You're Not Alone

66: Last Day of School

AMELIAS POV
The alarm went off and I groaned.
"Owen," I mumbled as I managed to find the snooze button.
"Good morning sleepy head," he said and kissed my head.
"Good morning," I said. He still had his arms wrapped around me and pulled me into him. Our door opened and I opened my eyes and it was Kamryn. Today was her last day of school. She would be a big first grader. It was exciting.
"Mama, daddy," she said softly as she climbed onto the edge of the bed.
"Good morning munchkin," Owen smiled. She crawled in between us and I smiled.
"Good morning," I said, "last day of school."
"Yay," she giggled, "I'll be all done with kindergarten."
"You will be," I said, "my smart little cookie."
"When does Ellie go to school?" She asked as she snuggled into Owen.
"In a few years," Owen said.
"Years?" Kamryn said.
"Well you remember when you started school, you weren't as small as Ellie," I said. She looked at me suddenly and got silent. Uh oh. Sometimes I forget she hasn't been living with us for her whole life, and if I bring up something previous sometimes she gets upset.
"I have to get dressed," she said and got up and walked out. I sighed and looked over at Ellie, who was thankfully still asleep.
"Is she okay?" Owen asked, "what happened?"
"I'll go talk to her," I said. I got up and walked down the hallway. I knocked on her door and opened it. She was sitting in the corner of her room with her stuffed elephant.
"Hey," I said. She looked up at me and didn't say anything. The silent treatment.
"Can you tell me what I said wrong?" I asked. I pulled her beanbag chair over and sat down.
"I didn't want to go to school," she said quietly.
"Today? But it's the last day, aren't you excited for summer?" I said confused.
"Not today," she said, "when I was bigger than Ellie but smaller than I am now."
"So before kindergarten?" I said. She nodded.
"I didn't want to go to school because I didn't want anyone to see my bruises but I didn't want to go home because I didn't want more," she said. My heart shattered.
"I'm so sorry I didn't realize," I started.
"It's not your fault mama," she said, "I just haven't thought about it in a while because you and daddy are so good to me."
"I'm sorry," I said, "but you can't let this ruin your last day! It'll be your very last day with your class and I'm sure Mrs.Williams has something special planned."
"Yeah," Kamryn said.
"Don't you wanna go?" I said. She sniffled and nodded.
"I do," she said.
"Come here," I said. She got up and held her elephant and came over to me and I hugged her tightly.
"I love you so much okay?" I said, trying not to cry, "Daddy and I will always keep you and your sister safe."
"I know," she said, "and I love you too." I let her finish getting ready for school. I walked into the bedroom and Owen was changing Ellie's diaper.
"She okay?" Owen said.
"We'll talk about it later," I said softly.
"Okay," Owen said, "everything okay though?" I nodded.
"Yeah," I said and blew my nose, "I'm gonna go make breakfast."
"Okay," he said, "sounds good." I walked downstairs and Kamryn was zipping you her backpack.
"So what do you want for your very last breakfast of kindergarten?" I asked.
"Chocolate chip pancakes!" She said.
"That can be arranged," I said. I made a batch of chocolate chip pancakes and soon Owen and Ellie came downstairs.
"Mama can Ellie eat pancakes?" Kamryn asked.
"Not yet, in a few months she can eat solid food," I said and sat down next to her.
"Do you think she'll like them?" Kamryn asked as she continued eating.
"I think so," I said, "what do you think Owen?"
"I think she would like them," Owen said as he was feeding her the bottle. We finished breakfast and I grabbed my phone.
"Kammie we have to take a last day of school picture," I said.
"Right now?" She complained.
"Yes go stand by your backpack," I chuckled.
"But mama you know what I look like why do you have to take a picture of me?" She complained and walked over to her backpack.
"Oh come on just smile," I chuckled. She smiled and I took a few pictures of her.
"I wanna see," she said and reached for my phone.
"See, in a few years you can look at that and be like wow look how small I was at the end of kindergarten," I said.
"Yeah," she shrugged.
"Are we all ready?" Owen asked. I looked over and he was holding Ellie.
"I have to put my shoes on," kamryn said. She ran and put her shoes on. I walked over to Ellie and I smiled.
"Hi baby," I smiled and kissed her cheek. She reached her arms around to me and grabbed my shirt. She was adorable.
"I think she wants her mommy," Owen chuckled as I lifted her up. I smiled as I wrapped my arms around her.
"I'm ready!" Kamryn said as she came back out. The four of us got in the car and we dropped Kamryn off at school. She looked really excited which was a relief after this morning. Owen and I got home and I looked in the back seat and Ellie had fallen asleep. She was adorable. I picked her up and walked inside. I put her in the crib in her nursery and turned the baby monitor on. I walked downstairs and Owen was on his computer.
"So," he said, "this morning?"
"Oh uh," I said, "don't worry about it."
"A girl thing?" He said confused.
"A Jamie thing," I said.
"Is she okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," I nodded, "She's okay."
"Okay," he nodded.
"What are you doing?" I asked as I walked up behind him.
"I'm looking at a few files," Owen said.
"Can it wait?" I asked cutely.
"Is there something you want to do?" Owen joked.
"Well uh Ellie is asleep upstairs," I said, "what do you want to do?" He chuckled and closed his computer. I smiled as he turned around and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. We started making out and eventually made our way to the couch. He was on top of me and I wrapped my legs around his waist.
"I. Love. You." I said in-between kisses.
"I love you too," he said in my ear as he started kissing down my neck.