My Heaven And My Hell

It's my Birthday 9/7/2000

There's no time for us
There's no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams
Yet slips away from us? -Queen

Jenny's POV

I wake to Mary crying in her bassinet. I roll out of bed with a sigh and pick her up.
"Good morning little light of my life." I smile at her and she smiles back. "Just melt my heart why don't you." I coo. Holding her in one arm I grab a diaper and her wipes. After I change her I sit on my bed and feed her. I can hear my kids stirring in their room and then the door crashes open .
"Happy Birthday Momma!" Charlie hollers.
"Happy Birthday Momma" Lizzy says around her thumb.
"Thank you so much babies." I giggle. "You're both are so sweet." I finish feeding the baby and walk to the kitchen. "What do you two want for breakfast?"
"Whatever you want Momma it's your birthday." Charlie says smiling big.
"Ok I think I want eggs, bacon, and toast." I lay the baby in her bassinet that I had pulled into the livingroom. As I'm pulling out everything to make breakfast I hear a knock at the door.
I open the door a crack and peek out.
"Hi Nikki." I smile but I'm really surprised to see him.
"Can I come in?" He asks giving me a smirk.
"Umm sure yeah come in." I open the door wider and let him in.
"Hey Charlie and Lizzy. How are you?" He greets my kids with a smile.
"It's Momma's birthday." He happily shares that fact. Lizzy bobs her head agreeing with him. He sees the things out I was about to cook.
"No, No, the birthday girl shouldn't have to make her own breakfast." He grins. "Let me take you all out."
"Ok I guess. That sounds like fun." The kids help put things away. Charlie takes off to his bedroom to get dressed dragging his sister with him. I take the baby to get us both dressed. No sooner do I come out of the bedroom. Here comes Charlie chasing lizzy her screaming.
"No pants, no pants!"
"Lizzy" I reprimand "Let's put your pants on." I take her pants from my son and corner her.
"No pants." She snuffles.
"Awe I don't blame her I don't like pants either." Nikki sighs dramatically. "Do you like pancakes?"
"Yeah." She cocks her head at him.
"Well if you finish getting dressed you can have pancakes."
"Ok" she takes her pants from me and happily pulls them on. After getting everyone dressed we head for his Jeep parked outside.
"That's quite the smooth bit of bribery." I wink at Nikki. He helps me get the kids buckled, then we hit the road. We eat at a little hole in wall diner. I like places like this they always seemed to have so much character. The kids are contentedly eating their pancakes as I watch them and smile. I don't know what I would have done without them after my husband passed away.
"You like." Nikki asks bringing me out of my own head.
"Yes" I give his hand a slight squeeze. "Thanks for dragging me out."
"My pleasure" he touches my cheek. I blush as we make eye contact. We finish eating and talked for little while skipping from topic to topic until the the kids got restless. We wrangle the little monsters who are now sugared up with syrup and chocolate chip pancakes back into his Jeep. As we drive back we sit in a comfortable silence the kids had dosed off in the backseat. Once home we get everyone inside and laid down for a nap.
"I'd like to stay, but I have to meet the boys at the recording studio." He leans against my doorframe.
"I understand, you stopping by and taking us breakfast was so sweet of you." I gave him a big hug. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He squeezes me back. We pull away from each other.
"I'll see you later." He says I close the door quietly behind him as he leaves.
My day goes by quickly taking care of kids, getting birthday cards in the mail from my parents and siblings. Studying for my GED. Working on something I've been writing. And of course getting the best birthday drawings ever from my kids.
It was after nine and I'd just gotten the children to sleep. I was thinking I should probably go to bed too, when I hear a knock at the door and see a familiar face.
"Nikki." I smile and let him in.
"I wanted to bring you something." He places a small box in my hand. "Open it." He urges. I open it and inside is a gold bracelet with sapphires. "Happy Birthday Jenny."
"Thank you It's beautiful." I hug him tight. "But you shouldn't buy things like this for me. What would your wife think?" I try to give it back.
"Oh no you don't." He takes it from me and fastens it on my wrist. "You're my friend. I think I can give a gift to my friend." Our eyes meet and I'm lost. He pulls me close and kisses me softly. My arms go around his neck and I kiss him back. He bites my lower lip making me moan and picking me up he heads for my bedroom. He lays me down on my bed and settles on on top of me. His lips against mine so intoxicating. I feel as he slips his hand underneath my night shirt and strokes my thigh. I break the kiss.
"No Nikki. You're married." I tried to sqirm away. He keeps me pinned under him and gently touches my cheek.
"What if I no longer want to be." He softly kisses my neck.
"I don't think that counts." I whimper. He finally rolls unto his back beside me. I already miss his weight.
"I'm sorry Jenny." He sighs "I don't know what's going through my head. I guess I should go." He pulls me into a hug and then gets up to leave. I move to follow.
"No I can see myself out." I watch as he walks down the hall and out my front door.

Author's note someone told me this is the day Nikki's Sister passed. RIP Lisa