Their Escape

~18~

~18~


Today is Christmas and it’s only been a couple of weeks since the twins turned sixteen. Jason and I didn’t go all out for their birthday because of it being so close to Christmas. The day after Matt and Dani’s birthday, Jason asked me if we were ready to move in with him. When I talked to the kids, they were more than eager to go. They later apologized to their grandparents because they thought by their reaction, they had hurt mom and dad’s feelings. They reassured the kids that wasn’t the case and they were happy that we were moving in with him.

He hasn’t asked me yet and I know that he’s not going to do it today because it would be to obvious but we have already been looking at rings. I felt alive for the first time in many years and everything was falling where it needed to be. We haven’t heard as much of a peep from Seth and that in itself, was worth everything. I told Jay after the hearing and filing the necessary papers, that we haven’t heard the last of him and thought that he would do something before now. I was thankful that nothing has happened but at the same time I couldn’t help but be a little leary. After all, I lived with the man for half of my life; I knew how he worked.

Jason and I were already awake and getting breakfast cooked. We would wake the kids as we got things ready and then it was off to the living room for presents. I knew they were going to be excited because we really went all out and that’s never happened before. When we were still in Fort Worth, they maybe got three or four presents a piece but this year, you could hardly see half of the living room because of everything.



    “You want me to take over or go wake the kids?” Jason asked, wrapping his arms around me.

    “No need,” Dani said.

    “The kids are awake,” Matty said.

    “Good. We have an assortment of food. Your dad insisted on chocolate chip waffles and I insisted on fruit salad. We both agreed on southwest scrambled eggs, sausage and hash browns. There’s also orange juice for Dani and Matt and grape juice for Savannah.”

    “Okay, let’s dig in. The faster we eat, the faster to the presents,” Savannah started clapping. Everyone laughed at her eagerness but we all joined in filling our plates with food.



After we finished eating, I sat there and groaned because I ate entirely to much. The girls seem to copy my movement but the boys kept shoveling food in their mouths. Jason looked over at me and smiled at me, food falling from his mouth. The girls and i just laughed at him and I shook my head, standing to take my plate over to the sink.



    “Why did you let me eat so much?” Jason whined, then minutes later.

    “Hey, don’t blame me that you and your son are pigs.”

    “Hey, I could still eat but I’m not going to,” Matty said, walking in with his plate. “What’s wrong, old man?”

    “Di...” Jason started but stopped and stared at me. “Did he just call me old?” he asked causing me to laugh. “Boy, you don’t get any presents,” he said, walking from the kitchen.

    “Oh come one, grandpa. You know you can’t keep up with the young stud. You had your time,” I hear Matty making stabs walking out of the kitchen.

    “Come on, momma. Daddy said he’s ready to start handing presents out,” Savannah came in, grabbed my and and started dragging me to the living room.



When the presents were opened, the kids ended up with a boat load of new clothes. So many that they could donate all their other clothes and still have plenty left. They also ended up with a Kindle Fire each. Savannah ended up getting a vanity that she was eyeing a couple of weeks ago and a bike that featured Princess Merida from Brave. Dani got a Canon PowerShot G15 camera and Matt ended up with a drum set. I tried my best to talk Jason out of that one but he insisted and I’m glad he did. When we took Matt to the garage and he saw it, the look on his face was worth it all.

After we got all the wrapping paper picked up and things at least half way in order, we piled up together and went over to my parents house. I wasn’t sure what we would end up with over here but the kids were excited.



    “Today has been great so far,” I said as I slid out of the truck.

    “Yes, it has. I can’t wait to see what your parents got for them,” Jason said.



They ended up with more clothes and a few games and movies but what really got them was the money mom and dad gave them. I have never seen my kids that happy in their lives. Mom already told us that we were staying for supper and you didn’t go against that woman on holidays. I’m glad we did though because we ended up having the best Christmas dinner ever.

While we were sitting there, the kids enjoying mom’s homemade hot cocoa and the adults enjoying some spiked eggnog, Jason’s phone started ringing. While he excused himself, I listened to the kids telling their grandparents about everything they got this morning at home. My parents laughed at their eagerness because they have never seen them this happy. While they were still talking, I slipped my coat on and stepped outside. Jason was sitting down on the wicker chair but he was no longer on the phone. When I walked up to him, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down onto his lap.



    “My parents are coming in. They both saw pictures on the Internet of all of us together and they were upset because I didn’t immediately call and tell them about the kids. I explained to them the things that happened and I just didn’t want to overwhelm the kids. They said they understood but they are coming in anyway.”

    “They as in, their coming in together?” I asked confused.

    “No. As in, mom saw the pictures. She immediately emailed dad and when he called, they hashed things out and mom is coming in from wherever she’s been and dad is coming in from Florida. i have to go pick them up around nine in the morning.”

    “I’m not going to be able to look at them in the eye.”

    “Don’t worry about it. I told them what Tobias did and they don’t blame you.”

    “So, you talked to them together?” I asked.

    “Yeah. They three-way called me,” he laughed.

    “Are they becoming tech savvy now?”

    “I guess,” he said, leaning his head against my chest. We just sat there in the silence for what seemed like forever before he finally broke the silence. “You know I love you, right?”

    “Yeah,” I smiled. “I love you to. Always have. I never loved Seth. Don’t get me wrong, I tried to, but it never felt right. I gave my heart to you a long time ago and I want it back.”

    “Nope, it’s mine for the rest of our lives,” he smiled and I leaned down to kiss him.

    “I’m so happy you didn’t decided to ask me to marry you today?”

    “What makes you think I’m not going to?” he asked.

    “Because it’s to cliche and you are anything but that. So is Valentine’s Day so please don’t do it than either.”

    “I plan to do it a lot sooner than Valentine’s Day,” he smiled up at me. “And before you say anything, it won’t be on New Year’s either.”

    “Good,” I laughed.

    “Let’s go in there and tell the kids that they have to meet their other grandparents.”

    “I hope it goes smoothly. I would hate for something to go wrong when everything is so right.”

    “Can I ask you something?” he asked, before I stood up.

    “You just did.”

    “Oh ha ha. Get this girl a contract for stand up. What made you finally leave Seth? Don’t take it like I’m not giddy with excitement that you did, but what pushed you out?”

    “Matty. He looked at me the day before and told me that he couldn’t just sit around and let Seth hit me anymore. He told me that he knew tht Seth wasn’t his father and he mentioned the name Jason Ryder. I dind’t even know he followed your career or anything. I asked him how he knew your name and he just looked at me like the idiot I was and said, quote, ‘Oh please, mom. It’s not like he’s one of the biggest MMA fighters out there.’ He kept on and on, it kind of felt like he  was interrogating me. After an... altercation before dinner, I felt ashamed.

    “When dinner was over and Seth had went to the living room, Matty asked me...” I stopped and gulped, as the night and others incidents, rushed back to me.

    “Matty asked you...” he trailed off.

    “If Seth had raped me again. We shared a few words, nothing bad, but he told me that if I didn’t do something soon he would resort to his own methods. I decided right than and there that I could not risk my... our son, getting hurt.”

    “I’m sorry that all this happened to you and I really just want to hunt Tobias down and teach him a lesson,” he started and before he continued, I started to interrupt. “But, I’m going to be the bigger person and let it go. Besides, what happened sixteen years ago, happen. But what happens from here on out, is ours,” he said.



He looked lovingly into my eyes and I knew that he meant every word. I was happy that we were here, now.


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Once again.... sorry for another short chapter but life happens and I promised an upload tonight.

ERMERGERD ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I CANNOT believe that Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I’m so excited because I get to see my niece and nephews that I haven’t seen for awhile.

Right now... I’m watching Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas with my baby girl. She’s excited about Christmas but I think she’s more excited to get to see her cousins. I can’t wait to see her face when she gets one particular present and I actually used it as inspiration for one of Savannah’s gift’s and that is... the bicycle.

Anyway... I hope you all enjoyed this Christmas present because I know, for sure, that there will be NO updates. I’ll try (no promises) to get the next chapter up no later than the weekend. It really depends on how my uncle is doing. I want to thank everyone once again, for commenting their prayers for him; we really need them.

One more thing I want to touch on... My new semester starts in 3 weeks so updates will be few because low and behold, I failed a couple of classes last semester because I focused a lot of my time into one particular class that I despise but ended up passing and also.. I spent WAY to much time on here. I can’t afford to pay these classes back so please understand my situation if I can’t update as often as I would like. The next year and a half is crunch time. I should be graduating May of next year (one month before I turn 30... EEKKKK ! ! ! ! ! That’s an ugly number)....

Anyway... sorry to bore you. You may go now and as always....

Leave me some love....