Wednesday, April 3, 2019

MORROW, NOA, AND THE FORTUNE





“Five years. Actually, four years, one month, and 29 days.”



Saturday, May 02, 2015


Morrow sulked on his side of the counselor’s couch. “No communication into or out of Homestead until then. Or else Red Spore, what’s left of it, will endanger our families.” He blinked at Noa on the adjacent cushion. “They threatened Ryan specifically.”

Noa exhaled, shaken.

“We had the option to leave Homestead and never come back,” Morrow continued, “but I didn’t want Apple and Lodge growing up on the outside, even with millions of dollars in the bank. That wouldn’t protect them. I thought we were in this together.”

“We are,” Noa murmured.

“Then how could you hide this from me?” Morrow stared straight ahead. “You’ve been unhappy for almost our entire marriage.”

“Not because of you.”

“If we split up, I lose everything.”

She reached for his hand. “We don’t--”

He snatched it away. 

Noa retreated to her corner. “What do you think you will lose?”

“My children.” Morrow’s eyes welled with tears. “My best friend.”

“Apple and Lodge and I are not going anywhere,” she assured. “For four years.”

He choked out a chuckle. “Is that enough time to fix us?”

“It’s longer than we’ve been together. And we are not broken.”

“I’m wrecked.” He slumped on a throw pillow. “I thought you loved me.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

Morrow watched his wife turn her whole body towards him to deliver her message.

“Considering my actions, I don’t deserve your trust,” Noa stated. “However, the truth is complicated. Getting engaged, married, and pregnant in the span of two months, followed by a mass deportation from our destroyed home didn’t help the stability of our relationship.”

“Do you feel stuck?”

“Do you?” she countered.

“I hadn’t considered it before.”

“We each have our own issues, separately and together, and we have 50 months before we can go anywhere.”

“You want us to figure this out?”

“Even when it gets ugly.”

Morrow wiped his wet face. “Uglier than this?”


FIN



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