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