Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 5

Carrying his sleeping son out of the room, Mike saw that Alexis was carrying Ara and leading Mira by the hand towards her own bedroom.

He leaned against the wall and watched as Alexis laid down a sleeping Ara on the bed beside her older sister, his heart tugging slightly at how Mira wrapped a protective arm around Ara.
Alexis covered up his daughters with a blue comforter and kissed each girl goodnight.

Coming back into the hallway, Alexis met his gaze with a unimpressed look.

"What?" He asked.

"No tact. None," she replied. "Zero."

"You sound like my wife."

Alexis shook her head and muttered something under her breath.

Pointing towards Marvin, she said, "He's only been asleep for an hour or so. Put him down now and he might just sleep through the night. If you don't, he'll wake up soon and then you can deal with him all night long."

Mike nodded and asked, "Are the girls sleeping?"

"Mira's trying to and Ara pretty much cried herself to sleep."

"Car," Marvin mumbled in his sleep again.

Laughing softly, Alexis pulled the small boy from his father and went to lay him back in the crib.

She came back and saw that Mike was staring at the girls with a sad expression on his face. "Mike, why don't you go lay down with your daughters? Catch on some sleep," she suggested tentatively.

He shook his head and said, "Nah, it's alright. I'm okay."

"Go Michael," she encouraged. "Lie down with the girls at least even if you can't sleep. Just....just be there for your daughters. This won't be the last time they'll need you like this, so get used to it."

Mike sighed and hit his lip. "Uh.... I'll just spend the night on the couch or on the bed in the spare bedroom. Why don't you go lie down with the girls instead? It is, after all, your bed."

"Do you enjoy being this impossible?" Alexis asked, exasperated.

"Miller, my wife is dying. I think I've earned the right to be impossible at the moment."

Rolling her eyes, Alexis left him at the couch and got two beers from the kitchen. She took the armchair facing Mike and asked, "How was Delphina at the hospital?"

"Scolding me for screaming at the doctor." Mike took a long swing of his beer and asked, "Do you think I'm making a mistake by bringing her back home?"

"It'll be easier on the children," Alexis said, nodding slightly. "Will you be okay with her back in the house?"

"I never had a problem with Delphina being in the house. I had a problem with us fighting like it was World War Three over  everything. She is a wonderful friend when she wants to be one. But, before, most days all I heard was how she didn't want three children but just the one son to prove that she had an heir. Oh, and there were her complains over how I hadn't joined my father's already flourished business but had ventured into my own, etc, etc, etc," Mike finished, dragging a hand across his face. "We never should have married!"

Alexis snorted at the last statement. "Yep, I know how that one goes."

Mike let out a wry laugh and said, "Oh yea. I forgot about Smith."

"Oh please! You didn't forget."

"Hmmm, maybe I didn't," Mike snarked, looking around her condo. "Will you ever move back into a real house?"

She shrugged, taking a sip of her beer. "Maybe not. It's only me and I don't need much space," she said. "Also, I doubt our definitions of a 'real house' match considering you live in a seven bedroom place that also has a separate attic and study. It's a mini-manor, I'm telling you."

The two friends locked eyes and shared a much needed laugh before silence overcame them.

"Do you....Do you think Mira meant what she said?" Mike asked out of the blue. "That I only stayed married to Delphina because it's bad form to divorce a dying woman?"

"I think, she's a teenage girl who is about to lose her mother. You can't take her words seriously right now, she's just upset."

Mike looked over at Alexis, his emerald eyes seemed defeated and forlorn. "But what if she's right?"

"Both you and Delphina made the decision to not go through with the divorce until she was done with her treatment," Alexis replied calmly. "Back then you didn't know that she was d-dying for certain. You made the right decision, Mike."

Brushing a hand over his eyes, Mike whispered raggedly, "All I wanted was a divorce. I....I never wanted her to die." He laid down on the couch and Alexis quickly draped a blanket over him.

"Mira knows that. She's tired, confused and visibly sad. Don't take her words to heart, " Alexis soothed him. "Your daughter still loves you Mike, please don't think otherwise."

That was all the encouragement Mike seemed to need at the moment and he slowly drifted off to sleep.