Till death do us part

2

Juliana Thorne

"Mommy? Mommy?" I can hear the voice behind me, but they seem so far away.

It's like fear just ripped my heart out and now I'm left all alone. I want to run and hide but it's not just me anymore, I have the twins. Will he come for us?

Of course he is, he's coming to get Rome and Milana so he can take them away. I gasp for air but I feel like I'm choking.

My surroundings reappear and I spin around in my chair. "Why, how?" I blurt out.

My mom had her hand on Rome's back as she tried pushing him to the living room but it looked like he didn't want to go.

They both stop and look at me when I speak. Rome looks confused and my mom has a worried face. She looks to Rome and then to Milana who is still in the living room, entertaining herself with tv.

"Go watch tv with your sister while I talk to your mom." She says to Rome.

Rome puts his hand on his chin like he's thinking about it but then nods. He runs to the living room and sits beside his sister.

She sighs and walks back to her chair, "It was on the news this morning. He got released early for 'good behavior'."

My mouth opens in shock, "He was supposed to stay in there and rot! They know he's a murder, why is he out?!" I shout in disbelief.

My mom looks to the twins, "Keep your voice down, they'll hear you."

I run my fingers through my hair and pull it in distress. "I know he bribed them or something! He was supposed to get life in there." I grumble.

She grabs my hands and squeezes them, "I know this isn't fair and I know you'll be stressed out about it. Why don't we just order food here and you guys can stay until you feel better."

I look up with tears in my eyes and I nod in appreciation. She smiles and walks to the living room, "Who wants pizza!?" A sound of excited squeals are heard and I laugh.

~

I tuck Rome and Milana in bed and they embrace each other with a yawn, "Goonight mommy, goonight gramma" they say in unison.

"Goodnight babies." We say and slowly walk out but leave the door ajar.

We walk to the sitting area outside and I put my head in my hands. She hugs me when she hears my sobs, "What do I do now? I don't know if he's gonna come looking for us or not. What do you think mom?" I ask desperately for an answer.

"I..I don't know, he came for you the second time but he wasn't in prison before. Maybe he's finally changed for the better." She says hopefully.

I don't say anything but my thoughts are the worst. All they can think about are all the bad things he's done to me. "What exactly happened when you last saw him?" My mom asks.

I open my eyes and sit up straight to look at her, "I told him I never want to see him again and my babies aren't going to ever meet him. He laughed at me and he wasn't taking anything I say seriously." I shake my head angrily.

"He tried touching my hand and flirting with me like if we were meeting for the first time. I was really pissed off that he kept playing around but when I threatened to leave, he begged me to stay." I said.

"Did you talk to him about the twins?" She asks.

"Yea, but he wasn't that interested." I scoff. "He has the nerve to purposely get me pregnant then not even be interested when the only reason I went to go see him was because of the twins. All he wanted was to trap me with him forever."

My mom takes it all in and grabs my hand to comfort me. "Do you think he even cares about them?" I look at her in sympathy for the twins.

She looks at me sadly, "I don't know, he doesn't know them like me and you do. I don't know if he can feel anything towards them."

"But they're half of him! They're his too whether I like it or not. How can he just live his life and not think once about them?" I sigh, "I'm not saying I want him back in our lives but I just don't understand how uninterested he was, looking back 3 years ago."

"I hope he has changed for the better. He can really start over and maybe even be in the twins life's. I think they need a male remodel besides their mother as well."

"They have me, you, and Giana, they don't need anyone else." I say.

She chuckles but her face lights up, "They also have Tyler!" I make a sheepish face and nod, "Yea I guess he's okay too."

She softly hits my elbow with hers and we laugh. Tyler watches the twins sometimes when I have to go somewhere. He's really nice and I trust him with them.

Suddenly Milana's cry can be heard from the bedroom upstairs. I stand up, "She's probably having another crazy dream. I'll be right back."

I rush up stairs and open the bedroom, as expected she was having another bad dream. "Baby wake up, it's just a dream."

I pick her up and cradle her in my arms to rock her. I hope Rome doesn't wake up as well. She stops crying and smiles when she sees me, "Hi mommy, goomorning"

"Oh no baby, you're going back to sleep. It's still nighttime." I say.

She giggles and shakes her little head."No, no, morning."

I groan, "You're not going back to sleep are you?" She keeps her mischievous smile and I huff out defeatedly.

"Okay let's go get some warm milk in the kitchen." I pat her back and we walk out of the room, leaving a sleeping Rome.

We walk in on my mom turning off the light in the kitchen. She gasps as she sees us and puts her hands on her hips dramatically. "Now, why is miss Milana up?"

Milana giggles. "I'm giving her some warm milk, we'll go to bed right after" I say.

My mom nods, "Okay goodnight beauties."

I turn the kitchen light back on and grab the milk and a pot. "So what was your dream about baby?" I ask

"Hmm..I saw daddy!" I drop the pot.

~~

Rereading and editing 1:17 am