked at Ashley saying. “I know it’s hard for you to forgive me. I was wrong for getting that angry with you, I should have walked away.”

He stood up and said, “Ashley you are safe with me now. You know that don’t you?”

She stood up; they went to put the flowers on the graves. Charles walked her back to her car, then he followed her home.

When they arrived home, they saw Marley riding on the ranch with the kids from another ranch.

Ashley said, “I want to be alone for a while.”

Charles replied, “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

She replied, “I’m okay, just for a little while.”

He told Ashley that he would check on her later. He went into the house.

The housekeeper said, “Dinner is on the stove. Marley did her homework, she’s out riding. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Charles went upstairs to take a shower and change clothes.

He came back downstairs and lay on the couch thinking about Ashley and waiting for her to come in from outside. Charles fell asleep.

It was getting dark, Marley’s friends rode home.

She came into the house and saw her daddy asleep so she went to get a shower.

When she finished her shower, she came downstairs to wake up her daddy.

“I'm ready to eat, Daddy, Do you want me to get mom?”

He said, “No, Baby, she's tired let her sleep. She'll eat later.” So, the two of them had dinner.

After dinner, Marley went to her room.

She was online talking with her Aunt Linda and Uncle Andrew. They told her they will be up next month for her birthday.

She talked with them for a while and got on the phone with a friend from school. Charles cleaned up the dinner dishes and lay back down on the couch.

Charles watched television for a couple of hours and then he went to check on Marley.

She was sleeping in her bed. He covered her and turned off the light in her room. He went downstairs to check on Ashley but he did not see any lights on in the guesthouse.

He walked down the sidewalk in backyard, sat on the swing in the gazebo, and started swinging.

Ashley was sitting in the dark. She heard something out back. She looked out the sliding glass door and saw Charles.

She went out the door and walked down the sidewalk to him. She sat on the swing with him and put her head on his shoulder.

He just kissed her on the head and kept on swinging.

He said, “I'm sorry, I told you that I would never hurt you again, but I was hurting you all along.”

“I just didn't want you to continue not thinking about what you wanted, however you want to do this.”

“If you want to see your mother I'll stand with you.”

“If you want to leave, we can work something out with Marley.”

Ashley replied, “I love it here. I love being with you and Marley.”

“I don't want to leave you. I know you love me and I know I don't want to spend another night without you.”

“I felt that when you held me at the cemetery today, so safe and so protected. Ashley continued, “As for my mother, the three of us can face her together.”

Ashley stood up and they walked into the house together. She spent the night with Charles. The next morning Ashley and Charles came downstairs together.

As Marley got dressed for school, Ashley went out the back door to the guesthouse to get ready for work.

When Ashley got dressed, she and Charles left for work. On the way there, they dropped Marley off at the bus stop.

Charles said to Marley, “When we get home tonight, we are going to plan your birthday and something else we need to plan.”

Marley asked, “Our trip to
Texas
to see Grams?”

Charles answered, “No something else.”

She said, “What else?”

He said, “Maybe a wedding.”

She said, “Yours!”

He shook his head yes, and she looked at her mother and said, “Really?”

Ashley answered, “Yes.”

Marley asked, “Tomorrow is Saturday, can we go out tonight?”

“That's my bus, see ya’ later!”

When Ashley and Charles got to work, she emailed Tiffany telling her she and Charles were getting married and to call her later.

When Tiffany came in her office, she saw the email Ashley had sent her. She told Dru and his parents.

Ashley and Charles day ended sitting around making plans for their wedding.

Ashley did not want a big wedding because she would not have her father to give her away. It will only be Charles's family.

Marley asked her father “When is the wedding?”

He told her sometime after your birthday.

Marley said, “If it's going to be just family, why not in on Grams ranch.”

“We can ask them, we go there anyway with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Linda every June.” Charles said, “We will make some calls Monday morning.”

“I have something special planned for tonight. Let's get ready, it's a surprise, and you'll need an overnight bag.”

The surprise was that Charles was taking them on a cruise.

Three weeks went by and the plans were made for the June wedding in
Texas
.

One month later, the weekend of Marley's birthday, her family was due to be in on Saturday morning. The party would be starting at 3 pm out by the lake.

Cousin Dru and Tiffany arrived first. Then an hour later Uncle Dru and Aunt Linda arrived for the party.

Marley introduced them to her mom.

Uncle Dru said, “I remember Ashley. It's been a long time!” and he hugged her.

Aunt Linda said to Ashley, “All I remember about you is…It was love at first sight.” pointing at Charles.

Everyone sat around talking about the wedding.

At 1 pm they setup Marley's party. Everyone except Tiffany and Marley helped. They went outside to swing on swings. The party started 3 pm. The children ran about having fun.

Uncle Andrew said to Marley, “You invited a lot of children didn't you.”

Smiling at her Uncle Andrew, she said to him, “The more children, the more gifts.”

Tiffany and Ashley walked to the gazebo and sat on the swing.

Ashley told Tiffany, “I really want my parents at my wedding because they weren't at my first one. I would love to walk down the aisle with my dad, but how can I explain this to them? What would they do?”

Tiffany answered, “What can they do! Charles did a better job than they did. Don't worry, it will work out.”

They walked back to the party in time to see Marley open her gifts.

Uncle said again, jokingly, “That's a lot of gifts.”

She looked at her Uncle and smiled; “Marley loves all of her gifts.”

The ranch foreman came up and said, “Special delivery for Marley Roxenbury.”

It was from Great Grandpa. Her very own saddle. He made it just for her. She looked in the bottom of the box and saw a small box from Grams. When she opened it, there was a necklace with a charm of a girl riding a horse.

Marley loved all her gifts from her party and thanked all of her friends and family.

Mom and Dad brought three go-carts. The children took turns riding around the ranch.

At 6 pm, the party wound up and the family sat around talking. It starting getting late, so Uncle Andrew and Aunt Linda stayed in the guesthouse, and Dru and Tiffany slept upstairs.

Early Sunday morning the family got up and went to church together, after church they went out for dinner.

That evening all their loved ones went back home. Everyone said their goodbyes and let them know that they would be seeing them in two months.