Chapter Twenty One

Mackenzie’s POV

            “Okay, babies, you three are going to camp out in moms’ room for the next couple days until all these symptoms go away. Since Anya has chicken pox, we’re just going to get them done with everyone.”

            “Are you gonna get the titen pots, mommy?” I quietly laugh at Conner’s question, because he still can’t get his ‘c’ and ‘x’ sounds right.

            “No, baby boy.” I finish tucking the three of them into our bed since Ade has decided to wash all the soiled bedding right now. Even though it’s four in the morning, we’re probably going to just nap in the living room and let the kids have as much space as they can in our bed. “Mama and I have already had the chicken pox and once you have them, you won’t get them again; but it is contagious; that means that since Anya has them, you and Autumn will get them too.”

            “I’m hot.” Autumn whines from the middle of the bed. “I don’t want a blanket.”

            “Me too.” Anya cries, rubbing her mittens over her bumpy stomach. I frown and pull the blanket off them and silently question Conner if he wants it over him, he nods and pulls it up to his neck. “Here, Conner, you can have this back so because now you’re sick too.” Anya makes no effort to sit up, just simply throwing his blanket sideways over Autumn to him. He smiles and cuddles it to his cheek.

            “I love you all. Mama loves you all. Try and sleep; you three need rest. Conner, your juice is in the Mickey sippy cup. Anya, yours is in the princess one, and Autumn’s juice is in the princess straw cup. Deal? I don’t want to hear any fighting.”

            “Love you, mommy. Good night.” I give out three kisses and turn the light off before leaving the room. Deciding to wait for Ade to finish the laundry, I get us both some water from the kitchen and sit in the living room. Ade comes up behind me and starts massaging my shoulders.

            “That feels so good, bubbles.” I roll my head to the side and she places a soft kiss to my neck before pulling away and continuing her work on my shoulders. “What are we going to do, Ade?”

            “Well, luckily, chicken pox only lasts a couple days as long as they keep their mittens on and not infect their spots. As long as they only have chicken pox and nothing else, we should be good.”

            “Stupid Adam and Eve.”

            “Umm, what?” Ade’s ministrations on my shoulders briefly stop.

            “Adam and Eve. They ate the stupid apple and gave everyone sins and illness and if they hadn’t of done that then our babies wouldn’t have the chicken pox right now.” She kisses the top of my head before walking around the couch and sitting beside me.

            “They’ll be fine. They’ll be itchy and uncomfortable for a few days, but we’ll make sure they have a lot of love and fluids and movies and toys. It’ll go by so fast.” I quickly kiss her and pull away when something dawns on me.

            “Babe, you have brunch with Amanda and Emily today at eleven.”

            “I can cancel.” She shrugs.

            “No, you’ve barely seen them in the last three years. They’re your best friends.” I frown and trace over her face with my thumb.

            “They were my best friends. I don’t even know why they invite me to these things. Oh wait, yes I do. They just use me, Kenz. It’s because I’m ‘famous’” she uses air quotes over the word. “now and want to seem like they still care.”

            “Well, it’s completely up to you. If you feel that strongly about it, then don’t go, but if you decide to go, I’ll be fine. If not, I’ll call my mom.”

            “Okay, I’ll think about it. Why don’t we get some more sleep since the kids are sleeping.” She pulls the recliner out on the end of the couch and pushes it back as I cuddle into her side. Pulling the blanket over us, we exchange a few soft kisses, and I close my eyes, resting my head on her chest.

            “Autumn, I’m itchy.” We hear Conner whine from the bedroom. “Autumn? Are you going to be sick? You don’t look good.”

            Adrianna and I jump up from the couch hearing that sentence and rush into the bedroom. Flying around the corner, Adrianna barely has enough time to grab the bucket from the floor and place it in front of Autumn before she throws up. The little brunette sweating and convulsing in the middle of the bed.

            “Baby, do you want to take a bath and cool off a little?” Autumn pitifully nods her head before a couple tears fall from her eyes. “Awe. Come here.” Adrianna picks her up from the bed and the four year old cuddles into Ade as she carries her into the bathroom while I clean up the mess.

            “Mommy, I’m itchy.” Conner states and I turn the light on to see a little better. After I lift up his shirt, I can see that his stomach is starting to show little bumps. “Let’s take your shirt off and get your mittens on. We can’t get any medicine for the itchies until the stores open up in a couple hours.”

            “Tan you sing to me?”

            “You can’t sleep?” He shakes his head and I look towards a pale Anya who is already sleeping.

            “Okay, what do you want to hear?” He shrugs his shoulders and brings his blanky back up to his cheek. “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted. God forbid, love ever leave you empty handed.”

            He smiles up at me and his eyes slowly start to close as I continue to softly sing. “I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens. Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. I hope you dance.”

            Even though I know they’re both asleep, I continue to sing quietly to the twins. I mean every word I’m singing to them and even if they’re sleeping, I want them to know that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to. A little after I finish the song, Adrianna carries a toweled and sleeping Autumn back into the room.

            “She fell asleep somewhere around the second verse. I dried her off, but I don’t have any underwear for her in here.” She lays the little one on the bed as I stand up.

            “I’ll go get some. New pajamas, too?”

            “No, she’s seriously burning up. I’m going to take her temperature once I get her dried off.”

            I quickly go to Autumn’s room and grab some underwear and I catch a glimpse of the time.. 5:09 am. As I walk back to our bedroom, I hear small whimpers and shh’s. I turn the corner and see Autumn curled into Ade’s lap.

            “If any of them are like this later, I’m not going to brunch.” Adrianna tells me sternly with a glare, which takes me aback for a second, but I know she’s not upset with me or Autumn, just the situation. We’re both tired as well, which isn’t helping. I make quick work of the underwear so we can lay our daughter back down.

            “I’ll grab the thermometer.”

            “I already have it, Kenz, but thanks.” Ade runs the device over her mini-me’s forehead and looks at the results before silently showing me as to not scare Autumn. 101.2. I try my hardest not to make a face, because I know that the little one is watching us, so instead I kiss her on the forehead.

            “You’ll be okay, baby girl. Just get some sleep. How about some medicine to feel better?” She nods her head and Adrianna grabs the bubble gum flavored medicine from the bathroom. None of the kids will take grape flavored medicine. They’ll flat out refuse or spit it back up. I don’t blame them though, grape flavor is gross.

            I must have fallen asleep while we were waiting for Autumn to fall back asleep, because next thing I know, there are faint swooshing and grunting sounds which means one of the kids is playing Temple Run. Frozen is also playing on the television.

            Opening my eyes, I see that all three kids now have mittens on and I wonder how long I’ve been asleep for. I sit up to look for my phone, but Conner has it.

            “Can I see my phone, please? I just want to check the time and then you can play again.”

            “Here you go!” He cheerfully hands me the phone and rolls over on his side to watch the movie. It’s already after nine o’clock! I get out of bed, after saying good morning to the kids, and noticing that Autumn and Anya still look flush and have high fevers.

            “Ade?” No answer. “Babe?” I say a little louder and pause for an answer.

            “In the laundry room!” I make my way to the room, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

            “Need help?”

            “Yea, actually, can you help me make up the kids’ beds now that all their stuff is washed.” I nod my head and we carry all the sheets and blankets back to the respective rooms. Usually the kids ‘help’ us make their beds as much as two three year olds and a four year old can, but obviously that’s not happening today.

            “Did you get any more sleep, Ade?” I ask, but already knowing the answer from how clean the playroom is.

            “No.” She states as we walk into the twins’ room and start making the beds. “I didn’t want anyone else to get sick if or when they visit, so I figured I’d disinfect stuff while everyone was in the room. I’ll do their bedrooms when I get home from brunch.”

            “I can do that. Don’t worry about it, babe.”

            “It’s alright, Kenzie. I know you’re going to want to cuddle with all of them, which is totally fine.” She looks up at me with love and I know she’s not teasing or talking down to me. “They’ll need it and you need it, because it’s their first time being really sick besides Anya’s scare last year. I want to, as well, and will, but I know that there are germs all over the house now. If Naya and Heather bring Noah over then he could get sick and we don’t want that.”

            I nod my head, knowing that she’s right, but I don’t want her to think that I won’t help at all. “Well, I’ll cuddle with them while you’re gone and when you get back, I’ll help you clean.” We both smile and start making our way across the playroom to Autumn’s room.

            “Mommies! Autumn’s throwing up again!” Conner calls and we get back to our room quickly, thinking that we’re now going to have to wash our sheets, but the bucket was in her lap.

            “I got the buttet for her.” Conner informs us when we rush in, seeing both him and Anya rubbing Autumn’s back to comfort their sister. It really is an adorable sight. Once we’re sure that the brunette is done, Ade takes the bucket and I grab the thermometer and start to make the rounds.

            First, I check Conner, who is a little higher than average at 99.6 degrees. Autumn again reads very high at 101.4 and it breaks my heart to see her dealing with not only the chicken pox, but it seems like the flu as well. Anya is anemic, due to an iron deficiency we found out about last year, so her average temperature runs cool around 97.4. I place the thermometer on her head and she reads 100.2 which is extremely high for her.

            Adrianna returns from the bathroom with anti-itch lotion and I quickly take it from her. “Go get ready, Ade, I can handle this.”

            Two hours later and it’s just myself and the kids. The four of us are cuddled up in bed; Autumn laying on my chest and the twins tucked into my sides. I’m looking through my phone when Anya quickly sits up. The bucket is sitting on the bed, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to grab it from the floor and Anya pulls it into her before she gets sick.

            I can’t handle my babies being sick, but I know I can’t shelter them from everything. I hold her hair and rub her back with my thumb since Autumn is still asleep in my lap. Once I know she’s done, I start to shift Autumn so I can clean up, but she starts crying.

            “What’s wrong, baby girl?”

            “I don’t like being sick. Why isn’t the medicine working?” Her sad, curious eyes are heartbreaking and I wish I could take all the pain from their little bodies.

            “I’m so sorry. I know that it’s no fun being sick and I wish all of you can be better, but hopefully the medicine will start taking your fever away and you won’t be so hot.” I move the hair stuck to her forehead and place several light kisses there instead. “Fevers are good though, because it tells me that your body is fighting the sickness. Do you want to take another bath?”

            “No, mommy.” With a shake of her head, she rolls off my lap and lays back to back with Conner. “Good night, mommy.” And I watch her close her eyes and settle deeper into the pillow.

            “Can I have a bath? So because I feel yucky.”

            “Yea, c’mon bug.” I pick her up in one arm and bring her to the bathroom. “Are you super itchy still?”

            “No, just hot and my head hurts and my tummy hurts and my legs hurt and my eyeballs hurt and my but-.”

            “Your whole body hurts?” The little blonde slowly nods her head and I run lukewarm water in the bath and pour some more lavender oil in. I let her relax for a little bit before I start washing her hair to try and help cool her down, but she starts crying and just won’t stop.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “I just want you!” She lifts her arms up towards me and I quickly grab a towel and dry her off. We get her into a new pull up and move back to the bed. Just like with Autumn, I place Anya chest to chest with me on the bed and slowly rock side to side while singing nursery rhymes. My thoughts taking me away.

            “The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

            I show the twins the hand movements during the song while Autumn and Ade are at the store. The rambunctious two year olds are finally sitting still and being good for longer than they have been all day. They have played in the backyard and made mud pies. Then during their bath they decided that I needed a shower and flooded the bathroom floor with their splashing. When I was cleaning the bathroom while I thought they were taking a nap, they both got out of their bed and completely destroyed their room with every toy in their closet.

            I finally gave up and decided that we were going to have some mommy and twin time. Ade and I have been taking all the kids to a local baby gym where they can run around and learn at the same time and this week’s song was ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider,’ so we’ve been practicing.

            “Mommy! Mommy!” Autumn’s excited voice echoes through the house and the twins focus is gone. They both get up from the floor and run to their sister. I truly am grateful that the kids don’t know any difference. That they have all been around each other since the twins were born and they just accept that they are siblings and that Adrianna and I are their mothers.

            Of course the day will come that they ask questions and Ade and I will be honest with them, but I don’t ever think they’ll be upset or angry. They’ll just be curious.

            “Hi Conner! Hi Ana!” I hear Autumn greet her siblings, not yet having mastered the ‘y’ in Anya’s name. “I broughted some chocolate for us!” She tells them, pulling out a chocolate bar for them to share. Since they’re so young, we try not to have them eat a lot of candy, something I guess I got from my biological parents. I really wasn’t allowed candy until I was much older.

            “That’s very nice of you! Babies, what do you say?”

            “Tank you!” “Fank oo!”

            “Hello, my loves!” Ade walks in with bags upon bags in her hands and I know she spent way more than what we originally decided on before the two of them left. Conner and Anya rush over to their mama while Autumn comes and gives me a hug.

            “I gotted this for you, mommy.” She whispers and hands me a Butterfinger bar.

            “Thank you so much, Autumn June! You are very thoughtful.”

            “Mama said they were your favorite and dat if we gotted it for you den you wouldn’t be as angry.” Now I know she spent too much money. Busted!

            I laugh though, because she is so adorable and has no idea she just sold them out.

            “Alright, why don’t you take your brother and sister to the kitchen and you can share your chocolate. I’m gonna talk to mama.”

            The three of them run off while Ade attempts to sneak off to our room with the bags, but I quickly follow.

            “Hey, bubbles!” I chirp as I enter the room. There are multiple bags still on our bed, but she’s taking one into the closet.

            “Hi, Kenzie! How were the twins?”

            “Little terrors. What is all this?” I try not to let my voice give away that I know she spent too much.

            “What did they do?”

            “I asked first.”

            “Nothing too major, just some new clothes for the kids. A couple toys. Oh, and I got the new earrings to go with that dress I’m going to wear this weekend.”

            I let out a long exhale, because we can’t afford to keep buying stuff like this. “Baby, you and Autumn went out for the earrings. We agreed that besides those that you shouldn’t spend more than $200. This is wayyy more than two hundred!”

            My voice starts rising, but I’m frustrated and today has been annoying and now this.

            “I swear, Kenz, I didn’t spend that much. I got only one outfit each for the kids, just for the party this weekend and one small toy each, because Autumn asked for one.”

            “Why did Autumn tell me I wouldn’t be mad if you gave me chocolate? Ade, the show is ending and we just bought the house and everything. We need to be careful.”

            “I know. I know. I promise I didn’t spend that much though.”

            “Autumn doesn’t lie, Ade! And she told me that you told her!” I see her deflate a little and walk back towards the closet. “Ade!”

            “I’m not walking away, Kenz. I just have to grab something.” She comes back into the room and sits on the bed, gesturing for me to sit with her, so I do. “I was going to give this to you this weekend, but I guess I’ll give it to you now.” She pushes a jewelry box into my hands and I look from it to her several times before finally opening it.

            When I do, I’m met with the most beautiful silver bracelet. It has four colored stones in it that I recognize as birthstones. Ade’s diamond and three Alexandrites for the month of June when all three kids were born. Tears come to my eyes and I can’t bring myself to look away from it.

            “June technically has two birthstones, but since I know you’re not a fan of pearls I decided to put the Alexandrites in it. They’re cool because it looks like they change colors based on the lighting. And look, look on the inside.”

            I delicately turn the bracelet over and read the inscription: ‘Right Where You Belong’ in beautiful script.

            “I thought you would like something since you got me the necklace with all your names on it for Christmas. And I made sure to keep some room on there, y-you know, just.. just in case we decide down the line that.. that we want more kids.” She bashfully smiles up at me and I pull her into a kiss.

            “It’s beautiful, Ade. Thank you.”

            I play with the bracelet that I wear every day, rotating it around my wrist before pulling it off.Right Where You Belong. The smile that pulls on my lips is something I would never be able to stop. This is where I belong. The universe must have pulled a lot of strings for Ade to show up in that Starbucks three years ago.

            I hear a chime that tells me that the front gate is opening and my heart skips a beat, because Ade shouldn’t be back yet. As fast as possible, I lay Anya next to Autumn, but I get as far as the door before she’s crying for me again. She scoots to the end of the bed and jumps off before running over to me and clinging onto my leg.

            “Mommy! Mommy!” She cries and I lift her up.

            “Okay, bug, but you gotta stop crying.”

            “Okayyyy!” She cries out. We rush over to the office where Ade has the security television. The breath I didn’t know I was holding is exhaled when I see that it’s my parents coming through the gate.

            “Let’s open the door for grandma and grandpa!”

            “When are we going to see Abuela and Abuelo?”

            “They’re still on vacation. They’ll be back before Autumn starts school.” We get to the door and open it as soon as my parents walk up.

            “Hello, Anya! Give gramma some hugs!” My mom holds her hands out to the little blonde, but Anya whines and buries her head into my neck, hugging me tightly. “What’s wrong, bug?”

            “No!”

            “Anya Janae Jackson. You do not yell at anyone like that. Apologize to grandma right now, please.”

            “No, mommy!” She cries and clings to my neck. My mom waves it off before heading towards the kitchen, the rest of us following.

            “Autumn and Conner are sleeping. I’m hoping the girls’ fevers go down soon. I’m especially worried about this one.” I look down to the child in my arms. “She can barely keep her eyes open, but she won’t sleep and now she won’t let me leave her. She’s been clinging to me for the last hour since I got her out of the bath.”

            “She’s just having a harder time being sick is all.”

            “But dad, she’s never been like this. It tears at my heartstrings when I hear her cry, but at the same time how am I supposed take care of the other two?”

            I feel Anya getting heavier in my arms and her thumb quickly gravitates to her mouth. I sit at the table with her in my lap and my parents sit across from us to talk.

Adrianna’s POV

            “Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” I tell my friends as I sit down to lunch. “The kids are sick, so it took a little longer for me to get out of the house.”

            “All of them are sick?” Emily questions almost as if she doesn’t believe me.

            “Um.. yea? Chicken pox and a touch of the flu.” I pick up my menu quickly to try and figure out what I want to order.

            “Well, you’re out of the house now and so you don’t need to talk about it.” Amanda energetically talks and continues. “So, who are you going to work with on your next project?”

            “Contracts are still in the finalization process, so I can’t say anything.” I lie. They don’t need to know everything about my career, but then care less about my family. Family comes first with Kenz and I. Ugh! I shouldn’t have come.

            “Boo.” She frowns.

            We continue to make small talk throughout lunch and I realize that I truly don’t want to be friends with them anymore. I shouldn’t have come to lunch. They repeatedly ask questions about my ‘famous’ friends and my career, but when I bring up anything about Mackenzie and the kids, they change the subject or stop talking all together.

            We’re finishing up our food when both their phones go off. They look at their phones and look back at me with raised eyebrows.

            “What? What is it?”

            “This article claims you and Mackenzie are breaking up. That she’s cheating on you.”

            “What?” I bark out. Not believing it for a second. “Let me read it.”

            Emily hands me her phone. I see Perez Hilton on the top of the screen and roll my eyes. Nothing this sexist a*****e says is believable.

            “Trouble in sapphic paradise? News broke last week about claims of trouble betweenMackenzie Jackson and her long-time girlfriend/baby mama Adrianna Guerrilla. Now a source is claiming that they have proof that Jackson is indeed cheating on her girlfriend and sending some pretty scandalous text messages to one Dana Sampson.”

            I push the phone back towards Emily and put money down to pay for the bill before excusing myself and walking out of the restaurant. I have so many people I want to talk to, to scream at, but our publicist calls me first.

            “What the f**k, John?” I yell into the car, the Bluetooth picking up through the stereo system, and I pull away from the restaurant.

            “I know. I thought we had originally squashed the rumors last week and I’m still trying to get ahold of this supposed ‘source’ that they have, but I guess they have screenshots and pictures of texts from Mackenzie.”

            “Anyone can program Mackenzie’s name onto a random phone number and claim that’s here. Find the source and then we’re contacting Scott. If this is her, we’re done. I’m fully prepared to take her to court.”

            “Okay, Adrianna, take a deep breath. We’ll figure it out. I’ll release a statement right now and you call Mackenzie.”

            I do as he says and inhale deeply, slowly letting it out. “Okay, I’ll call her right now. Thanks, John.”

            He disconnects and I quickly call Kenz.

            “Hey, baby. All done with lunch?” Kenz asks and Anya is crying in the background.

            “Y-yea. Kenz, we need to talk about something important.”

            “Well, it’s going to have to be talked about over a crying three year old, because Anya hasn’t left my arms since you left. She won’t even go to my mom or dad.” Now I feel bad having to bring this up, but we both need to be on the same page.

            “Remember how stuff got brought up last week about us?”

            “Yea.”

            “Well, now a source is coming forward saying that you’re cheating on me.” I hear her laugh and I wish I didn’t have to tell her the next part. “Babe, they’re saying you’re cheating on me with… with Dana.”

            Her laugh instantly stops and all that can be heard is Anya crying. Kenzie quickly passes the baby off even though the screams get louder before, I assume, she walks into the office.

            “Ade, I swear, I promise on our family that I haven’t contacted her at all.” She rushes out.

            “I know, babe, I believe you.”

            “We fought so hard for that contract between us and them. I would never. We already went through drama before because of her.” She’s starting to panic and luckily I’m just down the road, so I assure her that I believe her and that we’ll talk more when I get home.

            I thought we were done dealing with this b***h. Not that we fully know that it is her, but if it is then it’s breaching the contract that we all signed last year with Kyle and their whole family. Hell, now I’m glad that we fought for the contract to extend to all his family, especially after the drama she caused us years ago.

            I cannot believe we actually moved in together! This is crazy. We found a nice house that will work for our family. Mackenzie even said I can change around some of the rooms to make a home theatre. I’ve always wanted one since I was younger and since we bought the house, why not make it our own, right?

            Now, the five of us are in a beautiful house that Mackenzie and I have both decorated. The kids’ rooms are so fun and bright. They’re out of their cribs and into big beds with the guard rails on the sides. Now that the twins are one and Autumn is two they are playing more and love spending time in the playroom.

            We are all sitting in their reading loft, the five of us, when Mackenzie’s phone goes off for the fourth time tonight. She, again, presses ignore and continues reading the story. The twins are both asleep on the pillows and Autumn is on her way out too.

            I don’t know who it is, but why would they be calling persistently at eight o’clock at night?

            “Choochie, you can answer your phone. I’ll put the kids to bed.”

            “No, it’s fine, Ade. I don’t want to talk to them.”

            “Okay.” I shrug it off for now. “I’m going to put the twins down for the night. Are you going to bed or you want to stay up and watch something?” We don’t really watch a lot of television, but we love to watch Netflix and movies after the kids go to sleep.

            “I think I’m going to head to bed. Meet you in there?” I nod my head and give her a kiss before we both leave.

            “Kenz, can we talk?” We’re both lying in bed; she puts her book down and faces me.

            “What’s up, bubbles?”

            “Are you feeling okay?” She looks at me incredulously. “Like, have you been needing to take your inhaler or anything?”

            “I fought to be off the PPD medicine for months, you know that. Whenever I’ve taken my inhaler in the last seven months, I’ve told you. So, why do you think I’m taking it now without telling you?”

            “I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with you. Y-you’re acting distant, your phone is going off all day and even at night, but you won’t answer it. You’re doting on the kids and hovering over them like they’re going to disappear. Is it Kyle that’s been calling?”

            Her eyes dart away from mine at the mention of Kyle and I can see tears start to form.

            “Why haven’t you told me he’s been trying to contact you, Kenz?”

            “I-it’s not Kyle.”

            “Then why are you acting like this?” I’m starting to get a little more upset, because we tell each other everything. I don’t understand why she’s keeping this from me. “Who is it?”

            “It’s Dana.”

            My heart drops. This cannot be happening right now. We are in our happy bubble, why do people have to always come and f**k it up?

            “Dana.” She nods once and looks down at her lap, her hands playing with her shirt. “Dana. As in the girl you didn’t even tell me about until a couple months ago?” She nods again.

            “Did you contact her?”

            “No! Ade, why would you think that?”

            “What am I supposed to think right now? You’ve been acting weird for days and now you tell me that the only other girl you’ve been attracted to is calling you?”

            “We ran into each other at the store the other day. She saw the kids and she wanted to meet for lunch or something tomorrow. I told her I didn’t think that was a good idea, because of Kyle, but she’s insistent.”

            “So, were you going to go?” She loses eye contact again and I feel tears start to sting my eyes. “W-were you going to go?”

            “I thought,” she pauses. “I thought, maybe if you’d stay home with the kids, I’d go see what she wanted.” The end of her sentence was almost inaudible, but it rang so loud in my ears and echoed as if she yelled it to an empty room.

            “You were going to go see your ex’s sister. The sister that you admitted to me to being attracted to and even having a crush on. The sister that even flirted back with you for months before you got with Kyle. The sister that you lied about! You lied about her for the last year!” I jump out of the bed and start pacing the room before I can stop myself.

            “You kept blowing all that smoke about how I was the only woman you’d ever been attracted to; ever had a crush on. Why did you even come clean about it a couple months ago? Was this all planned?”

            “No! I didn’t want to keep lying to you! And you admitted to hooking up with other women when we were broken up too! Ade, please think about what you’re saying right now.” She pleads with me with a slight demand to her voice kneeling at the foot of the bed.

            “No, Mackenzie!” I can’t stop myself before I continue to yell. “Why the f**k should I think about this right now? You come clean about some crush you had on a girl back in New York and you ‘promise’ me that it never became of anything. She obviously still wants you, Mackenzie, so why don’t you just go give it to her tomorrow? That was your plan, right?”

            “Adrianna! I was going to see what she wanted and then tell her to leave us alone. She knows I’m with you, it’s all over the media! I wasn’t going to bring the kids because I don’t trust her not to say things to Kyle!”

            “Then why not just tell me you were going in the first place?” We’ve never gotten into a screaming match before, but I can’t help myself. I’m furious. “How do I know that this isn’t some stupid fantasy you have to get out of your system? That you weren’t going to go f**k her!”

            All the energy in the room halts. Neither one of us is talking, but we can’t break eye contact. Finally, after what feels like forever, tears pour out of her eyes and she gets out of bed. As much as I know I should stop her from leaving, a part of me is still really upset with her.

            It takes about twenty seconds though. Twenty seconds after I hear the garage door close that I break down and realize all the s****y things I just said. That I yelled at her. I try calling her, but the phone starts ringing on the side table. F**k! I’ve royally messed up. I just hope she’s going where I think she is.

            I text Heather asking her to let me know if Mackenzie shows up there and four, excruciatingly long, minutes later my phone rings.

            From HeMo: Just showed up. What’s going on?

            I don’t even reply. I throw clothes on and pray that the Jeep is in the garage, since that’s the car with all the car seats. I literally run across the house and thank God that it is still there. I grab the twins first and load them in and quickly run back for Autumn, grabbing both our phones on the way out. I set the alarm and head out the gate.

            Luckily, I know Naya won’t turn me away with the kids, so I punch in their gate code when I get there and rush up to the house. I park behind the Audi and grab Conner and Anya, before waking Autumn up and having her walk with me towards the door.

            I’m not sure how many times I ring the doorbell, but I’m glad Naya isn’t as pissed once she sees the kids. She quickly picks Autumn up and brings her into the room they have set up for the kids to sleepover and I follow with the twins.

            “What the f**k, Adrianna?” She asks as soon as the door is closed.

            “I know! I know! I have to see her.”

            “No.” She puts her hands on my shoulders to stop me and I glare at her; we really aren’t doing this right now, are we? “I’m serious. You need to get your s**t together before you see her. You both obviously have issues that you need to sort through and you’re going to go in there and apologize and take all the blame for whatever happened. That’s what you do with her; that’s what we all do.

            So, the kids are fine in their room. Kenz and Heather have our room and you and I get the couch bed; which I’m pissed about, by the way. Never thought I’d lose my bed with my girlfriend to my little sister, but here you are.”

            “I’m really sorry, Nay, I messed up so bad.” The tears start falling again and they don’t stop. I tell Naya everything that happened and after I get a grip on it all, we both lay down and the room settles into silence.

            Needless to say, I didn’t sleep at all. Around three in the morning, I hear footsteps coming down the hallway, I assume it’s Heather so I don’t make any attempt to move. Soon the footsteps stop behind the couch and a throat clears.

            “A-Ade?” Kenzie whispers and a tear escapes my eye. She sounds so tired; she filmed all day today and then I had to go and start that stupid fight. “Ade?”

            I roll over to face her, but still can’t bring myself to speak.

            “Can we talk?” I simply nod my head and slowly get up as not to wake Naya. The two of us walk in silence down the hall, checking in on the babies before making our way to the office to talk.

            When we finally get there, neither of us make an attempt to sit down. We both just stand there with our arms crossed waiting for the other person to say something. Unfortunately for us, we both run on the same wavelength.

            “I’m sorry.” We both speak at the same time, but I continue before she can. “Kenz, I’m so sorry about what I said earlier. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess… I guess, maybe, I was insecure. All these years I thought I was the only woman you’d ever been with and will ever be with and when you told me about her a couple months ago, it scared me. I thought I’d lose you.”

            Ugh. I hate crying. “If not to her, then to some other woman that would come along.”

            “Adrianna, I need you to believe me when I say that I wasn’t going to do anything tomorrow. Do you understand me?” I simply nod my head for her to continue. “I am so sorry that I didn’t tell you about tomorrow; I should have talked to you before I made a decision like that. More importantly, I’m sorry that I act in a way that you obviously question my trust.”

            “I do trust you! I just had a minor lapse earlier. I just… I still don’t know why you would want me after all these years. You were raised so prim and proper and I’m anything but that.”

            “That’s what I love about you though! I don’t want prim and proper; I want spontaneous and passionate. I want you. I want your sleepy confused look when you wake up, and the smile that follows. I want you to be the one next to me raising our kids. I want to live every adventure with you.”

            I completely break down at her words. Me! Adrianna Guerrilla is actually crying right now, but that’s what happens. Mackenzie Lynn Jackson has always been able to bring out things in me that I hide behind so many walls.

            She pulls me into a hug and I cling to her, because she’s my lifeline. My soul mate. She guides us down to the floor and I cannot help but repeatedly tell her how sorry I am.

            “You know when I knew I loved you? Really loved you and knew our love was different than most in the world?” I quiet my sniffling so I can listen to her whispered words.

            “After my attack with my sister and you woke me up.” I look up at her in disbelief. “Dead serious. You just seemed to read all my thoughts and everything I that was thinking, you were saying. We had been flirting before that, but I tried to push my feelings away. I thought that you just wanted a friend.”

            “You were very wrong about that. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. You were in this sexy pink top with skinny jeans and black heeled boots. I thought you were seriously the hottest thing in school and I still to this day, don’t know how I didn’t see you, really see you, until that day.

            “Then I ‘accidently,’” I use air quotes and she smirks. “bumped into you and you actually apologized to me and blamed the floor elves for making you slip.” We both laugh at the memory. “I swear, never in my life had I found someone that could be both as sexy and adorable as you are.”

            We both sit there, just holding each other for a little longer.

            “I’m sorry, choochie, and I love you.”

            “I know, bubbles. I love you, too.”

            No, we got through this last time and we’ll get through it this time. No one messes with Adrienzie.

Author's Note

Honestly, I'm in such a slump with this story and I haven't been able to write in it for about two years, but it's a goal of mine to finish, because it's the first thing I've ever written. Any constructive reviews could help or anything that would be cool to write about in future chapters. Thanks!