Sherri Smith, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Sherri Smith
Grandma/Divorce Blog 5/28/2014 8:05:09 AM
The story continues. Worst Fears Realized
I’m sure when he began all of this he assumed that Heather would not stand up to him or be willing to face the fight with him. She had given in so many times before and he is so good at the manipulation game. Meanwhile, he was and is still living with his dad. So no bills for him to pay, no rent either. He didn’t give her any money. He paid for their cable until his contract ran out then he stopped. He paid a bill or two in the first couple of months.
Heather was struggling to make ends meet. She wanted out of the house that had so many horrible memories and so did the kids. She couldn’t pay the mortgage on it anyway. We helped her out as much as we could but we still had not sold our house. She was able to find a house to rent but she struggled to get the deposit and first month’s rent together. The kids were excited and happy to be getting out of that house. Not only had their step father abused them there, a neighbor placed a lot of stress on the family by turning them into the city for even a small infraction of city code.
1. The dogs were barking.
2. Their leash was too long.
3. The dog barked out the window at people passing by.
4. Their garbage cans didn’t have a lid.
5. They didn’t have enough garbage cans for the trash they had.
6. The guttering needed to be fixed.
7. The lawn needed mowing more often.
8. The kid’s toys were always in the lawn.
You get the idea. It was nearly a weekly event that someone from the city would either call her on the phone of knock on her door.
Then I found out the worst news that a grandmother could hear. While showering, Luke was washing the girl’s private parts because they didn’t get clean enough doing it themselves! Really!
Then more and more was revealed as the oldest girl began to open up about what she had endured in the shower with her step dad. You know, the Mr. Nice Guy, glad hander, Host and general manager of a large chain restaurant! Oh, and let’s not forget he was also the President of the kid’s school PTO! He ran the meetings, Heather did all the work. Everyone had the highest regard of him but they didn’t know what he was like inside. He’s very good about putting on his shiny façade and showing only one side of his personality. I was beginning to learn more and more about what he was really like on the inside. I detest what I see!
My daughters in laws began to approach me with the feelings they experienced while around him. They felt so uncomfortable with him at a family gathering, they avoided being in the room alone with him. They didn’t say a word to me, they didn’t want to cause trouble in the family.
In his job as chain restaurant manager he had been accused and fired over more than one sexual harassment suit. He couldn’t seem to keep his sarcasm and innuendos to himself. He made inappropriate remarks to women who worked for him and it finally caught up with him. He was fired from yet another restaurant. Why didn’t I see the signs earlier? I didn’t see them because I didn’t want to see them. If I turned a blind eye then the threat of never seeing Breezy again would not happen. I told myself to stay out of their marriage and let them work it out. I even told both of them and my other kids that I wouldn’t listen to any complaints from any of them about their spouse. I was so stressed I just didn’t think I could handle it. So they stopped. That still did not save me from the heartache and grief to come.
