Black Orchid (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 22

The baby monitor began to cackle with the cries of one of my four beautiful children and I groaned. I had just begun to relax in bed with Dom after a long day. “Whose turn is it now?” I asked tiredly.

“Does it matter? There’s four babies, so we both need to go.” I pulled myself out of bed and cautiously watched Dom to make sure he wasn’t stressing his legs too much. At home, Dom progressed immensely and I would feel horrible if I was the reason for a back track in progress.

We walked into the room and I still found the energy to smile at my beautiful children: Leonardo, Lewis, Theo and Elizabeth.

My kids were only about 4 weeks old, but I felt like they’d been home for months. I picked up baby Theo and rocked him in my arms as he watched me with his large chocolate eyes and I also picked up his identical twin Leo. The only difference was that Leo had a lighter shade of eyes, otherwise my babies were identical.

I looked across the room and saw Dom cuddling with Elizabeth since Lewis didn’t wake up like his brothers and sister. Little Liz had Dominic wrapped around her finger and it was the cutest thing. He was whispering sweet Spanish words to her and I watched as her little eyelids dropped. I looked down and saw that my two boys were also asleep, I placed them back in their crib and walked back to my bedroom.

The pleasure I got when I laid down was almost painful, but I needed this rest. I was overworked with the kids as Dom was back at work. I was nervous for him to be back to work so soon, but his doctor told him that he was fine as long as he had a cane for times of pain.  

Dom never complained to me, so I finished my work online and Dom was back in school. I jumped when I felt an arm go around my waist, but just as quickly melted into Dom’s bare chest. “You know, Liz has you wrapped around her fingers.” I felt the vibrations of Dom’s chest.

“And my little men have you wrapped around all of their little fingers.” I couldn’t even find it in my heart to deny it. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

My playful mood soon evaporated and I felt nervous all over. Tomorrow I was going to bring Orlando back home, visit school again, and visit Henry at the club, before hours of course. In our time of absolute stress, Valerie opted to take Orlando to live with her. He had no problems with that, so I allowed it. I felt that Orlando would have an awful time readjusting back to normal life, but this time with 4 additions to the family.

I felt like a failure of a sister because I’d spent such little time with my brother. “I’m ready, but I just feel so much can go wrong. What if people at school know about us? Or what if Nandy doesn’t want to come home to us again?”

Dom tightened his arms around me and kissed the back of my head. “Relax. You don’t have to worry about school and Orlando loves you. Relax and go to sleep now.”

***

Relax.

It’s just the school building that you’ve attended for the last 3 years. Nothing serious.

I opened the front doors and walked to the main office that held my boyfriend. My babies were luckily for me sleeping peacefully on my front and back in the carrier that strapped onto my body. The secretary looked shocked when I walked in. I was notorious for being sent to the principal’s office, but I was never a bad kid.