Sarah sat on a porch swing in the enclosed porch of their rented cabin in Lancaster. She could see for miles over the flatland covered in layers of snow. Sipping a cup of tea she thought about the past few weeks. She finally had time to read and to recollect herself.
Sarah smiled as the birds flew by the front window, probably escaping the cold and were headed South.
“Sarah?”
“Yeah?” she turned to face her husband who stood against the porch’s entryway.
“Your dad’s on the phone.”
“He is? I haven’t talked to him since-”
“I know. Try not to stress yourself out.”
“Is my mom okay?” Sarah said with a frown.
“Yeah. He told me she’s on the mend.”
“Good. Do you know why he’s calling?”
“No. I can tell him you’re busy.”
“I should talk to him,” Sarah said then stood up from the porch swing and stretched her body.
“I’ll bring the phone to you…”
“It’s chilly out here now that I’ve stood up,” Sarah said with a soft smile and walked back into the cabin.
****
“Are you saying it was my fault?” Sarah said as she laid in the bed and wiped the tears from her cheek.
“Well, you could have done something differently.” Her father said in a rough voice.
“Differently?” Sarah said with a scoff then continued “My reaction to what happened to me doesn’t-”
“You could have screamed?”
“It wasn’t my first reaction. Father, I have to go-”
“Sarah I promised your mother we’d start talking and getting along."
“I’m not going to agree with you just so we can pretend to get along. Goodbye.” Sarah abruptly ended the call. She tossed her phone to the opposite side of the bed and closed her eyes.
“How dare he!” she whispered to herself. Her father had stooped low in the past, but never something as bad as this. Sarah couldn’t believe he would say that to her.
A knock on the bedroom door startled her from her thoughts.
“How’s your dad?” Chris said opening the bedroom door and sitting on the edge of the bed.
“He thinks it’s my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“The assault. He blames me for what happened.”
“Why would he say something like that?”
Sarah ran her hand through her hair and continued,
“That I should have screamed when the man burst into our apartment.”
“That’s messed up honey. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Sarah held onto her husband’s hand and said “I was thinking about how he didn’t even visit me when I was in the hospital. But I remember he did send a bouquet of flowers.”
“You mean the ones you had me toss in the trash once you found out they were from him?”
“Yeah. I just don’t understand why he’s so cruel to me.”
“I don’t know why either.”
Sighing she looked down at the blanket across her lap and said, “Even though we've had some rough patches lately you and I are still going strong.” Sarah felt Chris lift up her chin and gently kissed her lips.
“Thanks for everything,” she said then kissed her husband again. She knew everything would be alright.
****
Sarah poured herself another glass of hibiscus tea into her mug as she answered a few emails. She heard her husband’s footsteps across the wooden floors and he stood behind her. He slipped his arms around her waist and said, “I thought you weren’t working this weekend.”
“I’m not.” Sarah said with a laugh and continued “Just answering a few emails. I don’t want to have massive emails to go through when we go back home.”
“Well…I’m about to make breakfast, so you if you want some hurry up,” Sarah smiled at Chris before returning to her emails.
“Honey?” Sarah said about 20 minutes later when she took a bite of buttered toast.
“Yeah?”
“Detective Adam sent me this video. He said it’s from the day of my attack.”
She played the video and was surprised to see someone break into their home.
“Who is that?” Chris said.
“I…I don’t know. I’ll call Detective Adam to see if he can give us more information.”
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