This chapter is intertwined with the last.
Goal: 30 votes and 7 comments? Is that a stretch? Lol.
Anthony Parker's POV.
I glance over at the clock.
3:02 am.
I stand from the couch, stretching out my limbs before stepping over my older cousin. It was Chance and Quincy's night to sleep on the floor. We've been alternating since my dick of a little brother decided to disappear and no, I'm not talking about Sebastian.
Ive always been a light sleep, so of course I heard the five people upstairs. More specifically, I heard Sophia panicking.
I step over Quincy before making my way up the stairs, rubbing my eyes that burned from lack of sleep. When I step on the top step I notice one thing, Maya's bedroom light is on and Sophia's is not.
I walk down the hall and peer inside of Maya's bedroom before stepping inside. It was empty. She had dragged her bed covers all the way to the door before deciding to abandon them. I follow the sounds of crying, pushing open Sophia's bedroom door.
Her bathroom light was on, the small amount of light slipping from under the door and offering a slither of light to the dark bedroom.
"I'm so sorry, I can't do this." Sophia says, over and over again.
Although it is very dark in the room, I can make out a few things. Sophia is standing up in front of the small cart bed thingy that allowed all three babies to sleep and be in peacefully next to Sophia's bed. In her arms were two babies, I'm not sure which of the three they were but I can tell that there is a baby on each shoulder. The las tabby is inside the cart that Sophia is rocking back and forth with her foot.
My eyes gaze over to another object, Maya. She sat on the side of the bed, whimpering. She was crying.
Everybody in this room was crying.
The triplets were screaming there tiny lungs out, Sophia was freaking out, and Maya was teaching out for Sophia as she cried.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bad mom. I can't do this, I can't help all of you at the same time. I'm sorry." Sophia breaks into a sob and I decide to step deeper in the room.
"Sophia."
"You want Daddy I know. I know." Sophia coos through a sob. Her words make Maya cry even more.
Anthony Parker is swiping in to save the day.
I grab a the babies from Sophia, which ends up being Jalen and Jaisiah, and immediately she falls back onto the bed. The most wretched sob rips through her as Maya crawls into her arms. "When's daddy coming home?"
"I don't know baby. I miss him too." Sophia says as she pulls a sobbing Maya to her chest. I bounce the two babies against my chest before moving to the bottle warmer. It was empty.
"I'm going to make them some bottles, okay?" I say, not expecting a answer. I set Jalen and Jaisiah down into the cart before wheeling it into the nursery. I turn the light on and immediately push the pacifiers into each newborns mouth. They all reject except Jaisiah.
In the month I've had to get to know my oldest nephew, I've realized he loves his pacifier. Jasmine hated it, almost never using it. Jalen only used it when he wasn't hungry. He was a man who knew what he wanted. If he wasn't hungry, he'd accept it.
I move to each tiny little bottle, putting in formula in each of them before pouring the water out of one of the gallon containers we had laying around the room. My eyes make there way back to Jalen who is kicking his small ass feet around.
"Uncle Tony is coming." I say to them, shaking all of there bottles up before checking the bottom. When I see that all of the formula has mixed well, i pop a bottle into each babies mouth. I set Jaisiahs bottle next to him because I'm sure he'll want it later when he realizes it's there. I hold the bottles steady as I listen for Maya and Sophia.
Sophia and Maya were really heartbroken and this was becoming a cycle. Sophia wakes up every night crying. She won't come out of her room. She won't eat. Sophia goes to bed crying, wakes up half way through the night to cry, wakes up in the morning crying, and cries herself to sleep multiply times through out the day. I'm surprised she has tears left.
Maya is a absolute mess. All she does now is ask when Alex is coming back and look at pictures of the three of them. I offered to bring her to my moms house so she could play with her Aunts and Uncle and she declined. Instead, she looked herself in her room and Quincy had to pick her bedroom door lock in order to get in.
The atmosphere around the house was so dry and empty. Nobody smiled or laughed. We barely talked. It was just sleep and help take care of the babies.
Chance is looking for Alex and going to work just Incase my idiot of a brother decides to show up. From what I've heard so far, he hasn't shown up.
Jalen is already back asleep when I look back down, Jasmine is still sucking harshly, and Jaisiah is on his way back to sleep. Jasmine looks at me with her wide ass eyes before spiting the bottle up and some of the contents. I quickly pick her up before carrying her over to the changing station. I wipe her mouth and decide to ditch her clothes.
They were ugly anyways.
I open the drawer and grab the shirt that I bought, a custom made onesie that says Parker on the back. It matches my hoodie that was just like it.
Jasmine looks up at me again as I slip socks over her small feet. The way she looks at me almost reminds me of when Alex is drunk, a certain wolffish grin taking over his face.
The only difference between Jasmine and Alex's face was the fact that Alex has teeth and Jasmine did not.
"You're milk drunk." I state, rest a elbow on either side of her. I bring my head to my hands, staring down at my niece.
The smile fades from her face and it already looks like she going to cry again, so I push the bottle back between her lips before mumbling words to her.
"It's okay. Tomorrow we are going to go to Nanas house and meet the rest of your aunts and uncles, along with a very scary man. He's kind of nice once you get to know him. You'll like that, right? Your bitch as- your dad. I'm sorry. He's not a bitch, he's just acting terrible to your mommy and she doesn't deserve it. Go easy on her, she's having a hard time taking care of all of you but she's trying, okay?"
10:30 am.
"What are you doing?" Quincy says to me. I woke him up from a baby being laid on his chest. I had just sole the babies from Maya and Sophia: Sophia was knocked out , Maya and Jaisiah were both awake, and Jasmine and Jalen slept like babies.
Haha.
Quincy holds Jalen in his arms as he sits up, watching me scramble around the living room like a idiot, I'm sure. He was holding Jalen with one arm, his forearm across the baby's small body and his large hand supporting his head. I grab a blanket before lowering myself on my knees.
"I have to go to my moms." I breathed out before finally spreading the blanket out. I lay Jaisiah on it before straightening myself out.
Whew, this house was a mess. I'll clean it later. Most of it was my fault anyways.
I was seriously worried for my future sister.
She's been doing a hell of s lot better recently but I hate seeing her like this. I'll find Alex though. It's okay.
"Why?" Quincy questions.
He doesn't want to know but I'm sure he'll find out soon.
Sophia's POV
4:30 pm.
"You seems extra happy today." Anthony comments, his gaze shifting from Jasmine to Maya and I.
"Maya or me?"
"Maya. Not that you don't look happy... just still kinda like shit. No offense." He says, his eyes widening as he decides to just look back down at Jasmine who was getting buckled into her car seat. Anthony was determined to get us out of the apartment. To say he seemed... nervous was a understatement. I definitely feel like he's a little scared. He was rushing. When I was moving too slow, he personally began packing the kids up.
"Thanks." I say, moving Maya off my lap after I finished combing her hair.
"What's your secret?" I whisper, making her smile brightly. She had been smiling a ton today. Anthony wasn't lying, she was in a great mood.
"It's a surprise." She teases before pushing her lollipop back into her mouth. She retracts it before speaking again, "Jaisiah knows too!" Maya quickly moves to Jaisiahs' car seat. She makes faces at him before rocking him.
"Maya, you ready?" Anthony asks sharply. He turns towards me, asking to toss him the keys. I toss them to him just as Maya grabs her backpack. She tells him that she's ready to go before running towards the door. Anthony grabs both Jalen and Jaisiah's car seat, instructing me to get Jasmine's car seat and for Maya to open the door.
I grab the diaper bag and my phone, slipping my phone into the bag before lifting Jasmine up. I follow behind Anthony and Maya, turning around and looking back into my apartment. It was a mess, toys and items all over the floor and Anthony's clothes strewed around. It was a absolute mess and I need to clean it when we get home.
A couple days ago marked forty days since Alex left. My heart was still broken but Chance and I had a very long discussion. It was basically Chance's slap to the face.
Moral of the story: whether I liked it or not, Alex was gone. I had three people who depended on me specifically, and then I had Maya who depended on me. I needed to tighten up for my children. They deserved one of us to be strong, which was going to have to be me.
That was four days ago, the fortieth day that Alex had been gone.
So, I stopped - for the most part - being the sad, depressing Mommy I had been and started trying harder for my babies. Of course, the random panic attacks at night and the sobbing I tried to keep under control, which slipped sometimes. I tried. I'm trying.
"Why do we have to hurry up?" Maya asks as we enter the elevator. Anthony sets the car seats on the floor before swiping his hair back. He let out a deep sigh before pounding at the button that leads to the garage.
"Because you know how he is."
"Jalen threw up again." Maya says, crouching down and then wiping her brothers face. I watched in observance as she interacted with Jalen, smiling at him before standing up straight again.
"I'm happy. Are you happy? I'm happy." Maya says randomly as the elevator doors open. I grip Jasmines car seat before exiting, everybody hit on my tail. "Why are you happy?" Anthony asks.
"I can't tel you yet. It's a surprise. You'll love it." Maya smiles widely again before clicking the unlock button for Anthony's car. She slides all the way into the back seat while we adjust the triplets into the middle row.
"I don't know how people do this shit." He grumbles as he lifts Jaisiah and buckled him in while I slide into the passenger seat. Maya sings in the background, playing something on her phone. All babies are quiet, only one gurgle noise escaping.
Anthony slides in before zooming out of the parking lot, well above the driving limit.
The kids love being in the car. They will be quiet for all of the ride, as king as we are moving. If we stop, at a red light for instance, they immediately begin crying. They love being moved around. At home, the little crib they sleep in bed side has wheels on it, so I can easily push them around while they lay inside. They love being inside of it.
"Where's Uncle Drew?" Maya asks from the back row.
"Work." Anthony says, his eyes eyeing the clock. It was about to be five o'clock.
"Since when does he have a job?"
"Forever." Anthony says, switching lanes a little recklessly. The way he drives makes me nervous. Alex is a b-
Forget about him.
Fuck Alex.
"Jaisiah doesn't have his pacifier." Maya gasps. I look back, seeing her lean forward in her own car seat. "Keep him entertained."
"He said he only gets entertained when uncle Tony says where we ar- wait, why are we going to Nana's house?" Her original speech switches quickly when we get off the highway.
One of the kids, Jalen, I'm sure, is making spit bubbles. The small gurgles coming out of his mouth.
Out of all the kids, so far, Jaisiah and Jasmine where the chubbiest. Jaisiah out did Jasmine just a little. Jalen was small. If Jaisiah wasn't a ginger, I would definitely be able to tell which was Jalen and which was Jaisiah, by weight. But now, I just know that Jasmine is the girl. She has a single patch of white hair on the back of her neck. Nine times out of ten, she has pink socks on. She hates using a pacifier.
I know that Jalen has black hair and, so far, looks this most like his father. He doesn't normally use a pacifier. He'd rather have a bottle in his mouth, which is surprising since he doesn't look nearly as big as his siblings. He generally wears yellow socks. He pushes his tongue out of his mouth a lot.
Last but not least, I know Jaisiah has red hair and hazel eyes. He must have got this trait from his grandfather, my dad, who also has red hair and hazel eyes. Shortly after he was born, it began to fade to red from the white. Now, it was red and it looks like he had no eyebrows. He had a lot of hair on his head. He almost always has his pacifier in his mouth. He won't do anything without it. He smiled the least and I know he is Maya's favorite. I think he's the most spoiled out of the three.
I love them all equally.
"Two words: he's back." Anthony says, shivering before sharply turning into the driveway. Jalen errupts into a cry, followed by Jasmine as well.
"You made my brother and sister cry!" Maya snaps. As Anthony puts the car in park, you can hear her unbuckling her seat belt. I follow suit before opening the door and moving to take the triplets out. I grab Jasmine, setting her on the ground before grabbing Jalen. I set him next to his sister before pulling the seat down, allowing Maya to climb out.
Anthony grabs Jaisiah, just as Arabella comes running out the front door. She immediately comes towards me, picking up Jalen with a smile, waving at her nephew. "Hey Sophia!" She smiles before turning around with his car seat in hand.
I look up, seeing a extra, unrecognized car in the driveway, Sarah holding Sebastian, and a man. Anthony appears beside me with a frown while Maya finally looks up.
"Papa!" Maya says, sprinting towards the front door.
Quincy Matthews POV
"I can't tell her that."
"Like you couldn't tell me that Sophia was pregnant and that's she is not engaged?" My mom snaps in my ear as I look out the balcony.
How the hell did she find that out?
"Yes, I know. I'm not dumb, Quincy. You sho-"
Blah blah blah.
I tune out of my mothers pestering, gazing at my nails as I did so. I need to file them.
I also need a haircut. I can see my hair just looking out from my eyes. I have to keep flipping my hair back or putting it into a bun just so I can avoid it.
I need to stop saying 'I'.
My hair has been long since I haven't gotten a haircut since I 'unofficially' moved in with Sophia. Since her baby daddy was being an asshole and left, I had no choice but to take care of my baby sister.
Andrew has been looking for his younger brother, but hasn't found him yet.
Alex should be glad he hasn't been found. If he even shows his face, I'll beat it in. I warned him.
No, I won't. That would upset my sister even more.
But I'll want to. And I'll think about it.
"Quincy Adrian! Put your sister in the phone." My mother snaps, making me actually pay attention to what she is saying.
I look back, seeing the empty room. "Actually," I scratch the back of my neck "I think she just left."
"Tell her to be ready by Friday." My mom sighs, smacking her lips in my ear.
"What?" I question.
"I'll come and help so we can transfer the triplets over. It's not going to be easy." She says, a frown in her voice.
"Mom, she is not going to move back to California. She and Alex are in love."
"Apparently not."
"If you want her to know, you tell her. I'm not telling her that shi- crap."
"Adrian."
"Mom, they belong together. He'll get found."
"If he doesn't show his face by Friday, I promise you, your sister, you, and your niece and nephews are coming back home. Understand?" She says, her voice ensuring that promise.
"Fine." I say. Guess we will have to speed up this search party.
"I said, understand?" She snaps.
"Yes." I sigh.
"Yes what?" She says, forcefully.
"Yes ma'am." I grit out, just seeing her giving me those evil eyes.
Fuck. Now I really need to get this done. I have no idea where he could be. It's not even like I'm used to his homes and I could have a possible idea. I'm from California looking for a man from New York.
Maybe he has a hotel room.
We'll check there first.
First, actually, I am going to tidy up Sophia's apartment. I know it's probably driving her absolutely crazy that it's dirty like this. I step back inside, immediately gathering all of Maya toys before running up the stairs and dumping them into the toybin that sat next to her door.
She has a toy in next to her door that held any toys she left out. She likes to go back and put them all in separate bins. Blocks with blocks, barbies with barbies, and books with books.
Maya is so adorable.
I do a visual sweep of the hallway, gathering any of Maya's things before putting them in their designated places.
I do that same with Jaisiah, Jalen, or Jasmines items. I notice Jaisiahs favorite pacifier is on the floor. I should drop that off where ever Sophia went. He will have a absolute fit if he doesn't have it.
Pocketing the item, I quickly finish cleaning the apartment before eating. I eat Anthony's left over pasta (I'll just say Sophia ate it) and quickly grab some shoes along with my phone.
They took Anthony's car so I should be able to take Sophia's new one that she got for her birthday. Or old one. I don't care.
Anthony's POV. (One or two more POV changes. So sorry. I just want you to see everyone's different thoughts for once.)
"And you are?" My father, Aiden Parker, says to Sophia as she carries Jasmine up the driveway. I am right behind Sophia, my eyes on the baby that was facing me.
My father was now holding Maya, who had ran up to him and thrown herself at him before showering him with kisses.
"I'm Sophia."
"Anthony, you don't bring groupies to family events." My father scolds me, obviously not knowing who Sophia was or realizing we carried children. I shake my head at him, unable to form words.
Here we go.
"Aiden, I told you to be nice. This isn't eve-"
"Sarah, this is a family meeting." His eyes are almost threatening, like something bad has happened.
"She is family." My mother snaps towards my father. I knew this would happen. That's why I was regretting bringing Sophia.
Sophia looks at me before frowning.
"I'm sorry about him. I don't know if Alex has told you but he's a jackass sometimes."
"Wait, what's a groupie?" Maya asks, pulling her head away from her grandfathers. "She's not a groupie. That's my mommy." Maya says, frowning as she slid down from my dad. She skips over to Sophia, who just gave me a blank stare while she held Jasmine.
"This is my baby sister, Jasmine." Maya says, blowing a kiss at her sister before skipping over to me. "This is my baby brother, Jaisiah. He has red hair." She says, moving her hands in front of her eyes like she's playing peekaboo. Maya looks around before tapping her chin.
"Someone's missing."
"Arabella took Jalen inside already." I inform, before stepping forward towards my father.
"So you're with Alex, but you arrived with Anthony?" My father asks. I send a questioning glance at my mother. Did she fill him in on anything? Or did he come here thinking everything was the same from before he left?
"Can we just get inside the house please? It's hot." Sophia says before grabbing Maya's hand. "Don't talk about me like I'm not right here." Sophia snaps as she walks past my father. He has a slight smirk on his face as i walk past him.
I pray this goes right from here on.
"I missed you, love." Mom greets Sophia before crouching down to Jasmines level. Sophia sets the car seat on the floor and my lather instantly begins to take her out.
"Oh, she is so beautiful." Mom coos as she kisses Jasmines hair. Sophia smiles before moving the car seat to the side and reaching for Jaisiah. I take him out before giving him to his mother.
She cradled him as I turned to my father.
"Clearly I am out of the loop."
"You need to apologize to Sophia." I say, straightening up. My dad and I were about eye level to each other, so he didn't really intimidate me. He gives me cold eyes before sincerely apologizing to Sophia. She smiles at him before she's whisked away by the other females in the house.
My dad leads me to his office, shutting the door behind him as I shuffle in to a seat. "Start talking."
"Sophia and Alex are dating. He met her a couple, well, on our birthday, that night, Jalen, Jasmine, and Jaisiah were made." I say and my father nods as he sits down.
"Then she comes and tells him, but you know him, automatically he's like 'oh you're my girlfriend' now, I can understand why. Sophia is pretty attractive. I wouldn't want my attractive baby mama roaming the streets either... not that I have one." I quickly say. I cross my legs while my father unzips the zipper on his jacket.
"Then we met her. After that, she has my nieces and nephews, and yeah." I leave out the part about Alex leaving. I know my father and while he seemed mean and disrespectful towards Sophia at first, it was a test. He does it all the time. He wanted to see whether you'd crack under pressure or whether you would push back. Sophia obviously wasn't in the mood for his mind games. But I know my father. Disrespecting any woman, especially one that carried your children, is a huge no for him. Family is huge to him, part of the reason he didn't like Leah when he met her. He sees straight through people to their true intentions.
"So why are you bringing her?" He questions, cocking his eyebrow. I scratch my scalp before shrugging, "He asked me to. He is spending an extra hour at the office. Three babies are stressful." I lie on the spot, adding another shrug at the end so hopefully he thinks I'm genuine.
"Interesting. I called h-"
"Uncle Tony! Mommy wants you!" Maya bursts into the room. I thank god for the escape and jump out of my seat.
My father is hot on my heels. I'm basically jogging to Sophia, wherever she is.
"I called his office. Said he hasn't been in for a while."
"Huh? Interesting." I say, smiling at Sophia before asking what she needs. Maya climbs onto the table, grabbing a avocado out. She smiles at Sophia before climbing down and making gestures with it at Jaisiah.
"Where's Andrew?" My dad asks. That's an easy one.
"He's at work."
"Since when does he have a job?" My father questions, crossing his arms. Maya does the same thing, mocking him, before tossing the avocado into the air.
"You need to get out more." I joke, turning towards Sophia again.
"Did you grab his other pacifier? With the J and D on it?" She asks, I instantly fish inside my pocket, remembering our early arguement from when she told me to put it in there in case I forgot his other one.
I did.
"Yeah it's right here." I fish it out and pass it to Sophia. I look back at my father who's staring at me, trying to figure me out.
"I'll ask this one time: Anthony, where is Alexander?"
"I don't know." I scratch the back of my head, looking at my father. He's furious. He, somehow, crosses his arms even tighter before straightening his face. His mouth somehow goes into a solid line before it curves when he begins to speak again.
"What do you mean you don't k-"
"He's at our house. Not our apartment house but our house where we had Uncle Sebastian and Aunt Stella's birthday party! Remember how they used to be tony babies but now they are almost my size! I'm older than them!" Maya says. Instantly, everybody's heads are turned towards hers.
I had completely forgotten about that house.
"How do you know that?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you but he FaceTimed me earlier. It wasn't a his number that says Daddy though. It was a different one. I saw the kitchen in the background. You know how our kitchen has the bright white lights but you can also make it not so bright and not white? I saw them. He's needs to shave." Maya rambles as this new knowledge reaches my ears.
Thank you Maya fucking Parker.
Sophia's POV
"He's at our house. Not our apartment house but our house where we had Uncle Sebastian and Aunt Stella's birthday party! Remember how they used to be tony babies but now they are almost my size! I'm older than them!" Maya says. my head snaps towards hers as I hear her speak.
I vaguely remember Alex mentioning something about a house one time. It flew right over my head.
"How do you know that?" Anthony asks, his eyes squinting at he stares at his niece. Maya tosses a avocado into the hair, going to catch it but dropping it onto the floor.
"I'm not supposed to tell you but he FaceTimed me earlier." She smiles widely. No wonder she was in such a great mood today. She had spoken to Alex. "It wasn't a his number that says Daddy though. It was a different one. I saw the kitchen in the background. You know how our kitchen has the bright white lights but you can also make it not so bright and not white?" Maya makes crazy hand gestures before her eyes get extremely wide. "I saw them. He's needs to shave." Maya rambles as I hold Jaisiah closer to me.
"When was this?"
"Today. When Sophia was sleep."
"How many times has he called you?" Anthony drills her while Aiden stand behind him with his hands crossed. Anthony gets on his knees, probing for more answers.
"I'll go over there." Aiden says, turning around. He was sharp on his feet, nearly to the stairs before Anthony could retort.
"No! I'll go." Anthony says.
"I'll go." I say, standing. I
"That's not the best idea." Sarah steps in, a frown over taking her face.
"No, I think that's a good idea. Let her go." Aiden says, making his way towards me. I stand still, watching as the man cane towards me.
He couldn't be any older than 40, at the most. I would put him at 38 so maybe they were teen parents? He had dark black hair and blue eyes, unlike his sons. Arabella and Aurora both had a blue eye though. He looks extremely fit and well-groomed. He held a serious expression, the only one I've seen him in so far.
He reached for my oldest son, smiling at me, almost telling me that he was sorry once again with his eyes, before patting my shoulder.
"Again, I apologize for earlier. You're a beautiful mother, Sophia. I would like to meet my grandkids now." He says and I loosen my grip on Jaisiah. I get scared at first, a unusual face holding my child.
It's okay.
"I'll drive her." Anthony offers. He nods at me, looking around at everybody. Everybody nods at him and he grabs the keys off the counter.
"Well, if you're going, I'm going!" Maya says, grabbing my hand.
Here goes nothing.
-
Sorry I went back to my hometown (NY) and was enjoying time with family.
Anyways, oh my god what was this chapter? Enjoy. I'm going to go eat microwaved cookie dough with ice cream.
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Goal: 30 votes and 7 comments? Is that a stretch? Lol.
- daisy.