The Plan

By Heather Fahy Serrano

“The happiest day of my life fell on a Tuesday.”

This statement is made by Maggie Hathaway, describing her wedding day. Anniversaries and weddings are the focus of this story, told in first person by Maggie.

Maggie has just been through a horrible ordeal, and when the story begins, she has been resting and recuperating at her father’s home. This event was an anniversary party in honor of the Hathaway’s. They are a large family headed by Howard and Judith, with their four children; three sons and a daughter. It has been a long standing family tradition that they all get married on the same day in June, regardless of what day of the week it falls on.

This year, anniversary party is taking place at Maggie and Bruce’s home. In addition; the youngest Hathaway son, Bradley has just gotten engaged...reluctantly. He is surprising his fiancé with the details on the wedding date at the party. Maggie’s funny and thorough attention to detail will have you right in the home with her as she describes it, and laughing along with her at the cast of characters that make up this family as she describes them. She will also tell the story of how she met her husband, Bruce, the second Hathaway son, their courtship, marriage, and tumultuous ten years that have brought her to where she is now.
On the surface, the Hathaway’s seem like the perfect family. They are very wealthy and live decadent lifestyles. They are well known in the community and when they are out in public, especially in one large group there are standards and dress codes that are not to be taken lightly. In many cases the dress code is color coordinated.
“I had a twinge of panic right then and there standing amongst my future family in a sea of yellow chiffon. I was giving up a lot more than my name...”
This year it is her ten year anniversary...and she hopes is her last. The Hathaway children take after their father and are controlling bullies. Along with that, Maggie has endured years of increasing emotional physical abuse from Bruce which she goes into painful detail without ever losing her humor and charm which adds to her strength.
What no one knows is that Maggie has secretly been planning her escape. She knew long ago the one thing that would hurt him more than anything, and it wasn’t hiding a gun under her pillow. It was finding a way to destroy him financially. She has been planning for awhile, but had still not decided when she was leaving...until now. Bruce will abuse her for the last time, and she will pull the trigger on the morning of the party. As the day progresses Maggie readies herself for the party and then her escape. Little does she know that fate will take over in a way she could never imagine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spangaloo Publishing
• Release date: Sep 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310542855

Book preview

The Plan

Heather Fahy Serrano

Copyright Heather Fahy Serrano 2015

Spangaloo Publishing at Smashwords

Spangaloo Edition

http://spangaloo.com

Standard Copyright eBooks are strictly protected works. You must not perform any actions, including copying, printing and distribution without the author’s written or printed consent (the author may have already granted certain terms in a statement within a book.) Some of our eBooks are cleared for personal printing if this option has been enabled, The unauthorized sale of Copyright works in any form is illegal.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, incidents, and places are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, people, or events is purely coincidental

Cover Design: James Bryron Love

Ebook Formatting : Alan Thriete

Editor James Blanchette

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

About the Author

Chapter 1

It just happened two weeks ago...but it seems like a lifetime ago. I have been resting and recuperating and getting used to waking up each day without dread and fear... But my daddy has started asking, so I guess I’ll start telling. I showed up on his doorstep after a long absence. I was black and blue and exhausted. I know I owe him an explanation for both; the bruises and the absence. The bruises came from the husband, and he was pretty much the reason for the absence too. I should have had more self respect and courage and this would never have gotten this far. But if I had left a day earlier than I did…well I won’t tell you yet. I hope you see that this was worth the wait.

I’ll start with the day before the last beating I would ever endure because that was really the beginning of the end. Well, the beginning of the end was the day I first met Bruce...so I have to go into some of that too. Funny how ten years just slipped right through my fingers...

***

It was Thursday June 6th, around eight-thirty in the morning. I loved that time of day. My husband had left for work and I was alone and I was enjoying my first cigarette and cup of coffee out in my back yard. Depending on the stress of the day, I smoke about six. It was easily going be a six ciggy day.

My name is Maggie. Oh, don’t ask my husband cause he’ll tell you my name is Margaret. That is if he could speak... But I am jumping way, way ahead now. But Margaret? Really? Gross, isn’t it? I mean that’s a name for an old lady if I ever heard one. I am only forty and isn’t that the new thirty? I have been married since I was the old thirty. Ten more and I’ll be the new forty, which will just be the real fifty. I was out there thinking that if I was married another ten years the real fifty might look like sixty on me. My spirit was aging at a rapid pace.

It was a wonderful morning in Louisville, Kentucky. Until quite recently, I lived in an upscale neighborhood called Crescent View. The houses are replicas of historic old Kentucky without the old money. From the street they look great with big picture windows and huge columns flanking the front doors. But on cold windy days the chilly air sneaks in the cheap windows and we had our columns repaired twice because they are just piping and plaster. The only thing historic on the property is two majestic old pines that will surely be there long after me.

I remember the first time I saw the house. Not that I had any say in the matter whatsoever. Bruce picked me up from the airport shortly after we were married and said he bought a house! When we drove up to it I was speechless. It was the biggest house I had ever seen, and I was going to be living in it! He had the key and we went right on in so I could take my first tour. I’ll describe it the best I can so you can get the visual. The house itself was white. Kind of like a miniature White House if you really want a picture in your head. There were black shutters framing the front windows, a couple of those cheap white columns I mentioned and a bright green front door. Right off the bat Bruce said he was going to get rid of the door but he never did. I liked the door. It was cheerful and inviting…but that’s as far as that feeling went when you walked through the door into the big foyer. Shoot, I had only ever seen foyers on TV and this one was as big as the bedroom in my old apartment. Then, if you looked straight ahead, there is the spiral staircase leading upstairs. You know the kind you see in the old movies where the leading actress is always coming down in a fancy gown and fur coat. I always felt a little under dressed in the house. Anyway, to the left is the living room. To the right is the dining room. To the left of the stairs is the hallway that leads to the guest bath, his-and-her offices and then our Master suite. The right of the stairs leads to the kitchen and the den which takes you out to the big backyard. There is also the utility room with, get this, two washers and two dryers, and another big refrigerator freezer. And there were four more bedrooms upstairs, each with its own bath! All this for two people!

When I finally found my words I joked, Boy, there are a lot of rooms to keep tidy. Bruce looked at me with distain and reminded me there would be help for that. Hey, I was not going to make a fuss about giving up toilet cleaning. As it turned out, we didn’t use the upstairs for much. The place was plenty big for us on the ground floor. Our bedroom suite also has doors that lead right outside to the backyard. As toxic as the inside of the place is, the backyard was pure serenity. There is a fountain that was here before Bruce bought the house and it’s a good thing too because he didn’t have such nice taste. It looks like it is right from a Mediterranean villa and from my bed it sounded like a babbling brook running through the yard. If he’d been the one who installed the fountain it would have been some replica from the Roman Empire with the water coming out of some man’s unmentionables.

There are birch trees and color everywhere. Zinnias, roses, peonies. Birds must love the choices of foliage because they make the backyard their home throughout the spring and summer. The neighborhood is full of the old money wannabes, but don’t dare tell that to Bruce. Bruce. My husband of ten years tomorrow, June 7th, to be exact.

I was just starting to relax after my nicotine fix when the phone rang. It was now 8:38 a.m. and time for the first call of what would be many that day—just like every day. I picked it up reluctantly. Hello, Bruce.

What are you doing? he demanded.

Gosh, dear, just finishing up my cleansing tea and getting ready for a nice long run.

Yeah well don’t be out too long. Listen, the gardeners should be there any minute and I want the flowers changed out on both sides of the front walkway. I told them pink and white daffodils. Make sure there are equal parts of each. I don’t want deliberate rows of each color. I want every other one—pink, white, pink, white. I ordered over two hundred so I don’t want to see any space between them. I want them tight right next to each other. I don’t want the freshly planted look. So if they need to get more they need to get more. I want you out there making sure this is done properly. Is that clear?

Perfectly!

But I do not want you getting any sun on your skin. After ten minutes in the sun you look like you have chicken pox. You are to wear long sleeves and pants and a hat. I mean it, Margaret. I will come home for lunch if I can reschedule a meeting. Fucking secretary! I tell her not to schedule lunch meetings. Who the hell needs lunch? I should consider the source – she’s a fat ass.

Charming guy, right? Bruce is a successful stockbroker or, I should say, was. Oh, but there I go jumping way ahead again. He bought and sold and invested and probably stole money from some very rich people all over the country. I mean I know it’s a good living, but Bruce had some expensive habits. I knew he made quite a bit of money, and I know what I saw in the bank account I had access too, but I didn’t kid myself, there was other money. He just thought I was too stupid to figure that out.

I need to hang up, Bruce. Have to finish my run before the gardeners, I said, lighting up cigarette number two. Oh lord, please don’t come home, please don’t come home, was all I was thinking.

I’ll tell you when you need to hang up, he bellowed. Now tell Anna to set two place settings for me to look at. I want the Lenox Florentine and Columbia. I don't want a tablecloth, but I want gold chargers, cream linen napkins, the Eternal Gold flatware and the Waterford Lismore, red, white and champagne stemware. I have pink roses coming. I want them arranged in the Lismore vases and in placed front of the settings so I can decide. Got it?

Got it.

Fine. I will call you after I get to the office. Keep your phone with you at all times.

He hung up. Thank you, God, for now anyway, as I expected another phone call within the half hour. His last statement was classic because, occasion or not, virtually every phone conversation between us ended with that same refrain: Keep your phone with you at all times.

This, however, was an occasion. Our ten year wedding anniversary was the following day. And it was not just our anniversary, it was his parents too. And not just ours and theirs, it was the wedding anniversary of his older brother and his wife. And his sister and her husband.... and here’s the best part, his younger brother just got engaged and that night he was going to tell his fiancée the good news—that she had plenty of time to plan their big day because they were getting hitched on the same date as the rest of us, one year from tomorrow. Lucky for them it will fall on a Saturday. The happiest day of my life fell on a Tuesday.

Chapter 2

I met Bruce just six months before we got married. It was in December. I was a flight attendant coming home from the East Coast. I was born and raised in a small town in the middle of the Texas panhandle. For as long as I was there the sign entering town said Population 4000 and I am sure it has not changed. I knew I wanted out, and a higher education did not seem like the right path for me as I struggled in school for as long as I could remember. I mean I loved my folks and all but they weren’t what you would call hands on parents. My mama was engrossed in her day time serials and game shows and her Harlequin romance novels and her cream sherry. And my daddy avoided home as much as possible, and that was easy to do cause he was a truck driver and gone several days each week. They were both searching for something they were not getting from each other, but what did I know about that when my eighth birthday rolled around and mama forgot to drop the cupcakes off for the class. I had made them myself; even whipped together my own pink frosting. I so wanted to out-do Suzanne Marshall and her pretty little flowered cookies from the week before. They were painted pastel blue with yellow sprinkles and she had a pastel blue gingham dress to match and a yellow bow in her hair to boot. We did not like each other. I had my own favorite pink dress on that day and did my hair the very best I could considering I was