The Christian Bernard Richards Jr. Story

The Christian Bernard Richards Jr. Story(Cedric Charles Nance) “Hey honey, I’m talking to you, don’t you dare walk off,” Christian (also known as Chris among friends and family) Richards Sr. said to his wife Trisha Renai Richards.

“I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about, I’ve already made my decision,” Trisha said as she walked out of their bedroom.

“But I haven’t made a decision, and if you do something without me knowing that would be violating my rights as his father. Therefore you will be giving up your rights as his mother giving me full custody, and the most important thing is that your decision won’t matter anyway."

“What is that supposed to mean?” Trisha snapped back.

“Trisha please don’t make me say it; I really don’t want to have to hurt your feelings.”

“Say it Chris, I want to hear what you have to say. I really want to know what you think about me. Why won’t my decision matter?”

“Well, uh…” Chris pauses as he thinks of a nice way to say what he’s about to say but he can’t find one so he says in the best way possible, “you’re in no condition to take care of CJ physically, mentally, or emotionally. You can hardly discipline yourself.”

“Oh so that’s what you think?”

“Well you asked so I was obliged to tell you.”

“Well CJ is my son too, I can file for full-custody, or I can even have him put up for adoption. I’m pretty sure they’ll find a better family for him.”

“And I wonder whose fault that is.”

“I believe and I’m sure everybody else will agree that it’s your fault.”

“Figured you would say that-,” Chris said but Trisha cut him off.

“-No, no, let me talk. As I was saying, this is your fault Chris and you know it. We could have a family if you weren’t so dominating and greedy. You can’t stand the fact that you’re not in control of the world. That’s exactly why you killed that man, or have you forgotten about that.

Chris sighs and says, “Trisha are you even listening to me? They won’t even consider giving you full custody, especially after they’re finished doing their background check.”

“And why is that Chris?”

“Well for one you love to overdose on your medicine. You’ve also tried to commit suicide at least twice, but I’ve stood by you even though you did all of those things Trisha.”

“Why did you kill that man Chris? Please explain that to me.”

“Trisha, I’ve killed plenty of men. It’s my job. I’m a police officer, and I do my job well, I follow all the rules so that my son can grow up in a crime free environment.”

“So that’s your excuse. Chris, you let the man fall off a cliff. What’s stopping you from letting that happen to CJ? I guess adoption is the only choice we have left for him then. We’re not ready to be parents; we’re not ready for a baby at all. We can’t even take care of a dog like this. Let’s just get it over with and give him away.” Trisha was on the verge of tears but every word she said only made their problems worse. It only made the cuts deeper and now they were too deep to be healed.

“Really Trisha, why don’t you take a second and think. How will adoption be any better for him? Are you even thinking about the words coming out of your mouth? Kids that are put up for adoption usually become criminals because they believe that they aren’t worth anything. They feel like nobody cares about them. I don’t want that for my son, and you shouldn’t want that for him either. I don’t want to arrest a young boy one day and find out later that he’s my son. Do you know, do you even care how he’ll feel? Trisha remained pacing silently around the room, “Trisha, are you even listening to me? Now you can talk Trisha. Answer me! Do you even care how your only son, your only son, will feel?

“I care about CJ more than you do Chris.”

“Then act like it Trisha. You’re so damn selfish. You only think about your needs and nobody else seems to matter. It’s always been about you and it’s always got to be about you. I’m sick of it Trisha, you need to grow up. I thought that once we had CJ you would change, but I can see that’s not happening. The way I see it, things are getting worse. You don’t care about me or CJ, and that’s probably why you started drinking and taking drugs after CJ was born. You only think about yourself and I’m so sick of it. I will not tolerate this any longer. You will stop drinking and doing drugs as long as you stay in my house. This will not go on any longer, especially with my son in this house, and you can either agree or leave. I really don’t care anymore.”

“Chris…,” Trisha pauses as she thinks about what she’s about to say, “Forget this. He is my son. I gave birth to him, not you, so you can leave.” Trisha raises her hand and is about to slap Chris but lowers her hand when she sees the look in his eyes.

“Trisha this is my house. You can’t put me out of my house. And if I did decide to leave where am I supposed to go?”

“Straight to hell, but until then I suggest the Holiday Inn. I hear it’s nice this time of year. Trisha walks away with a satisfied smirk on her face."

“Trisha no, never mind. I don’t have to put up with you; just get your bags and leave. I’m done dealing with you,” Chris yells with a vexed look on his face.

“Who do you think you’re talking to Chris? You can wipe that look off your face before I slap it off,” Trisha murmured getting angrier by the minute.

“You know damn well who I’m talking to and I’m sick of your bull shit Trisha. I’m so sick of being around you, so just go, and before you say anything, I don’t have to leave. This is my house. I pay the bills. I put food on the table. You’re too busy spending your money on drugs and alcohol. I’m going to ask you one more time to leave my house before I kick you out.”

“You won’t kick me out, you don’t have the balls.”

“Maybe I don’t, but I can have you arrested and dragged out for harassing a police officer and for the unauthorized possession of drugs,” Chris warned.

“Okay Chris, okay. If you want me to leave I’ll go, but once I leave, don’t call me back. Once I walk out that door I’m not coming back here.”

“Why don’t you just leave now?”

“I’m not allowed to be out this late, you know it’s a school night,” Trisha taunted, “stop playing with me Chris, you know better than anybody else that I’m not allowed to drive past 11:00.”

“Oh I’m sorry, that slipped my mind. If you would put down the alcohol long enough to drive you wouldn’t be in the predicament now would you? Chris chuckled as he saw the look on Trisha’s face.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me Chris; you have no room to judge. I’m actually glad I’m leaving, I can’t take this anymore. It feels like I’m being suffocated,” Trisha babbled.

“Well you’ve tried to kill yourself by suffocation before; it’s probably the after effects kicking in.”

“Stop it Chris, just stop it with the jokes. This is not funny.”

“Oh, I’m sorry; did I hurt your feelings?”

“Chris please,” Trisha pleaded with tears falling from her eyes.

“Trisha I have a serious question for you. Why did you wait till after CJ was born to start acting like this? Please explain that to me. What did I do to cause this? Why wait until after CJ is born to start drinking and doing drugs? Chris was talking more to himself than Trisha because he really didn’t expect an answer.

“I didn’t want CJ to come out distorted. I knew that if I did any of this while I was pregnant that CJ could’ve come out deformed.”

“Trisha, how distorted do you think he’ll be now. He has to grow up without a mother because of the choices his mother made and is still making, the choices that his mother will always make.”

“You may think I’m selfish Chris, but I’m not. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for CJ. CJ is my son, and I will always put him first, no matter what happens. CJ is the most important person in my life right now.”

“Don’t lie to me Trisha and most importantly don’t lie to yourself. You were only thinking about yourself and that’s the one thing that will never change.”

“I only wanted CJ’s life to be better than ours.”

“Then leave, because the sooner you leave, the better his and my life will be.”

“Chris there’s no need for you to be angry.” Trisha was intentionally making their problems worse now. She had already made her mind up about what she was about to do.

“What? Why the hell shouldn’t I be mad? Trisha you’re ruining my family, you’re ruining my life; you’re trying to take my son away from me. I have more than enough reasons to be angry right now." Trisha had finally pushed Chris over the edge and he was trying to walk away before he made some horrible decisions.

“Chris you need to calm down before you do something you’ll regret.”

“I regret a lot of things, but my biggest regret is marrying you. Everybody and I mean everybody told me you were trouble, even my parents, even your parents. I just thought you were belligerent, but I was blind to the real you.”

“Oh I apologize for that honey, but you made that choice. Now are you going to throw stuff and cry yourself to sleep? Please don’t. I need my beauty sleep.”

“Trisha, all the beauty sleep in the world wouldn’t help you; you should have spent some of that drug money on plastic surgery.”

“Shut up and go to sleep, I’ll be so glad when I leave in the morning.” Trisha walked back into their bedroom holding back tears.

“Me too, I can’t remember being this happy.” Chris went to check on CJ, and walked into the living room. “I guess I’m sleeping on the couch tonight.” Chris pulled the bed out from under the couch and was lying down while thinking to himself…… 'How can you even think about putting your own son up for adoption?' Chris wondered to himself as he was getting comfortable. 'She doesn’t even seem to care, she just wants to see me hurt. Things are going to be so much better after she leaves. She needs time to think about what’s she can do to fix herself, while I do what’s best for me and CJ. I may need to stay awake tonight though, there’s no telling what Trisha might try to do. Wow, this is just like that Greek play I read. What was the name of it, it’s been awhile since I’ve read it. Oh yeah, it was called “Medea”. It feels like I’m Jason, and she’s Medea, except Jason was cheating on Medea; I’ve been completely faithful to Trisha, if anything she was cheating on me with drugs and alcohol. What am I supposed to do about this? Well she’ll probably wait until she thinks I’m asleep to do something.' Chris turns over as drifts off into an uncomfortable sleep.

'How can he tell me what I can and can’t do? CJ is my son too. I’m the one who had to put up with nine months and three days at that damn hospital. I spend every waking moment taking care of CJ. How can he say I don’t care? But don’t worry Chris; I’m going to make you work; you’re going to regret crossing me. I’m going to make you pay.' Trisha tossed and turned in bed as she continued to think. 'This is like that play “Medea” that I had to read in college. Medea and I have a lot in common, especially the fact that we both want our husbands to experience the pain they’re causing us. Chris keeps working my nerves; he pushes me to do the things I do. I thought CJ would make our problems better but they are getting worse. By God, I want to see him beg. I want to see him crying on his knees. I got it; I’ll take CJ and run. I can change our names and Chris will never find us. I can find a good place for us to live and we can be safe. Perfect! Well I’ll have to wait until after Chris goes to sleep. Chris is going to pay.' Trisha glances at the clock by her bed, 'its 11:40, Chris is probably still awake, just a little while longer though….'

“Come on CJ, wake up baby, we need to get away from your daddy for a while, hopefully forever,” Trisha whispered to her two-month old baby, Christian Jr., as she woke him up at 3:00 in the morning, “No please don’t cry,” Trisha continued soothingly as CJ began to whimper. She ran back to her room as quickly and silently as she could to grab the bag of clothes she had packed for her and CJ, her purse, and her car keys. She checked her purse to make sure her wallet was in there, and she made sure she had enough cash just in case Chris turned off all her credit cards. She softly walked out of the bedroom door but as soon as she closed the door CJ began to cry, waking Chris up.

“Trisha, what are you doing? Are you trying to take my son away from me?” Chris exclaimed as he jumped out of bed, “Trisha what the hell is wrong with you. Why would you even try something like this when you know it’s against the law,” he continued.

“Forget it Chris, there’s nothing you can do to stop me, you wanted me to leave, and I’m leaving; you told me not to come back, and I won’t. There’s nothing you can do for me or CJ anymore.”

“I can help CJ grow up; I can make sure that he does something with his life other than sell and take drugs like his mother. You can’t do this to me Trisha; I won’t let you.”

“Like you have a choice Chris, you can’t stop me. You’re way too weak.” Trisha was spitting the words out like venom now.

“Trisha, give me my son back please…”

“Chris, I’m not staying, and if I leave CJ is coming with me; we’ll be better off by ourselves. Trisha ran to the car before Chris could stop her. It was already cranked because she had climbed out her bathroom window a few hours earlier to do it. She strapped CJ in his car seat as fast as she could before Chris grabbed her hand and turned her around.

“Trisha, that’s just another of your lame excuses.”

“Stop Chris, just stop, give it up. You lose.”

“Trisha, a loser isn’t somebody who tries and fails; it’s somebody who fails to try.”

“Thanks for the enlightenment Buddha, but I don’t want you to have CJ. I want to cause you pain. I want you to hurt. I want the rest of your life to be a nightmare because of this night. You’re no better than I am Chris, you’re a hypocrite and I’m glad that I don’t have to live with you any longer.” Trisha took a few steps away from Chris and said, “Goodbye Chris, have a nice life.” Trisha jumped into the car and was about to leave when Chris stopped her.

“Trisha, let’s talk about this. I’ll do anything. Please don’t take my son away from me.”

“I’m done talking Chris.” Trisha backs out of the driveway almost running over Chris’s foot while giving Chris the finger and laughing as she drove away.

He could hear the song on the radio as she drove away. It explained how he felt so well. “I’m sorry for blaming you. For everything I just couldn’t do. And I’ve hurt myself by hurting you,” the voice on the radio song.

“Trisha come back, please come back,” Chris yelled as he ran after the car, “no please let this be a dream. Why is this happening to me, what did I do to deserve this?” Chris asked as he sank to his knees in the middle of the road and begin to cry with the lyrics to Christina Aguilera “Hurt” in his head. “I would hold you in my arms; I would take the pain away. Thank you for all you’ve done, forgive all your mistakes. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to hear your voice again. Sometimes I want to call you but I know you won’t be there. I’m sorry for blaming you. For everything I just couldn’t do. And I’ve hurt myself by hurting you.”

Chris searched for CJ for two years before finally giving up. He keeps a photo of CJ in his wallet so he will never forget him. Three years after CJ was taken, Chris decided to get married again to a beautiful public defender named Lea Monroe. They moved to Chicago when Chris was offered a job there as a criminologist. They planned on starting a family as soon as they were settled but they soon discovered that Lea couldn’t have children, so after a year of arguing and thinking they decided to adopt a four year old boy named Kiyen Young…..

“Hello Miss, I’m Christian Richards Sr., and I’m here to finalize Kiyen Young’s adoption,” Chris said to the D.A. (desk assistant) at the Joy Owens’ Adoption Agency.

“Just a minute sir….have you finished all the necessary paperwork? If you’re not finished you can go and finish over there. The D.A. pointed to a desk on the far side of the room.

“That’s okay; my wife and I signed them all last night. I have them right here.” Chris reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a manila envelope and hands it to the D.A.

“Do you want to change Kiyen’s name? we need to know so we can change it on his birth certificate.” the D.A. asked as she read over the papers.

“No, Kiyen’s a good name.”

“Well can you wait here for me while I go get Kiyen out of the playroom? He was a little excited when he came in this morning. He hasn’t sat down since he got here. He’s been waiting for this day a long time.”

“Yeah I can understand that. Lea and I are pretty excited too. We didn’t get much sleep last night. She couldn’t be here today though, she had a court case.”

“Well I’m sure the three of you will make a great family. Excuse me for a minute.” The D.A. left the room to go get Kiyen.

'Okay, let’s hold it together. I’m so close to being finished. I can make it if I just don’t think about CJ. He’s gone and it’s time for me to move on,' Chris thought to himself, but even thinking about leaving CJ behind brought tears to his eyes. As the D.A. entered the room, Chris quickly wiped his eyes and faced her calmly.

“Okay sir I guess you and Kiyen are ready to leave. His clothes are already in your car, but he should need some new one’s soon, he’s growing quickly.” The D.A. said all of this as she tried to ignore the tears still falling from Chris’s face. Chris looked up and glanced at his new son, Kiyen. Kiyen's mother was mixed and his dad was one-fourth Portuguese just like Chris. He was a very bright boy with bluish-gray eyes that seemed to glow in the sunlight. He also had curly brown hair and perfectly white teeth to top it off.

“Well, thank you for all of your assistance. I guess I’ll see you in the next month or so for your home evaluation.” Chris picks up Kiyen and the one little bag he’s carrying and walks out the door that the D.A. is holding open for them.

“Bye, bye,” Kiyen said to the D.A. as he waved to her as Chris strapped him into his car seat.

“Bye Kiyen, be a good boy okay. Remember everything we taught you here.” She wiped away a loose strand of hair from her face. She bit her lip as an attempt to keep herself from crying, she was really going to miss Kiyen. He had grown up here and she had loved taking care of him, “I’m really going to miss you kiddo,” she continued as she gave Kiyen a hug and kissed his forehead.

“I’m going to miss you too, but I got to go. I’ll be back though. Don’t worry; I’ll come visit you when I can.”

“Goodbye Kiyen,” the D.A. whispered to herself as Chris cranked up the car and drove off leaving her standing there alone.

“So kid, how old are you?” Chris asked as he drove away from the adoption center.

“I just turned four last week.” Kiyen held up five fingers instead of four.

“Hey put one finger down. There you go.” Chris laughs slowly.

“That’s not funny.” Kiyen tried not to laugh but he eventually gave in.

“When were you born?”

“Well, Mrs. Owens told me I was born April 13, 2007.

“Oh,” Chris said as he remembered what that day had meant to him. Chris had just rushed Trisha to Mercer Joy Hospital. It was April 13, 2007, and Trisha's water had broken. He was on the phone with his mom, and she was rushing here to see the birth of her first grandchild. When he hung up the phone one of the nurses walked out to tell him, “Mr. Richards, your wife is dilating, and the baby’s head is showing.”

“Thanks, keep my updated. I’m trying to contact our family.”

“I will, it shouldn’t take much longer.” Thirty-five minutes later the nurse walked outside and told Chris, “Your wife just gave birth to a healthy baby boy. He weighs 7.5 pounds and his heart rate and everything else seems to be normal. Your wife is sleeping, she had to have a C-Section but she’ll be okay after a while.

“Can I hold my son, can I please hold my baby?”

“Sure!” The doctor led Chris into the delivery room, “What do you plan on naming him?”

“Well we both decided on Christian Bernard Richards Jr.”

“Perfect name, he already looks a lot like you.”

“Thank you,” Chris said as he held his baby boy for the first time.

“I’m hungry, can we please get something to eat,” Kiyen said, bringing Chris back to the present. Chris looked up at Kiyen and realized that he hadn’t eaten all day.

“Sure buddy, where do you want to stop?” Chris asked as he wondered how he’d made it this far up the road while day dreaming.

“I want a burger, what do you want to eat?”

“That’s fine with me. There should be a Burger King somewhere up here.”

Chris scanned the road he was driving on for a Burger King, “There it is,” Chris continued as he finally spotted his favorite fast food restaurant.

“I don’t see it, where is it, can you show it to me? Oh never mind, I can see it now. I love going to Burger King. They always have cool toys but I’m too old for those now.

“Oh so what do you want?” Chris asked with a grin on his face as he pulled up to the drive-through.”

“I want a big boy burger. I want a Whopper Jr. and a medium vanilla milkshake.”

“Sure, is there anything else you want?”

“No, are you trying to make me get fat?”

Chris looked at Kiyen and laughed, “You’re a funny kid, and you know that right?”

“I’ve been told that before.”

“Hello, may I take your order,” the drive through worker at Burger King said.

“Yes, may I have a number one, but instead of a drink may I have two medium vanilla milkshakes and a Whopper Jr. with a small fry.”

“Your total is $14.42, will you please pull up to the window.” Chris pulled up to the window, rolled down his window, pulled out his wallet and was about to pay when Kiyen reached over and stopped him.

“I got this, let me pay for it.” Kiyen reached for his wallet and then looked embarrassed as he said, “Never mind, I left my wallet in my bag, I guess I’ll handle the bill next time.”

“Chris looked at Kiyen with a grin and said, “I kind of figured that buddy, but I’m going to hold you to your word.”

“Okay, I’ll pay next time. I promise. Mrs. Lennox, my old caretaker, taught me how to be my own man.

“Chris laughed, payed for their meal and grabbed their food and drove off. He then looked at Kiyen and was about to make a joke, but stopped when he looked into Kiyen eyes. At that moment Kiyen looked just like CJ. Chris tried to shake it off, but he couldn’t. He stared at Kiyen as he passed him his food. He watched him as he ate. The more he looked at Kiyen, the more he saw CJ in him, but Kiyen’s voice brought Chris out of his daze and the likeness faded.

“Hey, you haven’t touched your burgher. Are you not hungry?"

“Yeah I’m hungry. I was just day dreaming,” Chris replied dazed as he realized he was crying again.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?”

“No you didn’t do anything. I’m just happy. I finally have a family, and you guys mean so much to me.”

“I’m happy too, but you don’t see me crying.” Kiyen leaned over and wiped the tears away from Chris’s face, “Now you need to eat your burger before I have to finish it off for you.”

“Yes sir.” Chris laughed at Kiyen’s attempt at taking charge, “you’re seriously a funny kid, and you’re smart too. You know what to do to make a person feel better.”

“Where do you live?” Chris had turned into a residential area and Kiyen was getting anxious, “Which house is yours?” Kiyen was getting more excited by the minute. He was practically jumping out of his seat.

“Right there, it’s the big house on the end,” Chris replied as he pointed to a big blue house at the end of the block, “We just finished painting the house last week.”

“Wow! Your house is huge, how can only two people stay here? Your house is like a hotel,” Kiyen exclaimed in awe as Chris pulled into his driveway. As soon as the car stopped Kiyen unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car. He stood outside looking at the house, “I-i-i- can’t b-b-believe I’m going to be staying here,” Kiyen stammered in excitement, “This is so amazing.”

“Hey Kiyen, come help me with your bags. I want to have you moved in and give you the grand tour before Lea gets home. She should be home in another hour or so, let’s get moving buddy.”

“Okay,” Kiyen yelled as he tore his eyes away from the house and went to help Chris with his bags. He grabs two bags and runs to stand behind Chris as he’s opening the front door and almost runs over Chris trying to get inside the house, talking nonstop.

“Where’s my room, where’s my room, where’s my room? What room is this? Is that the TV? Wow! Is that the kitchen? This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see my room! Where is it?”

“Hey Kiy’ calm down buddy. We need to get all your bags in first.” Chris had to lead Kiyen back outside and handed him some more bags for him to carry inside. After they had moved the rest of Kiyen’s bag inside the house Chris stopped and said, “Okay now you that we’re finished I’ll give you a tour of the house, and after we’re done with that we can move your bags up to your room. Are you ready?”

"Yes, let’s get started. I can’t possibly wait any longer.”

“Okay this is the living room, and yes that’s a TV, and the room on the left is the kitchen and the dining room is beside it. Follow me,” Chris instructed as he walked up the stairs, “Okay these are the bedrooms. That room is your mom’s and mine. The room beside it is the library and my study, and the room on the end just happens to be yours. That last room right there is the movie theater and the game room, and you have a bathroom inside your room.”

“This house is so unreal!” Kiyen ran down the hall to his room and looked inside, “Wow,” Kiyen pauses as he takes in his surroundings. There’s a big bed in the middle of the room with Power Ranger sheets. There’s a bathroom and a closet right beside it full of new clothes and shoes. There was a big flat screen TV on the wall with a PlayStation 3 hooked up to it. All of this brought tears to his eyes and he suddenly turned around and ran straight into Chris screaming, “I love you, I love you, I love you. This is so amazing, thank you.”

“I love you too buddy and you're welcome.” Chris wrapped his arms around Kiyen and gave a big bear hug and then threw him in the air while Kiyen screamed in joy.

“I take it he likes his room.” Chris and Kiyen both jump at the sound of an unexpected but familiar female voice behind them, but relaxed when they saw Lea walking towards them. Lea was at least 5’10 with skin the color of honey, hazel-green eyes, long straight hair and the slim body of a model.

“Hey honey, I didn’t hear you come in. We really missed you today. How did your case go?”

“I’ve been home for at least four minutes now. I walked in and saw Kiyen’s bags on the floor and then I heard Kiyen yelling. The case was a no-brainer. The perp got life without parole. He sure as hell deserved it.” Lea walks over and picks up Kiyen, “Wow, you’re heavy, what have they been feeding you?”

“What’s a perp?” I’ve heard that word before when Mrs. Lennox use to watch “Law and Order”. I asked her once but she never would tell me.

“Just know that it’s a very bad person that does really bad things and that’s all you need to know. Let’s get you unpacked.”

“Okay, let’s get started, because this might take a while.”

Later that night after they had finished helping Kiyen unpack and put him to bed, Chris said good night to Lea and went to his study to think. He was still a little shocked about what had happened earlier that day in the car.
'I really need this time to think,' Chris thought to himself, 'I seriously don’t know what’s going on with me. It’s been four years since Trisha ran off with CJ, but it’s still affecting me. I need to talk to somebody about this before it gets worse.' Chris gets up and walks around the room lost in his thoughts. He continued to do this until he heard a knock at the door.

“Hey honey are you in here?” Lea walked into Chris‘s study in her nightgown, “honey it’s past 11:00, you should get some sleep. You have to work in the morning. Do you want me to drop Kiyen off at preschool in the morning?”

“I know, I know, but I can’t sleep right now. I’ll be there in another thirty minutes or so. I might go check on CJ first; he might not be sleeping so well.”

“You called him CJ, Chris. His name is Kiyen. I’m really worried about you Chris, you haven’t been yourself lately. You’ve been distant Chris, and you always have that crazy look in your eye.” Lea looks Chris in his eyes, “Are you okay? Chris, at least talk to me.”

“I saw CJ today,” Chris pauses to look at Leah, “Kiy’ and I were leaving Burger King and I happened to look over at Kiy’ and he looked just like CJ. I didn’t know what to do or say, all I could do was stare.”

“Chris, you’re starting to scare me. Are you saying that you looked at Kiyen and saw CJ? You promised me that you were over that.”

“I lied Trisha, how can I ever get over that, he was my son Lea. You should know how I feel.”

“Just in case you forgot Chris, I can’t have kids, so how in hell am I supposed to know. Chris you told me you were getting help for that. Why are you lying to me Chris? I can’t help you if you’re going to lie to me.”

“Wow Lea. You reminded me a lot of Trisha just then.”

“Did you seriously just compare me to your wife? The one you’re still legally married to for another month until they claim her and your son as dead. I can’t believe you Chris. I see you don’t want to forget her either. Well why don’t you just go find her and let her take Kiyen away from us.”

“Why are you being so hateful Lea? You asked me what was wrong and I told you. How can you possibly expect me to forget about CJ? He’s not hurting you. He’s not keeping you from being provided for, so what’s the problem Lea?”

“I know that Chris, but I can see that he’s hurting you. It seems like you can’t move on, or you’re not trying to. You’re letting your past ruin your future. You’re blind to what you have right here in front of you. I understand that you want to find your son, but there’s a difference between obsessing with something and loving someone. I just figured you should know that before you let it ruin your life.”

“I am not obsessed. Is it wrong for me to want to see my son again?”

“No Chris, it’s not, but you’re taking it to the extreme. You’re letting it take control of your life.”

“Well that’s not your problem is it? Just because you don’t know what it feels like to,” Chris pauses as he sees the tears drop from Lea’s face, “I’m sorry Lea; I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No that’s okay Chris. I understand what you meant, it’s as clear as day to me. I’m afraid for you, and I hope that you can understand that. You need psychological help Chris; you really need to talk to someone about this. I’m done fighting you about this, I’m going to bed, and I’ll talk to you in the morning. Goodnight Chris,” Lea walks out of the study and was about to go back to bed when Chris stopped her.

“Lea I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you baby. I promise you it’ll never happen again and I mean it this time. Chris turns Lea around and kisses her, “I love you honey and I don’t want you to run off on me too. O let’s get some sleep,” Chris said as he leads Trisha into their bedroom.