Ours

Chapter 10

"Okay girls," Ashley smiled as she straightened the tablecloth on the dining room table. "Belle and Rose need to be at their table having their tea party while you work on your shapes and colors with your playdough. Please go put on your aprons while I get your tools and workbooks out."

"Otay Mommy," the girls said as they set up their dolls then rushed to their room.

Ashley took a second to work on her breathing then headed to her desk to pull out a binder. She flipped to a section and started flipping through the pages.

"What are you doing Ten?" Kota asked as they watched her.

"I am getting the girls set up on some learning activities if you must know," She said trying to her tone under control. She pulled out some pages and set them in the girls' spots. She set the binder to the side then headed to the closet to pull out the container of playdough and the container of cookie cutters. She set both on the table and removed the lids.

"Hep Mommy," Nova said as she entered the dining room.

"Come here Nova," Ashley smiled as she bent down to tie the apron. "There you go, now go get in your seat. Where is Salem?"

"Here Mommy," Salem said from behind her.

Ashley helped with her apron then kissed both girls. "Okay girls, here are your playdough and your shapes. I want you to work on matching up the colors with the ones on your sheets. Then when they match I want you to try and match the shapes with your cookie cutters. Don't worry about the names on the pages just yet, we will work on that on another day. Right now I just want you to work on the shapes and colors, okay?"

"Otay Mommy," They said smiling up at her.

"Okay girls, I am going to tackle some laundry okay?" The girls nodded and she headed to the laundry room. She started a load then pulled one out of the dryer. She checked on the load and was shocked to see Kota and Gabe telling the girls the various colors in the container. She watched for a minute as the guys took turns reading the names of the shapes and naming all the cookie cutters in the container. She shook her head and headed to her room. She started folding the clothes when her phone rang.

"Hello? Oh hi Dr. Johnson. Yes, she told me you said it will be next week. Okay, that works, yes, she will care for the girls. Yes, she will be able to help me during recovery. Yes, that's what I want. Yes, I am absolutely sure of my decision. Okay thank you I will let her know. Thank you, Dr. Johnson." She hung up the phone and sat on the bed.

A knock on her doorframe startled her. She looked up to see Sean standing there. "Hey Pookie."

She cleared her throat, stood, and started folding clothes again. "What can I do for you Sean?" she asked while trying to control her hands from shaking.

"Can I ask what Dr. Johnson called about?" he asked as he slowly came into her room.

"If you must know, he was just calling to confirm my surgery next week and reminding me of the pre op the day before," She said as she took the girls' dresses and headed to their room to hang them up.

"Can I have permission to look at your files with Dr. Johnson?" He asked as he watched her.

"There's nothing you can do Sean," She shook her head. "I know you, or at least I thought I did at one time. You thrive on fixing things but this isn't something you can just fix, Sean." She sighed and turned to face him. "Dr. Johnson is the best there is on this, I have already done all my research, so just stop. You won't find anything that he already hasn't. He has already ran every single test imaginable and thought of everything under the sun and moon. I have came up with a plan with him and Oma is caring for my girls while I have this surgery. There is nothing you can do so there is no reason for you to look at my files. I have already come to terms with this and accepted it. I trust Dr. Johnson and if you are the great doctor you and everyone else thinks you are then you should already know his reputation and respect him for his skills and trust him with me."

"I do," Sean nodded. "I just would like to look over them myself so I can understand more of what level you are at and so I can recognize your symptoms so we can try and help you with the girls and for when you recover."

Ashley shook her head, "No absolutely not. You are not just coming back into my life and showing up in theirs and staying. I agree you can be in their lives but you aren't just coming in and taking over everything like you lot like to do. You can come to their performances and maybe once in a while you can join them at the park, but you will not just come in and we be one big happy family. It's not going to happen. Oma is going to care for the girls while I have surgery and then she will help me while I recover. She already did after the C Section so she already knows how I am and she knows the girls routine. There is no reason for all of you to come uproot everything."

"Okay Pookie," he nodded trying to calm her down. "I'm sorry, we just don't want to miss out on anything else when it comes to you and the girls."

"Well, isn't that funny," she huffed as shestormed back to her room. "I sure could have used your support five years agobut I guess it was just too much back then and you were too preoccupied believingyour damn STALKER over the mother of your daughters. Funny how now when I don'tneed you, you want to be in our lives. Karma can be such a bitch at times huh?"