Familyness

She really does love her

I'm cooking breakfast in the kitchen when Arianna walks in.

"Hey, mom?" She says.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Can I invite a few friends over today?" She asks.

I hand her her plate and she starts to eat. "Honey, Bri isn't feeling well today, so I think it will be best if they didn't."

"Ugh, she has to ruin everything!" She pushes her plate forward and her chair back.

"No she doesn't, don't say that about your sister!" I scowl.

"The sister that I don't even want." She mutters under her breath.

"Arianna!" I yell.

"Well, it's true!" She shouts back.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't shout at your mom!" Brad walks into the kitchen, followed closely by Lucas.

"She deserves it." She says, quietly, she thinks we didn't hear her.

"Why would she deserve it? She hasn't done anything wrong!" Brad shouts defending me.

"She had another child, Lucas and I weren't good enough!" She shouts.

"For starters, it takes 2 to have a baby! And second of all, Lucas and you are amazing, why would you think you weren't good enough?" Brad shouts back at Ari.

"Because you had another baby, you clearly didn't like us enough!" She yells. She tries to run away but Brad grabs her arm.

"You're not running away from us when we are talking!" Brad lowers his voice.

"We're not talking, you're shouting at me!" She says, pulling her arm free.

"Ari, listen to us," I start to say but she cuts me off.

"No, I hate you both!" She yells. She runs upstairs and we can hear her bedroom door slam shut.

Lucas looks at, confused at what just happened. "I'll go see if she's okay."

"Thank you, Lucas." Brad smiles. He runs upstairs after her.

Brad looks over at me and a tear escapes from my eye. He hugs me and a few more start to fall.

"Don't cry, Jen. She didn't mean it." He tells me.

"I feel like the world's worst mother. All I want to do is make her happy and ever since Bri was born, she's been unhappy." I say, into his shoulder.

"If anything, you're the world's best mom! Arianna just needs a little more time to adjust to Sabrina. She does love her, she just doesn't have the best way of showing it!" He squeezes me tighter and I nod.

"Should we go talk to her?" I suggest.

"I think we should give her time to calm down first."

*Lucas' POV*

I go upstairs and knock on Arianna's door.

"Go away!" I hear her say.

"Ari, it's me." I say.

I hear footsteps and then the door opens. "What do you want?"

"I just want to see if you're okay." I smile and she smiles back.

"I'm fine, I'm just mad at mom and dad." She walks back to her bed but leaves the door open so I can go in. I close it behind me and sit on her bed next to her.

"Are we really not good enough for them?" I ask, a little scared of the answer.

She smiles, sympathetically, at me. "No, of course we are, I just said that because I was mad."

"So they do want us?"

"Of course! You know how much they tell us that they love us, they tell us at least 5 times a day!" She laughs. "I'm sorry that I made you think that."

"It's okay, I'm just glad it's not true!" I laugh slightly.

"You know, you're really mature for a 9 year old." She smiles and hugs me. Just then, there is a knock at the door.

*Jen's POV*

Brad and I check that Bri is still sleeping and then walk upstairs together, hand in hand.

We hear laughing coming from Ari's room and both of us sigh in relief. Brad knocks on her door and the laughter stops. Arianna opens the door.

"Ari, can we talk with you?" Brad asks.

She nods her head and Lucas walks out from behind her. "I'm going downstairs."

He walks past Brad and I and I ruffle his hair. We walk in and sit on the opposite side of the bed than Arianna.

"Before you say anything, I'm sorry about earlier. I don't hate you, I love you both very much." She starts.

"It's okay, we know you were mad. But you shouldn't be mad at Bri, after all, it's not her fault that she was born." Brad says.

She sighs. "I know but I just feel like you didn't want Lucas and I. Like you wanted to have another baby because we weren't good enough."

"Oh, honey, that's not it. Sabrina wasn't planned, you know that, we love you and Lucas just as much as we love Sabrina, and you three will never know just how big that love is." I tell her.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to try my best to accept that I have a new sister and love her, I mean I do love her, I just have to show it more." She smiles.

"Please do, she really does complete our family!" Brad says, moving closer to her.

"I love you both, so much." She smiles, hugging us both. I look at Brad and he looks at me, smiling. We wrap our arms around each other and Arianna and squeeze her tightly.