I Tried To Stay •Ronnie Radke Love Story• (completed)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Our second girl, Willow Radke, was born around seven and a half months later. Ronnie was at the store getting Lilly some cough medicine. I had to wait for him to get home while I waddled around, cleaning up the kitchen. I had a lot of time and then my contractions started kicking in. Lilly was clueless and sick. I ended up having to call Ryan because no one in my band was answering the phone.

"Hey, Kar. How's the preggy coming?" He said casually.

"Well, Lilly is sick as a dog and my water just broke."

"What???"

"Ronnie left his phone here and I think that we are going to have to have someone watch her. Do you mind watching her? She just has a sore throat and is sleeping on the couch. All you need to do is bring her water and heat her up soup. I also hope you like Disney movies because that's what she wants on."

"I-I'll be right there." He says before hanging up on me. 

My contractions are painful, but I'm managing the pain. 

Ronnie comes home with an array of kinds of medicine. "I didn't know what to get." He says looking at me. "So I got everything."

"Good enough." I start looking at what he got. "She usually takes this and she won't take anything grape flavored."

"I get that." He chuckles.

Just then Ryan bursts in the house, out of breath. "I'm here!"

Ronnie gives him a weird look then looks at me. "Okay...?"

"My water broke and I'm having contractions. Lilly was a quick labor, so I thought that he should watch Lilly while I give birth." I shrug.

"Wait, what?" Ronnie gives me a crazy look.

"Let's go." I roll my eyes.

As predicted, it was a quick labor. Willow turned out fine, despite my binge drinking in the early pregnancy. 

Jake and the rest of the band showed up later at the hospital. They were mad at first, but collectively agreed that everything would work out. And it did. 

Ronnie proposed at a rare weekend we had off from the kids on stage at a music festival we both were preforming at. I refused to get married for another two years because I was pregnant again, this time with a boy. We named him Anthony, after Ronnie's brother who passed not long after Willow turned a year old. 

Our wedding was simple and my mom finally accepted Ronnie as her new son. And then Ronnie and I had just two more kids, Zed and Eva. My band stopped touring, but created music. We started doing short week-long tours and music festivals because it was easier for everyone since it was a steady flow of money and our music was still being listened to. Ronnie's band stayed strong too, but he toured a lot. It was hard, by Ryan kept an eye on him for me. I guess after years of womanizing, he got over it. He didn't want to loose his wife and five kids over some cheap groupie. He jokes around and called me the Kourtney Kardashian of rock music.

And damn. I never would have seen this coming. Five kids?! Five kids. Crazy. I went from a rock star to a star mom with some rock star tendencies. After Willow was born, I didn't get drunk often. After Eva was born, I don't drink at all anymore. Somehow my life managed to work out. Who would have thought a fucked up relationship starting off with drugs, alcohol, and the rocker life would have ended with Ronnie and I both being sober and living a semi-suburban life in LA? 

Life isn't about getting drunk, or high. Life isn't about cutting to cope with pain. Life is about meaning something to someone, and with my kids, Ronnie, my band, my close friends, and masses of fans, I mean something to many someones. Even the most fucked up runnaway rock star having three kids without a husband can be happy and healthy when it really comes down to it.