Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 15

That evening, Alexis decided it would be better to just visit her parents instead of a phone call.

Entering her childhood home, she hugged her father tightly and asked, "How've you been?"

"We're fine, but we'd have been better if you'd brought along two adorable little munchkins and one sassy teenage girl," William Miller replied with a smirk.

Alexis sighed and said, "Yes, well, I have a feeling you're gonna see a lot more of them in your near future."

Walking into the kitchen, Alexis gave her mother a quick hug and slouched down on a chair, feeling exhausted.

"Are you alright sweetheart?" Faith Miller asked her daughter, concerned.

"Yes, it's just been a very long week."

"It's only Wednesday," her mother countered.

"Trust me Mom, I'm aware."

William draped an arm around Alexis and squeezed her shoulders. "Tell Daddy what's wrong and he'll fix it in a second." Tall and muscular with blue eyes and black hair, William Miller had been quite a looker during his younger days.

"I'm not sure you can fix this Dad," Alexis replied with a sad laugh.

"We can try, at least," her father said. "If it's something to do with remodeling a house you know your Dad is the man. Is your problem something to do with a repair by any chance?"

Laughing at her father, who was an architect by profession, Alexis shook her head, "My condo and my office are both just fine Dad. I just don't know how to say what I'm about to say."

"Try at the beginning," Faith offered. An interior designer by profession, Faith looked just like her daughter with the same heart shaped face and chocolate brown eyes.......eyes that brought great comfort to Alexis whenever she looked at them. "The beginning, sweetie, is often the best place to start."

Alexis inhaled deeply and looked from one parent to the other. "Alright then. Delphina's doctor said that they can't do anything more for her and she has some three or so months left. Mike's gone completely over the edge due to this and his daughters are obviously devastated. However, this isn't even the half of what's happened - Delphina has asked me to adopt the kids and eventually move into the house. She got all the papers ready and signed over her rights to the kids even. And.....well, this afternoon I had lunch with Mike where I agreed to her plea and signed those damn adoption papers. Congrats......you are now actual grandparents to Mirabelle, Arabelle and Marvin Watson."

She ended her speech and looked down, waiting for the scolding that was surely coming her way.

Her father, however, looked at her pensively and asked, "So, what did you have for lunch?"

"Seriously!" Alexis exclaimed. "Out of all that I said, you want to know what I had for lunch?!"

"Just curious," William said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Alexis turned towards her mother with a pleading look and said, "Mom, say something. Please."

Faith sat down in one of the chairs and took a deep breath. "Firstly, I'm so sorry about Delphina. I know you two aren't really friends but my heart just breaks for those kids."

Alexis nodded sadly and said, "When she asked me.......I stopped breathing for a while. I didn't know what to say."

"So, what was Mike's reaction to this rather unusual plea?"

"He said he didn't need me. Or more importantly, need me. I think he feels that Delphina has trapped me with this request and I think he's feeling guilty about it. But Mom, how could I have said no? Those children........they mean so much to me. They mean everything to me, in fact. How could I walk away from them! And Delphina......how was I supposed to refuse a dying woman her last wish?  Especially considering, how hard it must have been for her as I know she doesn't really like me much."

Faith ran a hand through her brown curls and sighed softly. "She must like you well enough to want you to replace her as the mother of her children."

"She knows how I am with the children," Alexis corrected her mother. "And she's right. I love those kids like they actually were my own. Ara and Marvin......all they want is for people to love them, they are pretty hard to resist. And Mira......well, she's been in this attitude this entire past year and none of us haven't been able to help much considering she was at school. But even then, despite all her moodiness, she listens to me. More importantly, she talks to me about her problems."

"And when Mike said he didn't need you......"

"He was talking about me replacing Delphina for him," Alexis said quickly. "He isn't looking for a replacement wife and frankly, I'd also rather be hanged then marry again. So we're clear on that regard at least."

Faith laughed slightly and said, "Well, you should have included some of him into this deal. Michael Watson is one incredibly handsome man...."

"Mother!"

"Faith!"

Alexis and her father shouted at the same time. "You know I don't like it when you talk about our daughter and boys, Faith," William added with a frown on his face.

"She's thirty-seven, Will. And we aren't talking about boys, we're talking about men. One man in particular. Big difference," Faith said with a smirk on her face.

"Okay guys, could we please focus?" Alexis interrupted tiredly.

"Focus on what darling?" Faith asked. "You've already signed those papers. What more can be said or done now?"

"Even then.....I want your opinion. Just be honest, please."

"Your mother and I worry about you," her father began to say. "And this is our right as your parents. But, what you are doing is quite remarkable and not many people could agree to something like this."

"But.....you and Mike need to make sure you have clear rules and maybe even some boundaries," Faith added. "This isn't a commitment you can back out of when things start getting hard. And love, it will get really hard - we're talking about a parent dying, grieving children and a husband who pulled out of a divorce to care for his dying wife. It'll be a very heavy emotional baggage and you need to be fully prepared to tackle it."

"What your mother means is that you need to care for yourself first. Those children are going to need a lot of tending to and while Mike may deny it, he'll also need you to help him through the pain. Therefore, you need to be in a good mental and physical condition. Okay?"

Alexis nodded and relaxed slightly. "I understand what you're saying."

"With all that said, I have to admit that I'm incredibly thrilled to be an actual grandmother to those children. Sure, they call me Nana Faith but it's still good to know that now it'll be real," her mother squealed slightly. "And yes, not only the children, Mike, and even Delphina are also welcome here anytime."

"Yes," William agreed with his wife with a smile. "In fact, why don't you invite them all over for dinner here one night, before Mira leaves for school. That is, if Delphina is feeling up to it."

"I can ask," Alexis replied hesitantly. She doubted whether Delphina would want to meet her parents but she wasn't going to tell them that, not when they were being so kind.

Alexis sighed and closed her eyes with a smile on her face. Talking to her parents always helped her to ease her mind and now Alexis felt a lot more confident about the decision that she had taken.