Cold as Stone

46

I watched as Emily painted. She was a messy painter but I didn't mind. That just means bath time and she loves bath time. I started painting too.

I heard the elevator doors open and shut. Dad came in and saw us painting. I looked at him then back at the canvas. Emily got up and went over to him. He picked her up.

"Hey Em. How are you doing?"

"Good." She says, smiling. I continued painting. "Mommy is sad."

"Well I'm here to make her feel better. Why don't you go hangout with your uncle?" I looked at him. I then saw Darius standing next to him.

"Can we continue painting?" She asks, tilting her head. Darius looked at me and I nodded. I stood up and dad set her down. She went back over to her seat and climbed up. Darius took my seat and I followed dad out to the kitchen.

He sat down and I stood in front of him. Only thing separating us was the counter.

"Addison, are you alright? You've been ignoring my phone calls for the past few days now." I averted my eyes. I didn't say anything. "You know you can tell me anything, right? What's going on with my daughter?"

"You have cancer." I whispered. He sighs and stands up. He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. "You can't leave. It's not fair."

"I know but I promise you that I won't leave." A sob escapes my lips. Tears started to stream down my face again. He ran his fingers through my hair, trying to soothe my sobs. I buried my head into his chest. "Shh. I'm fine."

"But you have cancer."

"Yes, I do but they caught it before it spread." I shake my head. "Get the 'what ifs' out of your head, Addison. Focus on the happy things like they caught it. I'll be fine."

"But what if-what if it comes back. What's gonna happen?" I sob out. He sighs.

"Then I'm going to have to fight it all over again." I shake my head.

"I-I can't lose you. I can't lose you like mom. Even though she was high half the time, I-I still love her. I can't lose you." I whisper.

"I know. You won't lose me."

"You-You don't know."

"No. I don't but I won't leave for a long time."

After a few minutes, I finally calmed down. He kissed the top of my head.

"Now, let's go spend time with my granddaughter until you have a thing to get ready for." I pulled back from him and raised an eyebrow. "Your twin wants to tell you and I won't ruin that for him. You know how he gets when he wants to tell people something."

"That I do." I say, laughing.

"There's that laugh I missed." He says, kissing the top of my head.

--

I walked out of the room after changing from my earlier clothes. The siblings looked at me and Adrian smirked.

"We're gonna go racing!" He says, smiling. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Emily. "Go kart racing but it's still racing."

"That sounds fun." I say, looking at them.

"Good because I invited Maxim and Elijah." I tensed up. "Oh relax. They want to see you."

"This is going to be so much fun!" Chase says, excitedly. I sigh and put my shoes on. I fix my bracelets and follow them out.

--

I buckled my seatbelt on and looked at the other people.

Emily was riding with dad while everybody rode alone. Marcus, Leo and Chris sat out. They hated racing. They knew how to fight but hated racing. Everybody who was racing, had a huge smirk on their face.