A Summer Storm

Chapter 1

"Oak, what's wrong with Aspen?" mom asks she enters January and Aspen's nursery.

Glancing up at her from my five month old son, who I'm bouncing gently in my arms trying to calm him down and back to sleep. "He's gasy, sorry that he distrubed you, mom," I answer over my son's calming down cries.

Mom nods as she walks further into the room to gently kiss Aspen on his forehead as she gently brushes her hand over the top of his short dirty blond hair.

"Sweet dreams baby boy," she whispers to him before asking me; "Did you give him his gas medicine?"

"Yeah, I gave it to him when I figured out what the problem was." Mom hums at me in response before walking out of the nursery quietly as Aspen falls back asleep.

I stay swaying for several more minutes to make absolute sure that he's in a deep enough sleep for me to lay him back in his crib; before checking on January before leaving their room and shutting the door partway.

Heading to my bedroom to finish my schoolwork, I stop at mom's bedroom door when she calls out my name.

"Yes, mom?" I ask her leaning against her door while staring at her.

"Do you know how proud I am of you for taking care of your babies, still go to school and work as much as you can to provide for them?" she asks staring intently at me with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Thanks, mama, I appreciate that," I whisper back afraid that if I spoke any louder, I would cry.

I feel like I'm failing not only at being her son but also as a father to my two beautiful five month old baby boy's and still deal with the loss of their other father, Owen, whose been out of our lives well before Aspen and January were born.

Owen died when I was six months pregnant with the boy's and we were both still over the moon about the pregnancy, the fact we were having twins and the biggest joy was that we were having identical twin boy's. When Owen died we had known for a month what the babies genders.

Owen and I were out on a date Saturday night, we had just walked out of the resturant we had gone too and we were walking hand in hand to Owen's car when a vehicle drove by slowly. The next thing I remembered was the searing pain in my shoulder and forearm and seeing Owen lying on the ground bleeding from his chest and neck.

I had managed to fish my phone out of my pocket and dial 9-1-1 as I knelt next to Owen trying to stop his bleeding dispite my own. Ten very long minutes later the paramedics had arrived and took over the situation with Owen and myself as the police tried to contain the small crowd that was gathered around us and take statements from anyone who might have seen anything as one of the police officers took my statement as the paramedic stopped my bleeding before Owen and I were trasnported to the hospital. On the way as the paramedics worked on us, I was allowed to call my parent and Owen's.

Owen had died clutching my hand, during the transport from where we were shot and to the hospital. The paramedics tried everything that they could and when we arrived, I was taken from the ambulance via stretcher with an oxygen mask over my face and my mom was there as was Owen's mom and dad despite them being divorced; I had only called him mom. Mom went inside the hospital with me as his parents stayed behind to be told of Owen's death.

His parents arrived in my hospital room sometime later, due to my wounds being stiched up and mom was the only one allowed in the room with me. As soon as his parents walked into the room and I saw their tear-streaked faces, I instantly start bawling all over again as the scampered across the room; holding hands to hug me as gently as they could as all four of us cried together.