Stories Yet To Unfold

“Hello?” Jake answered his phone.

“Hey babe. I was just letting you know Rian came and picked up Hannah, so do you still want to meet for dinner?” Samantha asked her fiancé. She knew that he would be angry at her for calling so much later than she said she would.

He was never like this when they first got together but through out the last six or seven months she had learned to expect an attitude from him when something hadn’t gone his way. He was always angry. Lately he was getting worse, last week he had taken too far and hit her, he swore up and down that it would never happen again and told her over and over how sorry he was, yet still in the back of her mind she didn’t believe him. The fact that things could just get worse often passes through her mind, but she couldn’t leave. She has no where to go.

“What happened to you calling me at five?!” He yelled at her. No surprise there, she just expects it now.

“Rian got here late.” She told, trying to make him understand it was out of her control, how was she supposed to know he was going to be late today.

“I’m sure.”

“…Well what do you want me to do?” She asked, trying not get him going.

“Stay home I’m going out with the guys and I’ll be home late.” He spat at her.

“Alright, bye, I love you.”

“Yeah I bet you do. Why don’t you call your boyfriend over and y’all can hang out seeing as I won‘t be there.”

“Jake, I’m hanging up. I don’t want to fight with you.” She told him.

“You better watch the way you talk to me Samantha.”

“Sorry.” She told him. Once she heard that line went dead she hung her phone up and headed into the kitchen to make herself something for dinner. She was relieved that Jake wasn’t coming home, she would actually have some time to relax now that Hannah was with Rian for the weekend. When she had fixed herself something to eat she headed into the living room to watch some television. It wasn’t very often she had the time to sit in front of it and not be stuck watching the newest episode of Dora The Explorer.
Hours later Jake arrived home, drunk with one thing on his mind. She obliged not wanting to make matters worse or anger him anymore than she already had with the phone call earlier. She hated where her relationship was at. She never in a million years thought this is how her life would be. A loveless engagement to a monster who was only worried about his own needs being met. She doubted his love for her daily and knew he would never treat Hannah as his own, and that made her sad. Sad for the fact she cant give Hannah a happy home to live in.

“Alright kiddo, it’s bath time.” Rian told the little girl as he reached over for the remote to turn the television off.

“Aw, daddy, just one more episode? Please?” She begged from her spot on the couch.

“Nope, it’s bath time then bed time. You know the drill.” He told the small girl as he lifted her up off of the couch and started walking towards the bathroom to run her bath water. He checked to make the water wasn’t too hot then added some bubbles to it for her as she sat down in the tub and began to play with a couple of her bath toys.

“Daddy,”

“Yes munchkin?”

“Can we go and see Grandma tomorrow?” She asked as her dad started to rub shampoo through her hair.

“Sure we can. Now tilt your head back so I can rinse this out of your hair.” She quickly obliged and he rinsed her hair out under the faucet. Once her bath was done he brought a towel over to her and helped her stand up out of the tub. He walked her to her bed room that she had at his house and waited while she picked out what pajamas she wanted to wear. “Do you need help?”

“No, I’m a big girl now. Mommy always lets me dress myself at bed time, but not in the morning. She always says me don’t match.” She told her dad as she rushed over to the bag that her mom had helped her pack for the weekend that she would be spending with her dad. “Do I get to have a bed time snack?” She asked after she had gotten herself dressed, without any help from her dad.

“Sure, come on.” He told her as he took her hand and led her down the hallway towards the kitchen. “Cookies and milk?”

“Oreos!” She squealed as she climbed up into her booster seat by the table.

“Daddy?” Rian sat up in his bed and looked over at his daughter who was standing in his doorway then over to his alarm clock that was sitting on his bedside table. It was a quarter past three in the morning and he had no idea why the small girl would be up right now.

“What’s wrong Hans?” He asked as he noticed her voice sounded like she was crying.

“I had a b-bad dream and I g-got sc-scared.” Rian slid over to the other side of the bed from the center of it where he had been sleeping and pulled back the covers.

“Come on, get in.” He told her. The small girl bolted from the doorway over to the bed as fast as she could. “What was your dream about?” He asked her as the two of them moved around a bit trying to find a comfortable place to fall back asleep.

“About when Jake hits mommy.”

“When he what?” He asked her. He wasn’t sure he had heard her right the first time.

“Wh-when he h-hits h-her.” She told him as she started to cry even harder.

“So Jake hits mommy?” He asked the small girl as he cradled her to his chest.

“Y-yeah, but he told us we’re not allowed to tell on him.”

A million thoughts flooded his mind. What kind of home life do they have there? Why does she stay with him. Not only is he mean to both of them, but he’s been physical with Sam. What is keeping her there? Does she not care how this is affecting their daughter? “Does he hit mommy a lot?” He asked her.

“Only sometimes.” Rian shifted to make himself more comfortable as the small girl did the same.

“Just go to sleep. You’re at daddy’s, Jake isn‘t even here so you don‘t need to be scared.” He told her then he watched as she drifted off to sleep. Sleep of course wasn’t coming as easy for him as it had for her. He was still trying to process everything Hannah had told him. And his mind was running. Jake beats on Sam. Hannah had obviously seen it happen. How often? How long had it been going on? Has he tried to hit Hans? Why wasn’t Sam doing anything about it?

The next time he looked at the alarm clock it was already past five and finally he realized he wasn’t getting any more sleep tonight so he got out of bed and dressed in running clothes. Hannah was still asleep and he knew Alex was home just in case she did happen to wake up, even though he doubted she would, she hardly ever woke up before nine. He knew a run would be good for him, he needed time to think and process everything. He knew this was something he was going to have to bring up to Samantha and talk to her about, he just didn’t know exactly how to. The last thing he wanted was to make her mad and give her a reason not to let him see his daughter.

Just as he had figured, when he got back from his four mile run she was still curled up in his bed fast asleep. He headed for the bathroom to shower all the while trying to plan out in his head how their day was going to go. He knew they were going to go his parents house, but he wasn’t sure what else they were going to do for the rest of their day. He figured he would let Hannah decide once she woke up. Once he had gotten dressed he headed to the kitchen to make breakfast for the three of them. Not long after the first batch of pancakes were taken off the griddle he heard the pitter patter of small feet on the hardwood floor.

“Good morning daddy.” The small girl greeted her dad as she walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning Hans” He mocked her using the nickname she has had since birth. He watched her as she climbed up on to one of the stools across the bar from him. “Want some pancakes?” He asked her, even though he was sure of what her answer would be.

“Yes please!” It amazed him how energetic she was this early in the morning. He knew she must have gotten that trait from her mother because he had never been a morning person.

“When you’re done I need you to go change into the clothes that I have laid out on your bed for you to wear today so we can leave and go to Grandma’s house.”

“Yay! I’m excited to go and see Nana.” Rian did his best to hold back his chuckle at how animated she was being this morning.

“I’m sure she’s just as excited as you are.”

Hannah quickly finished her pancakes and juice, then ran out of the kitchen to her bedroom to get dressed. Not even an hour later Rian was helping her up into the car and buckling the belts on her seat for her. The spent a majority of the day over at Rian’s parent’s house. The two of them adored Hannah and it seemed that Hannah couldn’t get enough of the two of them. She loved being around them.