The Bitch that is My Step-sister - EX

"And how do you expect to find a job so late in..." Sighing loudly when Krissy looked away, "You already got one lined up, don't you?" Jamie asked, looking at her pointedly.

"Don't be mad, Jamie, but your grandmother Ellie helped me; she put in a good word for me with the school board there," Krissy said, a little ashamed that she had gone behind her husband's back like she had.

"Is that why you just had to go home a month ago?" Jamie asked, remembering how Krissy had come running into the house and hastily started to pack her bag. Watching how her cheeks were growing red, his back thumped hard against the back of the couch as he crossed his arms, not pleased that his wife couldn't or didn't tell him her plans. "So you just do a round about on me, leaving me out of a very important part of our lives, and you what, think I was going to be happy once this all came out? How would you feel if, say, I got a job offer all the way on the other side of the country, huh, and didn't tell you a damn thing just took off, where everyone knew what the hell was going on with me other than you," he said, trying not to raise his voice.

"I know, baby, I know; I'm sorry. You're right. I should have told you, but I wasn't thinking..."

"Obviously," Jamie grumbled.

"Please, honey, can you let me finish before you yell at me?" Krissy asked weakly, staring down at the tops of her feet.

"Fine, continue," Jamie said, waving his hand for her to continue.

"You're right; I would be just as pissed as you are now if it was me that you just ran roughshod on me like I did. I now you're going to be mad at me for a bit, I get that, and I deserve it. But you know I wasn't gone long, only a day, then I was on the road back to you," Krissy stated, knowing he was mad that she just took off in their car and left him stranded for two days until she returned. Noting how he still wasn't pleased by that, "Anyway, I met with the school board, showed them how well I had done in school up to that point, but we still had our final exams to go," seeing how his finger was tapping his left bicep as he waited for her to get to the point, "well, I thought the interview went well, and I came home..."

"So they knew about your plan, didn't they?" Jamie asked accusingly, referring to Rhonda and David.

"Yes," Krissy said weakly. "I had to have a place to get ready, and I didn't want to just rent a hotel room for a few hours." She knew he was not pleased with her as Jamie pinched his nose and sighed.

"So I assume you got the job; that is why you're telling me all this, isn't it?" Jamie inquired, staring hard at his wife.

"I did," Krissy admitted.

"Seems I have no choice in this since you decided that this is far more important for your own self than to inform me of this life-changing decision. Just know if there ever comes a time where I'm offered something so huge, you can be damn sure I'm not going to tell you until it's too damn late to object to it," Jamie said, getting up from his seat and walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Krissy asked worryingly.

"To get some fucking boxes since my wife didn't give me a choice in deciding where we're going to fucking live," Jamie hissed before slamming the door behind him, causing Krissy to jump in startlement.              

Krissy sank down onto the couch, knowing this was not how she had hoped their conversation would have gone. Then again, it was sort of in line with how Jamie would have reacted to it. She just hoped she could make it up to him. She had no wish to have her husband at odds with her, and she wasn't about to lose him either. Not after everything they've been through. She would not lose her husband because she was too hasty in securing her livelihood. At that moment, she swore to herself that she would never once again allow her impatience to rule her mind and put a strain on her marriage.

"Hey, Dad," Krissy called her father's cell phone when she knew when they would be landing back in Torrington.

"From the tone of your voice, I take it Jamie was not happy?"

"No," Krissy answered sadly.

"I told you, honey, you should have told him before you raced up here."

"I know, but I was so eager to land that job that telling him didn't even register in my mind," Krissy said, her big toe nudging the throw rug that the coffee table sat on.

"I'm guessing you didn't tell him you'll be living here for a bit, right?"

"No." Her chin dropped to her chest at her father's disappointing sigh.

"Kris, I love you, but that's not something a person waiting to be a wife should do to their spouse. I know Jamie thinks the worst of me; I can't blame him, but I would hope Rhonda and I had set a better example for you than when your mother and I were married."

"But what can I do to make up for it?"

"I don't know, that's something you have to figure out on your own. You know Jamie better than I do. But it will take a bit for him to get over you just going over his head. He does know you got the job, right?"

"He does... now," Krissy admitted.

"Well, at least that's something," feeling her father's disappointment all over again when he released a long sigh, "listen Kris, you need to tell him everything before you even begin to hit the road. If you don't and just spring it on him in the car, you might not like the long ride."

"I will, I promise, when he gets back..." Turning her head when the front door opened, her heart sank when it wasn't Jamie but Hugo and Marla. "I have to go, Dad; I'll let you know what's going on; tell Suzie and Ben we'll see them soon."

"I will, love you, Kris."

"Love you too, Dad."

"What's wrong, Krissy?" Marla asked; over the years, she and Hugo got to know the woman that was sitting on her couch in melancholy, so she knew Krissy was on the verge of tears.

"I messed up, and Jamie is really upset with me," Krissy said, not seeing Marla patting Hugo's left arm, who nodded and headed off to their bedroom to give Krissy and Marla some privacy.

"Tell me what's going on with you two?" Marla asked in a caring tone. Pressing her lips together as Krissy recounted what she did, the conversation she had with Jamie, and how he just stormed out the door. "Krissy, you know what you did was very selfish, right?" To this, Krissy slowly nodded her head. "You know selfishness kills a marriage."

"I know, but I was just so excited to get a job in our hometown that I didn't think about the ramifications it would have on Jamie and us," Krissy uttered, smiling when Marla slipped her hand into her. She was really going to miss Jamie's grandparents, along with the rest of his family. Yet she knew she and Jamie had to branch out on their own and make it on their own as a married couple.

"You know, if you two start having kids, you can't just think about yourself anymore; your child or children has to come first."

"I know; I swear I'm not going to make this same mistake again, I swear!"

"Good." Krissy's head snapped around so fast that Jamie thought it was going to come flying off. The bundle of cardboard boxes fell from under his arm as Krissy threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck.

"Please, forgive me, Jamie; I didn't mean to make you upset. I didn't think this would make you at odds with me," Krissy said, trying not to tear up. Pressing her body into his when she felt his arms wrapping around her. Ever since they first got together, she's always felt so complete whenever she felt his arms around her. "I know I messed up with you and kept you from being a part of this; please don't give up on me."

"Honey, we've been together for nearly five years now, after what that douche tried to pull on you, and you eating it up," seeing the shame in his wife's eyes, "it's going to take a lot more than you taking a roundabout behind my back to do all this. Am I upset? Yes, no denying that you did overstep in our relationship. If you think I didn't know you were homesick, I would have to be blind not to notice," Jamie stated, seeing Krissy's cheeks heat in bashfulness. "Just don't do it again; you have stated we are a team, and what happens when one of the team does their own thing without telling the rest of the team?"

"The team fails," Krissy answered honestly. "I promise it won't happen again," she said in all seriousness. Not seeing how Marla was smiling at the two of them from her seat.

"I'll leave the two of you then, and Jamie, go easy on her; you're both young, bound to make mistakes, just don't dwell on those minor mistakes that it harms your relationship," Marla said in a grandmotherly voice before walking to her bedroom.

"Yes, Grandma," Jamie nodded, knowing it was his grandparent's wise council that helped them out in the early years of their marriage.

"You two don't stay up too late," Marla said as she entered her and Hugo's bedroom, hiding the sadness she felt that her grandson and granddaughter-in-law would be departing from their lives. Nevertheless, she knew this day would come when they would fly their nest just like Jamie's father had done to strike out on his own.

"Jamie..." Her breathing grew long, knowing she was going to have to tell him, "I want to tell you before we leave that when I was there, I talked to them, and they said it was fine for us to move in for a little bit until we can find our own place after our honeymoon."

"Yeah, kind of figured you did," Jamie stated, catching Krissy off guard.

"Will you be okay with that?"

"Can't say, but it's probably cheaper than staying in a motel for however long it will take to find a home for us," Jamie said with a shrug of his shoulders as he carried the boxes toward their room. While they might have acquired a few more things due to the years they've lived there, it wasn't that much that they had to rent a U-Haul; he was sure they could get it all in his SUV.

"Jamie, can I ask why did it take you so long to get a few boxes?" Krissy asked from behind him as she followed after him.

"Went to say goodbye to Uncle Sal, Aunt Sam, Martin, and the kids, but we can't leave for two days," Jamie said with a serious look.

"Why?"

"Sam wants to throw us a going away party unless you want to call her and tell her why you have to be up there so quickly," Jamie said, giving her a questioning look.

"Nope, two days is okay with me; Rhonda and Dad will be fine planning the wedding without us for a few more days," Krissy said, so very happy that Jamie was coming with her. It never sat right with her when they were apart from one another.

"So, when do you think we should tell them?" Jamie asked as he taped up the bottom of the box.

"Why wait? Let's do it when we arrive. All we're going to do is renew our vows and take that honeymoon you promised me," Krissy said, smirking coyly at Jamie as she helped to pack up their things.

As the day arrived for their departure, both Jamie and Krissy were wrapped in his family's warm embrace. Sal, having become a surrogate father for Jamie, gave him some very wise advice when he set out to start his own life. Sam just held Jamie like it would be the last time the two would see each other. It wasn't; however, that didn't stop her from thinking that. A little moisture gathered in his eyes at his grandparents' parting words, telling him he looked so much like his father when he was Jamie's age when he told them he was moving up north for the job he had landed when he got out of college. Promising to come back as often as they could before they climbed into their car and departed back to the northern climes where they were raised.

******

It was closing in on six pm that evening when Jamie pulled his SUV to a stop by the curb. They barely got out of the car before Suzie, now seven, came barreling out of the house, shrieking to the high heavens at the sight of her older siblings. Ben, now four, waddled out behind his sister, who had taken up to sticking by her side like glue. Who was quickly picked up by David so Ben didn't run into the street.

"My, Suzie, didn't know you've gotten so strong," Jamie said as his little sister squeezed the life out of him.

"You're staying for good, right?" Suzie asked, peering up at Jamie.

"For a while," Jamie admitted, seeing her sadness flooding her eyes. "But then we'll be living somewhere... ow!" Jamie hissed when Krissy slapped his left shoulder.

"Don't tease her; that's mean," Krissy stated, getting a 'Yea!' out of Suzie.

"You know that's spousal abuse, right?" Jamie retorted, grinning madly at Krissy when he noted how Rhonda and David stopped in their tracks and had rather unpleasant looks on their faces.

"You'll live," Krissy stated, smirking at her husband, getting her own hug from Suzie. Noting how Ben's hand latched onto Jamie's right leg, she noticed how Ben would orbit Jamie whenever they came back home to visit. At first, Jamie would brush Ben off when he was just a babe, given how Rhonda would try to get him to hold his brother. It was when she and Rhonda forced him to hold their half-brother, and soon Jamie was treating Ben just like he did with Suzie before they had left for Wilmington.

"I think you two need to come in and tell us what's going on, now," David barked with a displeased look on his face as his eyes couldn't look away from the gold ring on Jamie's ring finger. Something he knew was never there when they would visit during their school breaks.

"Yes, I thought we agreed you would wait, but let's speak of this inside and not out in the open," Rhonda said, incensed that her son had hoodwinked Krissy into something.

"Come," Suzie said, taking hold of her brother's hand, smiling up at him, knowing she had so much to tell Jamie about everything that's been happening with her. Looking back as Krissy held her hand out to Ben, who was happy to take it as they followed after David and Rhonda. She wasn't about to let go of Jamie's hand as she led them into the living room. Not now, not when she knew Jamie and Krissy wouldn't be leaving ever again. Before Krissy could lower herself down beside Jamie on the couch across from her parents, Suzie climbed onto it and snuggled up to her brother, who wore a huge smile as she peered up at him.

"You two want to explain?" David asked heatedly.

"About?" Jamie muttered, rolling his left hand.

"Don't you get smart young man; you know full well what he's asking?!" Rhonda intoned, glaring at her son. "What did you do to get Krissy to marry you?"

"Nothing," Jamie answered, wearing a coy smirk.

"I've had enough of your snarky attitude! I will get this marriage annulled!" David shouted, surging to his feet. A cold chill ran down his spine as his daughter's eyes flicked up at him while her leg lazily kicked as it rested over the other.

"You can't, if you try to take my husband away from me, you won't have a daughter any longer, am I clear, father?" Krissy spoke in a hard-edged tone. "Dad, Rhonda, we're sorry, but we've been married for four years now. I'm sorry we've kept it from you, but you two obviously don't understand how I felt about Jamie back then or how I still feel about him, so we hid it from you."

"You've what?!" Rhonda and David yelled in unison.

"We're married; surely you're hearing hasn't gone out yet, surely now," Jamie stated, poking fun at the two of them.

"I can't believe this! Krissy, tell me he didn't force you into this!" David said, pleading with his daughter to tell him that this was all a joke. That this was just one of Jamie's sick pranks, he would have done just to irk him and his mother.

"Do you think I'm so weak-minded that I'm so easily led into something?" Krissy asked testily. "I understand you're upset, Dad, but if you disrespect my husband again, you can forget about coming to our renewal," she threatened.

"Now, now, let's all just take a breath for a moment before we say anything we might regret," Rhonda said, trying to defuse the situation. However, the taunting grin on Jamie's face was not helping matters.

"You would really choose him over your own father?!" David asked, a little shocked that his daughter gave him that ultimatum.

"I'm not the one that will be doing the choosing, Dad. That would be you; whether you like what we've done isn't the point. We were both over eighteen, both legal adults that could do what we saw fit, and I saw fit to marry the man I love. Now that you know, I don't have to tiptoe around the fact that I had to hide our marriage from the family," Krissy responded, sighing in her mind that her father just couldn't accept the fact that she and Jamie would be together for all their lives if she had it her way. Her arm moved over Suzie's head and rested along Jamie's shoulders or as much as she could reach from her spot. "This is how it's going to be, Dad; either accept it and be happy for us or you can forget being a part of our lives. The same goes for you too, Rhonda," she said, her eyes flickered over to her stepmother.

"Now, wait just one minute!" David spoke, getting rather hot beneath the collar at his daughter's audacity to dictate how he was going to act in his own home. "I will not put up with this in my house!"

"Alright," Jamie said, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't really want to stay there if he could help it, and it seemed that David just gave him the out he wanted. "Remember you chose this," he stated, holding out his hand to Krissy.

"Jamie, David, let's just wait a moment," Rhonda uttered, getting between the two of them. "I think David's just letting his emotions get the better of him, isn't that right, dear?" she asked pointedly as she stared David down.

"No, I've put up with his shit for years now; I'm not going to do so any longer!" David snapped.

"You can't say I didn't try," Jamie said, peering over at Krissy, who wore a disappointed look on her face at her father's lack of respect.

"I know you did, just didn't think my father would be like this. Don't worry, Suzie, we'll come back and see you," Krissy said, bending down, hugging her little sister, and placing a kiss on Suzie's right cheek. Her back snapped up when the front door slammed shut, not realizing that Rhonda had rushed to it and forcibly closed it, keeping them from leaving.

"No! No one is leaving! David get over your shit," Rhonda snarled at her husband. She was not about to lose this chance to keep her son as close to her as he would allow. "I'm not allowing your attitude to estrange me from my son," she said, seeing a strange look in Jamie's eyes when she said that. "We're going to work this out; whether you dislike the fact they're married isn't going to change a thing. All you're going to do is keep her away from us," Rhonda stated, waving her hand at the two children she had with David. "Is that what you want? For your other children to never see their brother and sister again because you're having a hissy fit about what they legally did when they were out of this house? Who didn't need our permission to do a damn thing since they were well over the legal age? So when did this happen?" she asked, ignoring her husband's angry stare as she peered over at the two of them.

"A week after we arrived at Hugo's and Marla's place," Jamie answered truthfully, flashing Krissy a smile when his mother just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head.

"So then all that you told was just a lie?"

"Pretty much," Jamie replied.

"And why did you feel the need to lie to us?" Rhonda asked, looking between the two of them.

"Seriously?" Jamie spoke with an arched eyebrow. "Do I need to remind the two of you how the two of you were acting back then? Also, you two had to go and get that woman involved." Jamie wouldn't say Krissy's mother's name ever again, not after he learned it was her hand in what happened two years ago. He's never told Krissy about it and thought it better to keep it from her so she would at least have some form of a relationship with her. Although, if he thought back over the past two years, Krissy's calls or texts to her mother weren't all that numerous. Shaking the thought from his mind, whether or not Krissy knew of her mother's involvement in the event two years ago wasn't important at the moment. "If you think I'm just going to stand by and allow you or anyone to stand between me and my wife, you don't know me very well." It wasn't hard to note Krissy's bashful, loving look when he said that.