Letters to Isabella

thirty seven.

Laura's POV

"Did you find out any information?" I nervously asked Ross after what felt like hours of us both standing in the kitchen peeling potatoes ignoring the pandering question of, 'what happened to Dean's father?'

Ross turned to me and sighed, placing one of the potatoes into the bowl of water below us and simultaneously reaching to grab another one. "If I tell you..." he began, turning towards the kitchen door to make sure that nobody was going to walk in unannounced. "you have to promise me that you won't tell a soul."

I stared at him in shock.

What had he found out?

Was there more to the story than Dean's father had let on?

Timidly I nodded my head and linked my pinky finger up with his. "You have my word."

He nodded back to me and cautiously glanced over at the kitchen door once more. With a sigh I walked over to it and closed it gently with the palm of my hand before returning back to my now pale in the face husband. I placed my hands on either side of his shoulders and sat him down by the kitchen table. "Talk to me." I murmured, running my hands through his messy blonde hair. "What did you find out?"

Ross gulped and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, pressing his index finger firmly into his forehead. "There was this nurse." He began, still looking like he was scanning his brain for the information he'd most likely locked away. "She seemed normal enough at first. I actually kind of felt weary around her." He paused and stared at me as he began to shake his head. "But then she took me into this room... and she admitted to me that Dean's father is alive. He's out there somewhere Laura, but he's paid people to keep quiet and cover up his disappearance by staging a crime scene for the police to investigate."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're telling me that he's shipped his children off to foster homes just so he can escape and start a new life?" Ross nodded his head in agreement. I shook my head in disgust and held my hand over my mouth. "How could someone do that?" I asked quietly, to which Ross simply buried his head into his hands. "How could a father give up on his own children like that?"

I then began to think of Isabella and how much Dean's disappearance had affected her. They were best friends, possibly even a little bit more than that towards the end of their time together and now he'd simply vanished into thin air. There was absolutely no way of tracing him or linking him up to anyone else besides his father. It would be impossible to find him, especially considering the lengths his father had gone to in order to cover his tracks and stage his own murder.

"Bella misses him." I gently explained to Ross who calmly looked up at me with exhaustion in his dark brown eyes. "I keep telling her that he'll come back but..." I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence.

Ross placed his hand on top of mine and let out a long awaited sigh. "I know he meant a lot to her and still does." He murmured. The both of us were trying to keep our voices down, you never know who could be listening in this house. "But she'll move on eventually Laur. She'll have to. I have no idea where his father is let alone Dean himself."

I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and nodded my head slowly. "You're right." I whispered, bowing my head in sadness. "We can't spend our days and nights searching for them. We have jobs, a family and most importantly a baby on the way."

Ross smiled at the mention of our baby. That was the first time I'd seen him smile in a long time. "I can't wait to meet him or her."

I placed my hands on top of my now visible stomach. A small bump had grown over the last two weeks and although nobody except Ross and I had noticed we knew that sooner or later we'd have to tell the whole family, not just our close friends. "Neither can I." I replied. "I'm really going to appreciate and enjoy every single second of this pregnancy."

Ross raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

I smiled and traced my fingers gently across my stomach. "Well, for one, we aren't teenagers anymore. It's legal." I joked, which surprisingly made Ross laugh. "And secondly..." I paused and bit my lip. "this will probably be my last pregnancy."

Ross stared at me. He didn't smile, he didn't frown; he was simply emotionless. "Last pregnancy?" He repeated in a monotone voice, almost as if he didn't understand what I'd said.

I nodded. "Well... yes." I murmured. "Three kids is a perfect amount to have, don't you think?"

"I guess." Ross murmured back, still completely expressionless.

I wrapped his hand up in my own and titled his chin up to allow his eyes to meet my own. "Ross, Bella is going to be a teenager in a couple of years and Bailey isn't long behind her. This baby that we're about to have is a blessing and although we're still young we have to appreciate the fact that our children are growing up and having more babies will only take our attention away from what we've already created."

He nodded slowly and stroked his hand across my cheek. "I suppose you're right." He then glanced down at my stomach and managed to smile. "Okay then, last Lynch baby it is."

After a few moments of silence I finally asked the question that I knew had been on both of our minds since we even found out that I was pregnant.

"When are we going to tell your parents?"

***

a/n

hey you guys! just a little update for you.

do you think Ross and Laura will really keep to their last baby rule? & what do you think the gender will be?

all my love,

b x