•DARLA• When I woke up in the morning, I found Daphne looking at herself in the mirror, touching her stomach and breasts. I chuckled as I sat up on the bed. "You better look at yourself more carefully because, in a few months, you won't be able to recognize yourself when you have swollen feet and a big belly." She chuckled as she turned around and looked at me. "Can you believe that I heard a dream of the baby crawling out of my stomach and I woke up screaming? I was surprised that I didn't wake you up." "That happens too," I laughed. "It still happens to me even though the twins have outgrown my arms." "They do grow up fast, don't they?" She asked as she came over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. "Very fast. You have to capture every moment of them before they grow up and become toddlers who run around the house, causing chaos." "Do you promise to take pictures of every moment for me and bring them to my resting place?" She asked with a serious face that cau
•ELIJAH•"Who is it?" I asked as I rushed to answer the door after someone rang the doorbell. I was in a rush and didn't want to miss my morning flight to Detroit. Plus, I had some things to attend to when I got there before resuming work. "Abigail?" I snorted when I saw her at the door. I just didn't want to deal with her. Not now. "Hey, baby daddy," she smiled and bit her lower lip. "Can I come in?" She didn't even wait for me to answer as she shoved her way past me and got inside.When I turned around and looked at her, the flashback of what Harper said last night when I went home refreshed my memory, and I was filled with more questions. "What can I do for you?" I scolded. "I heard you telling your mother that Darla's twins might be yours, and it made me wonder why you suddenly seemed drawn to her when I was the one you left her for, Elijah. What, am I missing something in all this? Was everything that we shared all a lie?" She asked as she leaned closer. "Darla was my wife
•ABIGAIL•[15 YEARS AGO]"I'm sorry, Abi, but you have to talk to your Mom about this. I'm afraid that you might not qualify for college if your results continue to drop." "What am I going to say to her, Amanda?" I groaned. "Ever since my father died, she's been drinking every day. Kathrine and I always come back to the house dirty and messed up. Sadly, she had to quit school and find a job so that we could have something to eat." "I wish there was something I could do," she held my hand. "Have you tried talking with Mrs. Fischer? I'm sure she could be able to help you." "I don't want to trouble her. Besides, my mom would scold me for weeks if she found out that I told someone about our living arrangement." "But this is killing your future, Abi!" She disapproved. "You're a minor, and if social workers find out about this, they can find you a new home. That would be better than this, trust me. I really don't want you to miss out on the opportunity of getting out of this place." I
•ELIJAH•"May 2020?" Harper asked as she scanned the document that I gave her. "I honestly didn't know that the first child wasn't yours. What I know is that her current pregnancy might not be yours." "What do you mean it might not be mine?" I arched my eyebrows and felt myself getting angrier. Harper sighed as she got up from the couch. "I didn't know how to tell you this, but you have to get DNA tests done before you assume that the baby is yours. If she was able to convince you back then that the first child was yours, what more about this one?" "Harper, how do you know all of this? And how sure are you that she's not carrying Elijah's child now?" Poppy chimed in. "You have to talk with her and find out the truth yourself. I don't want to say some things that she might not have wanted you to know." "You have to tell me everything that you know, Harper. You're my sister, so you were supposed to reveal this to me the moment you found out whatever that you know." "The father mig
•DARLA•After Anthony left my hotel room, I sat in the same spot for 30 minutes and thought of everything that he said and revealed to me. I felt so robbed of a mother who could've loved and cherished me. What made it worse was that Belinda was the one who denied me that opportunity to know my mother.Giving the paper a second glance, I decided to call and hire a car so that I could go to the address and see my mother's family. When I was done organizing for a car, I drove to West Virginia, Beckley. I hoped that seeing them was going to be comforting and that at least I had met my mother through them. When I got to West Virginia, I looked around the place as if I was seeing little fragments of my mother that she left behind. When I drove inside Beckley and found the address, I stopped outside the driveway and looked at the house for a moment longer. I felt like crying all over again, wishing that Belinda could've been caught and arrested for such a gruesome murder of a pregnant
•ETHAN•"Was that Mommy, Uncle Ethan?" William asked when I got off the phone and placed my cell phone on the table counter. "Yes, it was, buddy. She told me to tell you to stop running around the house before you fall and break all your teeth." "Oh," he sighed as he slowed down. "But I wasn't too fast. I'm trying to save the world here. Please don't snitch on me." He whined as he jumped slowly until he disappeared from my sight. I chuckled as I watched him. I felt sorry for him for not having a friend around, but at least he seemed to be doing okay without one. I turned to my laptop and continued searching for Noah Cole. But I just couldn't find his profile because all the ones I found were of much younger boys."Hey, Mom. Do you happen to know where Noah Cole stays?" I asked after I called her because it seemed like I was going nowhere with my search. "Honey, are you telling me that you still haven't let this go, even after Eva told you to?" "I can't let it go, Mom." I sighed
•DARLA•"Mommy, Mommy..." "Mmh..." "Mommy, wake up." "Mmh..." I gasped as I woke up and groaned when I felt a throbbing headache. When I tilted my head, I saw an IV drip inserted into my forearm vein. When I tried to sit up, a pair of arms held me back. I was so confused about where I was or what had happened. Even my memory was blurry. "Darla, you will hurt yourself. Please, lay back. You're in the hospital. The doctor will be here soon." When I lifted my eyes and saw Elijah, it made me even more confused. "Elijah, what happened? Why am I here?""You were involved in a car accident. I was here in the hospital when they brought you in last night. How are you feeling?" He asked. "My head," I groaned as I scratched my head. "It hurts. I don't know what happened when I was driving." "They found alcohol in your system." He answered. Then it dawned on me that I had been drinking while I was driving. When I remembered everything that happened last night, I felt my heart breaking al
•ELIJAH•"How is she doing? Is she going to be okay?" I asked the doctor after he informed me that Abigail lost her child. I felt so bad and wished that I could've stopped her the moment she came back from the kitchen with the knife. I hated the thought that I was the reason she had lost her child, even though it wasn't my baby. "She's out of surgery now and resting. I am also concerned that she might need special care after what she did. A mental institution might be our best option than getting a therapist for her. They will monitor her behavior and find the best way to stabilize her. She's not only a danger to herself but to everyone around her." "You think she has a mental condition?" I asked. I couldn't believe it. Well, she has always had a temper and the impulse to do crazy things, but I never thought that she had a mental condition. I loved her once, and she was perfect. She was the woman that I saw myself with. She had never lost her temper or did anything to endanger h
•ELIJAH•"Elijah, can we talk?"I groaned when I heard my mother's voice behind me. I was on my way to work in the morning when she stopped me right in my footsteps in the hallway. "I just want to make sure that you and I are good. I can't bear the thought of being in a bad place with one of my kids after laying one of them to rest forever. I can't take it anymore, Elijah, please. I am very sorry for everything that happened. But you are my son, and what happened between me and your father was never meant to reach your ears." I scoffed as I turned around and looked at her. "I'm not mad at you because you had an affair when you were with my father and had Harper. What pisses me off more than anything is your affair with a man young enough to be your son. Actually, I don't think I would've had a problem if that man wasn't my children's uncle." "I know, baby. I know that I messed up," she leaned closer. "But what happened between Anthony and I was nothing, but something that was meant
•DARLA•Elijah kept snickering next to me in the car while I was trying to act all serious and avoid him. We were on our way to the airport, and I already didn't want to see him. I just wanted to be home with my kids and pretend for a moment that everything that happened didn't happen. "Are you really not going to say anything to me?" He broke the silence, and I rolled my eyes, folded my arms on my chest, and looked away from him. "Come on, I won't tell the kids until you're ready to tell them yourself. You know that I want what's best for them," he added.When we got to the airport, we boarded our plane and I was relieved when we didn't get seats next to each other. After a few hours on the plane, we finally arrived in Atlanta, and Elijah hurried to help me and the twins out. I then told the twins to go inside our car and wait for me while I had a word with Elijah. He just smirked when I pulled him to the side. "Listen, I don't like this tension between us, especially about my
•DARLA•"You can't take my kids from me, Elijah. I don't care that you feel as if I kept them from you for years, but you're the one who abandoned me when I was carrying them. Those kids are mine," I seethed as we got inside a taxi in Montana."It's because you kept them from me that I think I should stay with them for a while. They deserve to know their father and be close to him." I shook my head as I looked out of the window. "We are getting my kids, and until I'm sure that they're safe, I'm not letting them off my sight.""They're mine as well." God, I regretted ever telling him the truth. He was going to use that line against me every time he wanted to have his way and take my kids from me. I didn't say anything to him until we arrived at the station. I hopped out of the car and rushed inside the building, eager to see my kids and make sure that they weren't harmed. When an officer came to assist me, I told him about the twins, and he didn't hesitate as he took me straight t
•ABIGAIL•"Fuck," I cursed under my breath as I took a hoodie and covered my face. I stood in front of a tall building and released an exhausted sigh. I was in Chicago, and I was sure as hell that I would be caught soon. I hesitated to walk inside the building and find the person that Kathrine said would be able to help me until all the chaos had settled. I took a deep breath as I walked up the stairs and asked for Caleb from the receptionist. She gave me a stern look before she directed me to his office."Hold on for a minute," he suggested as he was on a phone call.I impatiently sat down on the chair in front of his desk and tapped my foot on the floor. I knew that Elijah wouldn't give up searching for me until he had found me. Now that it turned out that Harper survived, I had nowhere else to hide anymore. "Kathrine's sister?" Caleb asked after getting off his call. I took off the hoodie that covered my face and nodded. "Yes. She said you'll be able to help me with getting a
•ELIJAH•"I'm going to the house right now, Harper called and told me that she had arrived. I just wanted to pass by the restaurant and get something to eat and avoid my mother for a while." "You still mad at her about Harper's biological father?" Jason asked as I was heading back home. "And that she was sleeping with Darla's brother. I couldn't believe it when Abigail revealed it before she disappeared. My mother even had the guts to admit it to me without showing any remorse or shame." "Fuck. That's pretty messed up, bro. What is she going to do when she finds out that the twins are yours?" "She knows that. I told her. I wanted to see her reaction when I told her. What baffles me is that she was the one who kept pressuring me to get DNA tests after she met the twins. I don't know if she didn't think that her relationship with Anthony was going to be jeopardized." "It's okay, bro. I hope you and your Mom manage to find a common ground and fix things. The twins deserve a family r
•ETHAN•"Ethan, please tell me that the kids aren't with you. You're going to be in serious trouble if you're caught by the police with them on the road." Chris said on the phone when he called me again the following morning. I hung up his call yesterday because I was afraid that he was going to tell the police that I was the one who took the twins, especially since he was the one that I talked to. "Yes, Chris, the twins are with me. But you should know that they're perfectly safe with me. I've been their father since day one, and nothing has changed. I have the right to be with them now.""You just don't get it, do you?" He released a low growl on the phone. "The twins are everywhere on the news. The moment they see them with you, you'll be in trouble." "You and I know that you're the one who thought this would be a good idea to get Darla back to her senses. You don't think that's a good idea anymore?" "I never said you should kidnap the damn kids! Elijah's looking for them, and
•DARLA•"Elijah knows about the kids being his?" Daphne asked as I laid my head down on her lap as we were sitting in her living room. "I just found myself blurting it out because I was upset. I don't know, but my mind was all over the place, and maybe I felt guilty that the kids went missing, and he still didn't know they were his children." "How did he react?" I sighed. "I just left him there and went to my car. I couldn't even go home and decided to spend a night here. I didn't want him to come knocking outside my door." "So, you're avoiding him?" She asked as she looked down at me with a smirk. "That's not what I'm saying!" I defended myself as I straightened up from the couch and looked at her. "I just don't want us to talk about my pregnancy. Not while my kids are still out there and not found yet." "Are you sure that's why you're avoiding him? You told me that something happened between you two when you were suspecting that Ethan was cheating on you, remember?" I sighed
•SONIA• "Now that the boy is mourning his sister, I want you to be there for him. Be his shoulder to lean on and create a safe space for his vulnerability. It's time you show this family gratitude for everything that we've done for you." "Yes, Daddy." I bowed my head a little and nodded as a tear slipped down from my eye. "Are you crying?" "No!" I exclaimed as I quickly wiped the tear from my eye and looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Dad." My father sighed as he got up from the couch across from me and looked at me. "We'll talk when you come back home." He then walked out of the living room and went to his study. I closed my mouth and released the tears that I was holding behind my eyes. I was so scared of failing my father and our family. More than anything, I was scared of losing Philip, the only man who loved me for me. My father never approved of him because he didn't come from a good family background. His family was poor, and he earned an average salary. "Miss -"
•ELIJAH• "The twins are your children." Her voice kept ringing in my head, and I didn't know what to do with myself. It was Poppy's funeral day, but the only thing I was thinking about was Darla's confession. I was so angry yet sad that she had to do everything on her own when she found out that she was pregnant with my kids. I felt robbed of a chance to be there for them and know them. At the same time, I knew at the back of my mind that I deserved it. I broke Darla's heart and filed for divorce because I thought that I was expecting a child with Abigail and thought that I would raise the child with her as a couple. "Elijah, can I come in?" My mother asked outside the door. She and I haven't been talking for a few days now, and though I opened the door for her, I didn't know how to react to seeing her. "Yes?" "I just wanted -" She walked inside my room and sighed. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being such a disappointing mother. I didn't know that you would find ou