Childhood

3

TONI POV:

"Toni." There is a tap on my bed. I sit up at Sarah. "What?" She looks down. "Sorry if I woke you up." She starts to walk out. I get up. "No, no, no, no, no, no! It's ok. It's 7, so we can stay up, just need to quiet." We walk to her room. She sits on the bed. "What's wrong?" I ask quietly. "Why do you caudal me?" She ask quietly. "Because I know what you're going through, sweetheart." I move hair out of her face. "What do you mean?" She ask quietly. "My mom died when I was your age and I've never met my dad." I hold back tears. I cup her cheeks. "Is that why you adopted me? So you could live through me?" She ask. "No! We adopted you because we love you." I tell her. "You're just saying that." She whispers. "No! Not at all. You and Jason are the best things to happen to me. Besides Cheryl obviously she's the love of my life." I joke. She laughs softly for the first time since she got here. "I love you mom." She whispers. I look at her in shock. I smile. "What?" I ask in shock. "I love you?" She questions. "No the other part!" I Insist. "Mom?" I smile. "Cheryl owe me 20 bucks. Yes!" I celebrate. "What is happening?" She ask quietly. "Nothing." I whisper. There's a knock on the door, I turn around. Jason walks over to us. "I'm hungry." He whispers. "Let's get some breakfast." We all go downstairs. "What do you kiddos want?" I ask they both sit down. "Pan cakes!" I shush them. "Mom is still sleeping." I whisper. "Where are the glasses?" Sarah ask. I turn around to her. I grab her one. "What do you want?" I ask. "We have water and milk and well, water." I realize we don't have anything in this house. "I'll take water." She whispers awkwardly. I grab her glass and get her some water. "Do you want ice?" I ask. "No, it's to cold." She whispers. "Straw?" She nods. I grab one and give it to her. "Also I would like if my pan cakes weren't burnt." Jason smiles. I look back at the pan cakes that are now burning. "Oh shit!" I whisper to myself. I get them of the stove and get them on a separate plate. "God!" I turn around to the kids. "There's a reason why your mom does the cooking." I say more to myself than them. "That's it! We're going to Pops!" They both get a go to their rooms to get dressed. We get "So you guys want Pan cakes?" I ask. They both nod. "Ok." We order and talk about everything. I get a text from Cheryl saying she's going to meet us here. Once she gets here she sits next to Jason. "Hey." She whispers. "You ok?" I ask. "We'll talk when we get home." She takes my hand. "Ok." I drink my coffee. "Are you ok?" She ask quietly. I smirk. "Yeah." I say very happily. She pulls me closer. "Are you high?" She ask. I look to make sure the kids aren't paying attention, they're just eating and talking. "Sarah called me mom." She smiles. "You owe me." Her face drops. "You're right." She whispers. We look at our kids. "This is the happiest I've been in a long time." I say quietly. "Same." I kiss her hand. "Ewww!" Jason and Sarah say grossed out. "Oh shut up!" I joke. Sarah lies her head into me. I rap my arm around her and smile. "What- what are we doing today?" She ask quietly. "Well we're going to look at some schools for both of you." Cheryl says nervously. "No!" Sarah yells. "Hey, it's ok!" I whisper. I look at Cheryl concerned. "I need to poop." Jason speaks up.

"Why have you been paying more attention to Sarah now that she's here?" Jason ask quietly. "Because she needs to get used to everything." I finish buttoning his shirt. "She also has some stuff from her childhood that's haunting her." I tell him. "I just wish we could spend more time together." He tells me sadly. "Ok, well Sarah has therapy tomorrow. How about we go to the park tomorrow during that time?" He nods happily. "Yeah." He smiles. "Come on lets get your teeth brushed and your hair done." He groans. "I know you hate it, we'll brush your teeth first to get it over with." We go to the bathroom, he puts the lid to the toilet down and sits on it. I get his toothbrush ready and sit in front of him. "Do you want to do this or want me to?" I ask calmly. "You." He whispers shyly. "Ok but you can't bite me. I'm not doing that with you again." I tell him quietly. "Ok." I help him brush his teeth. He pulls away and grunts. "It's ok." I whisper. He tries to bite down on the brush. "No!" I yell. He gets hold of the brush and throws it. "Jason." I look at him frustrated. "It's uncomfortable." He whispers. "I know bud. But you need to do this." I whisper. "You're lucky we're done." I get his cup and let him rinse his mouth out. "I'm sorry." He whispers after spitting out the water. "I know." I grab the hair jell. Cheryl walks in while I do Jason's hair. "I heard yelling." Cheryl looks at me. "Everything ok?" She ask. I nod. "Yeah." Jason gets up and walks out. "He threw his toothbrush across the room." I say as I wash my hands. "That's the third one this week. Something is up with him." She whispers. "What did you want to talk to me about, at breakfast?" I ask quietly. She gets quiet. "Cheryl?" She looks down. "The hospital called..." I sit down. "Apparently my mom died from a heart attack." She says way to calmly. "Cheryl..." I trail off. "It's fine. I hated her." She whispers. "She's still your mother!" I insist. "I hated her! I still hate her!" She yells. "Cheryl don't yell, I have a headache." I whisper. "Sorry." She sits on the step stool Jason never uses. "I never got to know my mom. I'm not trying to be rude or piss you off but, you should be lucky you knew your mom. Even if she made your life hell." I whisper. "When's her funeral?" I ask. "Probably next week." She shrugs. "I don't know I'm not planning it." She whispers. "You should go! say goodbye and everything else you could never say to her face." I joke. She smiles. "Than there's nothing to say. Because I told her how felt especially after I turned 18." I cup her cheek. "How late were you up with Sarah last night?" She changes the subject. "Pretty much all night, it was fine just had to wake her up from like five nightmares." I say causally. "It's going to be hard to get used to our new lives. It's going to be ok." She whispers. "I know. It's a learning curve and a adjustment period." I kiss Cheryl. "Ewww!" Both of our kids whine. "Is this a thing?" We both get up. I pick up Jason and we all go downstairs.