Page 4 of Love In Harbor Falls

A wave of heat and nausea rushed through me, forcing me to lie down on the bed. My heart raced like it had never raced before, and my belly churning was so fierce I flew off the bed and into the bathroom. After wiping my mouth and splashing some cold water on my face, I climbed on the bed and sobbed, for I was in a state of shock. How could the man I loved and trusted do such a thing? My mind was spinning with different scenarios. Scenarios about what he’d say or how he’d explain himself. Little did I know that when I woke up this morning, it would be the day my marriage to Darren Richards would come to an end.

I didn’t leave the bed once the entire day—the clothes I had taken from the closet lay in a pile on the floor. The many times I picked up my phone to call my sister and Luis, I would set it down, for if I had told them what I’d found, then it would make it all that more real. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them out of humiliation.

Darren walked into the bedroom and stared at the pile of clothes on the floor.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on? I tried to call you earlier, but you didn’t answer. You didn’t end up going out today?”

The sadness I’d felt all day turned to the rage the moment I saw him.

“Why did you get a vasectomy?” The words fell out of my mouth in a harsh and bitter tone.

“Wh—What are you talking about?”

He began to walk over to the bed, and I stopped him.

“Don’t you dare come any closer.” My voice was shaky and unsteady. “I found this in one of the suits you wanted me to take to Goodwill.” I threw the paper at him. “How could you do that to me? To us?” my voice raised as I climbed out of bed. “Who does that to their wife?”

He knew he had no choice but to tell me the truth and how he really felt. He knew this day would eventually come.

“I don’t want kids, Adalyn. Plain and simple. I decided that after you had the miscarriage.”

“You decided?” I shouted. “You decided you didn’t want children, so you just went out and got a vasectomy without even discussing it with me?”

“You need to calm down so we can talk about this like mature adults.”

“Calm down?! You did the cruelest thing to me that anyone could ever do. I never had a chance of getting pregnant, and you knew that, yet you led me to believe that every month, I had a chance for the last year and a half! You saw what it did to me, Darren.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you. Maybe after you realized it wasn’t happening, you’d give up, and we could go about our lives like we were before you got pregnant. I wanted children, and then I realized I didn’t. I don’t want to be responsible for another human being. I like my life the way it is.”

“You are a despicable human being.” Tears streamed down my face. “This marriage is over, Darren. Completely over. I will not be married to someone who is capable of such betrayal and dishonesty. I thought I knew you, but I don’t know you at all. Just get out!” I ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

“We can discuss this once the shock wears off and you calm down. I’ll stay at the Plaza tonight.”

As far as I was concerned, nothing more was to be said. After making sure he left, I packed my things and headed to my sister’s house.

* * *

Two Weeks Later

Idecided I needed to leave New York for a while, hoping a change of scenery would help heal the unbearable heartache and misery I felt. But first, I needed to decide where I wanted to escape to.

As Hannah and I sat on her bed, looking at old pictures from our childhood, I came across one of Hannah, our grandmother, and me standing on a beach. It was the last time we had seen her before she passed away. Turning the picture over, I took note of the handwriting on the back:

Harbor Falls, 1994.

“Remember when we went here?” I handed Hannah the picture.

“Yeah. Grandma rented a house there the summer before she passed away. I remember when we built those sandcastles, and mine was better. You got mad and kicked it down.” She laughed.

I was up all night thinking about the trip we took to Harbor Falls all those years ago when I was seven. Although I didn’t remember much, I did remember the soft sand and the soothing sound the waves made as they crashed into the shore. I also remembered the light breeze and the smell of the saltwater air that filtered through the open windows of our grandmother’s summer beach home. The more I thought about that place, the more drawn to it I became. Harbor Falls would be the perfect place to escape for a few days—just long enough to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and away from my impending divorce.

I made flight arrangements the following day and reserved a car at the airport for when I arrived in South Carolina.

“Call me when you get there so I know you made it safe,” Hannah spoke as she hugged me.

“I will.”

“I wish I could go with you. You know I would, right?”