I heard Ruby sigh a deep breath and I took her hand and gave it a little squeeze as encouragement. She looked back at me and she smiled as she took another breath. "Ready?" I asked her and she nodded at me. "Ready as I'll ever be." She said that made me smile. "Then let's go." Zab said and she started walking ahead of us to the main house. I looked at Ruby again and we followed Zab. The doors opened as we got closer to the door and were immediately greeted by the smiling faces of our housekeepers. They were lined up beside the door, with Nana Rosa at the very end. "Wow. Mom and dad really went all out with your homecoming." Zab said as she walked inside the house, greeting everyone and then going straight to Nana Rosa. I, on the other hand, grab hold of Ruby and introduced her to all of the house staff. "And last but definitely not the least, the irreplaceable Nana Rosa." I said to her as I gave a hug to our nanny. "She was already helping our parents in the house even before we
"Camilla Zaila?" Ruby repeated with a smile on her face. "Yes, we didn't give it to your other sisters because we hoped that you will eventually find your way back to us. But as the years passed, it slowly seemed impossible that we would get to see you again." Mom said as she smiled bitterly at her food."Ruby, we couldn't imagine what you have been through, growing up away from our family, but now that we finally found our way back to each other, me and your mom are kind of hoping that you would live here with us." Our dad said, and it took Ruby by surprise based on her reaction. The servers then took our plates and began serving the desserts."Well, at least for a year. We just wanted to get to know our daughter a bit more. And Zoe, Zab." Mom called out to us. "We were also hoping that you two would move back to the house, for maybe a year too?"I looked around at the people sitting by the table and I could tell that Ruby and Zab were really thinking hard about it, and both Charlie
Everything has been pretty normal after that day at the house. I don't know if I should be happy about it or scared that this could be the calm before the storm. "Love, they're waiting for us." Gavin said as he finished putting on his clothes. Andrea invited us for lunch to celebrate. She and Xander just bought a house on the outskirts of town and she had been babbling to me about it the whole week. They would also be having a gender reveal later, and that's actually what I'm excited about. "I"m almost done." I said to him and put on the finishing touches with my makeup. "What is that?" I exclaimed as turned to him after I smelled something bad. The scent hit my nose so hard that I had I felt like I was about to hurl. "What is what, love?" Gavin asked looking so confused. "That..." I couldn't finish my sentence because I felt the food in my stomach jump up my throat. I ran to the bathroom as my stomach did a somersault and I started hurling as soon as I sat on the floor with
"Are you sure you can come to work, love?" Gavin asked me as we were getting ready for work. He's been worried about me throughout the weekend, and I couldn't blame him. I was feeling a bit under the weather the whole weekend and even my parents noticed. "I'm fine, love. Besides, I still have tons of work to finish this week so I have to get a head start." I reassured him. I don't think I convinced him enough but he knows that he couldn't do anything to change my mind. "Fine." He said, giving in. "But tell me if you feel anything weird, okay?" He said to me and I just nodded at him as I finished putting on my lipstick. "So, how was your mom and dad's vacation?" I asked him as we drove off. His parents just got back from an out-of-the-country vacation and I wasn't able to come with him last night to their house, because I wasn't feeling very well. "They are a little bummed that you couldn't come to dinner last night but they understood that you weren't feeling fine so they just gav
"It could be anemia based on all the symptoms that you said to me, but we can't still be sure about it. We would need to do some laboratory tests on her to have a proper diagnosis." I heard a familiar voice say, but I can't put a finger on it. "Thank you, Caleb." Oh yeah, I remember. That voice is from my high school friend Caleb but I didn't need help in recognizing the voice of the man that he was talking to. "Gav?" I called out to him as I regained my consciousness. "Cath? Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?" He asked me and I slowly shook my head at him. "I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache." I said to him and then my tummy began rumbling. "And I am a bit hungry." I continued with a smile. "Do you feel anything out of the ordinary, Zoe?" Caleb asked as he got closer to me. "As of now, I don't think so. I honestly feel fine. Minus the headache." I answered him. "Does this often happen to you? I mean the vomiting and the dizziness?" He asked me, making me think about it more.
"Are you excited, love?" Gavin asked me as he placed his hands on my shoulder as I was sitting in front of my vanity mirror. I looked at his reflection and all my doubts were washed away just by looking at his smiling face. "I am. I'm just a bit scared." I said to him as I leaned my head on his arm. "It's gonna be fun. Everyone is gonna be happy for us." He said to me as he wrapped his arms around me. "Yeah. You're right." I said to him as I turned around to face him and wrap my arms around him too. We decided to invite both of our families, including Andrea and Xander for dinner. Both me and Gavin wanted everyone we care about to know about our pregnancy from us. We weren't planning it, but we are both happy and excited for the baby. We thought it was fitting to do the announcement at the restaurant we first have dinner, so we rented out a private room there. "Are you done?" He asked me as he pulled away from the hug. I turned back to my vanity and put on some finishing touche
The announcement actually went better than we expected. Everybody was on a high with happiness, until we all finished every bite of the dessert and drop of the white wine that was served. "So, are you guys planning on having your wedding before or after your baby is born?" Gabby suddenly asked. "We kinda haven't figured it out yet." I answered her honestly. "Yeah. We just found out about our baby two days ago, so we haven't talked about it yet. We just wanted to let you all know as soon as we can." Gavin added and they just nodded at us. "Yeah, with everything that's going on with the Landers." Zab suddenly said that shocked me a bit. "Zab!" I called out to her, wanting her to stop. "What? All I'm saying is that it's gonna be hard for you two to come out in public when you have a big belly." she continued. I looked at her and then looked at Grayson. Her eyes then widened and I knew that she finally realized what she just said. "Oh my gosh. Grayson. I didn't mean it that way. I'
I answered the call immediately, without even looking at who it was. "Hello?" I asked the caller. "Zoe?" and I immediately recognized the voice, it was Zab. I let out a breath of air that I didn't even know that I was holding. "Oh gosh. Please tell me you have good news?" I said to her as I looked at Gavin nervously. "I'm afraid not, sister." She began and I could feel a lump forming in my throat. "The Landers called and they are on their way here at the mansion as we're speaking." "What?" I exclaimed, stunned at the information. "They are coming here. So get your butt here right now." She said to me. "And bring Gavin." "Okay. We'll be right there." I replied to her before ending our call. "What is it?" Gavin asked me as soon as I put down the phone. "We need to go." I said to him and before he could ask any more questions, I stood up from my seat and went to our bedroom to change clothes. "Love, what is it?" He asked again, as he followed me inside our bedroom. "The Lande
Soon the party settled down and a two-tier birthday cake was pushed into the center of the garden. The people in attendance were just my family, friends, and co-workers, so I looked at my husband and he immediately understood what I was thinking. My kids led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday. Both of them were jumping up and down, clapping their tiny hands. I gestured for them to come over as the song came to an end and they joined me in blowing out my candles as everyone cheered. "Let's hear from the birthday girl!" Cam suddenly said, handing me the microphone. Gavin picked up Zia as I held ZG's hand while I addressed the rest of the crowd. "First and foremost, thanks to all of you for spending your time to celebrate my birthday with me. It has been a rough couple of weeks for me and my family, but standing here in front of you makes me realize just how much love we receive from lots of people around us, and for that, I want to show my gratitude to everyone who gave us strengt
The days in the hospital were still so agonizing. I could still feel the pain in my abdomen, just where the bullet hit me. The doctor told me that I might be experiencing the "phantom effect", you know? The feeling you get when you remove something but it still feels like it's there. They kept reassuring me that everything was fine, but I had my doubts that's why we decided to take a few more tests just to be sure. And just like any other day, Zia and ZG visited me right after school. They would always tell me everything about their day and these past few weeks, their stories have been the highlight of my days inside my dull hospital room. "When are you going home, mommy?" ZG asked as he got ready to go home for the night. "We're still not sure, baby. But I'm fine. The doctors just want to do some more tests to be sure." I answered him, patting his head before giving it a light kiss. "Don't worry, bud. Mommy will be home in no time." Gavin said as he lifted our youngest from t
His lips on mine were pure ecstasy. Honestly, I was left hanging and unsatisfied with his kiss earlier but this erases those longing feelings that were lingering in my chest as my doctor was checking on me earlier. His hand made its way to the back of my neck, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. We were kissing each other as if our lives depended on it, and frankly, I think it does. It felt like an eternity since our lips met, but when we pulled away, out of breath it still didn't feel enough. Our eyes met and a smile was lingering on his lips. "Welcome back, love. I missed you." He whispered to me before planting a kiss on my forehead. "I missed you too, love." I whispered back, returning his smile before he pulled away and sat on the side of my bed. He started fidgeting with his phone which made my eyebrows furrowed. I just woke up from a two-week-long coma, as per what the doctor said to me, and here is my husband sitting beside me but is preoccupied with whatever inter
"Officer, can you watch over my kids for me? I just need to know what's happening to Cathy." I asked Officer Philipps and he nodded. "ZG, Zia, Officer Philipps will stay with you for a while, okay? He we keep you safe. Daddy is just going to see Mommy." I said to them, and they both nodded at me. "Come back soon, Daddy." ZG said and I nodded at him, giving them each a kiss on the forehead before heading out of their hospital room and making my way to the Emergency Room. "I'm looking for Catherine Mitchel, she got shot." I said as calmly as I could to the person at the desk. She nodded and started tapping on her computer. "The patient has been transferred to the operating room." She said and I dashed off before she could finish talking. The lights in the operating room were already on when I got there, so there was only one thing to do, wait. Minutes passed, then hours, and a couple of minutes after the three-hour mark, the doors opened. "How is she?" I immediately asked the
I got out of the house, I need fresh air. I had to clear my mind or our conversation would not get anywhere. I was in the middle of the park when I decided to call someone I really trusted. "Good afternoon, sir. Can I speak with Officer Philipps?" I asked the person in the other line. "May I ask who this is?" He asked. "This is Gavin Mitchel." I answered shortly. "Okay, sir. I'll patch you in." He replied and a lively tune started playing before I was greeted by a familiar voice. "It's been a long time. How are you, Gavin?" Asked Officer Philipps through the phone. "Not so good, sir. I need your help." I then gave him a quick rundown of everything that went down. After I finished I heard him sigh. "Why do both of you attract these types of people?" He asked curiously, but even I couldn't give him an answer. "For now, be with Cath. I'll look into it and call you as soon as I get something." "Okay, Officer. Thanks... for everything." "Now, go home. And make sure Cath doesn't d
This is probably the longest ten-minute shower I ever had. I'm still waiting for Nathan's instructions and I got into a huge fight with Gavin because of it. “You want me to be okay with him taking my wife in exchange for my kids?” He asked. “No way I’m letting him take any of you.” “Love, we can guarantee that he wouldn’t hurt me but we can’t say that it's the same for our kids. We don’t know what’s going inside his head.” I said, trying to reason with him. “No. No. Sorry, love. That is not an option.” He said walking out of our bedroom. It was a hard decision for me too, but I can't let my kids get hurt. I can't let any of them get hurt because of me again. This time, it's my turn to save them. I got out of the shower and Gavin was still not back in our room. I grabbed my phone and there it was. A message from Nathan. It didn't have any time or date, just the address, making me think that he probably wanted me there as soon as possible. That works for me because I want to see my k
"Where are my kids, Nathan?" I began, trying my best to remain calm in the situation. Gavin tried to snatch my phone from me but I avoided it. I don't think it's a good idea to let the two of them talk. they both might explode. "They're safe. I have them with me. We had a little bonding session today. I was hoping you could join us?" He asked trying to sound sweet, but I couldn't help but feel a shiver down my spine as listened to him talk. "I'm still at work, Nate. Maybe another day? Do you mind dropping them off at the office?" I asked, acting oblivious to his motives. "Oh come on Cath. It's already seven in the evening, you should be home by now, right? Both you and your husband?" He asked and Gavin quickly took the phone from me. "Where are our kids, Nathan? I'm not playing with you!" Gavin angrily said through the phone. "You are going to talk to me! Just what do you want from us!" Then Gavin went silent. He looked at me, his eyes trembling. I could see fear in them. "Fine!
Being with Gavin again made me realize that I have never stopped loving him. No matter how much I wanted to forget about him, my heart remained with him throughout the years. I guess it is true, that no matter how far you walk away from each other, people who are meant to be together will always gravitate back to each other. "Mommy?" I heard Zia's voice as she was tugging on my dress. "Are you okay?" She asked me. "Why? What happened?" Gavin suddenly asked as he and ZG walked towards us. "Mommy was staring at you with a silly smile." Zia said that made my eyes bulge out of their sockets. "No, I wasn't." I said to her, looking right at her. Asking her to shut up with my eyes but it looks like I need to work on my silent communication with my daughter. "Yes. You were." She said before hopping away from us. "Just hold it in, love. Our kids are still awake." Gavin whispered to me, taking the picnic basket from my hand before following our daughter, leaving me dumbfounded. "I wasn't
The weeks went by in such a bliss and now, we’re moving back in with their dad in our old apartment. It took a lot of convincing on my side but eventually, Gavin was able to make me agree with him. “Are we there yet?” Zia asked for the nth time as we were driving to the apartment. She has been very excited since we told them about the move, and couldn’t wait to see the room her big brother was talking about. “No yet baby. We’ll have to stop to get some groceries, remember?” Gavin answered her sweetly. “Aww. Are we going to stay there long?” She asked again with a pout on her face. “Come on, Zia. It’s going to be fun. And you can pick out some decorations for our room.” ZG said, calming her sister in the back seat. “Yey!” Zia screamed as she started humming the theme song of her favorite show. Thank goodness, ZG knows precisely what to say to his sister in every situation. When we got to the groceries, the two of them walked in front of me and Gavin and started getting things that