Romeo and Juliette in the twenty-first century. A fact based, fictionalized story.
When they first met, Sue was only thirteen, and James almost nineteen. To begin, their families were friends, and she was friends with his two sisters. He had not been raised in a family that was really what one might call truly connected. His dad was an alcoholic, and his mom, was too young when she became pregnant with him, and somehow, she had always blamed him for her having to marry his dad.
Now, there were four boys, and two girls, in a family that tried to do the right things, but somehow, the family matriarch (his mother) ran things sort of like a mini mafia. If one person in the family was angry with someone, the whole family was supposed to hate that person.
Sue's family had their own problems to deal with. Her father had been injured in a traffic accident that prevented him from working, and so her mother had to work for someone else. That alone put a strain on the family, as her parents had always worked together in their own business.
Over the next three years, James had a crush on Sue's cousin Rebecca, but they just didn't see eye to eye. Eventually, James and Sue started talking more and he would come over to visit. Sue's mom, Kim, was now working long hours, and not home during the day, except for dinner and sleeping, grabbing a quick cup of coffee and leaving early to fight traffic while trying to get to her job on time. Carl, Sue's dad began slipping into a deep depression from the effects the accident. No one had yet realized he had also sustained a head injury in the accident until he finally began to change dramatically.
The family was slowly falling apart. Sue was hardly able to tolerate her father any longer and he was very demanding and would eventually leave her home alone, while he was having flights of fancy, somehow considering he was an attorney and detective.
James and Sue were falling for each other. Between hormones, and the fact that Sue had physically matured very early, it was just more than they could resist.
James told Kim that he wanted to marry Sue, who at the time was only fifteen. Kim by then, knew there was no way to really keep these two apart, except for close supervision. Thankfully, Sue and her mom had always been very close, and Kim hoped that would help them all though this mess.
About a month after Sue turned sixteen, Kim awoke one Sunday morning, went to the kitchen, and knocked on Sue's bedroom door. Odd, Sue usually answered quickly if her mother called or knocked. Kim opened the door, and Sue's room was empty. Sue had never before left home without her parents permission. Her bedroom window was open and the screen was off, laying on the ground, resting against the wall outside.
Instinctively, Kim just knew Sue and James had run off together. James was now twenty-one years old, legally a grown man, and Sue only sixteen, still a minor.
Before jumping the gun, and calling the Sheriff, Kim first called her friend Alice, who lived about two blocks away to see if she may have heard anything, or seen them the evening before, or later than usual the night before.
Alice said, that yes, James and Sue had come over very late last evening, and said they were eloping. She said she didn't take them seriously so didn't call Kim or Carl to tell them. After all, Sue was always very responsible and was practically glued to Kim's side. Everyplace that Kim went, (Except to work) Sue went too.
Kim called the Sheriff and the Border Patrol, to alert them, providing James' vehicle tag number and both their ages, and complete description. She was sure they had headed to Tijuana.
Late in the afternoon the same day, James called to tell Kim what they had done, and that they were married. (In Mexico, females were only required to be sixteen, unlike at home where they had to be at least eighteen).
Kim told James that she had notified the authorities, and they were looking for the two of them. She also said that she would call and cancel the search as soon as her daughter was safely home again.
Kim knew that to fight this would only alienate the two when they needed family now, more than every, so as difficult as is was, she supported them, and let them know that she would be there for them.
James and Sue were always called "Romeo and Juliette" by everyone who knew them, and apparently it was for real.
They waited two years to have their first child, and almost another two for the next. Their son is now almost nineteen, and his younger sister is seventeen.
James and Sue just celebrated their twenty-first wedding anniversary, and are still as in love as when they first married.
A one on a million chance, and this one took.
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