Chances That You're Burning Through

Original | Chapter Six

~Demi's POV~

It's Monday morning, three days after the paps mobbed us outside that restaurant. We finally completed Anabelle's room yesterday. She was so ecstatic. I loved knowing that I brought joy to her life for once instead of indirect pain. When we returned home from the restaurant that day, Rebecca couldn't stop telling me about how much she loves having an older sister. To be honest, I'm relieved. I was so worried that Rebecca or Bri would act bitter towards Anabelle, especially since Anabelle's also my biological daughter, but only Rebecca knows that. I feel as if Bri is too young to understand. As the girls sleep soundlessly upstairs, Wilmer and I are cuddled on the couch. He's flipping through the television channels when a glimpse of E! News gains my attention.

"Wait," I almost yell, untangling myself from him to fully sit up, my focus on the screen.

I've startled him. I would laugh if I wasn't being serious. The channel lands on one of those annoying yet addictive home shopping channels. I almost groan with frustration.

"Go back to E!," I order, resisting the urge to smack him.

"Demi Lovato and Wilmer Valderrama were recently spotted leaving a restaurant with their two kids and an unknown girl. Take a look," a too perky blonde says, before blown up images of all of us-including Anabelle-flash across the screen.

Now I emit a groan, collapsing into the couch.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I mutter to myself. 

"Dems?" 

"What?" I snap.

"It's not that bad." 

I gape at him. Before I can retort, the blonde on the screen starts to speak again.

"So, who is the mysterious girl? Also, take a look at who left the restaurant just mere minutes before the Lovato-Valderrama family."  

My jaw drops as I see pictures of my long time ex and his girlfriend or whomever on my television. He was in the same restaurant as us, as Anabelle. There are pictures of Anabelle now; She's no longer a secret. 

"How can you say that's not bad?" I shriek, momentarily forgetting about the girls sleeping upstairs. 

"He doesn't know, Demi! There's no possible way he could know just by looking at pictures of her on his television," Wilmer reassures in a slightly frustrated tone.

I know I'm exaggerating and acting paranoid, but I've always feared that something like this would happen; that he would try to take my daughter away from me again. 

"We can't let her know," I quietly state, tears blurring my vision. "He-He thinks she doesn't exist. I need to keep it that way. I need-" A sob manages to escape my lips, cutting off my sentence. 

Wilmer wraps his arms around me, bringing me closer to him. 

"It's going to be okay, Demi. It's all going to be okay," He murmurs. 

"How can you say that?" I choke out. "You don't know what's going to happen. For all you know, he could already be putting two and two together or-or Anabelle could start questioning her past. You don't know everything, Wilmer." 

"I may not know everything, but I do know that we have no control over what'll happen. Like you said, Joe doesn't even know Anabelle exists. He thinks you had an abortion before treatment. You told me that yourself. As for Anabelle, she doesn't know that you and Joe are her biological parents. You need to calm down, Dems."

 I gulp down large mouthfuls of air, willing myself to stop sobbing. Wilmer's right; I'm overreacting. There's no way that Anabelle knows that Joe and I are her parents, just like there's no way for Joe to know that Anabelle is his daughter. Guilt stabs at my subconscious as I clearly recall the evening that I lied to Joe about Anabelle's fate.