She can feel her heart pounding as she sits up in bed and places her phone on the bedside table. Her hands shake as she takes a deep breath and covers her face with her hands. She sits for a few moments until the bedroom door opens and her boyfriend makes her way into the room to grab his suit jacket.
'Why are you awake, nena? Did I wake you when I got up?' Wilmer asks watching as she shakes her head. As she glances up at him, he can see the tears in her eyes causing him to instantly rush over to her.
'What's going on?' He asks sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulling her into his side as she lets out a shaky breath.
'A-Adam's dead.' She almost whispers.
'What? What do you mean he's dead? He's supposed to be picking the kids up later?' He says as tears begin to stream down her cheeks.
'Marie just phoned me... They found him late last night and there was nothing anyone could do to save him. The paramedics tried and tried to revive him; he took his own life, Wil.' She replies and he tightens his arm around her.
'Oh nena...' He says softly as she turns her head into his chest and begins to cry.
'How am I going to tell the kids? How do I explain to those three little girls that their daddy isn't picking them up this morning, that he'll never be picking them up again. How do I do that, Wilmer?' She asks.
'I don't know, nena. I'm going to go phone work and tell them I can't make it in today.' He says and she shakes her head.
'You can't do that. You have that super important meeting this morning and you can't miss that, Wilmer. I'll be okay; we'll all be okay.' She mumbles causing him to sigh.
'Shit, I forgot about that meeting. I really don't want to leave you to do this on your own.' He says.
'It's okay. I know if you didn't have this meeting you'd be right here.' She replies.
'I'll come home as soon as the meeting is finished, okay?' He says and she nods her head.
'I love you.' She almost whispers.
****
One by one, her daughter's make their way downstairs; first comes three-year-old Bonnie, followed by five-year-old Lyla and finally six-year-old Blake. She fixes them all coco pops for breakfast before taking them all upstairs to snuggle on her bed. She's spent the entire morning going over in her head what she was going to say to them, how she was going to explain this to three little girls who have never experienced loss.
'Remember I was telling you all about my Mimaw?' Demi says softly as she sits down in front of the three little girls who are curled up in her bed.
'She died and went to heaven because she had lived her for a long time and God needed another angel.' Blake replies and Demi nods her head as she places her hand on Blake's leg.
'Yeah. Sometimes people go to heaven to be God's angel when they haven't lived for a long time and that can feel really unfair and it hurts. Last night, daddy died and he became an angel just like my Mimaw.' Demi says softly glancing at each of her daughters and seeing the hurt on Blake and Lyla's faces.
'B-But we were supposed to be going to the cinema today.' Blake says, tears filling her tiny eyes as Demi bites her bottom lip.
'I know, sweetheart.' Demi replies reaching forward to wipe the tears from the little girl's cheeks. Her heart breaks all over again as she watches the three of them sitting in silence, tears streaming down their cheeks.
'I want you three to always remember just how much your daddy loved you, okay? You were and always will be his three little princesses.' Demi says softly. She pulls the three girls into her arms and holds them, tears streaming down her cheeks as she feels them crying against her. They're too little to have already experienced so much pain.
****
Making his way into the bedroom, Wilmer sighs as he sees Demi curled up in bed with Blake and Lyla curled into her side as Bonnie lies practically on top of her and clutches her top in her hand. He notices each of their little cheeks are stained with tears as he adjusts the blanket over the four of them and sighs once again. He knows Adam was troubled and definitely had his issues but he was always the most amazing dad to those three girls making this whole situation even more heartbreaking.
