A Melwood Story

/chapter sixteen/

A Melwood Story
Chapter 16

January

Melissa

Today is a work day.

I go to set before Chris today, which means I have to leave earlier so I can take Nya to preschool.

It's 7:30 a.m. and we have to leave in ten minutes.

"Nya!" I say from the kitchen. "You need to eat before we leave!"
"I don't want to go!" she calls back.
"You have to, sweetheart!"
"Nooo!" she whines.

Chris comes down a minute later with Nya in his arms as she struggles to be put down.

"Here," he says as he sets her on a chair in the dining room.
"Thanks." I smile.
"No problem."

I walk over and place a small bowl of cereal in-front of Nya. "We have to leave soon."
"Okay," she mumbles.

After about five minutes, she's finished, eating only a few bites, so I help put her shoes on and we head to the car.

Once we arrive at her preschool, she's near tears. "I don't want to go!"
"Nya," I say calmly as I undo her seat belt. "You have to go, sweetie. Okay?"
"No!" she says.

I pick her up out of her car seat. "I'm sorry, Nya, but you have too. I'll be back soon."
"You?" she asks, the tears and squealing stopping.
"Or your dad."
"I want you, mommy," she says.

I almost say something, but ignore what she said. "Okay. Let's go inside."

Chris

Eloise spends most the morning crying and there's nothing I can do about it. I tried everything and nothing is working. Nothing.

"Eloise, shhh. It's okay, just stop crying. Please," I say as I bounce her gently in my arms.

I have to leave for set in like five minutes and I can't set Eloise down or else she'll cry more and I still have to dress Max.

I give up. Setting Lulu down for a minute, I rush around getting everything I need for work. I grab my bag with everything I put in it, then throw it over my shoulder. Once I'm downstairs I grab shoes for both twins, slip on my own, then go outside to the car.

I place Max in his car seat first, then Lulu. Putting my bags and their shoes in the passenger seat, I drive off. Hoping I didn't forget anything.

When I arrive on set, Melissa is standing by her trailer. "Hi."
"Hey," I say. "How's it going?"
She looks at the miserable kids in my arms that aren't wearing any shoes. "What happened?"
"Lulu was crying and she wouldn't stop, so I didn't dress Max or put shoes on either of them. But the shoes are on the floor of the car"
"Sounds like you had quite the morning," she says.

"I did," I say. "How was Nya when you dropped her off?"
"Well for starters, she said she wanted mommy to pick her up. Not daddy," she says as she takes Lulu from my arms to help me out.
I stare at her. "She probably meant you, you know."
"Me?" she asks, like it hasn't crossed her mind already.
"Yes, you," I tell her. "Melissa, she's never met her mom. There's no way she could have thought to ask for her biological mom. She meant you."

"And you're okay with that?" she asks.
"Yes..." I say. "Would you be okay if either of the twins called me daddy?"
"Of course. You're the only one they would know of."
I nod. "See. Same with Nya. You're the only female figure in her life."

"Okay..." she mumbles, bouncing Lulu in her arms.

Melissa

I got a email confirming that the divorce papers were finalized. I'm not sure if I should tell Chris though. I wouldn't have second guessed it if we weren't dating, but now I just don't want to bring up my ex-husband and the biological father of my children in our relationship that we've decided to take on. I mean, we have been raising three kids together for a year now.

It's dinner. Chris is generally the better cook out of the two of us, so he usually cooks dinner. I just pour cereal in bowls or make toast for breakfast most of the time.

I get the twins from their rooms since they were taking naps before I head downstairs.

"Hey, how's it going up there?" Chris asks when I enter the kitchen, two kids in my arms.
Do I bring it up or not? "Good. Just had lots of emails to answer, sorry I couldn't make dinner."
He nods a little.

I put Lulu then Max in their high chairs, then sit down next to Nya who is colouring a picture of a unicorn with only two colours of crayons.

After I few minutes, Chris sets a plates in-front of me and Nya, then puts some noodles on the table part of the twins high chairs. He then sits down shortly afterwards. I think I should tell him.

"So, uh, I got an email about the divorce papers," I say.
He looks up from his plate. "Oh? And?"
"They got finalized."
"Well, that's good," he says with a little bit of a smile.
"Yeah, it is..."

His focused narrows on me more. "What is it?"
I look at him. "I'll...I'll tell you later. Not in-front of the kids."
He nods and takes one last glance at me before looking back down. "Okay."

Later that night, once the kids are in bed for the next hour or two, I sit on the edge of the neatly made bed.

Chris sits down next to me. "What is it, Melissa?"
I sigh. "I want you to know, that you're the only dad I want for my kids. Not him. It just makes me doubt my choice to leave him out. I know that he didn't want to be a father and that he left me while I was pregnant, but I still feel like I was just thinking about me in the situation and that I didn't want to see him. I wasn't thinking about the future of my kids."
"Hey," he says as he rests a hand on my arm. "I understand. I had the same thought when I made the choice to be a father. I could have not been a father and none of the past years would have been the same. I wouldn't have got to raise a beautiful little girl and in the end, even though it was a bit selfish, I knew I wanted to be a father, even though my child wouldn't have a mother. Sometimes it's just like that. There's lots of single parents out there."

"Thank you," I say as I rest my head on his shoulder.
"For what?" he asks.
"For everything," I tell him.