Vinnie arrived back at the house. He had managed to cut the trip down by two hours and made it back by 10 PM instead of 12. He collected his bags and walked inside with a tear stained face and messy hair.
The first thing to happen made him smile. As usual, the kids ran up to him, Nelly wobbling, and attacked him in hugs and kisses, yelling about how daddy was back and asking where he went.
"Where did you go daddy?" Bear asked.
"Daddy had to go on a super secret mission." Vinnie answered, coming up with a random excuse.
"Did you fight bad guys?" Kaiser asked.
"No buddy, not this time." Vinnie said, giving all of them individual kisses.
He picked Nelly up, who warmed up to him immediately by laying her small head on his shoulder and playing with his curls while her other hand clutched her baby doll that she got on her birthday.
He walked further in to the house to find Aaliyah and Reggie sitting next to each other on one of the couches and his parents sitting on the other. Catherine, the baby, was asleep in her cradle that sat to next to Maria. He couldn't bring himself to look at her for more than two seconds without getting angry. It wasn't her fault, she didn't ask to be brought into this world, but the mere fact that his wife had given birth to, possibly all of his brothers children, enraged him.
Aaliyah looked up from the divorce papers, which she had been staring at since she'd gotten them that morning, to find her possible soon-to-be ex husband in the doorway of the living room with a tear stained face.
"Good, you're back." Maria said, cutting the silence in the room like a piece of cake with a sharp knife.
"Mhm." Vinnie mumbled, wanting to fade into darkness from the intense stare from Aaliyah and Reggie. Nate couldn't be bother by his presence because of the baseball game on the tv.
"Why don't you get some rest for tonight? You've been driving all day." Aaliyah said, hoping he wouldn't blow up from her inserting her opinion.
"Yeah, that's probably best. I want a drink first though and I'm hungry." Vinnie said, giving her a soft smile.
"Do you think it's best to drink alcohol right now son? Trust me, when you're upset it becomes a slippery slope." Nate said, finally giving some attention to Vinnie.
"No, I mean I wanted a Coke or Diet Pepsi or something. Believe me, I know all about drinking and being upset." Vinnie answered, nearly vomiting at the thoughts of alcohol right now. Especially since he'd bought a bottle of JD last night and drank the entire thing.
Nate nodded, turning his attention back to the game and saying no more. Vinnie turned around with Nelly still in his arms when Reggie spoke up, the sound of his voice cutting like glass through Vinnie since he hadn't spoken a word since Vinnie walked in the house.
"There is some Chinese in the kitchen on the counter. It just got here an hour ago because delivery was delayed." Reggie said, watching as his older brother nodded and walked into the kitchen.
