(Its unedited. If you please point out the mistakes, I'll be glad.)
I froze.
"Your father called?" I frowned as he buried his head deeper into my hair. "Does he know?"
"No." He took in a deep breath, "It doesn't seem like he knows. If it had been the case, he wouldn't have postponed their return for another month. They would've had been back within a day without prior notice."
I pulled away, "Then why did he call?"
"Just wanted to vent out his frustration, I guess." He shrugged, "Larissa's been giving him a hard time."
I snorted, "As if that's anything new."
He frowned, "Apparently, Larissa refuses to talk about what happened during her delivery, and the loss we all faced. It's worrying my dad. He even talked about trying for another baby but she refused."
"Of course, she did."
He slowly pulled away and sighed, "Said that she won't be able to bear another loss like that. She needs more time and isn't ready."
He sat on the edge of the bed, and I climbed in behind him. I started massaging his shoulders and his back, and after a few moments, I asked:
"So...I gather you didn't tell him anything about the twins."
"No, I didn't. Do you want me to tell him?"
"No."
"I don't want that, too. It's been nine fucking months and it still feels that the time went by too past. I want more time with you, with our twins before shit hits the fan and we have no idea what's going to happen."
I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my cheeks to his, murmuring, "Everything will be fine."
And just like that, he kissed me, murmuring, "Lord, I need you so much."
******************
That month, I had spent my every waking, and sleeping, moment with the twins and Terrence, shadowing them everywhere to the point where I felt like I was annoying them with my hovering presence. Though, I could see that Raine and Ryan were enjoying the constant attention Momo was showering them. Terrence, too, enjoyed how I kept clinging to him time and again, and how I was growing insatiable when it came to sex.
"Even though I love how much you stay around, Alyssa, I need you to stop worrying," Terrence said before leaving for work that day, "The both of us need to be strong enough now, to fight for Raine and Ryan."
But the strength I had somehow gathered in the morning went out for a vacation and my hands shook as I kept the intercom back in its place.
Larissa and Vincent Powers were here.
They were really here.
And Terrence wasn't.
I really wasn't ready to deal with it alone. I wanted Terrence here. It was already quite difficult for me to believe that they were here and the private little bubble that Terrence, Raine, Ryan and I were in was about to burst.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
And as if to prove their presence further, my thoughts were shattered by simultaneous cries that erupted from the living room.
I ran out only to freeze in my tracks when I saw Vincent Powers holding a squirming Ryan in his arms.
"Put him down!" My voice came out defensive, even though now was the worst timing to be impolite or rude to the father of the loves of my life.
"Alyssa?!" It was Larissa who screeched out. No matter how much I wanted to give her a death glare and poke her eyes and tongue out, I remained stoically still.
Vincent Powers raised a brow at me, taking in my form until a frown appeared on his face.
"So the rumours were true." He stated rather than asked.
"I'm sorry, sir." I started, "But can I please put them back in the nursery before we talk further about this?"
Larissa was about to protest but her husband nodded his head and I slowly took Ryan from him. Both Raine and Ryan immediately stopped crying as they clung to me and I almost wanted to throw Larissa and Vincent out of the house so that they could come back when my babies were more comfortable.
Nevertheless, I sent one last look to the couple before walking towards the nursery. Both looked regal as ever, standing with a sense of belongingness that made me feel like an intruder in the household - even if it was just for a moment. Vincent Powers was definitely an older version of Terrence. Just as handsome, the only difference between him and his son was when it came to their hair. While Vincent was blonde, Terrence definitely had brown hair similar to the shade of mine.
When I looked at Larissa, I really looked at her. I mean, it was the first time I realised how similar the two of us were. It became more believable this time around, that she was really my cousin.
A cousin I never knew about.
Had the situation been a bit different, I would've had thrown a tantrum. I could have really used a sibling or a relative – no matter how distant – when at times I felt that I had no real family left.
But that was about sometime, much before I started working for that whining bitch.
I immediately called Terrence the moment I put Raine and Ryan back into their cribs. It was their time to sleep already so I wasn't worried about them wandering off somewhere else.
"Alyssa? I'm coming right there. Beckett told me and he sounded more worried than we both are." Terrence said the moment he picked up the call.
I sighed, "Oh, thank God, Terrence. I need you here so much."
"I'll be there baby. I love you."
"I love you, too."
I hung up and kissed Raine and Ryan's foreheads, gathering courage to face the couple outside. As much as I knew Larissa, I knew that she knew how to turn the table and shove the blame on someone else.
The moment I stepped into the living room, Larissa turned to me and glared, making Vincent frown.
"You bitch!"
I frowned.
"It didn't take you even a moment of my absence to trap that poor Terrence in your web of lies! You gold digging whore! I know the likes of you – sleeping with rich men and getting pregnant on purpose to snag their money! I shouldn't have let you get the meeting with Terrence; it just helped your plan, didn't it?"
The whole time, I was gaping in outrage.
"And what the fuck do you have to say for yourself? I'm pretty sure you managed to turn the entire staff of PPH against me with Terrence's help so that you could overthrow me and become the head. I can't believe that I was really such a fool to believe that you were a nice woman. You don't deserve to be here, Alyssa. Tramps like you and your brats should be left out alone on the streets to look after yourself!"
"Shut the fuck up, Larissa!"
Terrence's voice boomed and I almost melted to the floor in relief. Not that I wouldn't have put her in place had he hadn't been here.
His father scolded him instead, "That's not the way to talk to my wife! Apologise to her!"
"Apologise?" Terrence narrowed his gaze on his father as he walked to stand by me and wrapped his arm around my waist, "Your wife should be apologising to my girlfriend instead. After all, she did take in my half brother and sister even when she didn't know she was their aunt."
Okay, he could have said that a bit more subtly.
Terrence wrapped his arm tightly around me and I sagged into him. Gauging the couple's expression, I could see that Vincent Powers was absolutely confused and clueless. However, I didn't miss the flash of panic and realisation in Larissa's eyes.
"What are you talking about Terrence? Do you mean...do you —"
"Yes. He means exactly that." I said, "Larissa gave birth to healthy and alive twins, Raine and Ryan, not a stillborn son. You saw the two, and you cannot deny it anymore, Larissa." I turned to her, "You had two babies depending on you and you found it easy to abandon them!"
Absolute gobsmacked silence. Terrence and I looked at each other for a moment and decided to stay quite and let the information sink in the couple. But the moment Larissa's gaze steeled, I regretted not attacking her with accusations after accusations.
"She's lying!" She started, bursting into quite convincing amount of tears.
I knew that she didn't care about the twins the moment she decided to defend herself rather than beg me to let her see her children.
"She's lying, Vincent!" She clutched her husband's arm, and I frowned and exchanged glances with Terrence.
"Her whole family have been the same conniving —"
"Don't you dare lie, Larissa!" I seethed, "My family has got nothing to with this! They are not even alive! And look at yourself before you point a finger to anyone else. How could you do this to your own children? So much of fabricated nonsense just to avoid playing mother to your own two children?"
"The question is why would I do this to my own children?" She snapped back, "I didn't even know I was conceiving twins. It was you! You paid for all the fucking charade you've made, just to kick me out of my own house and make your place instead. You've always been jealous of me, just like your father had been jealous of mine."
Why did she always turn it all back to the feud between our fathers?
"She's lying father." Terrence said, calmly, but Vincent Powers looked as clueless as ever.
I now wondered if Terrence had inherited all of his brains from his mother.
"Why would she lie, Terrence? Why couldn't it be that your girlfriend has been lying to you all this time? After all Larissa is their mother, why would a mother do that to her own children?"
I replied as calmly as I could, "If Larissa was really even the slightest bit enthusiastic about her pregnancy, don't you think she'd have known that she's conceiving a pair of twins? Didn't you do any kind of research work for your unborn baby?"
"Of course, I did." He looked affronted, "And I accompanied her to all her doctor's visits."
"If you did, then you probably did see other pregnant women. If not, do you remember when your first wife was pregnant with Terrence? Did you not notice the differences between both the pregnancies? The size and the weight gain patterns?"
Both were not so surprisingly silent.
"There's your answer." I said, and Terrence rubbed my arm.
Terrence's father shook his head, "But the doctor said —"
" — Nothing." Terrence interrupted, "The doctor was paid by Larissa to duplicate all the sonograms, and also to swap the babies at the time of delivery. While I was in the restroom, they distracted you by making you fill useless forms."
Larissa spoke up this time, "Why can't it be that Alyssa here paid for everything and fabricated all the evidences to point towards me? I am the victim here! My children had been taken away from me and I had no idea! Months: for months I had been...uh... crying over my child's death and you tell me I was the one to throw it away? You don't...you don't know what it feels like to be a mother!"
Not believing her stuttering rant, Terrence interjected, "She knows much better than you, Larissa. She has been more of a mother to them than you can ever be."
"We'll see about that, won't we?" His father said, "I still won't believe your girlfriend over my wife, Terrence. I have seen how wrecked she was. Tell your girlfriend to get out of here and stop upsetting my wife."
"You're believing Larissa over what your own son says? Alyssa is not going anywhere. This is my house and I dictate who stays here. Raine, Ryan and Alyssa are staying here with me and that's final." Terrence declared.
Although, the last thing I wanted was to ruin the relationship between father and son, Terrence's father was being biased and blind in love. Just because he didn't want to see things go against his wife, he was not ready to see the cold, hard truth here.
There was silence for a few moments, but the calculating look in Vincent Powers' eyes scared me more and more as time passed.
"Do you have any kind of legal custody over them?"
Terrence and I looked at each other and then shook our heads at him. We had left the custody situation until after his father came back so that we could discuss over it. As much as we hated Larissa, Vincent was innocent - no matter how clueless he seemed to be.
"What does their birth certificate say?" Vincent asked again.
"We didn't get it done. We were waiting for you to come back because we wanted the truth on their birth certificates without the press getting a wind of it. Not at least in your absence." Terrence replied.
"As much as I appreciate your decision, it won't stop me from suing you and your girlfriend for claiming the children as yours if she doesn't get out of this house now!"
Vincent's words made me want to cry and smack him over at the same time. We both wanted to toss each other out of the house.
If ever things got better, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what happened today. This was one day I knew I'd never forgive him for.
The smug look on Larissa's face told me very clearly that me going out was going to be the best decision right now. As much as I didn't want to leave the twins alone, I knew that Larissa getting custody over them was something Terrence and I were going to regret badly.
And I definitely could trust Terrence, right?
*************
"He let you go? Just like that?" Allie asked while I kept sobbing over a tub of ice cream. Romantic chick flicks had been a no go in Allie's After Aaron house so that was the only thing stopping me from hiding away from her incessant probes.
"And above that, you trust him." She stated disbelievingly.
"Of course, I trust him. He loves me, and if he said he'll come back for me, I believe him he will."
"Yeah, sure," She rolled her eyes, "When you will be on your deathbed and he will feel like telling his siblings about some woman who took care of them for the first nine months."
"What do you mean, Allie?! This is not really a time to be cynical. I need you!" I cried out.
"After what happened with Aaron, I can't help it. But you know what? I'm just trying to give you another outlook towards the situation here. So, if I'm right you know what to expect."
I hadn't spoken a single word since Terrence's father had given us the ultimatum. Whatever communication took place, it was in the form of longing glances and awkward silences. I hadn't kissed Terrence before I left. I just kissed Raine and Ryan and coddled them while they were still asleep.
Allie was wrong. Terrence would never do that to me.
"Look, Allie, if you don't feel like saying anything good, then don't say anything right now." I sniffed.
"I'm not going to stop, Liz. Let me get it out once and for all. Terrence should have fought for you. Fuck the suing and fuck the custody; he loves you and should have kept in mind what all you have done for Raine and Ryan. He wasn't the one taking in two babies in the middle of a night from a garbage bin. He wasn't the one who was ready to accept each and every change in his life for some abandoned kids he had no idea about. Terrence definitely should have fought for you, Lisa. He should have dragged his father and should have showed him all the fucking evidences because even tomorrow sounds too late. Can you, at this point of time, imagine your life without twins or Terrence?"
I shook my head, not being able to control my tears. I hated it that she sounded completely right, when right now the most important thing for me was to keep faith in Terrence and hope that everything will be alright.
Allie sighed, "Look, Lisa. You as well as I know that Larissa is a master manipulator. She will do anything to keep her place as the Queen of the house, even if it means abandoning her own children. You gave her a few minutes and she managed to play the mother card and turn Vincent against you. You heard her, right? Her lies sounded utterly convincing for someone who doesn't know you. What I really fear is that given a few days, she'll manage to turn Terrence against you, too."
"God, Alexandria! I need your support right now! And I definitely want you to encourage me to keep faith in Terrence, not to make me fear the worst! So help me now and fucking cuddle me to make me feel slightly better!" I shouted.
"It's about what you think. I think that I'm preparing you for the worst. This is something so fucking common with super rich people and playboy billionaires: they leave you completely clueless as to what they want next. And we're always the ones who end up heartbroken at the end. As much as I want to believe Terrence is not like that, I can't really say anything." She shrugged.
I snapped.
"What do you mean you can't say anything? He is not like that! He will prove you wrong and will come back for me very soon!"
"You as well as I hope that you are right and I am wrong. The thing is - Terrence hasn't shown any inclination towards proving me wrong. He had promised he'd stay by your side no matter what happened, right? I don't see him anywhere by your side right now. I think it's me who's been watching you break down and fuss over worrying about Raine and Ryan since the past hour. Sue me for being protective over my best friend and having an overactive imagination." She said, calmly.
"I'm calling, him."
"Then I should hope that he won't reject you call this time, unlike all your other calls." She retorted blandly.
I dialled his number and waiting for the call to connect, desperately hoping that he'd pick the call and shove all the nagging doubts away with his voice.
He picked up.
"God, Terrence, I've been calling you for so long! Why weren't you picking the calls?" I sobbed into the phone.
"I'm sorry, Alyssa. Terrence's busy right now."
I froze the moment I recognised Miranda's voice and for a moment I didn't know what to say. The ice cream spoon in my hold snapped and I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up anymore. Allie gave me a worried look.
Just when my will to keep faith in him was going to succumb to my doubts and worries, I heard Terrence's voice on the other side.
"What are you doing on my phone, Miranda?"
"Just making it clear to her that you guys are no longer together."
No longer together?
I sent an impassive look to Allie.
Just when I was about to hang up, I heard and harsh, pained whisper on the other side and just like that, my heart melted.
"Alyssa, it's you."
Choking in my sob and letting out a wry chuckle, I said, "No longer together, huh?"
"Alyssa? Please don't tell me you believed a word of all the bullshit Miranda probably said to you." He said.
"She said you were busy. What are you doing with her, Terrence?" I couldn't help but ask, accusingly.
"Are you really trying to give me an idea that you believe I am cheating?" He voice broke at the end.
"You're not giving me anything else to think, Terrence!" I cried out, "You weren't answering the calls and I have been worried sick!"
"It's just been an hour, Alyssa." He said.
"And that's not going to stop me from worrying about Raine and Ryan! How are they? What are they doing?"
"They are fine. They're with me." His tone was awfully clipped and my heart broke a little.
"You've brought the kids when you're busy with her?" I simply asked. My brain had absolutely no chances of figuring out my emotions.
"Alyssa." Terrence sighed, "I am not here to meet her. I came to see Victor, Aaron and Lucy, and Aria and Jonah came along. I didn't know they were bringing her, too."
"So she knows the truth now?" I asked.
"No, she doesn't. She just believes we broke up or something."
"I don't care. How are Raine and Ryan?" I sat up and abandoned the ice cream tub.
"They are fine, but they are searching for you. They are probably thinking that this is one of the times you went to work for longer hours, or the times when we had had then stay at Jenny or Allie's place overnight. But, God, do I miss you, Alyssa. I miss you so much."
I couldn't help but ask, "Really?"
"What's gotten into you, Alyssa?" He asked, in a whisper.
"She's worried sick and getting more and more insecure with passing time. That's what's gotten into her." I heard Lucy's voice linger through the phone.
I think she snatched the cell phone from him because next, she muttered into the phone, "Clueless men."
"Hey, Lizzy. It's Lucy." She spoke.
"Yeah, I heard." I replied.
"How are you doing?" She asked.
"What do you think?" I asked her, sardonically. This was one question Lucy would understand more than anyone else. She had Xavier and Victor, people who she loved more than her own life.
"Feeling like you lost your home? Felling like Terrence doesn't love you anymore - or never did love you at all? Feeling like you were right in the beginning after all? That you were just a babysitter and now that he doesn't need you anymore, you are out for good? Wondering if the next time you meet Raine and Ryan will be when you die and Terrence will be philanthropic enough to let them attend you funeral - if he remembers you, then?"
The protests I heard from the other side, coming from Terrence, immediately stopped when I muttered a, "Yeah," with a sigh.
Lucy spoke again, "Then I'll tell you one thing. Terrence still loves you, as much as he did before, if not more. The rest of the assurances, he can give himself once we meet in, like, fifteen minutes. I gather you're at Alexandria's place?"
God, she was such a wonderful woman.
"Yeah. I didn't feel like going back to my own."
"Alright, tell Allie to get her home ready for the troops."
And she hung up the phone.
***************
Terrence crushed me to himself the moment he stepped inside. I clung to him and sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him tightly.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw a blurry image of Allie letting everyone in, and blushing particularly when her eyes met Aaron's.
Immediately, I pulled away from Terrence, searched for the twins, who were bouncing and squealing in their strollers while stretching their arms towards me. I was picking them one by one the next moment, showering them with kisses.
Their giggles soothed my aching heart, and for those few moments, all I wanted was just to be in our own bubble and forget everyone else.
Just me and my babies.
*****************************
Hey guys,
I know I'm super duper late with this chapter but in all honesty, I was a bit busy and this chapter was actually the hardest one of all the chapters I had ever written so far - in this story and others.
Sooooo, what do you guys think about the chapter. Was Alyssa leaving the house worth it, or was it the worst decision ever. Was Terrence right in going after what his father said?
Was Allie right?
So many questions, right? What do you think will happen next?
Hope you like the chapter!
Vote. Comment. Recommend.
Love,
M
P.S. Gauging by the content of this chapter, this story should be over in four to five chapters - including the epilogue.
This fact hasn't sunk in yet.