brown hair, she takes several steps until she ends up right in front of me. Hands on her hips, she peers into my eyes. “She’s going to be fine, Blake. Our girl’s a fighter. Trust me. She’ll make it. You just need to get your head in a better place, so when she does wake up, you can be strong for her. She’s going to have a hard time when she finds out she won’t be able to have any more children.” She breaks for a light laugh. “Not that she would have wanted to have anymore, but you know her. She gets pissed when shit is out of her control, and well, losing her uterus…kind of not her decision.”
“We had no choice, Harlow. She would’ve bled out if they hadn’t removed it.” Moisture threatening to fall from my eyes, I raise my hands and scrub my face out of pure frustration.
“I know, Blake. She’ll understand eventually. Leaving the girls, leaving you, out of the question for her, but that still doesn’t mean it won’t come as a shock.” Harlow latches her fingers around my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Got it?” she adds, arching her brows.
I nod my head. Harlow Reed. One crazy ass chick, but a damn good friend.
“Alright, I’m going. Who’s with the girls? Are they at home?” Harlow releases her death grip, affirming with a dip of her head. “Tatum’s with them. We haven’t told them anything, really. They just know she’s here and that you’re here with her. Most likely, they just think she had the baby. It’s up to you how in-depth you want to go into it with them.”
Well, I fought like hell to be a part of their lives; I’m not gonna pussy foot and flake out when it comes to this. It’s my job, as their father figure, to be honest with them. And I plan to be.
No matter how difficult the truths are to tell.
The entire drive home, I deliver the news to them about a hundred different ways in my mind. There’s no easy way to break it to the girls, but they need to know why the baby won’t be coming home immediately, and why they won’t be able to see Alex right away. I know they’ll be scared; hell , they already lost one parent. The chance that they could have lost the other will most likely throw them for one hell of a tailspin.
Pulling into the driveway, I leave the keys in the ignition for a couple of minutes and reign in my thoughts. My jaw hurts from grinding my molars for eight hours straight, the tension increasing ten-fold on the way home, but this is my first “speech” with the girls and I want to make sure I deliver it well.
After a couple more run-throughs, I grab the keys and exit the Suburban, making my way towards the front porch. Before I’m even to the door, it opens and in its wake are three, wide-eyed beauties standing right in front of me, obviously anticipating their mother and a new bundle of joy. My heart damn near crashes in my chest when the smiles disappear from their faces and tears begin to form in their eyes. I’m sure they can see that something’s not right written all over my face.
Tatum appears right behind them, and ushers the girls back into the living room, quickly exiting to our bedroom, obviously understanding the gravity of the situation. As I step inside, the first thing I see is that fucking red replacement lamp from when I lost my temper with Alex just months ago. Goddamn.
She will come home …I repeat these words over and over in my mind. All thoughts cease when I happen to cast my stare down to see the girls all looking up at me, their eyes asking questions to which I really have no answers.
With three panic-stricken faces standing in front of me, I do the manliest thing possible. I crouch down and gather them in my arms, placing my chin on Rylie’s tiny shoulder, and hold them tight as tears stream down my face. These girls have been through so much . Raising my hand, I quickly wipe the waterworks so they won’t see. No reason to scare them more than they already are.
Once my face is dry, I
“We had no choice, Harlow. She would’ve bled out if they hadn’t removed it.” Moisture threatening to fall from my eyes, I raise my hands and scrub my face out of pure frustration.
“I know, Blake. She’ll understand eventually. Leaving the girls, leaving you, out of the question for her, but that still doesn’t mean it won’t come as a shock.” Harlow latches her fingers around my wrists, pulling my hands away from my face. “Got it?” she adds, arching her brows.
I nod my head. Harlow Reed. One crazy ass chick, but a damn good friend.
“Alright, I’m going. Who’s with the girls? Are they at home?” Harlow releases her death grip, affirming with a dip of her head. “Tatum’s with them. We haven’t told them anything, really. They just know she’s here and that you’re here with her. Most likely, they just think she had the baby. It’s up to you how in-depth you want to go into it with them.”
Well, I fought like hell to be a part of their lives; I’m not gonna pussy foot and flake out when it comes to this. It’s my job, as their father figure, to be honest with them. And I plan to be.
No matter how difficult the truths are to tell.
The entire drive home, I deliver the news to them about a hundred different ways in my mind. There’s no easy way to break it to the girls, but they need to know why the baby won’t be coming home immediately, and why they won’t be able to see Alex right away. I know they’ll be scared; hell , they already lost one parent. The chance that they could have lost the other will most likely throw them for one hell of a tailspin.
Pulling into the driveway, I leave the keys in the ignition for a couple of minutes and reign in my thoughts. My jaw hurts from grinding my molars for eight hours straight, the tension increasing ten-fold on the way home, but this is my first “speech” with the girls and I want to make sure I deliver it well.
After a couple more run-throughs, I grab the keys and exit the Suburban, making my way towards the front porch. Before I’m even to the door, it opens and in its wake are three, wide-eyed beauties standing right in front of me, obviously anticipating their mother and a new bundle of joy. My heart damn near crashes in my chest when the smiles disappear from their faces and tears begin to form in their eyes. I’m sure they can see that something’s not right written all over my face.
Tatum appears right behind them, and ushers the girls back into the living room, quickly exiting to our bedroom, obviously understanding the gravity of the situation. As I step inside, the first thing I see is that fucking red replacement lamp from when I lost my temper with Alex just months ago. Goddamn.
She will come home …I repeat these words over and over in my mind. All thoughts cease when I happen to cast my stare down to see the girls all looking up at me, their eyes asking questions to which I really have no answers.
With three panic-stricken faces standing in front of me, I do the manliest thing possible. I crouch down and gather them in my arms, placing my chin on Rylie’s tiny shoulder, and hold them tight as tears stream down my face. These girls have been through so much . Raising my hand, I quickly wipe the waterworks so they won’t see. No reason to scare them more than they already are.
Once my face is dry, I
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