Artemis
I see red when Lilly looks at us.“What the fuck is this?” I say before looking from my daughter to the woman still standing.“Mr. Rhodes please calm down.” She says.I stand to face her, and she is smart enough to look nervous. “I asked what that is? Who did that to her?”“I’m afraid I can’t disclose that information. We protect our student’s identity as requested by their parents.”“You’re protecting the kids who hurt our daughter!” Blue snaps at the woman.She stands next to me and between the woman and Lilly.“It was a simple misunderstanding-““Misunderstanding? She has a cut on her face! That is assault! How are you planning to punish the kids who did this?” Blue asks.“We have spoken to all the children involved and it was all an accident.”“Was it an accident or a misunderstanding?” I ask.She looks at me confused. “What?”“Was it an accident or a misunderstanding? Because there is no possible way this wasBlueI don’t know what’s been going on but I’ve been exhausted all week. My guess is that I caught some sort of virus somewhere and my body is working overtime trying to fight it. I haven’t had any other symptoms yet but they'll show up soon I’m sure. For now I’ve been drinking this ginger tea Abigail recommended. She’s been drinking it for morning sickness and told me it’s not bad. It’s good but it hasn’t helped with how tired I am. Over the last two weeks I’ve spent more time sleeping than I’ve spent awake. It helped that Lilly was in school so I didn’t have much to do and I could rest, but now with what happened I’m not sure if we will be sending her back there. I’ll have to figure out how to kick this weird bug so I can focus my attention on her. When I’m awake enough to be productive I’ve been looking into other schools that might work for Lilly. There are schools for kids with disabilities but not the kind she has, so that one’s out. Another one is more wheelchair fri
Artemis Blue is crying like someone she loves has just died! I told her this is one of the best days of my life and she’s crying!“Blue? Please don’t cry! What did I say to upset you?” She tries to talk between sobs but I can’t understand any of it. I’m at a loss. The other times she’s cried weren’t like this, so I’m not sure what to do. Well that’s not true, I know exactly what I should do. Time to call in the big guns. My phone is already connected to the car's Bluetooth so I hit Rhea's number and press call. It only rings once before she picks up. “Well this is a surprise! My brother calling me? Hell must have frozen over. What-“ She stops when Blue starts to cry loudly again. “Is that Blue? Artemis Rhodes what did you do to her? If you laid a hand her I swear to God I will cut your dick off.”“Who are you threatening?” I hear Max say in the background.“My brother. He made Blue cry.” “Oh shit. Put it on speaker.” There some shuffling around and th
BlueI’m so nervous that I have a strong urge to throw my door open and throw up on the side of the road. Artemis’s sisters sounded excited by the news of the baby which is amazing but they aren’t the ones I’m worried about. I’m worried about Lilly. She has only been with us for a few weeks and now I’m pregnant. What if she thinks we won’t care about her when the new babies come? I know if I was in her position, I would be worried, but I love her so much already. “Do you think Lilly will be happy?” I ask out loud because I can’t suffer in my own thoughts without getting a second opinion. “Why wouldn’t she be happy?” Artemis asks like he really has no idea why she wouldn’t be. He must not have gotten jealous when his sister was born. “Well, sometimes foster kids get sent away when the families have their own kids. What if she thinks we’ll send her back?” “It’s different with her because we aren’t fostering her. She is legally our daughter, so why would we
ArtemisI leave Blue in the room so I can have a second to absorb everything. As soon as we stepped into the house and I saw the number of people around a surge of protectiveness I have never felt welled up inside me and I could bring myself to leave Blue's side. It was as if the words ‘protect’ was running on a loop in my head. There are three tiny lives growing inside my wife and they are mine to protect. When we were driving home my head was pulling up all the random facts I’ve accumulated over the years that had anything to do with pregnancy.Most of it was from hearing Rhea talk about it or from things on TV that I wasn’t paying much attention to. One point that stood out is that pregnancies involving multiple babies can be dangerous. I’ll have to do more research on it, but I’m guessing the more babies the more dangerous it can be. Plus my wife is a small woman, so that will be a factor as well. She has also gone most of her life with little to no medical care. She wil
BlueI wake up feeling deliciously sore and a little annoyed that Artemis thought torturing me was something I would enjoy, but he sure made up for it. “We can discuss working together again in the future but as of now our company is exclusively working with one client. Yes…bye.” Artemis shuffles next to me and I feel his warmth behind me before his arm wraps around me and his hand rests on my lower stomach. He keeps doing that and I can’t help but smile when he does. I hadn’t thought much about what it would look like when we finally found out I was pregnant, but Artemis has been so sweet. He seems genuinely happy about all of it, and that has given me such relief. Talking about having a baby and finding out you are having one are so different that I thought he would freak but he didn’t. His reaction has left me feeling less nervous about the idea of taking care of a baby…three babies. Shit. Three babies! My heart starts to race as I run through what they will mean. Lots of crying
ArtemisBlue has been feeling so bad lately that I’m happy to do anything she wants while she’s having a good day. Because of her being sick I decided to keep work low for now and stick to our government contract only. Alan was on board as well so that he could focus on Abigail and their baby. It’s surreal that we both will be becoming fathers at the same time, but it has helped having someone else who was going through the early stages of pregnancy with their partner. Rhea and Max have also been very vocal about everything I should be doing while Blue isn’t feeling well. I was happy to do anything that would take the load off Blue. She’s carrying our babies so the least I could do was take care of the rest. Lilly and I have been able to spend a lot more time together and I’ve gotten to learn what a special girl she is. She started talking about her parents a little but admitted to me that she wasn’t sure if she should. She didn’t want us thinking that she didn’t like
BlueI’m not sure how many things I’ve tried on, but nothing fits just right. My belly is too small for most of the maternity pants and I’m swimming in the maternity shirts. I can’t seem to find anything nice!“Why don’t you try something you normally wear but in a size or two bigger?” Artemis suggests after I give up on trying any more clothes on. I sit up and gawk at him. How did I not think of that? “My stretch pants are really comfortable, why don’t you get those?” Lilly says. This two…“Yes! I’ll buy a large shirt and leggings! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”“Pregnancy brain is a real thing.” Rhea says.I called her after a few outfits and asked her advice about which outfits to buy. She was nice enough to stay on with me as I tried a ton of stuff, so how come she didn’t suggest this? She has been pregnant before!“What?” I ask her. “Pregnancy brain?” “Have you not been reading up on stuff? When you’re pregnant you some
BlueOver the next month I spend almost all of my time at the group home. At least the days when I’m not running to the bathroom to throw up anyway. Abigail and I have planned several events to bring families and couples who are looking to adopt. Even one or two of our older kids have found a new family. Lilly comes to the house after school and is able to play and be with all of her friends. I love seeing her outside with Alan playing basket ball. All the kids are very patient with her and she’s very talented. I had no idea the number of sports she could take part in! My baby belly has been growing fast but my doctor says the babies are looking good and my weight is in the low but acceptable range. Today is a special day because we are on our way to find out the genders!Everyone has been trying to guess and we even gave pins for the kids to wear to see who thinks they will be boys or girls. Thy want a full party for us where we’ll get to tell everyone. The kids a
BlueWhat is going on? Here I was expecting some yelling or fighting but got hysterical laughter instead. Are they all high? Well, probably not Iris, but she looks a little confused as well. Same girl, same. “What is so funny?” I yell. They all slowly calm down and it’s Rhea who speaks next. “Blue, I know that this may seem strange, but we’re happy.” Say what now?“What do you mean? You guys would be getting nothing!” I remind them as if it weren’t clear. “We know and that’s the great part. Honestly, it’s a relief. That money is tainted with bad memories for us. It’s a burden, but to someone who’s as kindhearted as you it could be a huge blessing. You’ve come from having so little to having enough money for a hundred lifetimes. You could do anything! We are happy to let that money go and let you decide what to do with it. Once the funeral is over we can finally let that time of our lives die too. It’s the last tie to what our family name used to
ArtemisThis week has been hell. My grandfather and parents did not want to leave this world without one last special, and I’m hating every second of dealing with it. Still for my sisters it means closure even though our relationship with them was strained. Then there’s the whole matter of the will. Honestly, I don’t want to know what my grandfather has left me to deal with. If what’s happened in the last few months are only a piece of what I have to face then I’m going to hate the rest even more. My sisters are happy to let me handle it since they don’t want a thing from my father or grandfather. As much as they feel a sense of loss, they also feel relief. The last die-hard Rhodes are gone and we can all move on. My charity work with blue has been a lot more rewarding than any of the other work I’ve done, and seeing her smile is all the payment I need. Fuck. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her thanks to all this, but as soon as it’s over I am taking the fi
BlueI make it back to the bookstore just as Dane comes in searching for me. “Everything okay?” He asks looking me over for injuries. “Yeah, they didn’t have what I was looking for and I even asked an employee to look, and it took forever just for her to tell me they didn’t have the book. Crazy right?” I laugh weakly and hope he doesn’t notice my discomfort in lying.He doesn’t ask anything, so I guess I did okay, but as we drive home my anxiety hits an all time high. How am I going to look at Artemis and his sisters knowing what I know and not say anything. These people have been rich all their lives and even though they are individually wealthy do they expect more now that their grandfather and parents are dead? I can only imagine the amount of money those three died with and now it’s coming my way. There is so much anxiety and pressure waring inside me that when we get home I rush through the front door and to the nearest bathroom to throw up. No one seems
BlueI need to find a way to get out of here without anyone asking questions. Also, that means leaving the babies and Lilly which I’m not sure anyone will be willing to do with everything else going on, but I need to go to this meeting. There’s no time to debate logistics, so I head back to the living room where I see the Rhodes siblings still discussing something. Artemis’s eyes lift when I walk into the room, and he gives me a confused look. Maybe he sees something in my face that has alarm bells going up, so I try to smile and act like nothing is going on. “I’m sorry but something came up at my office, I need to run in and handle it. Can I leave the kids with you?” I ask him. “Of course. Is everything okay?” He asks standing and stepping around the couch to walk in my direction. I don’t really want him touching me right now. It feels fake now. After what I heard it has me overthinking still and I don’t have time to dig deeper into all those feelings right now.
BlueThe door opens behind me, and Artemis walks inside with Iris next to him. His sisters are on their feet in an instant and rushing over to wrap their little sister in their arms. The three of them start to cry while Artemis stands off to the side watching them. His forehead is creased, and his jaw is tight like he isn’t sure what to do but also like he’s worried. So, I walk over to him and slip my hand in his. “You okay?” I whisper. He sighs. “I’m glad she’s okay.” That’s enough for me. This is all so fresh, so it makes sense that none of them know what to say or do next. “What can I do to help?” I ask him. “We need to wait for the lawyer to the estate contacts us. They will let us know our grandfather’s and parent’s wishes for burial and memorial services. Then we go from there. After the funeral there will be the reading of the will, and we’ll all know where we stand in this family.” He grinds his teeth at that last part. I may not know much a
BlueAfter Artemis leaves, I stand in the hallway and try to figure out the best way to go about this. Rhea is torn up over the news and I want to be there for her, but what can I do? I don’t want to just sit back and have them handle everything while they work through everything emotionally. It’s no secret, things were strained between all of them but that was still Artemis’s parents and that has to be hard for him. Before I can come up with a plan one of the babies starts crying. All of them have a different cry and this one is Eros. I walk into the nursery and pick him up right away. His head turns to my boob as soon as he’s in my arms. Before I take him out to feed, I check on Selene and Damion, but they are still asleep.Those two sleep like the dead when they want to except apparently at night when the smallest sound has them wide awake. In the end all of them end up in bed with me and Artemis to finish off the night. Not that either of us care much, we love cuddling u
ArtemisI hadn’t heard from my grandfather in several weeks and I’m wondering when he will send Iris to us. I’m willing to fly to wherever they are and pick her up myself but any attempts at contacting my grandfather have gone unanswered. That is until Rhea comes stumbling into the house looking as if she’s seen a ghost. “Artemis…” It sounds like saying that much was too much effort. “What?” “Rhea? What’s wrong?” Blue rushes over to my sister and helps her to sit down on the closest chair. “Rhea, what’s going on?” “Just look.” My sister hands her phone to Blue, but I can hear the audio. 'Another tragedy involving the famous Rhodes family. Unfortunately, this accident resulted in the death of three members including the Patriarch of the family, his son and his daughter-in-law. The following information may be upsetting for some. The police and rescue crew discovered the pilot a mile away and the members of the family different distances from the crash. Ou
ArtemisSeeing Blue juggle, the children’s home and motherhood is like watching a bee buzzing around a hive. She has been going non-stop and is trying so hard to make up for the time she lost not being there to help. I know she thinks that she will let someone down if she isn’t giving one hundred percent of herself in everything she does, but I can see her burning out. At night she’s been crashing as soon as her head hits the pillow, but she’s up any time the triplets need to be changed or fed. I try to help as best I can, but she always tells me to sleep, and she will handle things. Only she doesn’t realize that she sleeps through a few of the nightly cries, and I make sure nothing wakes her. Now that she will let the babies in the nursery, I turn off the monitor while I’m in there and switch to getting alerts on my phone. That way she can sleep, and I’ll still be able to hear the babies. She needs the rest. Since the babies came, I’ve been in full dad duty. Not that
BlueThe first few weeks home with the triplets is chaos. Lilly is such a sweet girl and even though she needs a lot of help with things she hasn’t complained once having to share our time. Artemis has made everything so much easier by just being here and helping wherever it’s needed. He was joking about the personal chief either. I mean when does he ever not mean these things? I should know that by now. He also did have a whole medical room set up in the house. There are plans to expand the house even more thanks to all the plans he has. Athena found a house down the street from us and has been so happy with her decision to adopt. She’s an amazing mother and it’s been great having her so close by. Rhea, not wanting to be left out also bought a house on our street and has been stopping by with her kids almost everyday much to Artemis’s displeasure. He’s gotten a lot better with having his sisters around but he’s still his grumpy self with them. Now they just find it fu