False Accusations, Part Ii

...His starting point, after much hustling, was a diner at the edge of the town, the man who had once built massive bridges now spent his days at work frying hash browns. Working for a pittance, day after day, the only place that would dare give him pay. About three months into doing such work, just after the breakfast rush was complete, he saw a woman enter the diner, with two young boys, she looked about forty. Time had done little to Alan’s ex-wife, Whitney was a queen, hallowed in his sight. He tried to hide, but Whitney caught a glimpse, a flabbergasted look clear on her face, but he made no move to go talk with her, and she had two kids, could not leave her place. His heart pounded until Whitney had left, seeing her moved over felt much worse than death. She had proclaimed that she would stand with him when the accusations first had been made, but the media had taken its toll, he had watched her resolve drain, day by day, until the day that the verdict had come, when he’d been locked up, then it had been done. She’d started divorce, he didn’t contest, it was something he could not do to her, she’d wanted children, normal existence, all the things that a good woman deserved. With him in prison, that would be denied, so he’d signed the papers, and said goodbye. It had been simple, before he’d been freed, when he had not had a reason to hope, now, seeing her, with some other man’s kids, seemed beyond his ability to cope, a wound that wouldn’t heal, slowly bleeding, making him question the point of being. But the next day, when his shift was over, and he was walking slowly for the bus, he saw a G-wagon, and his Whitney, and his heart started racing then because there were no kids there, no shield she could use, confronting this was what he could not do. But she came forwards, her face fresh with tears, struggling hard to keep herself composed, until she broke down, and embraced Alan, saying, “I’m sorry…how-how could I know? I’m not sure how to deal with this because I don’t know why she would do this to us! “Now I’m left looking at a man I love, that I abandoned, I’m ashamed it’s true… We were so happy, but now all I see is all the things that I’ve taken from you. The life you deserved, that I thought we’d build, her lies and my weakness…it’s all been killed.” CONTINUES IN PART III.