Teach Me To Love - Chapter 1 - Part 1

OFF WE GO!

You guys already know the premises. You're getting a
fresh and new baby here exclusively to all my lovely blog visitors and group
members. (hello and thanks for your patience.)

SYNOPSIS TO TEACH ME TO LOVE:

Rachel Herlong, a teacher, finds herself strangely attracted to the dark attractive student, Derrick James, who's nothing but trouble. Yet, opportunities keep presenting themselves and she soon finds that she must make a choice between a love she has longed for or her morals and unhappy marriage.


Remember to post comments and please let me know what you think of
the title.

I just thought about it. I probably could catch up with those
people doing the NaNoWri. Ha Ha. I saw the totals of some of them and I was like
what? Third week in November, I'm usually at 60,000 aren't I?

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Setting her bags by the door as she entered their two-bedroom apartment, Rachel sighed hoping she could make it through the night without passing out.

In the back of her mind, she could hear the doctor’s words, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to work so soon, Rachel. You’ve just had twins. You need more rest.”

“That was all fine and good if she was a doctor’s wife, but she wasn’t. She was Robert Herlong’s wife. A man who started out with so much potential, but now merely a father who couldn’t pay the light bill much less the
rent, if his wife decided to take any more time off.

A knock on the door told Rachel that even though she had just spent eight hours at school teaching second grade, she would now have to deal with her own children.

“It’s open,” she called out to Mrs. White on the other side of the door, who lived across the hall. Rachel could hear Justin before he even came through the door. Mrs. White was an elderly woman who loved children – with none of her own - and was honored that Rachel had chosen her to take care of the twins.

When Justin saw his mother, he wailed even louder and almost fell out of Mrs. White’s arms trying to reach for Rachel.

“How was your first day back?” Mrs. White inquired; putting Jessica in the crib after Rachel took the rambunctious three-month-old Justin.

Rachel quieted her son down before answering. “Just like old times, but being a sub is very different from having my own class. I might accept that high school opening.”

Mrs. White tsked her tongue disapprovingly. “Back in my days, a woman could take off for as long as she wanted to or needed to.”

Rachel sighed sitting Justin in his crib. “Yes, but times have changed, Mrs. White.” She took that tone of voice that clearly told the older woman that this was a sore subject and she was not about to go into it.

“Same time tomorrow?” Mrs. White asked.

Rachel nodded. “Lock the door on your way,” she reminded her gently and looked down at Justin, who murmured a protest because he wanted to be back in her arms. After getting their bottles, Rachel cleaned up the kitchen. By seven, she had finished dinner, made the twins bottles for tomorrow and had her clothes ready for work. She gave the twins a bath and put them to bed shortly after.

Checking her watch, she reminded herself that even though it was after nine; her husband should be home soon so she wasn’t going to worry. Gathering her grade book and lesson plans, she settled in bed trying to catch up on all the paperwork.

At ten, she heard the front door open and Robert came in with some very noisy friends. She didn’t bother to go down there and confront him. She knew that in the morning, despite her cleaning, the place would be a mess and it would be up to her to clean up again.

Putting away the schoolwork, she laid down closing her eyes, wondering what would have happened if she had decided to remain a single parent and not marry Robert? Would her life have been different? Could she have met someone who would have loved her as unconditionally as she could have loved them? Would she really be as miserable as she was now?

Tomorrow, she would request the transfer to the high school. Maybe older students wouldn’t tire her as much, plus she would make enough to at least pay the bills through the Christmas holiday, since Robert wouldn’t get a job.

When she had met Robert early in college, he was an honor student majoring in Chemical Engineering. She had loved his zest for life, and although he had a gambling problem, she overlooked that because he had so much “potential.”

Everything between them was perfect. He was a great guy, lover, and friend. The perfect relationship didn’t last forever. Once she let him know that she was pregnant, all of his drive to finish his degree just disappeared, yet he demanded that they get married.

“I’m not going to have no baby momma drama in my life!” he yelled.

Between the both of them as college students, they were dirt poor. She was on a scholarship and his parents didn’t approve of the marriage, refusing to give them a dime.

After the wedding, she was already working at the school as a teacher’s assistant and she also started substituting in the public schools in Davenport, Ohio to get extra money throughout her pregnancy, while still trying to earn her degree and keep her scholarship.

On top of this, during her pregnancy she discovered that Robert was smoking pot, by staying home one day sick from her condition and hearing him brag on the phone about how much he was using to his friend as if this was something to be proud of. He used to do it in college, but now that he had dropped out his drug use not only returned but also accelerated.

Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad if Robert showed he cared for her. True, she was carrying an extra thirty pounds from her pregnancy and she couldn’t fit into a size twelve to save her life, but that still didn’t give him a reason to stop touching her. He hadn’t made love to her since their wedding night almost a year ago.

Rachel tried to convince herself that as long as she had the twins that she would be happy. They would love her and she could deal with a husband who didn’t care for her anymore. Lots of women stayed in a marriage because of the children and they outlived their husband.

Things would probably be different if Rachel had family of her own, but she had been raised in foster homes all her life and the idea of having a family of her own was more important to her than anything.Self-respect didn’t keep you warm at night even if it was just every blue moon and losing dignity was much better than being alone.

Teach Me To Love - Chapter 1 Part 1 (c) November 2005 Sylvia Hubbard