The Family Plan
The Family Plan
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“I hate you and never want to see you again!” shouted 16-year-old Ricky to his mother as he boarded the plane. Still stinging with hurt, Connie McNeil stood resolutely, a baby in one arm, a perplexed child on the other. Sending Ricky to live with his biological father was what had to be done--but it was still the hardest thing she would ever do. Ricky’s anger and frustration had gotten out of control, especially since Eddie, the only Dad he’d really ever known, had gone to prison three years earlier. She bitterly turned the details of her circumstances over in her mind as she watched out the window of the Houston terminal.
Ten years ago, when she was pregnant with her middle son, Travis, the doctors had discovered cervical cancer. Two doctors had told her the only way to save her life was to abort his. She and Eddie brazenly chose to preserve the baby’s life at the risk of her own.
They’d done the right thing, but why since then did things seem to spin out of control? If God was even there, did He care? Sickness, the failure of Eddie’s business, the angry clients calling, a second pregnancy, and then Eddie’s incarceration had left her reeling and alone with a new baby, a confused child, and an angry teenager. To make matters worse, her own family had turned their backs on her because of her stubborn refusal to divorce Eddie and move on with her life.
Connie had been doing the best that she could to make ends meet. She’d taken a job at Wal-Mart and had moved her little family in with a friend she’d known since high school. She knew that living with Nelda and her lesbian lover was not the best situation for her children, but what else could she do? Connie needed a place, and living with them was better than the alternative--the street.
Frustrated and fed up, Connie went home. She thought about the upcoming Christmas party at the prison and knew that she needed to have it out with Eddie then. She needed to tell him face-to-face that she’d had enough; she wanted a divorce.
