Never There ~ A Jelsa Story~

Twenty One; Packing

Sunday had finally come. The day that I would leave my husband forever. I put all of Tyler's clothes into one little suitcase, and then moved on to Maya and Amber's bag. They mostly shared each other's clothes, so they had a shared one to save space.

"Mummy, are we going on a trip?" Maya asked, and I nodded.

"We're going on a long trip, just us five. It'll be like it is when we stay at Belle's house, only with a man called Michael."

"I don't like the sound of him. He doesn't sound like Daddy. Will he try to hurt us?" Amber said quietly, and I shook my head.

"No, he is lovely. Daddy isn't coming, because he has fallen in love with someone else, like your fairy stories."

"But you are his princess, Mummy."

"Not anymore, honey. I'm sorry, it wasn't anything to do with me. I need you all to get your favourite things and put them in the bag I give you." I gave each of my children a bag, except for Jewel, who was sitting on my bed, watching us all with interest. "Off you go, sweethearts!"

Once they had gone, I started going through my own treasures. I put my wedding ring into a velvet box and put it in my suitcase, so that it wouldn't get damaged or lost. After a while, my drawers were completely empty, and I zipped my own bag shut. 

"Mummy, I'm done!" Tyler said, running into my room. 

"Excellent, well done!" I smiled, and Tyler smiled back, but then his smile faded as he realised the circumstances once again.

"Has Daddy really stopped loving us?" 

I hesitated. It was true - he had stopped loving me and the kids, in his own little way. "He loves you, I'm sure Tyler. It is just that he loves Rapunzel mor-" I stopped. In the first couple of years, it was only Tyler and me, and Jack was at work some of the time, so Rapunzel, then my friend, came to help me, and when I was tired, she would feed Tyler with his little bottle. Tyler adored her. And now I had told him that his favourite person, after his parents and his aunt, had been the one to split our family up. 

"It was... Auntie Punzie?" he whispered, tears forming in his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to make them go away, but in doing so, he made them fall. 

I remembered how I had felt all those years ago, crying in front of Jack, and realised that he was trying to hide his sadness for me. "Sweetie, I'm going through the same as you. If you're sad, I'm sad too. Why don't we have a little sad session, eh?" He nodded, and he let me pick him up. I placed him on my lap, and stroked his blonde hair. After a while, he looked up at me, and I saw that tears were streaming down his face. I wiped them away with my other hand, and I hugged him tight. "I'll never let you go, Tyler. Daddy might have, but I never will. You were the reason I decided to have Jewel, Maya and Amber. I thought that I would never want a son, or a daughter, and when I heard I was having you, I was scared. I thought it would all go wrong, but it hasn't, see? And we can do it again, just like before. We'll get through it together."

Tyler smiled and hugged me back. "Thanks Mummy." He jumped from my lap onto the floor and went out of the room. 

"Shall I make you all something to eat?" I asked the children, and Maya walked into my bedroom.

"Yes, please! What are we having?"

"Pizza! Please, pizza, Mummy?" Tyler exclaimed, and I grinned.

"Okay, let's make our last meal at this house a nice takeaway. Ty, what would you like?"

"Pepperoni pizza!" he replied, and I frowned. 

"Maya and Amber don't like spicy foods, love," I told him.

"Can we have normal pizza? Cheese and tomato?" Maya asked me.

"Sure. We can get one normal pizza, and one pepperoni pizza. Maya and Amber can have cheese and tomato, and Tyler and I will have the pepperoni."

 I placed the order and soon the kids were impatiently looking at the door. "Hurry up!" Eventually, the meal arrived and we all started tucking into the takeaway. We retired to the sofa to watch a film, and the hours passed.

"Maya, wake up, sweetie, we are leaving soon. Amber, tidy away your things now, there's a good girl, we need to say goodbye to our house! Ty, my love, don't be so rough with the furniture, please, Daddy is still going to live here, remember? Let's walk through memory lane, shall we?"

Once we had said goodbye to the rooms that the kids had lived in all their lives, we set the note out on the table. Tyler read the letter and sighed at it sadly. Maya sat at the window, watching to see a car draw up, hoping to catch a glimpse of her new father. 

"So, Michael is going to pick us up, with all our things, just down the road. We don't want Daddy to suspect anything, and he can't if he doesn't see the car. Ty, can you carry your own suitcase? Good boy. Maya, carry yours and your sisters' little bags. Ammie, wheel this travel bag. We'll have to make two trips. Come on, let's do the first one." We set off down the road, and placed our luggage in a small bush. "It'll be fine here, let's get the next lot." I carried Jewel and I wheeled the pram, while Tyler took my suitcase. We arrived back at the bush and waited for Michael to arrive. 

Thoughts raced through my mind. What if Michael didn't come? What if Jack came back home early, and chased us down? Luckily, the silver car appeared in sight soon, and Michael helped me load the car. 

"Hey, honey! How are we gonna get this lot inside? There's a baby, for heaven's sake, two little girls, a boy and you and me. The boy can get in now, slide up right to the window. Then Maya, is it, pop in, then you, Amber. Where's Jewel going to go? She can't be in the driver's seat. Which one of you's gonna hold little one?"

"Me, oh, me, please, Mummy!" Maya called out, and I nodded,

"She's the most gentle, and she's in the middle, so if anything goes wrong, Amber and Ty can help. Here you go, May, careful with my baby!" I handed my daughter over to her, and she cradled her little sister gently. I got into the passenger seat and soon the car started. We were really running away, and there was no going back!