Stolen Virtue

10 years laterAll text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“So how was your first day of school honey? Was it good, did you make lots of new friends?”

Juliet asked her 9 years old son Julian, who was sitting at the dinner table picking at his food. Julian sighed, then looked at his mother. Sadness showing all over his sweet little face.

“I guess.” He said, pouting a bit.

Juliet looked at her son’s sad little face and instantly wanted to comfort him.

“What’s wrong sweetie? Didn’t you have a good day, were the kids mean to you?”

She asked, wanted to know what had her son so upset. Julian shook his head. “I miss my girlfriend Lisa.” Juliet’s eyes went wide and she almost choked on her food. Girlfriend?

Clyde, who was sitting on the opposite side of Juliet, started chuckling. Juliet cast him a look, letting him know that it wasn’t funny. Turning her full attention back on her son, she asked.

“You have a girlfriend? For how long now?”

Julian looked over to his Dad as if to ask permission to share their secret. Juliet looked over to Clyde, who was chuckling under his breath. He shrugged his shoulders and she rolled her eyes, turning back to their son.

Julian turned back to his mother and answered, “Yep, Lisa is my girlfriend. I asked her to be my girlfriend on my eighth birthday and she said yes.”

Juliet’s eyes went wide, but then Julian little face got sad, “What’s wrong baby?”

He pouted his little mouth and frown, “I’m not a baby mom. Dad says I’m a little man.” He puffed up his chest proudly.

Juliet chuckled. “Ok little man, do you wanna tell mommy what’s wrong?”

He started pouted again, “I broke up with Lisa. Dad says I won’t meet the love of my life until I’m in high school, so I need to play the field until the time come to commit to just one girl.”

Juliet looked over at her husband, who was trying his best not to laugh.

“Did he now?”

Turning back to her son she said, “Well Daddy isn’t always right. You’re can meet the love of your life at any age and you don’t have to play the field if you don’t want to.”

Julian looked at his mother surprised. “I don’t?”

Juliet shook her head. “No sweetie, you don’t.” She turned and give her laughing husband a stern look.

“What have you been teaching our son, Clyde?” Clyde shrugged his shoulders, smiling.

“How to be cool, just like his daddy.” He turned and rustle his son’s head. “Isn’t that right little man?”

Julian nodded his head, “Yep, I gonna be cool, just like daddy.”

Juliet rolled her eyes and smiled playfully. “Well, one of my cool guys have school in the morning, so it’s off to bed with you.”

Julian jumped up from his seat and started to make his way up the stairs. Juliet, who was about to clear the dishes away, called after him. “Hey, are you too cool to kiss your mother goodnight?”

Julian frowned his little face-up, “Uhh mom! I’m too old for goodnight kisses.” He pouted his mouth, however, he went to kiss his mom.

Clyde walked around the table and slipped his hands around Juliet’s waist, nesting her into him. “You’re never too old for a goodnight kiss.”

Juliet turned her head to smile up at him. He looked lovingly into her eyes and continued. “Especially one from your mom.” He brought his lips down and kissed her passionately. He could never get enough of kissing her. Every time he kissed her it felt like the first time all over again.

They broke the kiss laughing when Julian started to express his distaste. “Ugh, that gross, I’m going to wash my eyes out now”

Clyde and Juliet looked at each other and laughed. As Julian was walking up the steps, the doorbell rang. They both frowned, looking at each other. “Are you expecting someone?” Juliet asked Clyde, who shook his head. “No, are you?” Juliet shook her head too. Then they both headed to the door.

When they open the door, they both started smiling. A sweet little voice said, “Can I sleep in my own bed, mommy?”

Clyde crouched down, taking their little girl into his arms, then stood to his full height.

“Of course you can, carebear. Did you not like it, sleeping over at Hannah’s house?” Claudia shook her head and pout her little lips.

Juliet turned and greeted her best friend Sanity. “Was she any trouble? I know it was her first sleepover and it much has been tough.” Sanity shook her head. “No it was fine, she was an angel. She and Hannah both had a wonderful time, they drove Henry mad. He’s at home now trying to get Han to sleep.”

Juliet smiled, “Thanks for bringing her back. Maybe next time she’ll be able to spend the whole night.” The women hugged, then Sanity had to leave because she didn’t trust Henry not to feed their daughter candy, in hopes that it will make her sleep faster.

Both Juliet and Clyde took their 5-year-old daughter up to bed and tucked her in. They crossed to Julian’s room and did the same for him. They went back downstairs and cleared away the dishes and tidied up the kitchen.

“You think she’ll ever be able to sleepover at her friend’s house?” Clyde took his wife’s foot into his hands and started to massage it, causing her to moan. “Umm, that feels good.”

He chuckled. “Anything my baby needs and yes, I think there will be days when we will be begging her to sleep in her own bed.” Clyde moved closer to Juliet on the bed, taking her into his arms. “Stop worrying baby, she’ll soon grow up and start telling us she hates us and to stay out of her life. The times when we should be worrying at yet to come.” Juliet chuckled and leaned back into his embrace.

The next morning, Juliet woke early to start her family off for the day. She looked across the bed at her sleeping husband and smiled. They’ve been through a lot together. It still surprises her sometimes that Clyde put up with all the bullshit that had happened in her life. She was very grateful to him, for sticking by her and helping her through the worst time in her life.

She sat there and thought back to that time. After being rescued for Dillon, she struggled to get her life back on track. Her mother wanted her to go live with her dad, but Juliet knew that leaving Clyde was not an option. She was never leaving him again, he was the only person in the world who made her feel safe and she wasn’t willing to give that up.

She returned to school two months after the incident. She was 15 weeks pregnant at the time, however not showing. The gossip mills were buzzing, no one really knew what had happened to her.

Her parents kept most of it out of the media. Some student was saying, she ran away to be with an older guy. Some were saying, she was in rehab and others were saying she had an abortion and was just resting up until it was ok for her to come back to school. However, there were a few students who knew the truth but were unsure if it was the truth.

They had 8 more weeks before graduation, and Juliet couldn’t wait to be done with high school.

Clyde walked to her locker as she tried to ignore all the whispers and the strange, curious looks. Being back at school was supposed to have given her back some form of normalcy. However, everywhere she looked reminded her of Dillon.

Clyde slipped his hands around her waist and kissed her hair. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can leave right now if that’s what you want.” Juliet shook her head, loving the way Clyde always made her feel safe.

“I can’t keep running Clyde, I have to do this. I can’t let Dil… I can’t let him take away my life any more than he has.”

She couldn’t even bring herself to say his name. Someone she grew up with and loved as a brother and she couldn’t even say his name, because saying his name brought too much pain.

On the way to her first class, she was engulfed in a big hug. At first, she stiffened but relaxed when she heard Sanity voice.

“Ohmygod Juliet! Are you ok? How are you feeling? Do you need anything?” Sanity was rambling on. Juliet hugged her best friend back, laughing. She was so glad that Sanity hasn’t changed.

“I fine, San. Stop worrying.” Sanity stepped back, signing in relief. “Oh good, because have I got news for you. First off, you haven’t really missed anything too good, other than the Queen Bs getting their cars torched about two and a half months ago. And Amy going missing.”

Juliet just stood there staring at her. She remembered Dillon telling her something about blowing the Bs car when she was with him. However, what really got to her was hearing that Amy was missing. She had put Amy out of her mind, but hearing about her brought back her fears of that day.

“Missing? A… Amy’s missing? When? How?” Clyde’s hands tighten around her, and she felt the tension in his body. Somehow she just knew that Clyde had something to do with it. Sanity, oblivious to the tension, continued talking.

“Yes, about almost two months ago. It’s weird because her parents say, she left one night and never came back home. The next morning her mom checked her room and her stuff where gone. Apparently, she left a note, which they say was printed from her laptop, saying that she met a guy and was going to live with him. People are saying that she ran off with Jax Manner, you know the bad boy who just up and disappear a few months back.”

Juliet swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding. She hoped Sanity didn’t see how uneasy she was. They kept on walking and Sanity continued talking.

“Come to think of it.” She stopped, turning to Clyde. “Wasn’t Jax apart of your crew? Do you know what really happened to him?” Juliet stiffened, but Clyde just shrugged it off.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” I relaxed and Sanity frowned, clearly wanting to know. However, she moved on to a different topic.

At the end of the school day, when they were back at Clyde’s, Juliet asked him about Amy being missing and why the cops couldn’t find Dillon.

“I’m not so sure you would wanna know, Juliet.” Juliet moved a little out of his arms, to look him in his face. “I need to know, Clyde. I wonder every day when D-Dil… When he’ll come for me again. I need to know, Clyde, please.”

The tears were flowing freely now. Clyde pulled her closer to him, wiping her tears away with his thumb.

“They’re both gone Juliet, they’re never gonna hurt you again, I promise.” She leaned back into him and sighed a relief sigh. Juliet knew if she pushed Clyde he would tell her what he did to them. However, just hearing that he took care of them and that they couldn’t get to her any more was enough for her at the moment.

Clyde pulled her down on the bed with him and tucked them both in. He rests his hand on my stomach, which was still relatively flat and caressed it.

“How’s our little man doing?” Juliet giggled, turning on her side. “Or it could be a girl.” Clyde smirked at her, “Nope, it’s definitely a boy, a man knows these things.” He said, causing Juliet to roll her eyes. “Just remember I’m the one carrying the baby, man.”

Clyde looked at her smiling face and felt his heart soften. That sunshine smile has been missing from her face for far too long, seeing it again made his wanna keep it there for the rest of her life.

“Marry me, Juliet.” The smile slipped from her face. Then she got wide-eyed with shock. “W-What?”

Before she could get anything more out, Clyde placed a finger over her lips.

“No, I’m not asking you because of what happened or because you’re pregnant. I’m asking because the thought of not making you my wife and never getting to spend the rest of my like with you, making you smile scares me to death. I love you Juliet and that will never change, I just wanna make you my wife while I’m doing it.”

Juliet laughed with tears in her eyes, nodding her head, “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you. But not because of what happened or the pregnancy, but because I love you with all my heart, and being with you makes me feel safe and at home. You’re my home Clyde and I want to be yours.”

They got married just after graduation and their Son Julian Marcus Davis was born 14 weeks after. Clyde went to University the first two years without her. Then she joined him after their son was almost two. They rented a house close to the University and lived there with their little family.

Sanity and Henry, who were now a couple went to Stanford University and both majored in Law. Clyde majored in, Law Enforcement Intelligence and Analysis and Juliet majored in Psychology. Clyde went on to work in Law Enforcement, as a Criminal Intelligence Analysis and Juliet chose to teach back what she had learned.

———————————————————————————————

Clyde woke to see his beautiful wife smiling, and he smiled to himself. All he had ever wanted to do was make her smile and seeing her happy filled his heart with love. He couldn’t have asked for anything more. He had the perfect wife, two adorable kids and a job he loves, life couldn’t get any better. Well, looking at his wife in her barely-there nightdress, made him think, maybe life could get just a little bit better.

He pulled her to him, breaking her out of her trip down memory lane and startling her in the process. She laughed.

“Would you stop it, the kids will be up in a minute and you’ve got work.” He nuzzled her neck slipping his hand under her nightdress.

“How about we make another little one, you always said you wanted three children.” Juliet pushed him off of her, laughing. “No way buster, labour pain is not for me, sorry. Two will have to do.”

Clyde frowned playfully. “Oh, come on, I was just getting in the mood.” Juliet rolled her eyes at him. “You’re always in the mood.”

Before she could say anything else to him, two pairs of tiny feet came padding in the room.

“Mommy, Julian the Alien, says I’m a baby because I couldn’t sleep over at Hannah’s all night.”

Claudia pouted her lips and jumped on the bed with her parents. Her hair so much like her mother’s and her eyes like her father. Julian smirked at his sister.

“She is a baby, tell her mommy. Only babies are scared of sleepovers.” Julian was the opposite of his sister. With hair the same colour as his father and eyes the same colour as his mother. Both children, however, had their father’s dimples and their mother’s smile.

Juliet and Clyde smiled at their children, then turned to smile at each other, both thinking the same thing. Life couldn’t get any better

THE END!

We have all felt pain, hurt, and fear or have suffered at some point in our life. We just have to learn how to put ourselves back together and be stronger for it.

We might try to guard our heart, not wanting to feel any of these emotions ever again. But what is life without these emotions, they are what makes us human.

There is no hiding from pain, we just have to arm ourselves and face it head-on.