All My Life

Chapter 71

The next few days Don and Meryl spent recovering at the hospital with their babies; and as soon as their kids got back from Boston they were constantly checking on their parents and younger siblings. Don and Meryl were constantly being checked up on by his parents, Third and Maeve, Liz and Larry and Tom and Diane who were released the same day as the Gummers with Diane being ordered to rest; and Rosaleen being watched closely. Don and Meryl were so happy to be home with their babies. All the kids wanted to come over, but they wanted  to get used to being in the apartment again with each other, Margaret and Bradley. They assured their families that they were fine; they had gone through this before and they knew what they needed to do for each other and their family. They had talked to security of their apartment building in Tribeca, and while those who had threatened them were dead they were still taking extra precautions and Don set a new code on the alarm system as soon as they got home. He and Meryl then promised they would talk to everyone later. Don and Meryl quickly took the babies up to their bedroom as soon as they got home so she could nurse. After Meryl nursed she excused herself to go to the bathroom. Don sat on the bed looking into the bassinets, talking to his sleeping babies. "It's kind of hard to be back here isn't it my little heroes? Last time we were here we taken from our home, from Mommy; and it was pretty scary. Some awful things were done to both of you and your mommy; but now we're all home and we can start to heal together. It's going to take awhile before Mommy and Daddy will leave you alone in a room here at the apartment. I am just so grateful it wasn't worse. I am so grateful that those psychotic bastards are dead; and that I won't pass any diseases onto you and your mommy and the rest of our family. I can't tell you how relieved I am; and how much that helps us to move forward."

"Well Don, I'm sorry you had to wait on me to heal; and make sure I didn't give you anything because I was raped and you weren't." Meryl said walking back into the bedroom from the bathroom; having heard what he said to the babies. "It must be nice that you don't have to live in fear of being raped every damn day for over 30 years."

Don was shocked by her outburst, this was not his wife; he had no idea what happened. He got up and walked towards his wife. "Darl? I..."

"It's not you, Don Man." Meryl burst into tears when she saw the look of pain and utter devastation on her husband's face and she immediately ran to the door. "I'm sorry, baby; I'm so incredibly sorry."

Don stood there for a moment not knowing what to think; he sure as hell didn't know what had just happened and where that came from. He knew one thing, he couldn't leave her alone; he needed to find out what was going on. He was questioning himself. Had he missed something with her? She had been so loving and supportive; she had most definitely been his rock just as she always was. Had she been hurting because of what happened to her with Mann and yet he missed it? He knew he had to find out. He had been married long enough to know there were times when he should leave his wife alone; and that there were times when he should go after her. This was definitely one of those times when he needed to go after her; if not for her, then for him. He went over and picked up Margaret in one arm, and Bradley in the other arm. "Come on my loves, let's go and find your mommy."

***

Don didn't think his wife had gone down to the den; he knew they were both avoiding that room because that was the room he and the babies were taken from. He didn't have to wonder where she was for very long as he just followed the sound of her crying; his heart hurt that she wasn't just crying, she was sobbing.  He followed the sounds to Henry's room; that was when he knew this was about Mann and what that bastard did to her. He went over and laid the babies on the bed, and then sat down next to his wife, immediately taking her into his arms. "I'm here, sweetheart; baby, are you okay? What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Don; I'm so sorry." Meryl shook her head crying. "That wasn't aimed at you; you didn't deserve that. I know you weren't raped, thank God, but you were sexually assaulted and tortured and traumatized. My God, you're still healing. I'm so unbelievably sorry."