Stubborn Love

Evan gets a latter from his dad he hasn't seen in decades.

“It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all
The opposite of love's indifference
So pay attention now, I'm standing on your porch screaming out
And I won't leave until you come downstairs”

~Stubborn Love by the lumineers

Evan typed away on the computer in the living room. He was chatting with his four friends, Gabriel, Lucas, Todd and Benjamin on Facebook. Next week a baseball game was being held and Gabriel was hosting a party and decided to bring his friends and their children for a play date. They all had children, the eldest being seven and the youngest two. Evan had three children, Rowan and Casey who are seven and Maya who just turned three. Gabriel had the youngest Addison who just had his second birthday yesterday. Evan took a quick glance at his children who were watching TV and the focused his attention back on the computer screen. As he chatted with his friends he scrolled through facebook looking at the pictures his mother posted of her new grill and a new bed his sister purchased for her son.

“Daddy can I ask you a question?” Rowan asked. It was a commercial break and the kids looked at their dad.

“Yeah sure what is it?” He said thinking it was something silly.

“Mommy has two daddy’s and two mommy’s and you have one mommy and no daddy. Why don’t you have a daddy?” She asked. Casey and Maya nodded their heads in agreement. He froze in front of the computer trying to comprehend what she just said. He prayed that they would never asked but Kristina his wife told them they would soon realize. His wife wasn’t home at the moment, she was out shopping with friends, she wasn’t there to help him. He turned to his children and leaned forward taking a deep breath.

“Daddy are you okay?” Casey seemed worried. He thought his dad was hurt in some way.

“Well my daddy chose not to be part of this family.” He replied looking down at the floor.

“Why?” Maya asked.

“I...i...don’t want to talk about it.” He admitted focusing his attention back to the computer.

“I’m sorry daddy.” Maya said. The three kids hugged him and went back watching the TV.

Evan’s dad Samuel was originally married to his mother Caroline but found another woman named Yasmin and fell in love and divorced Caroline. He and his sister Ainsley saw him for several years. He hadn’t seen him since he was twenty, he is thirty-nine. Evan hated Yasmin and refused to refer her as his step mother, instead he called her “his father's wife.” He was angry at him for many reasons. A big one being that he never came to his wedding. Now his children asked him about his father, the man who left him.

***

         Kristine found Samuel's address and wrote a long letter to him. She didn’t says who it was from out of ear of Yasmin throwing it away. She talked to him about how their life is and their children. She wrote down their birthdays and their names and ages and likes and dislikes. She talked about Evan and his age and how he is doing. The letter filled the front and almost the back of the page. She didn't tell Evan, cause what if he didn't write back. Then what kind of a*****e father is he? She signed her name at the bottom and included a picture of the family.

        When she put the kids to bed she still had a couple of hours before her husband showed up from his job. She slipped on her black jacket and brown boots and walked out in the dark cold. Little snowflakes sprinkled down from the sky and landed softly on the ground marking the first snowfall of the winter. The street lights lit up the snow and how lovely it looked underneath the lights. Kristine made it to the mailbox and slipped the letter in and pulled up the red flag.

“Oh Lord please let him write back and not throw it away.” She prayed looking at the dark sky.

She walked back inside and took of her boots and coat and rested on the couch. She turned on the television and started to watch a documentary about Abraham Lincoln she recorded yesterday. Couple hours passes and Evan came home. The rumble of the garage signaled his coming.

“Hello loves how was your day?” Evan asked unboxing a TV dinner.

“It was fine, Rowan and Casey have a school project about family trees. Maya made a new friends today at school, and I got an interview for a newspaper editor.”

“That is amazing, well I got a promotion today at work and a raise.”

He sat down next to his wife and took a scope of his Mac n cheese. Kristine was talking how Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president. Evan never cared about learning about presidents but would listen to his wife talk about them. He respected that and encouraged her to learn more. He once went to the library and got her three documentaries. She finished them in a day. She loved learning and would spend all day if she could watching documentaries. Evan on the other hand drew tons of art, he was an architecture and had four tablets. Three were for his children. His children wanted to be like him. They wanted to be an artist and Evan scourged it greatly. He bought them art kits and smocks and sculpting clay. He spent five hours one day working on a drawing of a tree. He wanted all his drawings to be perfect as possible.

“I’m exhausted honey. I’m going to take a shower and get some sleep.” He said as he brought his empty plastic tray to the kitchen. He dropped it in the trash can and walked to his room.

***

It had been almost a week since she sent the card to Samuel. She started to think he never wrote back and threw the card away or his wife did. She walked outside to the mailbox heart racing as she slowly opened the black metal door. Letters and magazines folded neatly laid in the metal container being protected from the storm. She grabbed them and shut the door and walked down up the driveway and back into the the warmth of the house. She sorted through the mail which was mostly bills and magazines until she saw a letter. She read the name which read: To Kristine and Evan GIbson From: Samuel Gibson.

She broke into tears as she opened the letter and read each word and included was his phone number. Evan came rushing hearing his wife cry. Without saying a word she handed him the letter and Evan broke down sobbing.

Author's Note

this story is based on true story. Evan's wife writing a letter to her father in law is a true event. The character are based of my family. My father never seen his father in decades. Names are changed for privacy reasons.

Reviews

[Bibliophile-Tipsy]

Well Written
Dashes that left unfilled by Parents
Are unable to be filled by any other
No matter how dear they Are
And we always Feel love for that father how left us
With torn.. We always remember little moment that we spent with them..!!