Symphony ◆ Joe Anoa'i◆

Chapter 49

"The reason why I brought us here is to close the chapter on this." I gesture to the tension forming between us. "This time next year, I will be a mom to five beautiful children and I can't be stuck in the same chapter for the rest of my life. I have reached out to you guys on numerous occasions but you never meet me halfway. If this is the end of our relationship then let's end it today so I don't have to think about it tomorrow."

Amelie and Mario look at me wide eyed while Nikita rolls her eyes.

"My children will not have part time aunties or a part time grandfather so if you choose to be absent in their lives then that's it." I purse my lips at them. "I'm not going to bother with you guys or try to invite you anywhere."

"Then so be it." Nikita dramatically pushes her chair back before storming off.

"Coward." I call out to her while standing up. "You're a fucking coward."

"I don't care." She flips me off while walking out of the building and I contemplate running after her but I know that no good will come from it.

"Fuck her then." Amelie places her hand over mine. "I'm here and I'm ready to step up to the plate."

"Don't tell me." I smile sadly. "Show me that you're here, Amelie."

"I am here." Her face scrunches up as she tries to fight back tears and I feel nothing in that moment because we've been through this already. I can't keep fighting this battle for the rest of my life even though a part of me wants to because I miss my family.

"What do I have to do?" My dad finally asks after a moment of silence and I slowly shake my head. "Just tell me what you need from me."

"Listen to your heart."

---

After months of not bringing the twins to the WWE shows, I have allowed them to come backstage with me so they can see their father. We will not be staying for the match but Joe is not scheduled to wrestle for another four hours so they have more than enough time to enjoy the backstage antics and interact with the other superstars.

The boys are at that age where they are starting to copy everything that they see so to get ahold of the terrible twos and angst teenage years, I'm cutting them off now. Wrestling may be their fathers profession but I have to think about life at daycare and whether they will bring what they see into the classroom.

"Mommy look." Joseph starts flexing his muscles as we walk by one of the new wrestlers posing for the photographers.

"You look amazing." I bend down to take a picture of him as he flashes me the biggest smile. "The most handsome superstar."

I glance over at Thomas who appears to be having an animated conversation with his father while finishing the hot dogs that he bought them. Joseph runs by  my side as we make our way down the corridor to the common room so we can mingle with some of our friends.

"IS THAT?" We all whip our heads back to see Colby looking at the twins in feign surprise. "NO, IT CAN'T BE!"

"UNCLE COLWY!" Thomas calls out and I let out a laugh while filming the interaction.

"IT CAN'T BE!" Colby dramatically shakes his head. "IT CAN'T BE THE ANOA'I TWINS!"

Joseph and Thomas let out a growl like their father showed them which makes everyone in the corridor laugh.

"OH NO! IT'S JOSEPH AND THOMAS ANOA'I!" Joe sets Thomas down and we watch as the twins start running towards Colby who prepares to take them on.

"Come on boys." Joe calls out to his sons. "Get him."

The twins latch onto Colby's legs while growling at him as if they were werewolves. Everyone around is laughing at the scene as Colby pretends to be overpowered by them but I'm keeping a watchful eye on my boys.

It's easy to forget that children will be children despite how you raise them which is why I needed to stop them coming to the shows. They may only be a year old but they're pretty advanced for their ages and quire big due to their Samoan genetics so I'm always watching. 

With Joseph's recent diagnosis, I don't want people thinking that he is a terrible child who always acts out when he is really lovely. All we needed to do was understand why he was behaving in the manner that he did and get the support to help him through it since he is still a baby.

"Alright, that's enough." Joe says while breaking up the fake fight and I hold out my hand for Thomas who runs right over to me.

"They're the cutest." Colby comments as he gives Joseph a kiss on the cheek before passing him over to Joe. "If my little one turns out like these two then I'll be the proudest father ever."

His words make me smile, "Don't make me cry."

"Maybe you need to hear this, maybe you don't but you're both doing a good job."