Live In The Now (Sequel to Let's Forget The Past)

SO MUCH FOR MARRIAGE

  "EMILY." Wayne called out.
She trailed back and forth across the kitchen floor with an irksome stride.
"Emmy, I—"
"How old is she?" Emily asked.
Still she continued to pace.
"She'll be thirty two in December." He answered.
She scoffed in amazement as she stared into his eyes.
"She's a month younger than me," Emily mumbled. "She's literally the same age as me Dad, how could you do that to me? To mom?!"
Just as her daughters voice increased an octave, Pam followed the yells.
"Emily, marriage can be complicated and you of all people should know this." Pam intervened.
"That's funny because it doesn't seem that complicated to me." She stated.
"It's always complicated, Emily how do you think Grace and Lily were conceived?" Wayne angrily asked.
As if she could feel her own blood steaming; boiling underneath her skin Emily's eyes widened as she stepped closer to her father.
"You may be my dad, but don't you ever speak on something that my wife did when she was drunk, unlike you." She sneered. "And the difference between you and Ali, is that she actually owned up to her mistake and took care of her responsibilities; you have a thirty two year old daughter that's never met you a day in her fucking life." She said and stepped away. "Best Dad Ever, right?" Emily motioned towards his T-shirt.
The room was silenced for a moment. Just the two of them staring at Emily's back as she leaned over the kitchen sink gazing out of the window.
"Emily..."
"Leave my house please." The four words crawled from her mouth.
Her eyes began to sting in pain from the tears as she replayed hers and her father's argument over in her head.
"I should've done that a long time ago." Emily turned to Alison to say.
In hopes of her being proud of her standing up to her father Emily walked closer to her wife and wrapped her arms around her waist.
"That's what you think?" Alison lowly asked.

It didn't take long for one of Emily's brows to raise in question.

"Yes; Alison I'm tired of explaining to people that what happened between you and Brian was completely unintentional." She said. "I'm not ashamed of what happened because we got two beautiful twin monsters out of it."
Before Emily could even pull her in for a kiss Alison slowly pulled herself away from her grip.
"One, stop explaining if you're tired of it," Alison started. "Two, it may not have happened on purpose but it still happened regardless if we got Lily and Grace out of it or not; Em, things happen sometimes and you have no recollection of what happened between Wayne, Pam and her mother because you weren't even two months old yet."
"So what're you saying, Ali because I'm really not in the mood to try and read your mind right now." Emily said now leaning her back against the stove.
Just as she began to walk out of the kitchen Alison turned back to face her wife.
"I'm saying that I'm not backing you on this one, Emily." Alison told her with an honest face. "You're wrong this time." She said as she grabbed Nathan from his high chair and headed upstairs.
"Byee!" Nathan screamed and waved at her while being carried away.
"Soo...since you have a sister does this mean we can stop cleaning now?" Dylan asked now standing next to her.
"Get out of my face." She said and walked off, leaving him behind.
"I guess that means no." He pursed his lips and said as he put his gloves back on. "This isn't fair, y'know?" He rhetorically asked.
Giving a sturdy squeeze to remove all of the soap and water, Courtney rolled her eyes and slapped the sponge down onto the tiled floor.
"Fair doesn't exist when your parents are Alison and Emily."
"Yeah."
"Yup."
Corey and Dylan sighed out one last time.
HANNAH SLEPT in her clothes and woke unusually early as she felt the rays of the sun beaming onto her eyelids. Saliva dripped down the side of her cheek and stained her shirt as her eyes slowly opened to read the time on the alarm clock in front of her.
"Shit!" she cursed herself while looking for her cellphone. "Dani get up."
"Huh?" Dani grunted out as Hannah kicked her hand to wake her.
"Get up; I'm late for work okay? and I have  to go but I can't find my phone," Hannah sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Fuck, I'm so fired." she said with tears now coming down her face.
Instantly Dani shifted from her spot on the sofa to comfort her.
"You not gon' lose ya job." She said holding Hannah in her arms. "You gon' be ard, just chill out." Dani told Hannah while wiping her face.
"How can you be so sure?" Hannah asked. "I knew I should've just told you to go home, instead I didn't and we stayed up all night and now..."
"Hannah, get in the car." Dani smiled. "It's chillin I'ma just take you, and then scoop you later, Ard?"
For a second Hannah folded her arms to think over the possibility.
"Fine, but we have to pick up Hope from Manny's afterwards." She said figuring that she was completely out of options.
As they stared each other down a grin passed Hannah's face.
"What? Dani asked this time.
"You have um...you have vomit stains on your hoodie." Hannah pointed causing Dani to look down at herself.
"Here." Hannah tossed a spare pull over hoodie over to her. "I'm pretty sure it's my vomit, so it's the least I could do."
In a swift Dani lifted her ruined hoodie over her head revealing her black Nike sports bra. Straight away Hannah's eyes averted down to her small chest and abs as she pulled the replacement over and down.
"Uhm," Hannah cleared her throat before turning her back to the girl. "If it doesn't fit, I'm pretty sure that Ted has something...
"It's chillin'." Dani told her while walking towards the door. "You comin'?" She asked making Hannah's eyes go wide.
"C..Coming?" She stuttered as her chest slowly heaved with lust.
"To the car." Dani motioned, grabbing her bag for her.
"Ohh, uh yeah I'll be right out." Hannah quipped.
She attempted to pull herself together, but all that she could see was Dani's abs flashing in her memory.
"I'm losing it." She muttered, following her out of the house only to see an unwanted guest.
As if the blood had been completely drawn from her body, Hannah felt everything go cold. Freezing in fact.
Closing the door behind her, Hannah plodded down the stairs of the front porch.
For a year she'd been telling herself that she wouldn't be afraid anymore, that she would keep her head held high and her shoulders back when the time finally came. It's been a year; So why could she feel her heart beating out of her chest as her hands trembled at the sight.
"Can we talk?" Ethan gathered up the courage to say to her.
He walked forward in hopes of getting closer, but he was stopped by a scrawny but stern arm that wouldn't allow him to.
"You wanna talk to him?" Dani turned to ask Hannah.
Slowly, Hannah swallowed and suppressed the lump of spit forming in the back of her throat and nodded her head before stepping onward to meet Hope's father halfway.
"I'm okay." She said to Dani after seeing a worrisome look on her face.
"You sure?" Dani asked again causing Ethan to glower in her direction.
"I'm sure, thanks." Hannah said, gently taking her by the hand running her thumb across the back of her palm.
"Ard." Was all that Dani said prior to climbing inside of her car to wait for Hannah.
Without delay, Ethan turned back to face Hannah.
"Hannah...
"What do you want, Ethan?" She cut him off to say.
He gave her nothing but soft eyes before taking her quivering hands into his.
"Look, I know that the last time that we saw each other wasn't really what you were hoping for," He started. "And the last time that we actually tried to come together for the sake of the baby, you ended up in the hospital because of me; and trust me no one's more sorry than I am for even hurting you or putting Hope at risk but, Hannah I deserve to see her. She's mine as much as she's yours and I just want a chance to help out."
As the words poured from his mouth Hannah just couldn't help but to feel amused by his 'effort'.
"Thank you, Ethan for that apology or whatever the hell you thought that was but...no."
Her words came fast and burned like salt being poured on open wounds.
"What do you mean, no?" Ethan asked now angry. "You can't keep me away from what's mine; even if you tried you wouldn't make it far." He gritted through his teeth while grasping onto her wrist.
"There he is," Hannah forcefully smiled. "I was wondering when you'd show up." She said removing his hand from her arm. "You're not seeing Hope until I'm positive that you're not a danger anymore; until I know that you won't beat her the same way that you beat me, or even raped me."
Quickly Ethan grabbed onto her arm again, attempting to make her stay.
"Nah, now it's time for you to go." Dani exited the car to tell him, but still Ethan didn't budge.
"I got it Dani, I'll be right there" Hannah made sure to tell her before turning back to Ethan. "Let go of my hand, or I promise you that the next time that you'll see Hope is when she's at your gravesite making sure that you're dead." Hannah hissed. "I'm not scared of you anymore, Ethan and that feels damn good to say." She lastly said as he loosened his grip to release her.
"Don't come around here again." Dani told him as Hannah hopped into her car. "I ain't the type to call cops." She finished before getting back into the driver seat and pulling off.
"You think he'll stay away?" Dani asked while driving.
Hannah kept her eyes on the side mirror of the car as she watched him getting smaller and smaller.
"Knowing Ethan, probably not." She sighed out as he disappeared from her sight.
  THE TIME was pushing eight in the morning when Raven finally started her car.
"Will, baby we have to go." She told her son as she played around with her eyeliner in the rear view mirror of her car.
"Mommy, I'm sleepy." He told her while rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"I know, Will but you can't be late for school again or else CPS is gonna start looking and we can't afford to have them snooping around, right?" She muttered each word as she brushed her teeth and spit out of the window.
"Right." He agreed.
"That's my boy." Raven smiled at him, reaching her arm back towards him to give a simple fist bump.
"I'm your boy." The kid happily grinned from cheek to cheek as Raven fixed his hair.
"Yeah you are; now let's go." She said before turning back around to drive off this time.
As she drove she unlocked her phone with one hand while still keeping her other on the wheel.
"Fuck." Raven quietly huffed out after seeing the amount of money in her account.
If ten dollars and thirty eight cents was enough to make a living, she would do it without a doubt. She would make sure that she had the perfect home; that every bill was paid and every cabinet was stocked. With that ten dollars, she would make sure that Will was healthy and even better...happy; She would give him and herself the world that they deserved. As for today, ten dollars would only be enough to grab breakfast for her son.
"Mommy you said fuck." Will said from the backseat making her smile.
"So did you." She told him as she pulled into the parking lot of his school. "Don't say it again." She laughed before taking him from his car seat.
"Good Morning, Raven I see you're almost on time today." Will's vice principal Mr. Goodluck said as she grabbed Will's hand to cross the road.
A forced smirk crept it's way onto her face as she waved to the man.
"I said almost," he said again after seeing her cross the road towards the Dunkin' Donuts. "Where exactly are you going Raven, he has two minutes before classes begin?!" He shouted out to her.
"I know, I just need to get him some breakfast it'll take one minute I promise!" Raven shouted back before entering the store.
As promised, she and Will was in and out of the restaurant and making their way back towards the school by the time that the bell rang.
"I'll see you after school baby," She kneeled down to hug and kiss Will. "I love you." She spoke again, watching him walk off with his class.
"Raven, you need to get better with your timing," Goodluck told her. "Feed him at home or bring him in earlier for free breakfast, it's not hard." He said again while she stared at him.

"It won't happen again, I promise." Raven said while scurrying back to her car.
"Raven, we need to have a conversation about...
"I really have to go Mr. Goodluck but I'll definitely get back to you another time." She lied as she jumped back into the driver's seat.
Horns from the cars behind her honked loudly while waiting for her to pull out of her spot. She heard them, but she also heard the growling noise coming from the pit of her stomach. Being hungry was nothing new to her; but allowing Will to go hungry was where she drew the line. Even if it meant spending her very last coin; as long as he was okay, so was she.
"I'm going I'm going, get the hell off of my ass!" She yelled at the angry driver behind her who continued to honk his horn.
With no particular place to go, Raven drove. She drove around the neighborhood of her son's school for a while until she got tired of seeing the same things. Afterwards, she drove past her old house wondering what things would be like if Joe was still around. No one besides herself took care of her more than he did. As she pictured her former self planting peppers in the front yard a small smile crossed her face.
She could still hear the sound of his deep and raspy voice coming from behind and still feel the touch of his arms wrapped so lovingly around her waist.
'What're you doing woman?' He would ask while sweeping the crook of her neck with his face.
Broken from her trance, Raven focused her attention back towards the road ahead of her.
Now stopped at a red light she noticed a car; the same silver car that had been following her since dropping Will off.
Just as the light changed from red to green, Raven pushed her foot down on the gas pedal to speed up. If Joe ever taught her anything, it was to listen to her gut. And right about now her gut was telling her to get the hell out of dodge.
It didn't take long for her to lose them. To be honest she learned a few illegal driving tricks back in her teen years; of course back then she thought that it was all pointless. Who would've thought that she would ever have to use them.
By the time that three o'clock came Raven was back at the school waiting for the kids to let out.
"Mommy, look what I did!" Will screamed while running over to her.
He smiled while holding up a crafted caterpillar hat with pipe cleaner tentacles.
"That's nice, kiddo but we gotta go now." Raven said, scanning through the crowd of cars for the silver sedan.
Her eyes quickly swept the parking lot once more, eventually landing directly on the unknown vehicle.
"Alright buddy time to go." She rushed and lifted her now six year old son up onto her hip.
She ducked down low while moving towards her car until she and Will were safe inside.
"Okay Raven, don't freak out just yet." She told herself while checking her glove department to make sure Tyson was locked and loaded.
Tyson was her pistol. While pregnant with Will, Joe made sure to teach her how to use it. No doubt that it was for her own safety and comfort while he was on tour, but she knew that it was really for his. She knew how he would feel if while protecting his country he wasn't there to protect her and their unborn son.
"Mommy, slow down you're going too fast." Will whined from his seat.
Disregarding everything that he said, Raven kept her eyes on the road as she did ninety miles per hour.
"Mommy stop!" Her son cried this time.
Swiftly, Raven swerved off of the road and pulled into the parking lot of an old Walmart.
She stepped out of the car with her pistol in hand but saw no one. The only thing that she could see was Will crying in his car seat.
"Shit." Raven sighed out. "C'mere baby." She said climbing back into her car to hold onto her son.
"I'm sorry." She said now gently caressing his head. "Mommy didn't mean to scare you okay?." She asked him while peppering small kisses on the top of his head. "You ready to go camping again?" Raven asked earning a smile from him.
"Yes!" Will cheered.
"Alright, c'mon let's put your pajamas on." She weakly smiled while changing him. "We're gonna...do your homework first," she listed off. "And then we're gonna eat dinner and go to sleep."
"And sing peanut butter jelly time?" Will questioned her with a pleading face.
As she smiled at his precious face begging her, she was interrupted by a knock on her window.
Looking into her rear view mirror she slightly jumped in fear after seeing the silver sedan.
"Can you roll down the window for a second please?" The man asked but only got a stare in return.
Raven shook her head before inserting the keys back into the ignition.
"Wait no Raven, I'm Wayne Fields." He said as she began to move the car. "I'm your father." He blurted out causing her to stop.
"What did you just say?" She asked now rolling down her window.
"I said that I'm your father." Wayne repeated himself.

It's been some time since I last updated but...
Enjoy ☺️
-D