A Painted Smile
Page 14
My ears were bleeding as a result of some of the things that she’d said.
And the sad thing was that with all of my being, I believed every last word of it.
The stalker thing was right on point. Jasper was always somewhere, lurking in the shadows so I believed her.
“When he met you, he changed in a way. It was like he wanted to be normal so bad. But there was nothing normal about Jasper. When I came to your house that day, the first time, in all honesty, it was to kind of warn you. I couldn’t exactly say it, but I was trying to give you a way out but you didn’t take it. I knew that he loved me and that he would never hurt me, but at the time I wasn’t so sure about you. But like I said, in a way you changed him. But that didn’t stop him from loving me. It didn’t stop him from being obsessed or jealous over me. I didn’t want to leave my babies at that hospital, but I saw it as my chance to get away from Jasper for good. But of course, like always, he found me.”
Shannon took a deep breath and I awaited her next words nervously.
“He found me and hated the fact that I was so in love with Zara. He hated that not only did I love her, but the fact that she was a woman ate him up in the inside. She really was trying to leave me and when she went missing I knew that Jasper somehow had gotten a hold of her. I knew he had her or at least had something to do with her disappearance. He hated her because I loved her, and he killed her because of me. He killed her just like he killed his parents and his wife before me.”
I’d been married to a psychopath!
“He rammed her head up against the coffee table on purpose. I’m talking about his wife before me. She hadn’t fallen. He killed her because she wouldn’t agree to let him love me and be with her at the same time. She was going to leave him and Jasper had a problem with people trying to leave him. I lied for him when really I should have told the truth. He and everyone else would have been safer if he was in prison or in a hospital but instead I lied for him and vouched for the accident. Jasper was sick and he needed help. He had always needed help.”
Never would I have imagined these things about Jasper.
Who would have thought that he was a Devil in sheep’s clothing?
I should have walked away when I had the chance but I’d chosen to stay and love him anyway, only to find out that I was nothing more than a possession to him rather than something or someone that was irreplaceable.
I listened attentively as Shannon filled me in on more information of their history and about Jasper.
I couldn’t help but think that maybe God had allowed him to die because who knows what he would have done to me if he had made it home that night and if I’d told him that I was leaving him---for real this time.
Apparently he had a whole side to him that I didn’t know and I thank God that I hadn’t had to find out first hand.
Shannon finished her last remarks and told me that she didn’t want any of the money that Jasper left behind. She said that she would give her share to the twins and that she once again would disappear.
Though I wanted to invite her to stick around for the twins’ sake, it was probably for the best that she moved on with her life.
With Jasper dead, she was truly free and could now enjoy her life without having to constantly check over her shoulder and she deserved that.
She walked away, much like she had at Zara’s funeral and this time, for sure, I was positive that I wouldn’t see her again.
She had no reason to come back here and no reason to be afraid to live.
As she disappeared and as my parents, the kids and others began to surround me, I smiled at the thought that I’d done her a favor.
I only hoped that life would bring her nothing but joy and happiness, and hopefully she would be able to fully enjoy it, finally.
Turning my back towards the sunlight, I kept the smile on my face as others hugged and greeted me.
Though I was still unsure of the future, confused about the past, worried about the present and emotionally famished, no one around me needed to know what I was going through.
I would figure it all out just like I always do.
Family and friends continued to hug and greet me as I continued to thank them and smile.
Though I wanted to fall apart, silently I thanked God for the gift of a painted smile.
There was nothing like being able to smile through hurt and through the pain.
But one must always remember…
A smile is just a smile. You just never know what a person is hiding behind it.
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The End
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