Pandora’s mouth opened and then closed several times as she tried to get a grip on her thoughts. "WHAT?" she asked a little louder than she intended. "I know that Mackenna was not pregnant the last time I saw her, surely she hasn't had a baby that early?" "Pandora, she's claiming our boys are Derrik's," Benjamin explained softly, but her head shook without her knowledge. "No way," she growled. "Why would she think our boys have anything to do with Derrik?" "I think—" Benjamin stopped and swallowed. "I know they are mine. From what your father, Ron, and Milton have said about Derrik, I know that you wouldn't take the prick back. Don't doubt I know they are mine, but I think we should have a DNA test performed just in case he tries to throw us a curveball." She pulled back the tears that badly wanted to come from her eyes. "They're in here; they need us and he's still doing this shit?" she gritted out in a slightly raised voice. Benjamin looked around and jumped up, pulling her out
As she walked away, she picked up her cell that was charging on the counter. She felt the need to call the hospital. "Hi, it's Pandora Leo... Parks, Jack and Micheal's mom. I'm just calling to see how they are doing. My password is…" she mumbled quickly once her call was connected. "Good morning, Pandora, it's Claire, and both boys are doing well," she said softly. "Jack's doing great. He's only had two blips so far tonight, and Micheal had five." She felt her heart beating faster than humanly possible. No matter how many times they told her this, she couldn't seem to be calm about them talking about her sons forgetting to breathe. "They're doing great, Pandora." She let out a long breath and nodded, though she couldn't see her. She felt reassured, and a little more relaxed. "Okay, thanks, I'll let you get back to work." Claire told her goodbye and she placed her cell back on the counter to continue charging. Not feeling tired, she decided to look around Benjamin's home. His kit
As the alarm stopped, both the nurses and Benjamin seemed to have a new, calmer sense about them, and she knew the baby was okay for the moment. "You just missed your daddy in action," she whispered to Jack as his eyes opened. She smiled down at him. "Sorry," Benjamin said as he sat back down. She turned to him. "Come here," she called with a tilt of her head. Benjamin pulled his brows together but leaned forward. As soon as he was close enough, she kissed him. "You were amazing," she whispered and he smiled shyly. She could see a hint of a blush on his face, too. She looked down at Jack when he stopped sucking. "Are you all done?" she asked but Jack yawned. "I think he's tired himself out by feeding," she said. "You want to burp him before he goes back down?" Benjamin grinned, his eyes sparkling. Pandora carefully passed Jack to him. "I have good news." She looked up at Claire, who was smiling happily at them. "You can hold Micheal. You can do it now while Jack is still outsi
Another week passed and the boys were both two weeks old. Pandora’s dad and Nina had been staying at Lana and Peter’s home during the week and heading home on the weekends to check on things. All four of them had been great and were getting along swimmingly. She was sure that had added to her dad and Nina wanting to move, but she did know that the boys were the main reason. She desperately wanted them to move closer to her, too. She never realized just how much she missed her dad until she had him around every day lately. During the past week, she found that Maisey's new project was making premature baby clothes, and her lucky boys now had a large number of clothes to try out. She had been enjoying it so much that she had donated a large amount to the NICU to give to the parents of little ones going home. If someone told her this a few months ago, she would've been surprised, but after getting to know the Parks family, she knew it was just the way they were. The entire family enjo
As Benjamin walked out, Jack started to whimper. "Are you hungry again, little man?" Pandora asked, picking him up. As soon as he was near her chest, he started to turn his head and his little mouth was open, searching for her breast. She giggled at his insistent search as she opened her shirt and lowered the bra cup. Once the nipple grazed his lips, he attached with gusto and his suckle was strong. Since Jack started feeding like that, it had felt as if he was almost permanently attached to her. After everything she went through with not being able to hold him, it didn't bother her at all. She had just been enjoying it. She still had to express milk for Micheal, so she made sure that Jack got at least one bottle of breast milk every day. "He's feeding again?" Benjamin asked as he walked in with two plates of food. "Yep, he was acting like he was starving as soon as I picked him up." "Lucky I brought the finger food, huh?" She nodded at him as he placed the plate down, sitting n
"Well, yeah, I've got two of these cutie pies now and there's only one of you," she replied without looking at him. "How was last night?" Lana asked putting the bottle of milk she brought with them in the fridge. "It went well," Pandora told her but she shook her head chuckling gently. "The first night—week—I had Benjamin home, I just about slept in his bed with him. I would have if Peter allowed me to." "Yeah, I seem to have fallen into the trap of needing to check if he's breathing," she confessed. She knew full well she had freaked out a few times because Jack's breathing movements were so slight that she often missed them. "It does get easier, but I still worry about my kids. I even held my finger under Maisey's nose after her accident, just to make sure she was still breathing." Lana kept her words soft, so there was a chuckle to her tone, but Pandora knew full well she did in fact do it. In an odd way, it made her feel better than and not as paranoid as she was feeling befo
"I want every moment I can have with them. Soon they'll be walking, talking, and before you know it, leaving us. I don't want to miss a thing." She nodded. "Okay, I will, but on the nights they bottle feed, feel free to let me sleep," she chuckled, partially joking. "That's fine," he agreed before winking at her. They both leaned in towards each other and kissed. "Do you want something to drink or eat?" Benjamin asked as he hugged her, watching the boys feed. "Yes, please, I'd love to have a glass of warm milk." Benjamin nodded before kissing her head and then got up and walked out of the room. She looked back down to see that Micheal had finished and just seemed to be watching Pandora dazedly. She was looking into his eyes, noticing that they were changing to a clear grey color. "You have your daddy's nice grey eyes," she told Micheal and his mouth seemed to make an 'O' shape as if he was surprised. "Here's your warm milk," Benjamin said as he placed the glass down on the smal
"Okay, I trust you," she told him. He grinned and got out of bed. She watched as he walked to the boys' room and picked up their cups and brought them back in and over to the bed. "Drink up," he said firmly as he starts to drink. She sipped her milk, looking at Benjamin. "So tell more about your family." "They are your family now, too. I'm the oldest as you know. Going into labor and delivering Alexis wasn't any easier on my mom than when she had me. Only with Alexis, she hemorrhaged during delivery." She gasped and Benjamin stopped and kissed her head. "It was hard on my mom and dad. I was young, but I remember running around trying to help as much as I could." Benjamin stopped and grinned at her. "I think that's where my love of babies started. The years went on, and our family did well but didn't feel complete. I was fifteen almost sixteen when I started to volunteer at an outreach center. I was placed into the big brother program and met a lot of different kids. That's how M
"Looks like you are going to have a baby," Emily said, showing her the test. "Or maybe two. Knowing you and Benjamin, it will be twins again," she laughed. "Hush," Pandora gritted out and glared at her. "Hey, you never know, it could be three this time," she smiled. Pandora snorted and slapped her arm. "No, thank you! Now, not a word about this to him. I want to surprise him!" Emily nodded. "Just glad I know someone that's having a baby who will be around this one's age," Emily rubbed her tummy as she spoke. "Maybe you'll have a boy and I'll have a girl and they'll get married," Pandora joked. Emily’s eyes lit up and Pandora knew her joke backfired when she got a big smile on her face. "That would be so awesome," she said. Pandora heard Benjamin yell her name and Emily winked at Pandora. "I better get back to work. Text me when you tell him!" "I will," Pandora replied and she opened the door and ducked out. "Give me three minutes, and then you'll be free to get out of here wi
"It was just some homeless man. I really don't know why they even followed up on it. But I was blamed, and then put in jail. JAIL! When I got out, I was a laughingstock. No one wanted to know me. No one, not even the people I had made great. They all left me to rot. My daddy left with all the money he had and started over in another country. I had nothing. I have nothing and it's all your fault." At that point, she stood and charged at Pandora again, but Pandora easily deflected her arms, grabbed her, and held her down as Raegan hissed and growled at Pandora. "Oh shit!" she heard Milton say and he moved quickly to her, restraining Raegan. "I told you to stay away from this place," he said. "This is all your fault. You and that bitch took my life. I was meant to be Mrs. Parks—it was my life!" she yelled and Milton sighed. "Handcuff her. We have to drop her off at the hospital again," he sighed to the female officer as Pandora watched her place handcuffs on Raegan. Pandora stood, a
Their imperfections, and the fact that they didn't want to be perfect, or have a perfect marriage made them able to cope when one of them made a mistake. Thankfully, Pandora was very kind, and since it was Benjamin that normally screwed up, that made him lucky. Benjamin glanced at Pandora who was hugging his mother, and he noticed she had a warm glow around her. He had always seen it, but it had become more evident to him since they renewed their wedding vows. Benjamin wanted—needed—to marry her again, not because they were both drunk the first time, but because he needed her to know that he meant it all and that he wanted her to be his wife. Pandora looked stunning in the wedding dress that Maisey had made her, but he thought she could have worn a trash bag and still shone like a star. She was so happy and cheerful that he made it his vow to make her that happy at least once a day. He hated to let her dance with anyone else at their reception, but it did give her a chance to hold
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Jack asked. "The zoo," Amy answered with a roll of her eyes. "We can't all be great at remembering stuff," he replied, making the rest of them roll their eyes at him. "It's on the family schedule on the fridge... Oh wait, that's right, you don't look at that because then you would need to do your homework," Beth was quick to point out. "You're just jealous that I can do it in five minutes flat and still pass," Jack boasted. "That's not always going to work, and you will no longer be doing the work moments before it's due to be turned in; do you understand me?" Pandora asked him. "But, is it more important to get it done right or promptly?" he asked, making Benjamin stifle the chuckle that was starting to bubble up, knowing he just stepped into it. "No, mister smarty pants, and you'd be wise to use those smarts to mind what you argue. Getting your work done promptly and done correctly are both important and if you keep doing it at the last minute,
"They must have been naughty, they're back to being just mine," he said with a chuckle, knowing full well that they had been fighting all day. He gave her one last kiss before walking away. "Okay, Amy, you're up first," he said, pointing in front of him as he sat down. He took them one at a time, listening to what they each had to say. As it turned out, this was just a fight about whose turn it was to pick something to watch on the television. So as a punishment, he removed their TV time for the rest of the day and the next. "I can't believe I am going to miss watching golf!" Jack tutted. "What am I going to do now?" "You could read, like Amy," Beth told him with a touch of attitude. "I am not reading one of her silly books!" he bit back. "They were Mom's books," Micheal reminded him. "And Dad said he read them, too." "Yeah, I guess, but what about tomorrow? No TV tomorrow and I planned to watch the tournament. I wish school started already." "Jack, we have plans for tomorrow–
Benjamin took his time looking at the screen. He looked over all the measurements and made sure the spine was straight. Next, he paid close attention to the beating heart and found that it, as well as the other organs, were seemingly perfect. He let out a soft breath when everything looked good, and looked up with a smile. "Mackenna," he said softly as she had her eyes tightly closed. "Come on, open your eyes and look up here at the monitor. She's fine– everything looks great," Benjamin whispered. Mackenna had four miscarriages in the past ten years, and where Benjamin couldn't prove that they were caused by the mistreatment that she received at the hands of Derrik, he stood firm in his belief that the drugs he had given her had some long-lasting effects. About eight years ago, Pandora and she ran into each other while out around town. They got talking and Mackenna accompanied Pandora to the tattoo store Benjamin frequented. The couple had planned on getting matching tattoos on the
“On the twelve counts of Identity Theft Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the four counts of Attempted Murder, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.”“On the three charges of Breaking and Entering, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the five counts of Mortgage Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the six counts of Aggravated Assault, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” The reading went on, covering all the different charges. Meanwhile, Miriam was wailing. Pandora closed her eyes, feeling a sense of relief, as each charge came back guilty. "Mr. Preston, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers; you will be remanded in custody and sentenced on Friday at ten a.m.—" "No! No, not my boy! You've made the wrong choice, you stupid people! I'll end you all for doing this to my baby
Benjamin and Pandora arrived just as the court was starting up. First up was Derrik, who sat there for almost three hours, trying to paint himself as the victim. It was hard sitting there listening to him spew out how Pandora was trying hard to ruin him, and she did all that herself to set him up. Miriam was the next to take the stand and she just glared at Pandora as she was sworn in. "I would first like to ask you about your son, who is he?" Derrik's lawyer asked. "Oh, my sweet Derrik is such a good boy. He was a star football player, but she..." Miriam hissed with a nod in Pandora’s direction, "made him give up his dream. She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and what to wear. He wasn't allowed friends, and she even tried to stop him from talking to me. But I wouldn't allow that to happen. I would walk through hell for my son." "So, Mrs. Preston, you are saying that Mrs. Parks was controlling your son?" "Oh yes, he wasn't allowed to work because she was af
During her testimony, Pandora learned that she was also known as Brownie. As she continued through the questions she was asked, Pandora had to bite her lip to stop the sobs from coming out. She told the court how she was paid to pretend to be Pandora. It was one thing to hear how she pretended to be her, but then she told the court how Derrik had sex with her several times inside Pandora’s home. She talked about being in Pandora’s bed, and it just about broke her. For the first time since all of it had started, Pandora was grateful that she had sold her home. "We have one more witness, Your Honor," the District Attorney said and with a nod, the Bailiff walked out. "We call Hannah Song to the stand." Pandora looked over to see a girl who looked like a teenager walking in with her head down. She was sworn in but her head remained down. "Can you tell the court your age?" the District Attorney asked. "Nineteen," she answered quietly, so the Bailiff adjusted the microphone in front of