Bittersweet

Chapter One: Phone Call

"Your rent is late- Third time in a row."
    "Please, just give me until Friday, I'll have my paycheck by then-"
"There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry. Latest I can leave you is Thursday morning."
    "Mr. Philip-"
"I am sorry, dear."
                                                                     -
"Where are you? You're with who?- Forget what I just said, you're always with someone else...It's his birthday today. And your part of the money is late. Late by four, months, Lenny. I need that money so I can pay the rent- No! No I'm not going to use it all just to catch two months, the rest is for the kids- Hello?"
                                                                     -
"No, mom. We are ok. I'm fine-"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
    "Mommy?"
"Just a second, baby." Ariella sniffed and turned the sink on and washed her red face. She patted it dry and let her hair fall on her face and opened the door. "Dylan, why aren't you asleep?"
    "I had a bad dream...Caleb told me to come to you, but you weren't in your room, and there's also a leak in our room."
She sighed and picked up her daughter in her purple onesie. "Is there now?"
She nodded softly and rested her head on her shoulder. She rubbed her back and walked to her room, David splayed across the shared bed, his body somehow twisting in all the ways a child probably shouldn't, somehow managing his leg on his pillow and his head at the feet of the bed. She shook her head and with a free hand fixed him up just enough for her to lay Dylan back down. She pulled the warm blanket over her two kids, and gave her, her giraffe plushie and David his bear. "Go to sleep, ok?" She whispered as she kissed her head, and put on her song .
    She walked off to the kitchen and got a bowl and came back, putting it under the leak. She closed the closet and pushed the toys around with her feet. She blew a kiss to her daughter and closed the door. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hand gripping the handle. They could take them away. They would.
She walked off to the living room and sat on the floor, She tied her hair back and she drank water, looking through the piles of paper on the coffee table. She looked at the ceiling. "What am I gonna do, Timmy?" She sighed. She looks around at the quiet apartment, the only light coming from the small lamp, slightly giving the place more gloom than it should. She looked at the picture when she was seven, the twins' age.
Standing with her grandma, Ariella seemed to swim on the hand me down overalls, and her hair wild as ever, finally tamed in two braids. Her grandma's tender hands on her shoulders, and her grandfather next to them, holding a horse by the rein, that later on ended up being a birthday present. She smiled softly at herself at the memory of that day that the picture was taken. She missed those days. When everything was easy, and the only man in her life was an old farmer who knew how to treat a woman right. His woman. Her grandma. And then his beautiful daughter, and then his granddaughter, wild Ariella.
    Now she was thirty-one and alone wearing scrubs that were most likely stained by human crap, swimming in debts, with five kids. Her husband died of cancer that started as a 'non threatening tumor' that in a matter of months, spread over his body and nothing could have been done and her boyfriend left her pregnant for one of his side chicks.
    "Screw you." She looked at the papers and stood up walking off to the bathroom once again. She took her scrubs off and put them in the hamper, stepping in the shower as she turned the hot water on. She let it run down her body, wishing that, along the dirt, it would take all her troubles and worries away.
    In the blink of an eye she laid in bed staring at the ceiling, counting to a hundred, which ended being five-hundred, before her eyelids finally closed. She gasped softly as she woke up, hearing her daughter cry from her room. She looked at the alarm clock. Four A.M. She fixed her hair into a bun and shuffled to her daughter's room, seeing Caleb pick her up and bounce her gently.
    "Oh, Cal," She walked up to him carrying Judy in her arms. "You didn't have to do it." She bounced her gently looking at her oldest.
    "I know. I was already awake-"
She gave him a worried look. "I was in the bathroom." He lied smoothly. She nodded softly and kissed his head. "Go back to bed." She rubbed his back and went off to the living room, trying to calm down her youngest. She switched the lamp on and sat on the rocking chair and sighed. "Shh, shh, it's alright. Mommy's here." She grabbed a toy and showed it to her. She gasped and chuckled softly as her daughter played with it. "What is that?" She giggled and continued rocking her chair. "Wanna sing for your baby sibling?" She asked. Her daughter happily put her hands on her mother's growing belly and sang a song she learned from her favorite show.
    She watched her daughter sleep quietly in her arms, as she held her favorite toy close to her chest. She watched the window the whole time and watched the sunrise, and like clockwork, little Judy woke up and took her mom by the hand, leading her to the bathroom. She closed the door, leaving it half open so her mom would hear if she needed help, and sat on the toilet. After about a minute or so, Judy called her mom to come in to help her clean up. At least she wasn't peeing in the bed at just three, but she got woken up at least two times during the night to take her to the bathroom. She helped her wash her hands, singing a made up song Judy herself made, and then proceeded to wash her mouth and face.
    She helped her get changed to a pink shirt with flower imprinted jeans before she checked in on all her kids. "Wakey, wakey." She hummed at the twins, who would always get up quick to use the bathroom at the same time. She then opened the door across the hall, Hannah coming out quickly to wait by the door to use the bathroom next. She smiled softly at Caleb who was making his bed and Hannah's, before Dylan screamed.
    Caleb and Ariella ran off to the bathroom, seeing Hannah and Judy by the door as well. She sighed in relief when she saw David standing on the stool, brushing his teeth, and Dylan with her pants at her ankles and her butt inside the toilet. "David left the lid up again!" Dylan whined trying to get out.
    "I dwidn't!" David complained with his mouth covered in toothpaste, making him talk muffled.
    She looked at Caleb. "Can you get breakfast started? Hannah, get David dressed up." She said as she walked inside the bathroom. David rinsed his mouth quickly and went with Hannah to get dressed, and Caleb went to prep breakfast. She pulled Dylan out of the toilet and helped her wash up in the shower as she brushed her teeth in the shower. She grabbed her towel and dried her up and sent her to her room. She put the toilet seat down and cleaned up the bathroom before going to the twins' room. "Go use the bathroom." She instructed Hannah as she grabbed clothes for Dylan.
    "Ok!" Hannah kissed her mother's cheek and ran off to the bathroom.
"No running!" She called out, dressing up the twins with their dinosaur shirts, putting Dylan on a skirt and David on shorts. She brushed their hair and braided Dylan's and put a headband on David's to keep his long hair out of his face before sending them off to the living room. She walked to the kitchen and grabbed the utensils from Caleb's hands and bumped him with her hips. "Put their show on and get ready." She smiled at him and he nodded, doing as told.
    She heard the phone ring and she grabbed it, putting it in her ear, holding it up with her shoulder. "Hello?"
    "Ariella Barnes?"
"Yes, who's this?"
    "Miss Barnes, this is Mr. Gideon. From the bank?"
"Oh yeah, how are you doing, Mr. Gideon?"
    "I am doing great, going to be off with the grandkids. Listen, dear, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you don't qualify for a loan, however, your grandparents' farm could be your salvation. I talked with your grandfather last night, and he said the barn up north is yours, you can fix it up enough to put it for sale, people go crazy for farms these days. Older ones like me."
    "What are you trying to say?" She stood straight, now holding the phone in her hand.
"What I am saying is that the barn, if fixed, will give you the money you need and more. I can stop on my way there at noom, what do you say?" His voice, cheery as always exclaimed. Ariella froze and looked at the bacon sizzling on the frying pan. "Hello?-"
    "Ay Dios Mio! Yes, Mr. Gideon, thank you so much. We'll meet at the barn." She simply said with a smile across her face before hanging up. This could be it. She called her mom quickly and started serving the plates. She quickly took the plates to the dining table, picking up the toys and dropping them in her chair she rarely used. "Guys! Come eat, we're gonna be late!" She called out as they came in quick and helped each other out. She walked off to her room.
    "Hi, sweetie."
"Bendición, mami. Listen, I need you to do me a favor." She said as she grabbed her scrubs and took her pants off.
    "Sure."
"Can you pick up the kids today? Mr. Gideon called and I need to meet him, I don't know how long I'll take." She wiggled her hips as she put her pants on and tied them at the hip. "Hannah has soccer practice, Caleb has after school club and the twins-"
    "And the twins soccer, I know. Baby Judy has an appointment today for her ear infection. I'll make the rice with beans and pernil, which they like so much. They already have clothes to stay the night over."
    "You're a lifesaver, mami. I love you."
"I love you too, mija."
    She hung up and finished getting dressed, her unruly hair tamed back into a ponytail. She grabbed her purse and walked out of her room putting on her shoes. She saw her kids taking their things to the kitchen and cleaning after themselves in age order. She grabbed their bags and stood by the door, as Caleb came to the door and opened it for his siblings, who one by one grabbed their bags and exited the apartment to the car.