Christian
I watch as Molly struggles to control her breathing and I'm worried that she's about to give herself a panic attack. "Molls, it's ok. You dont have to do this." We're both sitting on the swing on the back porch but there's a huge gap between us so I move closer to her and gently rub her back. She looks up at me and slowly shakes her head. "No. I need to do this. It's time." She takes a couple of slow deep breaths and thankfully she seems to somewhat calm down.
As she goes to open her mouth Tom appears out of the back door, he doesn't say anything just takes a moment to look at Molly before coming to stand in front of us and handing her a large envelope. It's the envelope from earlier, the one holding the secret. "I thought you may want this darlin' may make things a bit easier to explain. She gives him a small smile as she takes it from him but doesn't say a word as he gives us both a nod and disappears back inside the house.
Molly spends a few seconds playing with the envelope threading it through her fingers and quietly cursing to herself. She turns to look at me, I'm not sure what she's looking for in me but she must find it as she leaves me pretty shocked when she hands me the envelope. "Have a look." She turns back to face the backyard and I find myself the one now staring at the envelope. "You sure Molls?" She nods her head. "Tom is right, it may help, may make talking about it easier. Take a look, Chris."
I nod even though she's still facing the backyard and can't see me. My hands slightly tremble as I open the envelope up but I do my best to shake it off. I get it open and reach inside to find several pieces of paper and a small stack of photos. "What the hell are these...is this Archie?"
It had been a few good years since I had last seen him before his death but the guy in these pictures definitely looks like him. She nods yes as I continue to look through all of the pictures, there are at least ten pictures here and each one has a sticky label attached to it with names and dates.
I finish looking through them and then it hits me, What I've actually just been looking at. Fuck! Molly must see the realization hitting me as she once again nods."I don't get it... there's what four or five diff-" Before I can finish my sentence Molly stops me "Six." She looks out at the backyard as she says the word but then looks back at me with a look of anguish that is painful to see. " I don't understand."
I know I'm acting pretty stupid right now but it seems as though my brain is taking a while to catch up with what my eyes are seeing. "It's pretty easy to understand Chris. There are ten photos of six different women and Archie is in every single picture."
"Jesus Christ!" What the hell do I say to this? Molly takes the pictures from me and looks through them again. I watch her as she takes in every detail of everything photo. "I hadn't really looked at them, not properly anyway, not until now that this." I don't say a word, just let her do what she needs to do. "Molls these pictures don't mean anything. Tom always said that both he and Archie have always had an equal amount of boy and girl friends, especially with their job."
For a moment I'm not sure why I'm trying to convince her of his innocence when the pictures clearly show something else but then she looks at me and straight away I realise why I'm trying to make this easier for her, it's because I want to get that look of her face. That look of anguish and sadness, that look that I never want to see on her face ever again.
"Holly shit!" Her words drag me away from my wandering thoughts. "What is it, sweetheart?" She clutches one of the photos tightly to her chest as tears roll down her face. "This.. this woman she's pregnant in this picture and her name... her name is the same name as the one involved with the case. The one who's claiming she has Archies child... has Archie's child"
The more she's revealing the more I can feel my anger rising. "What the fuck was wrong with him!" I don't mean the say the words out loud but I don't regret them either. "Clearly there was something wrong with me and something wrong with our marriage."
"No, I won't have you putting any of the blame on yourself. He did this Molly, not you!" She drags her eyes away from me and looks down at the floor. Nope, not happening. I lean down and hock my finger under her chin and raise her head until she's got no choice but to look at me. "I mean it, Molls. He messed it all up. He clearly didn't know when he had a good thing." Silent tears roll down her face then a raw sob rips from her throat and in that moment I just snap and before I can talk myself out of it I scoop her up and sit her in my lap.
She tries to wriggle free while mumbling something that I can't understand. "What you say darlin'?" She looks at me as she wipes some of the tears away from her face. "I said you don't need to do this. I don't want your pity. I don't want you being nice to me just because you feel sorry for me besides I'm too heavy to sit on your lap. I don't want to hurt you."
"Jesus Christ there are so many things wrong with that sentence." She starts squirming again but I just tighten my hold on her. "Stop wriggling. You're not going anywhere so behave." She gives me a shitty look and goes to say something but I stop her by putting my finger on her lips. "I'm going to talk now and I want you to listen, really listen ok?" She mumbles the word ok while my finger is still on her lips, lips that are now even more plumber than normal from all the crying that she's done.
"Ok, so first things first. I know that I don't need to do this but I want to. I'm pretty sure in the small time that you have known me you have learned that I don't do anything that I don't want to unless there's a serious reason. Two. I don't pity you, Molly. Yes, I feel sadness for you and what you're going through, for everything that you're finding out but I don't feel pity for you because pity is for weak people and you are anything but weak."
She tries to talk again but I ain't done yet. "I haven't finished. Please let me?" It's more a command than a question but still, I give her a moment to answer and when she nods agreeing I don't waste any more time just in case she changes her mind. "Now that we have those two sorted out it's time for the last one. You are not too heavy to sit on my lap, you barely weigh anything and I like you here. I don't know if this is a personal thing or if someone has made you feel like that but either way, it's all crap. you are beautiful inside and outside and you have one of the sexiest bodies I have ever seen in my life."
I know that I may be overstepping here but It's the truth and she needs to know that. I can imagine it's properly a shock for her to hear me speak like this after how I have treated her and I get that but if I have my way then she will be hearing that and more every single day so she had better get used to it. I watch as she takes my words in and her cheeks go a beautiful pink colour. She has no reason to be embarrassed but I have to admit that it's cute as hell.
A squeaking noise draws our attention to the back door and Tom slowly walks out and towards us. He looks at Molly sitting on my lap but he doesn't say a word. Again Molly tries to move off my lap but I just tighten my hold on her and she seems to get the hint as she stops wiggling and slowly relaxes her body thank fuck.
"How's it going?" He takes a seat in the chair across from us as he eyes up the papers and pictures that Molly is still holding. "He has seen the pictures. I also told him about the name on the picture... the pregnant woman." Tom nods then looks at me, the pain he's feeling for Molly is clear to see.
"What's on the papers?" I don't want to push her but curiosity has got to me. "They are letters. Letters from six women. The women in the pictures, they have sent me letters telling me everything that was going on and the pictures to back it up. She must have gathered them up to send me to back up her story."Fucking hell!
"I still dont get this," Tom says as he leans back in the chair looking up at the sky. I feel Molly once again tense up on me as she looks from the letters to Tom." He was sleeping with all six of them Tom. These letters and pictures show it all. Him kissing them in the photos and some of the details that they have given in the letters... well they couldn't have known them unless they knew him pretty personally."
I feel my anger rising again and go to speak but Molly starts talking and once again floors me with her words. "Four of them were just friends with benefits, it appears that they were all in cities where he was located regularly, In some of those places I wasn't with him but in others I was. The other two... the other two he was actually in relationships with and Jenny... the one he got pregnant... fuck they were engaged, Tom." Holy fuck!