Leigh-Anne
"Mummy, I did it!" Dizzy exclaimed from the bathroom. I look up at him, a smile gracing my face. "You did?" He nods excitedly, beckoning me to come to him.
I wanted the boys to be potty trained before their fourth birthday. So far, the only one that hasn't done anything yet is Dipper, who was still sitting on his training pot with a discouraged look.
I tell Dizzy to flush and to wash his hands while I check on Dipper.
"You okay?" I asked in a soft voice. He shakes his head, "It not fair Ed and John went potty 'fore me. I'm older than John!" He huffs out and crosses his arms over his pajama shirt.
"Dippy, it's okay. You can try again when you actually have to go," I tell him. He shakes his head, "Not until I go potty and tell Papí I went potty." He says stubbornly.
Just then, Duke comes into the bathroom wearing his favorite shirt for the third time this week. "Edward, I told you to put that shirt in the dirty clothes hamper to be washed," I tell him.
"I like this shirt, Mummy," he declared with furrowed brows. "It's me and Uncle Chris."
The boys all have shirts made with their favorite "uncles"; Richard's best friends and their "aunts", my friends. Duke has one with him, Chris, and Jesy, Dipper was with Zabdiel and Joel, and Dizzy was with Erick and Jaden.
Erick often helped me with them, but sometimes, the other guys would come while Richard's at work to help me as well.
Jesy and Jaden are the same way; they have a five year old named Amelio that's like their cousin.
The boys love them and I love the closeness they all share.
"I know, baba. But it's dirty. Go change." He nods and runs off to their room. "Mummy, can we go to the park today?" Dizzy asks while drying his hands with a paper towel.
"Yeah, let's get you guys changed."
"I'm not going," Dipper says.
"Why not, Dippy?" Dizzy asks sadly. He loved playing with his brothers, so when one didn't want to play, it upsets him.
"Not until I potty."
"Don't you wanna play at the park? I can spin you on the merry go 'round," I say hopefully, knowing that he loves that part. He looks up at me with those big, wide eyes.
"Really?" I nod, "Yep. We can try when we get back home."
"Mummy, I wear underwear since I'm a big boy like Papá?" Dizzy asks. I shake my head, "Not yet, baby boy. It has to be a practice. If you go all day without an accident for a while, then you can."
"Okay!" He then runs off to their room, talking to Duke on the way. "Eddy! We go to the park!" There were two sets of running steps going upstairs now and I shake my head in amusement.
"Go ahead and wash your hands, baba."
"But I didn't potty."
"You wash them every time you leave the bathroom," I tell him, helping him up on his stool to wash his hands. "Okay. Can we wait for Papá?"
"It'll be late when he gets back. He's at lunch now."
"Can we see him?"
"We'll see, now let's get you three dressed up."
———
Once at the park, I let the little ones run around while I sat at the bench to monitor them.
Duke was playing football with a little blonde boy, Dipper was on the swing set, and Dizzy was being chased by a group of girls. I chuckle at that, being that Richard told me that he was the same way at his age.
After about 20 minutes, I'm greeted by familiar faces. I stand up and engulf the pair in a hug. "Hey, guys," I say with a smile, looking down at the small child they had with them.
"Hi, Auntie Leigh," he waves at me with a toothy smile. Me, the girls, and Jaden came to America on a trip and originally got stuck here for a few day due to a delayed flight caused by a storm.
Though, we had a lot of fun and wanted to stay a little longer.
My mum, who chaperoned us, along with their mums all agreed that we move here. We'd visit home almost every break while we attended high school. That's where we met Richard, Zab, and Chris.
Chris and I had a little thing, but realized we had no chemistry at all. We all hung out one day and I spent some time with Richard. It felt more like a date than going bowling with some friends.
Years later, we have our boys around the same time Jaden and Jesy had Lio. The boys all had mostly American accents, but said some words like their parents.
I kiss the boy's forehead, "Hey, Lio. How's school?"
"Good. Kindergarten is fun. And guess what?!" He says excitedly, looking up at his parents. I eye them skeptically, "What is it?"
"Mummy's having a baby!" My eyes widen and I hug them for a second time with a squeal. "Oh, congratulations!" I release them after a while and placed a hand on Jesy's stomach.
"How far along?"
"About three months?" I gasped, "Really? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, we wanted to be sure," Jaden shrugged before telling Lio to go find his cousins. The five year old runs off and the three of us sat down.
"When I say it felt impossible for me to impregnate her after the first time."
"I feel like your swimmers would wake up every five years. Watch, when this one turns five, I'll be pregnant again," Jesy jokes, making us all laugh.
"I'm extremely happy for you two," I say with a wide smile. "What're gonna name it?"
The parents shrug, and I roll my eyes playfully.
"Hey, not everyone can have their baby's name months before they even hit the womb," Jaden laughs and I discreetly flip him off.
"Yeah, no. I got Jesy for that," he pats her knee and the older woman gives him a look. "If you think you're getting lucky anytime soon, you're mistaken."
Jaden chuckles, "Let's be real. Your hormones would be through the bloody roof. Before you know it, I'm having a pleasant wake up call." He says smugly, wiping his mouth.
Jesy rolls her eyes because she knows he's right. Hell, I feel for her though. It's like I needed it all the time.
Some time later, they left and the boys all get tired and hungry and want to go home. Just as we were about to go, Duke stops me. "Mum, can Tom come with us for snack?"
"Who's Tom?" Duke takes my hand and drags me onto the playground towards the swing set. The little blond boy he played football with was going pretty high.
"Hey, Tom," Duke says to get his attention. The boy, who has striking blue eyes, smiles down at him. "Hey, Duke!" He waves briefly.
"This is my mum," he says, swinging our joined hands.
Tom then jumps off of the swing and lands perfectly on his feet. Duke claps, his wide eyes growing wider in amusement. I do as well because it was pretty high, I thought he was gonna hurt himself.
Tom approaches me and nods politely, "Hello, ma'am. I'm Thomas Harlock-Edwards, but you can call me Tom. I'm 4 and a half." He puts up four fingers and a curled thumb.
I guess that's the half.
The boy had a distinct accent that sounded a bit like Jade's, but not too prominent.
I awe at how cute he is, "I'm Leigh-Anne. Nice to meet you, Tom."
"Pleasure, Ms. Leigh-Anne," he smiles adorably.
"Do you think your mum would let you have snack with us?"
"Maybe, I gotta ask," he runs off to the other side of the playground and I look down at Duke. "So, is Tom your new best friend?" My oldest jokingly rolls his eyes, "I can't do that to Uncle Chris."
I chuckle at the boy while shaking my head.
Just then, an vaguely familiar woman comes to us with Tom right behind her.
"I'm sorry for whatever Thomas has done," she says lightheartedly. When she gets closer, I instantly recognized her.
"Perrie?" Her eyes widen, "Leigh-Anne?" We wrap each other in a tight hug before we break apart. "I thought that accent sounded familiar," I say and she laughs.
"S'been a while, aye? You have kids now?" She asks rhetorically and I nod. "Yep, and you do too," she messes with Tom's swoopy hair.
"So how have you been? You look great," she comments. "Thank you, you too. And I've been good."
She really did look good.
Her now short hair was down to her neck under a plain black hat. Her long lashes fluttered over crystal blue eyes and her full lips stretched into a friendly smile.
"Have you always been here or?"
"No, I went back to Newcastle after graduation, had Tom, and came back when he turned two," I hum.
"So, Tom had asked me if he could have a snack with-," she trails off.
"Edward, but we call him Duke."
"Ah, like Duke Ellington?" My smile grows, "Exactly. All of them are named after famous jazz musicians."
"Them?"
"Yeah, he's a triplet. There's John and Louis, or Dizzy and Dipper," Perrie chuckles softly. "I forgot how much you loved jazz."
"Hey, it's a great genre."
"Excuse me, but is it okay for Tom to have snack with us, Ms. Perrie?"
Perrie nods, "If that's okay with your mam." She looks up at me with an expectant smile.
"Please, Mummy?"
"Yeah, please, Mummy?" She mimics him and I laugh. "Sure, it's fine." The boys cheered and started skipping off to the parking lot.
"Your son's propa energetic, aye," Perrie says as we walk side by side. "Just wait until you meet John. He's a little firecracker, that boy."
"I think I did by accident. Is he the one in the light blue?"
"No, that's Louis."
There was a brief silence before Perrie speaks up, "Still with Camacho?" I nod, "Yep." She groans, "When is he gonna put a ring on it?"
I shrug, "Whenever he wants to, I guess. I already told him that I'll say yes, so all he literally have to do is put a ring on it."
We get to my car and I help my boys into their respected carseats.
"So, you want me to follow you?" Perrie asks with Tom in her arms. His head was resting on her shoulder and the boy looked about ready to fall asleep. "Yeah. Let me give you my new number."
"A'right," she takes out her phone, careful not to disturb the little boy, and put my number into her contacts.
She types on it some more before my phone chimes.
Unknown
Hello, love -P.E.
I shake my head while a small laugh before saving her number under her name.
Once the boys were strapped in securely, I close their door.
"See you in a bit, Leigh-Anne," she calls out. I don't know why, but the way my name fell from her mouth made a shiver go down my spine.
I ignore the weird feeling and watched as she carried her son across the small parking lot to a kinda old looking, red car.
———
Once home, the boys showed Tom to their bed room while Perrie and I prepared snacks.
We did some catching up. She asked about Jade and Jesy, and I told her that they're expecting. She shared my enthusiasm and made some 'explicit' comments about it.
She told many jokes and had my abdomen and cheeks sore from the amount of laughing I've done. I forgot how funny she was.
"Is he still friends with Chris and Zab?" I nod, "Yes. Theres also this couple, Erick and Joel. And the triplets loves them. Well, they all have their favorites."
"Haha, yeah?"
"Yep. You'll see Friday. That's when Richard and his friends, me, Jaden, Amelio, Jesy, and the boys all come here and have a little pajama party in the basement."
"Wait, are you inviting Tom and I to your little slumber party?" She asks with a raised brow. I nod, "Yeah. I bet they're all gonna be surprised to see you."
She chuckles lightly, "Just keep Jaden away from me if there's alcohol involved."
I cringe at the memory of a party we went to a few years back that consisted of Jaden getting smashed and nearly making out with Perrie. It was before him and Jesy started dating, but Perrie was dating star footballer, Alex Chamberlain at the time.
"There isn't gonna be any. The only drinks are juices," I assure her, earning a loud, relieved sigh.
"Wait, what ever happened with you and Alex anyway?"
She looks at me with confusion in her eyebrows, "Remember, he broke up with me when he got accepted into his dream school since it was so far? And now, he's pro. Plays for Liverpool."
"Oh, really?" She nods, "The hell have you been, mate?" I lightly push her, "Sod off, Edwards."
Just then, the front door opens and a smile graces my face when Richard's face comes into view. His thick eyebrows furrow when he sees Perrie.
"Hello," he waves awkwardly. Perrie waves back, drying her hands on a paper towel after washing them. "Who's she?" He asks curiously.
"You remember Perrie, right?" Richard looks at her thoughtfully, "Edwards?" Perrie nods, "In the flesh." His eyebrows reach up, "It's been a while. You look good."
"Why, thank you," she says with a smile. Richard then looks at me and his mood changes.
"Can we talk?" He asks in a low voice with a serious expression. "What's wrong?"
"I'll tell you later, okay?" He kisses me briefly. "I'm gonna go shower, now."
"Okay," I nod and he smiles at me. One thing I can never deny is he has a beautiful smile. That's what made me attracted to him.
Now, we have three beautiful boys, a beautiful house, and a beautifully imperfect relationship.
I love him so much.
———
Do y'all think Richard would come clean?
Or keep it a secret?