Till death do us part

9

Juliana Thorne

"Mommy! Good morning!" Rome and Milana yell and jump on top of me as soon as they wake up.

"Hi Babies, good morning" I kiss their cheeks.

"We have to go grocery shopping today okay?" I say and brush my fingers through their messy hair.

Rome nods and jumps off the bed but Milana crosses her arms. "Boring." She pouts.

I cross my arms and pout too, "I know." I uncross my arms and move her curls from her forehead. "but at least we'll have our favorite snacks in the fridge."

Her frown turns into a smile and she quickly nods. I laugh and pick her up from the bed. Rome was trying to change himself but huffed in defeat. I also picked him up and walked to their room.

There are three rooms in our house but they like to sleep next to me. The first room is mine-or ours I suppose, then it's they're room. They share, anyway, they hardly use it. It's mostly just for their toys and crib. The third room is a guest room.

I change Milana into a pink dress and Rome into shorts and a shirt. "Okay, let's go." I pick them up, grab my keys and purse then we're out.

I buckle them into the car seats and drive to the supermarket. Fifteen minutes later, we grab a cart and I put Milana into the little seat. Rome wanted to follow me.

"Let's grab milk and some cookies, you want cookies?" I ask them. They nod and I grab the milk and go to the cookie aisle.

"Rome, come here. Don't go too far, baby." I try to quicken my pace as he walks towards the cookies.

As I make a turn, I see a guy and a lady beside him talking to Rome. "Excuse me, can I..help you?" my sentence drifts off as the guy turns around.

He looks at me, shocked and I look the same. "Juliana?" He whispers. The lady beside him looks confused but doesn't say anything.

I look down to see Rome grabbing the cookies and he walks towards me. Caleb looks down at Rome and confusion clouds his mind.

"Mommy, cookies!" Rome squeals and giggles as he hands me the container of cookies.

I gulp, "Yea, baby. Let's go." I pick him up and place him in the cart with the cookies.

Caleb's eyes widen as he comprehends what's going on. He stares at Rome then sees Milana and he gasps. My eyes tear up and I quickly push us out of the aisle and to a far secluded one.

He doesn't try to stop me, probably too shocked to do or say anything. But I do hear the lady say, "Who was that, babe?"

I break down in the aisle and through my blurry vision, I see Rome and Milana stare at me in confusion. Milana's hand reaches out and touches mine.

"Mommy?" she whispers "No cry"

I smile and kiss her forehead, "I'm okay baby, thank you." I hear people enter the aisle so I push the cart away.

I wipe my eyes with my shirt and stop the cart. "You want to get out of here and go get some ice cream?" I ask them.

They smile and clap their hands. "Okay, let's go." I pick them up and hurriedly walk out of the store.

"Cookies?" Rome asks

"We can get them later," I say.

~~

After getting ice cream, I drove to my mom's house. I need someone to talk to. I knock on the door with Milana and Rome in my arms, licking their cones. My mom opens the door and smiles as she sees us but a frown replaces as she sees my red eyes.

"Let's go play in the backyard," I tell the twins and open the glass sliding doors that lead outside.

I place Rome and Milana on little chairs as they eat their ice cream. They talk to each other and giggle. My mom and I sit in the lounge chairs, "I saw Caleb."

"Where? What happened?" She gasps

I put my hand over my eyes, "We went to the grocery store and Rome went to get cookies. When I turned the corner, I saw him and he looked very shocked, as I was too. Then he saw Rome and Milana and I panicked and practically ran away with the kids."

"Oh honey, it's okay." she tries soothing me.

"No-Its not! I feel humiliated. I ran away without a word. He's Rome and Milanas, uncle and he deserves to meet them. I was scared, scared that if I saw Caleb, that means I might see Jaxon too." I cry

"Did he try to talk to you?"

"He was too shocked and there was a woman beside him. I didn't know who she was but she saw everything. I think they were together because she called him 'babe'." I felt a pang of hurt.

"How do you feel about that?" She asks softly.

"I-I don't know, it doesn't even matter. I haven't seen Caleb in years. He looked different but the same, does that make sense?" I sigh

"Yea it does."

"His hair was cut different, and he looked a bit taller. His eyes looked light, happy even." I murmur

I know my mom heard me but she doesn't answer. We look at Rome and Milana playing. They were finished with their cones and now running around. They're going to be 3 soon.

"They're growing up so fast," I say. She nods and smiles.

A thought comes to me and my smile fades, "Do you think, he knows they're Jaxon's?" I ask sadly.

"Well, Veronica didn't tell him about the twins if he was that surprised. But I'm pretty sure he thinks they're Jaxons because they look a lot like him." She says sympathetically.

I nod. "When is Veronica coming for dinner anyway?" she asks

"Tomorrow around 7, I gave her your address." I say.

"I'll make lasagna, I know Milana and Rome like it." She says.

"I gotta go do some laundry and make these kids lunch. I'll see you tomorrow." I stand up and call the twins.

"Say bye and hug your grandma, we're leaving." I say. They hug and kiss my mom then I pick them up and we leave.

~~

June 7, 6:05 pm