by Melinda Barr

Created on: February 14, 2009

Trust

She trusted him with her life. Perhaps that was naive of her, but that's the way she was. She was always soft spoken and as gentle as a lamb. She rarely raised her voice, and never did she raise it in anger. She was at his beck and call and believed herself to be a perfect wife and mother.

Celia had been a young bride, barely nineteen when they wed. But even at that young age she knew that Ted was the love of her life. She welcomed both of her children into the world and sheltered them from all pain and evil as best she could. Although many friends and neighbors thought her a little over protective, both Ted and Celia believed they were doing the right thing.

They never lied to the children, no matter what the circumstances were. The trust bond that weaved through this family of four was truly strong and unbreakable. Billy, their eldest, was soon to be fifteen years old, and the baby, Lexie, was about to turn four. Parents and children alike shared a warm, loving and trusting relationship with each other.

Ted had been behaving strangely lately; he seemed a bit moody and distant. He started coming home later each evening and leaving the house earlier each morning. He took many trips out of town, but then, he had always travelled a lot in his job. The only difference this time was that most of trips extended over the weekend as well. He claimed he was under pressure at work and everything would return to normal once he had completed the project he was currently working on.

Celia and the children believed him, why wouldn't they? He had never lied to them before and they certainly never suspected that he was lying now. It had never crossed their mind to think of Ted as anything less than a perfect husband and father. And he was perfect, or at least as near perfect as a man could be.

On his way to school one morning, Billy paused at the corner waiting for a break in traffic so that he could cross the street. A van pulled to the curb in front of him and a lady and two kids got out. Billy stared at the two youngsters, two of the prettiest little girls he had ever seen. They were very obviously twins, with blonde curls and sparkling blue eyes. He never really paid attention to little kids, but these two intrigued him for some reason. They were babies really, probably no older than two.

He watched the toddlers as they tumbled around, giggling happily. Suddenly, one of the little girls looked up and shouted gleefully "daddy's here, daddy's here."

As Billy turned away from the girls, he looked straight into the eyes of his father.

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