Mama Knows Best ♡

Part 11

** Author's note: This book is currently being re-edited, so please bear with me.**

And like the coward she was, she ran.

This would be her little secret along with the others. She had watched enough criminal documentaries and Law & Order to know that confiding in someone was always how the criminals got caught. She couldn't afford to let that happen. Who would take care of her baby girls?

She was now on her way to the airport. She could care less how suspicious that made her look. No one knew that she had moved back home anyways so with her being gone they would just assume that she had returned to her life and her job.

Frantically she dashed away a tear. To be frank, stupid Brad had caused this on himself. If only he had kept quiet.

She rememebered wrapping his pulp of a body up into a carpet and discarding it into the forest. It wasn't hunting season so she knew that the likelihood of someone discovering his body wouldn't be for now. That would give her enough time to create a solid alibi.

Bleach and Lysol hand in hand she had scrubbed the balcony clean, getting rid of all the evidence. Being extra careful so as not to awaken the girls', she had carried them down to the rental car and stuffed the luggages in the car.

She took a long swig of her favorite alcohol in order to calm her frying nerves. Her hands shook ever so slightly on the steering wheel. Scenes from Brad's gruesome death kept flashing before her eyes. She took in a deep breath and released it. She turned on the radio in the hopes of draining out what she just did.

Impatiently, she waited at the airport for her plane to depart. She knew she was being paranoid and she was acting as if she had never done this before. But it had been her first time pounding someone to death.

Cold sweat started to break out on her skin, she was just overreacting, right? They wouldn't come knocking down on her door the next day to arrest her, right? Yup, she was being a scaredy-cat for absolutely no reason. She needed to relax. With how she had hid his body, no one would find it for now, not even if they went searching for it.

She just needed some sleep, she concluded. Sleep would make her feel better. It always did. Sleep and her favorite bottle of liquor.

***********
One Year Later

"There's my favorite babygirl."

Cherish greeted Stone at the front door. He planted a big kiss on her lips and grabbed her ass. "You missed me?" She gave him a shy smile. "Of course, baby."

He kissed her cheek and made his way inside their home. "Where's my other favorite girl?"
"Exactly were you left her," Cherish told him moving into the kitchen.

Stone washed his hands and picked up the gargling baby. "You missed me too,huh?" he cooed in a baby voice. "Of course you missed your Daddy." Chanel gave him a toothless grin. She forced her hand into her mouth and sucked on it. Stone tickled her belly and that erupted in a sea of laughter from her.

With the table laid, Cherish called out to her two older girls. They came bouncing down the stairs. "That smells yum-yum-yummy mommy,"Belle gushed, giggling at her silly rhyme. Amoura rolled her eyes. "Mom,"she started,"can you please tell Belle that unicorns aren't real?"

Cherish looked up at the right moment and her eyes locked with Stone's. He made his way into the kitchen, still maintaining eye contact. They both smiled at the same time. If her life had been a movie this is where they would have started playing Daniel Caesar's Best Part.

If Cherish thought L'Duka had brought her happiness then Stone gave her a sense of belonging and empowerment that she craved. He cherished the girls as if they were his own. He treated them no different than Chanel minus the baby talk of course.

Stone didn't give the false expectancy that L'Duka had. Stone was practical. He believed that things were either black or white, yes or no. Everything in his life mirrored what he believed. Finally she could say that she was happy. She had the big, buoyant family that she'd always dreamt of when she was younger. Stone was a wonderful partner. He treated her as his equal. And the sex was still bomb.com.

Cherish had successfully buried her past behind her. Sometimes it came back to haunt her in the form of nightmares but nobody was the wiser about what she had done and she liked it that way. Being a mother of three had changed her completely. She no longer sought out revenge on those who had hurt her once upon a time ago. She could proudly say that she had grown in all areas of her life- professionally and personally.

"I love you," Stone mouthed over the girls' animated chattering and laughter. She giggled and mouthed back an "I love you, too".

They all sat down to have dinner when Cherish's mind decided to take a trip down memory lane like it often did at weird intervals during the day. Imagine not knowing that you were pregnant again until mere minutes before your delivery? She had noticed the signs but had chosen to dismiss them due to the high stress level that she had been under due to the recent traumatic events happening in her life.

By then her and Stone were going so good. Their relationship was rock solid. They were engaged. Everything seemed so perfect. How could she then admit to him that the child inside her belly wasn't his? She didn't want to end up alone and worse she knew the news would devastate him.

Had she paid attention to her body earlier she would have aborted the baby. She already had two children who were a frequent reminder of the man she despised, why then would she need a third one? It was already bad enough that she had a photocopying machine for a womb. She knew this baby would no doubt resemble the dreaded man.

But as soon as her body healed properly she planned to make things right with Stone. He deserved that much. She would make him fall more madly and deeply in love with her so that when she revealed the truth, he wouldn't have much of an option but to stay.

Upon her return to Roix, Stone had received her with wide open arms and asked little to no questions. Of course, she had spun an elaborate tale just to cover up her tracks. And like a fish on hook, he caught the bait. He believed everything she told him. He was a good man.

Poor thing.

Stone brought her out of her reverie by caressing her cheek. "Wifey are you okay?"

She smiled at the moniker that she had grown to love. She flashed the huge diamond ring on her left hand. "Yup, all thanks to you," she replied gazing at the sparkling rock.