Rebecca

Of all the villains in the story, Rebecca has been the hardest for me to write. I think it has a lot to do with how she was introduced. Rebecca came because I needed a connection for Mike. I loved the relationship between Bill and Julie and I wanted that for Mike. I knew Bill would save Mike from death and Mike would struggle with all he felt he owed to the Sergeant. I wanted Rebecca to help him heal. I wanted Mike to be happy.

The more I wrote the family, the less I ‘felt’ Rebecca. She didn’t seem supportive of Mike. In fact, the more I tried to get to know her, the more I disliked her. She was selfish and angry and she blamed Mike for his job and his injuries. She was neither loving nor supportive and before long, I began to see who she was.

I also wanted to explore an angle of the relationships I never have. I have always been against writing stories about cheating. I think there is enough drama in everyday life that it isn’t necessary to bring in a third-party. With Rebecca and Mike, I was able to explore the damage such a lie brings by having it happen to a character who had been on the perimeter. We knew Mike, but we didn’t really ‘know’ him. He was blindsided by what Rebecca did to him and the idea that she was involved in hurting the family he had grown to love just destroyed him. He was afraid nobody would be able to look at him and not see what Rebecca had done.

And then there was Jimmy.

Mike adored his little boy and for all that was wrong in the world, Jimmy was what was right. Mike saw his father when he looked at his son and his mother Elaine had smiled for the first time in so long. It never occurred to him that Jimmy wasn’t his. When Rebecca told him that, it simply destroyed Mike.

Rebecca is a lonely and bitter woman. She went after Mike in the worst possible way, his guilt at leaving her to go to war and his love for his son. She tore at his heart by making him doubt his worth at a time when he already was doing just that.

She was hurtful and hateful to him when he came home. She never shared her heart or her life with him and she allowed him to suffer in silence. He let it happen, too, out of guilt and shame.

What kind of man allows his wife to treat him so badly? This was a question Mike wrestled with. He was embarrassed and humiliated.

I think Rebecca simply thought Mike would do whatever she wanted. When her world began to fall apart, she lashed out at anything she could. Her first target was the young nurse who was nice to Mike. It infuriated Rebecca when Mike began to look at Jade in a way he never looked at her. Rebecca’s first partner in crime was Nick, the man who already hated Mike and Bill. Her first victim was Jimmy.

The way Jimmy was used by Rebecca was the worst thing I have written, and that says something. I look at the kids as each having such unique and beautiful personalities and to see Jimmy hurt the way he was just tore at me. It was necessary, to introduce Jimmy’s new family and take Michael out of contention to adopt him. It was also the catalyst for Mike to see what true support meant. Jade adored him and Mike didn’t trust that. He almost destroyed them both.

Rebecca underestimated Mike and the family who loves and supports him. She has continued to go after him by hurting those he loves and she hates Jade with everything she is. She looks at Mike and Jade’s happiness as an assault to her own life and she won’t give up. She also has powerful allies and that might bode troublesome for the family.

What Rebecca doesn’t have is the love and respect of those around her. She has made her bed and will be forced to lie in it, but the damage she does in the meantime could be catastrophic.

I don’t like Rebecca and I don’t understand her behaviors. She had everything and she threw it away. If she truly didn’t love Mike, she should have walked away. To want her freedom and to continue to hurt Mike is deplorable. She is the worst kind of villain. She started as a friend.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading! Who should I do next?