My phone rang, breaking me out of my thoughts. The kids were with Gwen and Bethany. They came to Italy for Demitri's birthday considering it was in a few days.
I answered the phone and put it on speaker.
"What?" I ask, annoyed.
"Y-You have a kid? A child. A literal child." Angel starts. I sigh and stop doing what I was doing.
"Yeah? So?"
"You have a child Maeve! A LITERAL CHILD!" I wince and slowly let out a breath.
"Come to Italy, Angel." The words were out of my mouth before I stopped them. I tensed up.
"What? You- What?"
"Come to Italy, Angel. I'll get you a flight. Come see me." I say, softly.
"But what about school?"
"Tell Axel you have to come to Italy because of some deal with the gallery your dealing with."
"But what-"
"Just say you can come alone. I'll get you a flight so you don't have to worry about anything. You can stay at my house."
"I can't believe I'm doing this but okay. I'll come." A smile broke out on my face.
"Good. You like Italy."
"What about Damien? He's going to see right through my lie."
"Then he needs to step out of your life. It's yours to live. Not his."
"When does the plane leave?"
"It's already at the airport. I'll send a car so you'll arrive tomorrow morning." She let out a breath. "Angel, you can stay as long as you like. Pack whatever. Comfy clothes considering we're mostly gonna be here at home but we can go see the tourist things."
"Really? Oh my God!" She shouts in excitement. I heard rummaging around in the background. I leaned against the counter and looked at my nail. They were covered in flour but I didn't care. "Oh hey Axel. Thought you were working a shift?"
I tensed up. I stayed silent until she came back on.
"What time does it leave again?"
"Whenever you get there, Angel. The car will be there in a few but won't come up onto the property until you send me the text that you're ready." She hums in response. "I'll let you go, Angel. I'll see you when you get here."
"Bye Ivy." I hung up and took a deep breath. I was about to regret this, wasn't I?
--
I watched as my kids played in the backyard. Someone rang the doorbell, making someone get it. I stayed rooted in my spot until someone came over to me. I looked at the guard.
"What?"
"Someone's here for you. Name's Angel." I let out a breath.
"I told you to let in the person who said their name was Angel, did I not?" I ask, tilting my head. He nods and quickly scurried away. I looked back at the kids and smiled to myself.
I doubled up security considering Angel was coming. I also doubled it up because Gwen and Bethany were here. Demitri's birthday is in one day, another reason why I doubled it.
Someone bear hugged me from behind and I giggled. I turned around and hugged her back.
"How was the flight?" I ask, once she let go.
"Oh my God! It was so amazing." I laugh.
"Private planes are amazing." She giggles. Bethany and Gwen came down the steps, in fancy clothes. I raised an eyebrow at them.
"Shopping." Bethany says, with a smile on her face. She looked at the newcomer and furrowed her eyebrows. So did Gwen. Angel looked at them.
"Gwen, Bethany, meet Angel. One of the people who shared my birthday." I say, making their attention turn to her.
"You look so pretty." Bethany said, coming over to us. Angel looked at me and I looked at her.
"I'll explain who they are later." I whispered. She nodded and looked at her. Bethany pulled her into a hug. Gwen came over and looked at the kids.
"You'll be alright?" She asks, softly. I nod.
"I'll be alright, Gwen."
"You should really move back to the states. I miss not seeing them everyday." She says, quietly.
"I know." I whisper. She kissed my cheek and smiled at Angel. "Have fun and don't get too drunk."
"Nonsense." I laughed.
"I'll see you guys later." They nod and leave. Angel looked at me and I looked at her. "Do you want to get freshened up?"
"That sounds great." I nod and lead her up the steps towards her room.
--
Adaline sighed and I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes baby girl?" I ask, making her look at me.
"When can we decorate cookies?"
"When Gram and Mimi get home." She sighs again and I laugh.
"But they take too long." She whines. The front door opens and shuts. Her eyes lit up and she took off in that direction. Demitri looks at me and I look at him.
"He's not coming, is he?" I tensed up.
"Demitri, can we talk about it later?" He shakes his head. I sigh. "Dad won't make it, but you know what we can do?"
"Mm?"
"You know the brightest star?" I ask, curious. He nods, slowly. "That's dad. You can talk to him whenever you want and I promise you that he is listening. He will always be listening."
"You promise?" He whispers, softly. I nod.
"I promise." He smiles at me, his mood changing. I smile at him too. "Can we talk to him tonight?"
"Of course. We can do it before we go to bed." He snuggled closer to me. Gwen and Bethany came in with an excited Adaline. "Someone's excited."
"Because we get to decorate!" She yells, smiling. Gwen laughs. Angel came in, fixing her hair. She tensed up when she saw the attention was on her.
"Did you find everything?" I ask, making her look at me. She nods, slowly. Demitri got up from my lap and followed Adaline to the kitchen. Gwen and Bethany looked at each other then at me. I looked at them. "We'll be there in a minute. You can start but leave some cookies for us."
"Well you made more than 50 cookies so we'll save you a lot." Bethany says, laughing. I laugh too. They both disappear into the kitchen. I stand up.
"Let's go outside, Angel. So we can talk." I whisper, walking over to the doors. I open it and head outside, with her following. I sit down in one of the chairs and she sits in the other. I took a cigarette out and looked at her.
"Go ahead." She whispers. I put it up to my lips. I lit it and inhaled the smoke. I take it out and blow it out. I looked at Angel. "Who was that little boy?"
"My other kid." I say, softly. Her eyes widened.
"Y-You have two kids?"
"Demitri and Adaline." She looked at me weird. "Hmm?"
"D and A? You named them after me and Damien?" I tensed up and looked away from her.
"Yeah. I, uh, when I had Demitri, I felt alone. It's why I disappeared for a year around that time. I had to be around him and I'm sorry for that. When he was born, I couldn't look you guys in the face. I couldn't even come near you guys without breaking down." I say, after a while. She stared at me. "When I had Adaline, it was different. Felt alive again, you know? I realized I was only 13 around that time but it was fine. I wasn't in the right headspace at the time. Joshua died around that time. I was hurt, no doubt but it was fine."
"Who's Joshua?" She asks, confused. I looked at her and put the cigarette back up to my lips.
"The man who practically raised me. Bethany is or should I say was his wife. They helped raise Demitri when I was with you guys. He is the person who gave me everything I have today. I owe my life to him."
"Can I ask who Demitri's father is?" She asks, softly. I tensed up. "Sorry."
"A man who we used to call father." I mumble, after a while. She tensed up. "It's fine. We don't talk about it with him. Adaline's father stepped up and became both of their fathers."
"Where is he?" She asks, quietly. I sigh and wipe under my eyes.
"6 ft under. He, uh, we got into a crash almost a year ago and he died. Was my best friend. Was gonna get married. Had plans to grow old together but sometimes people die and you can't do anything about it." I say, shrugging.
"Maeve, I'm so sorry." I shrug.
"It's fine. It's not your fault." I whisper, standing up. I put my cigarette out and put it in the ashtray. "Let's go decorate some cookies. We have a lot to do considering I baked all of them yesterday."