Christmas Number One
Six years.
Six years have been since the last he saw her. Six years have been since she left him broken.
They were happy; she was even smiling that night, he remembered. She was wrapped around his shirt that smelled like cinnamon after the countless times she had used it. She even kissed him good night and hugged him to sleep.
She disappeared the next morning, leaving him waiting for the next years.
Artemis and Apollo are six now, and for Christmas, they both wished for their mother to come home.
It drove him crazy how the twins looked so much like her. They both have her long mop of black hair. They both have her deep, enchanting brown eyes. Heck they even sound like her when they speak. But instead of soothing him, Daniel only felt pain upon the twins' similarities with their mother.
She didn't deserve the twins. She have given birth to them, yes. But she left them even before the two could open their eyes.
And it was Daniel who was left to make up for the absence of one parent. He stayed up late every night to nurse them when they were sick. He handled all their tantrums and whims. He was the one who cried on their first day of big school.
And Kathryn was nowhere. Gone in a heartbeat, never coming back, never wondering if her children had survived the next six years.
So it was extremely unfair for her to show up right now, on Christmas day.
The twins were jumping on his bed, waking him up. He tried to shoo them away, but they kept on whining.
"Come on, Daddy! It's Christmas, wake up!" Artemis pleaded, snuggling close to him.
"Dad, Artie's right. We're gonna open the presents!" Apollo yelled, bouncing on the bed.
Daniel grudgingly pushed himself up, woozy from all the jumping. "It's seven in the morning, children!" He stood up, and the twins instantly clung to his arms. "Okay, if you want to open the presents, leave Daddy alone first. I gotta go to the bathroom."
One toothbrush, one rinse and one crying session later, they all bounded downstairs. The twins went straight to their Christmas socks while Daniel started to cook breakfast in the kitchen.
"Chocolates!" Apollo yelled from the living room. Daniel raised his brows, listening closely.
"Pol! You still can't eat those, we haven't had breakfast yet." Artemis said reproachfully. Daniel smiled a little.
"You're not the boss of me, sis." Apollo shot back. The pan almost slipped from Daniel's hand.
"Santa's still counting, Pol! We have to be good! See, this is why he never grants our wish!" Daniel could almost see Artemis scowling at her brother. "We're never gonna see Mommy because you're naughty."
There was silence, then he heard the creasing of wrappers. "Fine. But if next year, he still doesn't give us our Mommy, I'm gonna be naughty as I want to be. We've been wishing for this since forever. Maybe Santa couldn't convince our Mommy to go back home."
"Don't even say that." Artemis's voice was a lot quieter.
"Maybe she didn't really want to come back."
Daniel's heart raced. For years, the twins longed for their mother. They waited every birthday and Christmas, hoping to get their mother as a gift. He heard similar conversations, but he still couldn't help his heart breaking, seeing his children's heart get broken by their own mother. He hated Kathryn for inflicting this pain to his children. He wondered how Kathryn could sleep at night knowing she have two sweet precious angels getting tired waiting for her, if she even thinks of them. If she doesn't, he thought, she might as well go burn in hell.
