"Where is she?! Where's my daughter?!"
Aaron could hear the loud noises that made it to the hospital room he was in with his wife, seemingly coming from the main reception. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, a storm was looming.
He'd contemplated breaking the news to them, mostly because they'd very clearly stated that they wanted nothing to do with the girl. They'd disowned her and hadn't seen nor spoken to her since they'd gotten married.
But Aaron was never one to stop believing in family, no matter what. It was the most important thing to him, after his wife of course - though he knew he didn't always show that. So he'd eventually reached out. The girl had been in hospital for a few weeks and he'd finally thought to let her family know. Whether they'd then decided to come and see her or not - it would've been up to them. As long as he'd done his part of letting them know.
He was going to get one of his secretaries to get in contact with the family on his behalf, but he'd thought that would've been a little too impersonal and he needn't be that big of a coward. It took him a while but he eventually did it, he called her parents. Of course he didn't get the warmest response from them, understandably. They hated him. He was the guy who took their daughter away from them and then failed to protect her. Evidently.
"Hello?"
Was what the lady on the other line had said when she answered the phone. Aaron could tell the lady had no idea who he was based on the calmness in her tone. That was only after he'd felt his insides shutter slightly at her voice. They'd sounded exactly the same, it was uncanny. He hadn't heard his wife's voice in what felt like forever and that was why he was trembling. He'd known he missed the girl but hearing the voice that sounded exactly like hers had him barely keeping it together. He had to though because what he was about to break to the family required that of him. So,
"Mrs. Sinclair, this is..."
He didn't think it was going to be easy but he'd certainly didn't expect it to be that difficult. The family never took a liking to him and what if they'd hung up on him after simply hearing his name? He would be heartbroken because it would've meant he failed his wife again. He failed to have her family there for her.
"This is Aaron," he'd heard himself finally say.
"It's about Kayla," he'd then followed up quickly in fear of their rejection.
It had always hurt him how his wife's family didn't accept him no matter how much he'd remained strong throughout that turbulence. It was for her. He knew she was really taking it hard and he needed to be strong for the both of them.
But little did she know that he himself had cried about it a few times. He hated being the man that separated her from her family, but he simply could not let her go. She was his life.
And even though he'd been strong, he couldn't help the familiar feeling of being unwanted that came from the many years of the rejection he'd endured from his former foster families.
"There was an accident and... she,"
He felt the wetness that started making its way to his cheeks going down to his collar. Yes it had been weeks but it still pained him. A lot.
"Aaron, no..."
He could hear the sadness in her voice. He knew she would care, she gave birth to her after all.
"She's in an ICU, she's been there for a while."
She'd been there for a total of 4 weeks, but he needn't tell them that.
"She lost our baby boy."
He'd never craved having another kid, but losing one made him picture the possibility of raising a toddler. Oh how beautiful their baby boy would've turned out. How he would've spoiled him rotten. The football games, teaching him how to ride a bike.
Aaron had been so invested in his thoughts that he couldn't hear the lady on the line practically shouting,
"Aaron!!!"
"Aaron!!... Where is she?"
"Sunninghill."
He'd finally answered after recovering from his long daze. He'd then decided to apologize but the phone was put down on his ear.
That had been a few days before, he'd concluded that they weren't going to come because he hadn't heard from them since.
So Aaron held on to his wife's cold hand for strength when he'd then heard footsteps roughly approaching the room.
"You... you did this!"
That was hardly something he hadn't been expecting, he decided to keep quiet and let the older lady speak out her frustrations.
"You took her from me! Now look!"
She'd continued, letting her voice get louder.
"Oh, my baby girl. My beautiful baby girl... I shouldn't have let you leave. What have they done to you?" She'd then faced her sleeping daughter with a softer, more calm expression as she made her way closer to her unconscious body.
Tears started coming out as she kneeled beside her bed and held on to her other hand. Aaron let his own set of tears make their way out of his eyes slowly. He then reached his arm to the other side of the bed to stroke the older woman's back to calm her down. He was surprised when she didn't try to push him back.
For a moment everything was forgotten. The past. They were two sad souls devastated over someone they cared deeply for. That was what mattered. Everything else simply didn't.
"How long was she here for?"
She'd asked softly after a while.
"4 weeks."
He'd decided to just be honest with her, whatever reaction came after he would have had to deal with it.
"I don't blame you to be honest Aaron. I was the one who simply couldn't accept her for following her heart."
Mrs. Sinclair felt her voice break at the revelation.
"She tried everything. She begged and she begged and I simply couldn't let her be the person she wanted to be. I pushed her away. What kind of a mother am I?"
At that point her tears were uncontrollable and she could feel her body shaking.
"I'm a monster!"
"No you're not!"
Aaron had to stop her. He couldn't take sitting there and letting the woman who gave birth to the love of his life continue to break herself down like that.
"All she ever asked of me was a family. She wanted to be a mother so bad and I took that away from her. And now... I'm the monster, not you!"
Mrs. Sinclair extended her other arm to hold that of her son-in-law.
"We're human Aaron. All we can do now is pray for her recovery and make things right when she's ok."
Mrs. Sinclair had no idea whether her daughter was going to make it out of the coma or not, but she needed to remain hopeful. Her daughter was going to be fine.
Soon the rest of the girl's family made it to the room and they'd all embraced Aaron in a warm hug, promising they were going to be there for him throughout the journey.
*Flashback*"Over my dead body!"I hear my mother shout at the top of her lungs as I go upstairs to pack my bags as instructed."You don't know anything! You're 18!"She continues to yell. I chuckle lightly at that because she'd always told me I'm one of the smartest people she knew despite my age. And that wasn't only because I was her daughter, she'd always reiterated. She's finally doing it, she's kicking me out. Months and months of threatening me and she's going through with it. I'd thought she was bluffing to be honest. I knew she didn't like the fact that I'm dating an older guy but I'd always told myself she would accept it one day. That it would take a while but once she sees how happy I am she would have no choice but to accept it.But as I stand taking out clothes from my drawers and putting them in my bags, I finally let my tears go. Because it hurts, more than anything I've ever experienced in my 18 years of living. My mother basically asking me to choose between my fami
"Mr. Miller, I was told to bring this to you."The young lady said as she approached the older man cautiously. He'd thrown a fit a few times at the hospital and she didn't want to become one of his victims for the day."Thank you so much Uhm... " He'd waited for her to tell him her name."Susan.""Thank you Susan."He'd said with a smile as he took the tray of food from her hands. He wasn't hungry but he didn't want to be rude to the poor girl, not anymore at least. He'd admittedly been a bit difficult on more than a few occasions but that was only because of the well-being of his wife. Everything needed to be done right, otherwise he would lose it. He would lose his cool.He'd then decided to stop after realizing what he had become, Kayla wouldn't like that very much he'd thought.Aaron could see the terror in the young girl's eyes as she nodded her head and turned around to leave."Susan..."He was turning a new leaf.It had been over 5 months since his wife had been in the coma. He
*Flashback*I've always found it easier to talk to Brittney, more than a lot of other people. She's never judged me off of my age nor disrespected me because of it. Yes she's my husband's ex but she's understanding. Certainly a lot more understanding than his other ex-wives.She'd warmed up to me from the very first day she'd met me. I was this young girl in a world I didn't belong in and she'd helped me navigate my way into it, and I guess also deal with the other evil ex-wives. Although her approach has always been to be nice to them, I've always preferred avoiding them as much as I could. Obviously that hasn't been exactly smooth sailing with my husband basically forcing me to get on with them.Point is, she's someone I've really taken a liking to in a place where no one seems to want to like me. She's become someone I can truly open up to.That is why,"I'm pregnant."I'd been keeping this inside for too long that saying it feels like finally drinking water after a week-long hiatu
Aaron hastily checked his watch as he hurried onto the elevator to go to his office. He had to be back at the hospital.He'd hated not being there when she woke up but he needed to sort a few things out at the office. He was going to make his way there soon after.But what he hadn't been expecting was a full office that morning. It was too early he'd thought.Aaron owned the whole building but only a few people were permitted on his office level, the highest level. And that list didn't have more than 5 people on it.So his shock was justified when he'd walked in and saw more than a few people seemingly in police uniform talking to his secretary.So the worst possible conclusions made it to his mind, naturally. It better not be about his wife, it can't have been. He was with her just a few hours before, she was ok. Could it be about his kids? Was there fraud in his company he didn't know about?"Morning Officers."He'd settled with just finding out from them, to not drive himself crazy
*Flashback*"Pathetic. What is she? 16?"I hear the lady whose name I believe is Sandra whisper/yell from the other room as I look around for the bathroom. Left and then right, I let my mind remember. This place is huge, it's even bigger than his house. I walk further down the long corridor until I finally come across the right turn that leads me to the bathroom. I breathe a sigh of relief.It's only been a couple of hours and that's not even the worst thing she's said about us. I think, "She's just a plaything, he'll get over her soon enough," was just about the most hurtful, so far. Or maybe, "She's just with him for his money, he'll realize it." I can't decide.The conclusion here is that they really don't like me.I guess I didn't really expect them to but I wasn't also expecting to get so much hate from just meeting them. They haven't even bothered to get to know me, they're judging me off of my age and I think that's not fair.It sucks because I really like this guy. Yes he's a
He refused to believe it. It cannot have been, there was no way.It had been a few weeks since he was given the news. No name was given but a few names were implied and one name, in particular, was insisted upon.Sandra was not perfect, not even a tiny bit but she wasn't at all capable of murder. Aaron was certain of that. There must've been an explanation.He entered the elevator of the massive hospital to get to the VIP floor where his wife was. It was time to finally tell her what was going on, he had been delaying it for too long. He knew that she could sense that something was wrong, she'd probably even thought he was cheating on her. That was how bad the tension was.He closed his eyes once inside the elevator and then laid his form against the walls. He needed strength.He was sure of what his wife was going to say about the news. He was sure she wasn't going to be jumping for joy so he needed to prepare himself."Hey Deena, is she in her room?"He'd asked the sweet receptionis
*Flashback*"I love you but I hate that you're doing this to me."I say to my fiancé in frustration. I know there's no turning back now but that still won't stop me from being annoyed and complaining about it."All you're doing is going to dinner with your future husband's family, I don't get what's so painful about that.""Oh I don't know, maybe just the simple fact that said family happens to be a bunch of your ex-wives who would rather not have me breathing the same air as them."I say to him only half joking."Babe, they just need to get used to you. And how are they going to do that if they never see you?"I decide not to respond to that to not ensue another argument. I've been meeting them for quite a while now and they still treat me the same, like I'm an intruder. He knows this but he keeps on defending them. It's getting old and irritating. They are grown-ups and they need to act like it.I don't tell him all that though. I instead ask him,"Do they know?"I'm pretty sure the
"Mom?"She thought she was dreaming. It had been so long that the woman looked completely different. She had always been very beautiful but clearly the years had been too hard on her. Like she'd been miserable the past couple of years."Yes sweetheart, it's me." Her tears were uncontrollable. She hadn't seen her daughter conscious in years. 6 years to be exact.Kayla stood up on her feet to give her mother the biggest embrace she'd ever given. The fact that she wasn't a teenager anymore didn't stop her from balling her eyes out on her mother's shoulder."Mama, I missed you so much." She'd continued to say as the older lady held on to her form for dear life. "I'm so sorry." She whispered into her ear.There hadn't been a day she hadn't thought about her daughter, despite being the one who kicked her out. She wished she could explain why she hadn't reached out all those years even though she really wanted to, there was no excuse except for the simple reason that she was human and she ba