Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 28

"We're here! We're here!" Ara announced, dropping her bag of dress up clothes and accessories as she entered through the Miller's front door. Mira followed close behind with Marvin in her arms.

"Ara Bear!" William exclaimed as he picked up Ara in his arms, hugging her tight. "I've missed you, baby girl."

"You have?" Ara asked, smiling broadly. "How much?"

Will pretended to ponder at the question before kissing her on the cheeks. "Too much. Where's your Mom and Dad?"

"Dad's helping Mom out of the car," Mira replied, placing Marvin on the ground, who immediately toddled further into the house in search of Faith. "Is Lexi here yet?"

"Yes, although she's napping in her old room," Will replied. "Nana's baking a cake if you girls wanna go and help her."

"I need to change into my princess outfit first, Papa," Ara declared, dragging her bag to the guest bedroom.

"That bag looks awfully heavy," Will mused aloud.

"It's filled with every princess dress she owns - with accessories," Mira said with a smirk on her face as she made her way towards the kitchen. "Get ready for a full fashion show today."

Just as Mira rounded the corner, the front door opened again as Mike entered along with Delphina.

"You must be Delphina," Will said with a smile on his face, offering his hand to shake. "I'm William Miller, but please, call me Will. It's nice to meet you."

Nodding, Delphina hesitantly accepted his hand as she took a quick look around the front room. "Nice to meet you too. Thank you for inviting us to your home."

Will kept smiling politely as he said, "Well, since everyone usually congregates in the kitchen before the food is ready, I've already moved an armchair for you to sit comfortably in."

"Oh no, you didn't have to," Delphina replied, shocked at Will's kind gesture. "I'm sure I would have been comfortable in whatever seat there was in the kitchen. You didn't have to take the trouble."

"Nonsense, it's no trouble. Come on, it's this way," Will replied with a shake of his head.

"Thank you Will," Mike said gratefully before Delphina could protest again. "Where is your daughter, by the way? She said she'd be here by morning."

"She did show up really early this morning, looking like she hadn't slept all night," Will answered with a small frown. "So, I sent her upstairs to catch on some sleep."

As the men conversed, Delphina couldn't help but notice the pictures that hung on the walls along the hallway. Most of the pictures were of Alexis obviously - with Garrett and David (Garrett's older brother) in a lot of them as well. Hailey and all the Greene kids were in a few pictures too. However, what surprised Delphina was that there were so many pictures that had her own children in them. Mira looked to be as young as four in one of them, her smile as happy as Delphina had ever seen her eldest to be.

Tearing her gaze from Mira's smile, Delphina caught sight of a framed Spelling Bee certificate of Alexis. There wasn't anything too special about it but Alexis's middle name was what caused Delphina to stop in her tracks. Her mouth hung open as she stared at Alexis's full name.

Alexis Ara Miller.

Ara.....

Ara!

Delphina shook her head as she took an involuntary step backwards. Her own daughter, her Arabelle, was named after Alexis?! All these years, Delphina had thought that Mike had named Arabelle after his mother, Ariana. All these years she had never questioned the names he had given to their children, choosing not to even participate in the naming process - claiming that she was too tired after giving birth. It couldn't be a coincidence that Mike had chosen Ara's name without knowing what his best friend's middle name was. Delphina couldn't help but wonder whether Mira's or Marv's names - or even their middle names - had anything related to Alexis as well.

Delphina cleared her vision as she took deep calming breaths. Quickly she moved her gaze from Alexis's certificate, her eyes falling on the picture next to it. She instantly regretted it as this picture was even more painful to watch, more painful than finding out that her daughter was named after Alexis.

It looked to be Mira's 12th birthday party......a party Delphina herself had skipped in favor of a tour of France with her friends. She vaguely recalled telling Mike that she needed a break and that she felt trapped in the house ever since Marv's birth a few months ago. She could hear Mike's pleas as he begged her to go to France the week after Mira's party. But she had waved him off, saying that her friends had already made plans and that Mira was old enough to understand.

Delphina looked on as Mira smiled broadly at the camera while Ara stood beside her on a stool, 'helping' her older sister to cut the cake. Alexis stood on the other side of Mira, holding a 7th month old Marvin as he beamed at his sisters. A woman who looked remarkably like Alexis stood beside Ara, holding the girl so that she wouldn't fall off the stool (Delphina figured that the woman must be Faith, Alexis's mother). The picture screamed intimacy, it showed a family......a family Delphina didn't feel like she was truly a part of. Alexis looked every inch the mother in the picture. Love shown in her face as she smiled towards the girls, Marvin snuggled up in her arms.

Delphina wiped the tears that her formed in her eyes as she berated herself yet again for not being the mother her children had deserved to have. She did not have the right to be mad at Alexis for showing love towards the children. It was her own fault, her own decisions that had caused Delphina to miss every big or little event of her children's lives, her own actions that had caused her children to run to Alexis in order to receive some motherly love.......no one other than she, herself, deserved to be blamed for it.

Mike came up beside her then and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Delphina nodded quickly as she tried to calm herself. "I'm fine. Just looking at the pictures. Ara looks adorable in that outfit," she replied, randomly pointing to one of the pictures that had the then 4 year old Ara in a bright purple dress, smiling broadly at the camera.

Mike smiled at the photo and closed his eyes as if reliving a fond memory. "Faith and Will had gotten Ara that dress for Christmas that year and she had been excited all week to wear it in front of them. Sadly, she spilled pasta sauce on it an hour after this picture had been clicked."

Mike chuckled at the memory and Delphina forced herself to join along. She ignored the pang in her chest as her mind kept thinking that it was another little thing she had missed, another little event in her daughter's life that she would only get to enjoy through a story.

Delphina smiled tightly and started walking towards the kitchen. This little lunch was already proving a lot harder than she had anticipated it to be and it hadn't even fully started yet.