Choices and Mistakes

They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but sometimes the fury of a cheated husband is just as bad.

Thomas and Rachel Miller had always been the most unusual of couples. Thomas had always been the stable, reliable, not overly exciting type, while Rachel was unpredictable, wild, and always looking for fun.

They'd met in college and though none of their friends and family thought it would work their relationship grew and within a year of graduation they were married.

Thomas got a very good job working as a software engineer and Rachel found work as an interior designer. For 8 years they seemed to defy the odds and live a happy life together, they'd already had two sons and they had a third child on the way. Thomas was a very happy and proud father and he held Rachel's hand as she gave the great effort to bring their third child into the world. Between contractions Rachel couldn't help but feel very lucky to have a man like Thomas.

Then the baby came....... and it all came crashing down.

"Congratulations it's a girl." The doctor said.

"Doctor, what's wrong with her?" Thomas asked.

"There's nothing wrong with her sir. This baby is obviously half black." The doctor said.

Thomas looked at Rachel, a tear came to his eye, and he let go of her hand and walked out of the delivery room.

Thomas walked out to the waiting room where the rest of the family, including his two sons, were waiting.

"Thomas, what's wrong? Is the baby okay?" Emily, Rachel's mom asked.

"The baby is fine. I just need the boys for a moment." Thomas said.

He took the two young boys down the hall.

"Excuse me nurse, but I need some blood work done on my two sons." Thomas said.

"Okay, what are we looking for?" The nurse asked.

Thomas moved close and whispered in her ear so the boys wouldn't hear him.

"Their mother just gave birth to a mixed race baby that I know isn't mine, I want to know if either of them isn't mine too." Thomas said.

"Oh my. Yes sir, I'll take some blood from them and get the lab started on the tests immediately." The nurse said.

She drew some blood and took the blood to the lab.

"Daddy are we sick?" John, the older of the two asked.

"I hope not, but I have to be sure." Thomas said.

"When can we go see the new baby?" William asked.

"I'm not sure boys. Let's go home, if you are sick we can't risk you infecting mommy or the baby." Thomas said.

The boys were too young to suspect that he was lying to them. Thomas took the boys home and immediately sat down at the computer and called up their banking information. He moved all but $1,000 out of their joint account into his private account and he cancelled their joint credit cards.

He took the boys to the hardware store and he was just finishing changing the locks when several cars pulled up. Thomas shut the door and locked the new lock.

The door bell rang; then there was a loud banging on the door.

"Go away." Thomas said.

"Thomas, it's dad, what's going on? First you come out of the delivery room and run off with the boys and now Rachel won't let us see her or the new baby. What is going on?" George asked.

"I'm not saying anything, if you want to know what this is about talk to Rachel." Thomas said.

"George look, he's changed the locks, he obviously doesn't want anybody to get in. I think it's best that we give both Thomas and Rachel their space, there's obviously something going on." Ben, Rachel's dad said.

The family members all leave. There are a few calls to Thomas but he doesn't answer them. The hospital staff stops several family members from trying to sneak in to see Rachel.

Four days later Thomas gets a special delivery from the hospital. He opens the envelope and begins crying. Twenty minutes later the doorbell rings and there's a knock at the door.

Thomas goes to the door and finds Rachel standing there holding the new baby in a baby carrier.

"Thomas open up, we need to talk." Rachel said.

"There's nothing to talk about Rachel, but I'm glad you're here, you can take this with you when you leave." Thomas said.

He opens the door and gently pushes William out onto the porch with his mother and closes the door quickly.

"Thomas, please open the door." Rachel said.

"I can't do that Rachel. If you don't have your cell phone I'll call your parents to come pick you up." Thomas said.

"You know I can't see my parents like this. Just please open the door and let's talk about this." Rachel said.

"Sorry, I won't do that. If you don't want to see your parents how about I call one of the fathers to see if you can stay with them?" Thomas asked.

"No, Thomas, I'm not going anywhere. Now let me in, this is my house too." Rachel said.

"You want in? Fine." Thomas said.

Thomas opened the door, picked up John, walked past Rachel to his truck and drove off.

"Daddy, where are we going?" John asked.

"We're going to go stay in a hotel for a while." Thomas said.

"Why daddy, am I too sick to be around the baby?" John asked.

"No, you're perfectly healthy, this is something else and it has nothing to do with you." Thomas said.

Rachel had wanted to chase after Thomas, but with William and the baby she couldn't so she just walked into the house.

On the kitchen table Rachel found the contents of the envelope that Thomas had received earlier. She looked over the few pages and realized why Thomas had taken John and left William, Thomas was John's biological father, but he was not William's biological father. She started crying.

Rachel wanted so desperately to talk to someone, to tell them of her troubles, but she was having a hard time thinking of someone that would be sympathetic. Finally she thought of her friend Judy, she and Judy had been friends since grade school and Rachel had helped Judy get through her divorce, now it seemed that Rachel was headed that way herself so she hoped Judy would return the favor. She called Judy and Judy arrived ten minutes later.

"Okay Rachel, what's up?" Judy asked.

"I think taking one look at my new baby will explain everything." Rachel said.

She lifted the blanket that had been concealing the baby sleeping in the baby carrier.

"Oh my god, no wonder I saw Thomas walking into the hotel." Judy said.

"I know, it's awful, how could I have been so careless?" Rachel asked.

"Well, maybe it was just a simple mistake." Judy said hopefully.

"It was no mistake Judy, I knew exactly what I was doing, the only mistake I made was not insisting on a condom. I never even considered that Thomas wasn't the father; it never even occurred to me that I should worry about that or I would have had an abortion. Now Thomas gives me this as well." Rachel said.

She pushes the lab results across the table.

"I'm not a doctor, what does this say?" Judy asked.

"It says that Thomas is not William's father either which means that both times that I cheated on Thomas I got pregnant." Rachel said.

"Oh Rachel I'm so sorry, what are you going to do?" Judy asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to live without Thomas, I love him and I need him, but how could he ever come back to me after what I've done?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know Rachel, I really don't." Judy said.

Rachel and Judy talk for several hours. They arrange for Judy to watch the baby so that Rachel can try to talk to Thomas. She decides it would be easier with her cell phone, which is at her office so she goes to pick it up. What she doesn't know is that Thomas is hiding in the parking lot with his lawyer, who is to serve her with divorce papers in front of her co-workers.

Nobody at the office knows about what's going on so they are all pleased to see Rachel and surprised that she doesn't have any pictures of the baby or that she hadn't brought the baby in to show off. Just as she's begging out of the congratulatory circle around her the lawyer walks in.

"Rachel Miller?" The lawyer asked.

"Yes, I'm Rachel Miller." Rachel said.

"I am Robert Evans, attorney for your husband Thomas, you are hereby served with these divorce papers, your husband is seeking a 70/30 split of all assets, and he is seeking primary custody of your son John as well as protection from alimony or child support for your two bastard children conceived illicitly with at least two different partners. The details are all in the papers." Robert says.

All of Rachel's co-workers that had been so happy and excited for her earlier now quickly walked away from her in her disgrace and humiliation.

Rachel quickly retrieves her phone and leaves crying.

Meanwhile Thomas is knocking on Judy's front door.

"Thomas, what are you doing here?" Judy asked.

"I came to see William, I'm sure by now you know he's not my biological son, but I've been his daddy for the past four years and I think I owe him an explanation." Thomas said.

"Okay, but make it quick, Rachel will be back any minute and I don't want any trouble." Judy said.

Judy leads Thomas to where William is watching cartoons and the baby is sleeping in the baby carrier.

"Daddy!" William said.

He jumped up to give Thomas a hug.

"Hey there sport. Daddy has something he has to tell you. Judy, do you mind if I talk to him alone?" Thomas asked.

"I'll be in the kitchen." Judy said.

When Judy was out of sight Thomas put his finger to his lips to tell William to be quiet then he picked up William and the baby carrier and headed out the front door. Judy walked into the living room when she heard Thomas' car start up.

"Oh no!" Judy yelled.

She rushed outside to try to chase Thomas, but he drove away quickly. Judy breaks down crying and is still crying on the front steps when Rachel gets home.

"What's wrong? Where are the kids?" Rachel asked.

"He took them. Thomas came, he said he needed to talk to William alone, to explain to him what was happening, when I got back to the living room they were gone." Judy said.

"That doesn't make sense, he didn't want anything to do with them and now he kidnaps them?" Rachel asked.

At just about that time Rachel's cell phone rings.

"Hello?" Rachel asks.

"Hi honey, it's me, I'm sure you're worried about William and the baby, but they're fine, what's her name by the way?" Thomas asked.

"Her name is Sara Grace Miller." Rachel said.

Thomas laughs.

"That's pretty funny, you gave her my last name." Thomas said.

"Where are you?" Rachel asked.

"I'm on your parents' front porch. I think they should meet their new granddaughter." Thomas said.

"NO! Thomas, please don't do this." Rachel begged.

"It's too late now Rachel, William already rang the door bell. I'll leave them here for you to come get them if you want them." Thomas said.

Thomas hangs up just as the door opens.

"Thomas, I'm glad to see you, where are John and Rachel?" Ben asked.

"Rachel might be on her way over right now, John is at school. Ben, I'd like you to meet your granddaughter Sara Grace." Thomas said.

He pulls the cover off revealing the dark skinned baby.

"Thomas, whatever kind of joke this is it isn't funny." Ben said.

"What isn't funny?" Emily asks.

She looks at the baby.

"Oh my god." Emily said.

"I demand that you explain this at once." Ben said.

"This little girl is the child that Rachel gave birth to, she is your granddaughter, but she is obviously not my daughter. As it turns out William isn't my son either. I'm leaving the two of them with you. I'm sure that now that you know her little secret Rachel will be over here to get them soon." Thomas said.

With that Thomas got in his car and drove away.

When Rachel got to her parents' house she was crying. The first thing Emily did when she opened the door was slap Rachel with all of her strength.

"You dirty little whore, how could you do this?" Emily asked.

"Mom, I'm sorry." Rachel said.

"Don't I'm sorry me, you cheated not once, but twice, including once with a black man, and now your husband is going to divorce you, you have two children that don't have fathers, and I want nothing to do with you. Take your two bastard children and get out of my house." Emily said.

"Mom, please, you can't throw me out, I need you." Rachel said.

"What you need young lady is your knees sewn together. I was there when you married Thomas, I heard you say the words, you promised to keep yourself only for him until death do you part and now we find out that you have not one, but two illegitimate children, including one that could never pass as being Thomas' child. You are a terrible person and I never want to see you again." Emily said.

"Daddy, please, you aren't going to kick me out are you? Not when you see how much I need you right now." Rachel sobbed.

"Thomas is a good man, a good husband, and a good father and this is how you repay him? Why did you do what you did Rachel? Why did you risk throwing away your marriage not once, but at least twice?" Ben asked.

"I wanted something more, I wanted to feel sexy and special, both of the men I slept with, and yes there have only been two besides Thomas, both of them gave me that feeling. They were both one time things and if I had any reason to believe that either of them had gotten me pregnant I would have gotten abortions rather than have another man's child. When I saw Sara I knew my marriage was over, but never in a million years did I ever think that William wasn't Thomas' son, they're so much alike. I never meant for this to happen." Rachel said.

"But it did happen and now Thomas is going to divorce you and I don't blame him one bit, this is all your fault Rachel, you made your bed, let two other men share it with you, and now you must face the consequences. William and Sara are still my grandchildren and I will still love them and want to spend time with them, but right now I don't want to see you or hear from you." Ben said.

Broken and defeated Rachel returned to the house. After putting Sara down for a nap and getting William interested in a cartoon Rachel sat down and began reading through the divorce papers that she had been given earlier in the day.

One week later Rachel sat in the conference room at the law office of Robert Evans with her lawyer Walter Johnson. Across the table from her sat her husband Thomas and his lawyer the previously mentioned Robert Evans.

"There are a few things that my client wishes to protest in these documents. First and foremost is the condition that she divulge the names of the two parties that are alleged to be the fathers of the two younger children." Walter said.

"My client stands firm on that point as he requires the information so that he can pursue civil damages against them for compensation for 4 years of child support in the case of William and a wide assortment of medical and other expenses in the case of Sara. If Mrs. Miller chooses not to give up the names my client will pursue sole custody of the older boy John, that is the biological child of my client. He will seek a restraining order preventing Mrs. Miller from seeing the boy, and given the evidence it will be easy for us to prove that she is an unfit mother and a potential danger to John as well as to the other two children so she might lose custody of them as well." Robert said.

Rachel began crying, then whispered to her lawyer.

"Very well Mrs. Miller will give up the names as long as Mr. Miller will allow her visitation rights with John and will not attempt to have the other children taken from her." Walter said.

Thomas and Robert whispered.

"My client agrees to that. He merely wants proper compensation for the expenditures he made towards other men's children." Robert said.

After a civilized conversation of about half an hour Thomas had the two names that he needed and wanted. He has his lawyer start the process to get the two men served with papers requiring them to appear in court.

Thomas carefully goes through the receipts that he had kept since learning that Rachel was pregnant with William and itemizes each expense, most are needs such as diapers, food, and clothing, but there are some other items like toys included in the list. He makes a similar list for the expenses he paid related to Sara.

The two men are Paul Lucas, an ad executive that's married and has three kids, and Nate Jones, a personal trainer that owns his own gym who is also married and has two kids.

The two men are required to give DNA samples to prove their connection to the two children and both are shown to be the biological fathers of the children in question.

The scandal rocks the town as in separate trials both Paul and Nate are ordered to pay Thomas sums of money that are around what he had been asking for.

Three divorces come from the scandal as Thomas' divorce from Rachel becomes final and after learning of their husbands' infidelity both Paul and Nate's wives divorce them as well.

Six months after the divorce Thomas sees Rachel at the grocery store and can't help himself.

"Destroyed any other marriages lately?" Thomas asked.

Rachel went home and swallowed a bunch of pills and chased them with vodka. She was found dead by William the next morning. Rachel's parents get custody of William and Sara.

Everyone is surprised when Thomas shows up at the funeral. He stands up, walks to the front, and speaks.

"I'm sure most of you are surprised that I'm here today, and some of you are probably a little unhappy about it, but that's tough, Rachel had a larger impact on my life than she had on any of yours so I have every right to be here. Rachel and I had our good times and our bad times. Unfortunately the bad times all seemed to come right at the end, and while I will never be able to forget the bad times I choose to remember the good times. Rachel made two mistakes, no, I won't call them mistakes, two beautiful children like William and Sara cannot be considered mistakes. Rachel made two decisions that betrayed our love and our trust. Had her second decision been made with a white man I might never have known what happened and we wouldn't all be gathered here today saying goodbye to her. Even with what happened my love for Rachel never died completely. No matter how much I wanted to I just couldn't get her out of my heart. I am to blame for Rachel's death. She chose to swallow those pills just as she chose to be with those two men, I too made a choice and my choice cost Rachel her life. When I learned that she had cheated on me I made the choice to divorce Rachel and try to put my life back together. If I had chosen to try to forgive Rachel for what she had done things might have turned out differently. Now the woman that I love is gone, and I'm going too." Thomas said.

Thomas pulls out the hand gun that had been concealed beneath his jacket, puts it to his head and pulls the trigger. His body collapses forward, across Rachel's coffin.