Stay With Me – Part Ten

As Hank sat in the cafe, watching his own sister-in-law get kissed by her cheating husband, he debated whether or not he should intervene on them, but Hank knew there was a big possibility that Chloe has already told her sisters of the news that Hank might’ve fathered a child with an old friend of the family. He sat back in his seat against the window, sipping his morning coffee and watched them kiss like they weren’t on the brink of separation. Hank watched Brenda say something to John and then saw her get into the car alone and got a glare back in return from Brenda. When he watched her car drive away, he put his head down and moved his hands over his face. It had been twenty-four hours since seeing Nicole and her son James. He remembered the look of disappointment on his wife’s face. It was supposed to be a good escape for them after the hell of a wedding they went through just a week ago. It had just been a week. How was he going to make it in this family? He had known them for a long time. He wondered if Chloe would ever forgive him. Even though they were on a break, he didn’t that Nicole would get pregnant and automatically think the baby was his. There was so much on his mind that he just wanted to start their honeymoon over and hope for a better outcome. He took one last sip of his coffee before paying and leaving a tip for the waitress and left to try to think things through.

While he walked out the cafe, he’s started ringing off the hook. It was his mother. She had heard that the newlywed couple were home early and she had an unhealthy obsession to know why they were home so early. He tried ignoring her at first, but she kept calling and calling. Hank didn’t want her to give up on him and try Chloe’s cell, so he decided to answer his phone without knowing what he was going to say to her. “Hey, mom” Hank said, in a slow and soft voice. Sophie can notice a change of tone in her son’s voice almost instantly. “Hi honey, I heard that you and Chloe were back. How was your “short” honeymoon?” She replied back to him, in a happy tone of voice. “Yeah, we’re back. It was good, for the most part, but you know how Chloe doesn’t like being away from her family.” Which was a lie, she loved being away from her family. “Oh, yeah. Especially since her sister Brenda’s husband is cheating on her. Poor dear.” Sophie said in a sigh. Great, now everybody in town knew about John and Brenda’s personal life. Sophie had the biggest mouth in town, half of the community knew how to tell if she was telling the truth or not. Majority of the time, she was lying through her teeth, hoping somebody else had something juicy. “Well, I’m going to go now mom. I haven’t slept much in the last two days, so I’m going to go back to the house and rest up.” Hank said, as he began to unlock his driver side door and get in. “All right, honey. Get some sleep. Tell Chloe, I said “I love her” for me.” Sophie said as concluded, “I will mom. Bye.” “I He hung up the phone. Telling her the truth about Nicole and James just might be the worst thing he could ever do, that’s why everything needed to stay hush, hush for the time being, just in case.

After basically, getting yelled at by her older sister. Chloe pushed back her tears and tried to hide her emotions from her nieces. Brenda didn’t want the girls to know about their parent’s drama, they definitely didn’t need to know about their Aunt Chloe and Uncle Hank’s either. When Brenda took off, Claire put her hand over Chloe’s back as a comfort but it didn’t matter what she did because nothing was going to make her feel better. Even though Claire hated relationships herself, she tried her best to make things right with her sisters. She didn’t want to be totally heartless. That’s why she always offered to babysit her nieces. Chloe wanted to stay with Claire, to help her out with the girls. She helped feed the girls, while the oldest girls made small talk amongst themselves. Gracie sat in her chair, quiet as a cat. She could say a few words here and there, but mostly kept to herself. While little Ivy flung pieces of turkey at the wall and her Aunt Chloe. She got the biggest kick out of that. Let out the most contagious laugh that she’s ever heard a person do before. All around her was happiness and then Hank started texting her again. She wanted to ignore him, but she did miss him. Those same feelings she had when they broke up, that might’ve lead to Hank fathering a child, came flooding back. “Is he talking to you?” Claire said, in a quiet voice. “Yeah, well trying to, at least.” Chloe said as she didn’t answer him again. She laid her phone on the table away from Ivy’s hands. “You know technically, you can’t be mad at him.” Claire said as she cleaned Gracie face with a napkin. “Why not?” Chloe said as she looked up at her sister. “You guys were on a break.” Claire said as she cleaned off Tatum’s face. “Yeah, but I knew about the other girls, including Nicole. He just forgot to mention, he slept with her and might’ve gotten her pregnant too.” Chloe said in a whisper. “Ok, point taken.” Claire said as she got up from her seat at the kitchen and took the girls plates away.

The girls ran back into the play room. While Claire walked away from the table and to the kitchen. Chloe still sat in her chair with Miss Ivy by her side in her high chair. She kept looking at her phone, but Ivy didn’t like being ignored by her aunt, so she started getting fussy and Chloe threw her attention back on her youngest niece. Chloe gave her a smile, but her mind was definite somewhere else. She wondered if babies could sense something was wrong inside. Again, Chloe’s phone went off. The little buzzing noise freaked Ivy so bad that she started crying and instead of picking up the phone and ignoring the text, she cleaned off Ivy’s face, which was covered with pieces of  turkey and cheese. She continued to smile and giggle, but she looked so sleepy. Chloe felt the same. She didn’t get much sleep on the plane ride home. The last two days were hell for her mind and sleep wasn’t an option for her apparently. She carried her baby niece into her bedroom. She put her pacifier into her mouth and laid her into her crib. She resisted at first, but after a few minutes, Ivy fell asleep. Once she was passed out, Chloe slowly walked out of her room and closed the door slightly. She noticed the play room was extremely quiet. She peaked inside to find both Ava and Tatum tuckered out on the floor with Gracie sitting on the floor, watching Dora. She smiled again and walked away like she was never there. After making her getaway, Chloe grabbed her phone and put it in her back pocket and hugged her baby sister and left to go get some sleep. “Text me if you need me.” Chloe said as she headed to the door. “I will, and try to at least talk to Hank sometime today. You know he misses you and loves you, just as much as you do.” Maybe she was right. Chloe walked out the door and headed to the car.

After leaving the cafe, Hank turned on the highway to go back to the house. He really wanted to talk to Chloe, but didn’t think she would talk to him if he went to Brenda’s house. She and her sisters probably wouldn’t let him in the house, let alone talk to his wife. He really needed to get those tests results done and hope that will erase everything and maybe they can plan a second honeymoon and hope to stay there without any interruptions. He was also scared that would if he was the father of James. He didn’t think he looked like him, but that might be denial kicking in. It was a shitty move on Nicole to come out to their hotel while they were on their honeymoon. She never once tried to let him know about it before she gave birth. Why did she have to wait five whole years to make her move? He drove off the highway and into their little community of houses, turned to right and saw the signs and balloons from his side of the family, apparently his mother’s phone call was making sure he and Chloe were home so they could decorate the house. They bought their first home last year and now he was returning home by himself and he was afraid that Chloe won’t come home. He pulled into the driveway and opened his door. He walked out and untied the balloons from their sticks. He unlocked the door and walked into the living room, to find his wife lying on the couch fast asleep.

Her face looked so sweet, the dried stream of tears still cold down her cheeks. She had just gotten here. He didn’t want to awaken her, but he desperately wanted to kiss her. Knowing how either of them really talked last night or the day before after seeing Nicole and meeting her son James. Hank rubbed her left arm and fixed the blanket so she wouldn’t get cold. He started walking away and went into the kitchen and grabbed a water. He knew grabbing a beer wouldn’t make him feel better or make everything go away. He stayed smart and walked back through the living room to see Chloe now fully awake. The stream of tears wiped away from sight. They just stared at each other. Neither one knew what to talk about and that scared them both to the core. Hank walked by the couch and Chloe sat up and let him sit by her. Hank sat down on the black leather couch. He remembered the day they bought that couch. Chloe had thought that if they bought it, it would be a little bit of elegance to their home. Chloe seemed like the simple girl on the outside, but she liked things to stay classic. Even if he hated it at first, he grew to love it. He cradled her in his arms and she covered both of them in the blanket. He took his hand out of the blanket for a second to put the bottle of water on the side table and raise his feet up. He could stay there forever, with the love of his life. “I love you so much, Chloe Renee Cohen. I hope you always know that.” He said as he sniffled, he never cried, but he couldn’t bear the thought of one simple mistake could tear them apart.

Love, Hate, and Drama, OH MY! – Part Nine

“What?!?!” Brenda and Claire look up at their newlywed sister, in her eyes she looked like she had cried all night long and could see she was on the edge of tears now. “How can that be? Did he deny it?” Claire said as she slowly put down her coffee mug on the table. Brenda still couldn’t believe the words Chloe had just said. It’s one thing to be going through something in the middle of your marriage, but it’s much awkward when it happens in the very beginning. “Well, he told me, he’s known about it, but doesn’t think it’s his.” Chloe said as she took two steps from her resting spot. She desperately wanted to sit down, but didn’t think she’d have the strength to even walk over to the chairs. “So what are you going to do, sis?” Brenda said as she cleared her throat, she honestly didn’t want to hear this today as she wanted to talk to her cheating husband later. “I don’t know, I mean, her son looks somewhat like Hank, but he’s not a splitting image of him like she thinks he is.” Chloe said as started walking to the unwanted chair and sat down slowly. Her sisters couldn’t believe everything they were talking about just now. Claire hugged her sister and Brenda put her hand on her shoulder, to show her affection, but in all honestly Brenda wasn’t sorry for her because they’ve all thought at some point love wasn’t worth it at all.

“Chloe, why don’t go sleep in the guest bedroom for a little while? You look like you need some rest.” Brenda said in a warming tone, as she moved little strands of hair away her eyes. Chloe wasn’t in denial at all, but didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be around her sisters and nieces. She wanted to be around her family in her time of need. “No, I’m okay. I am going to go to the bathroom and freshen up, that way the girls won’t know that I’ve been crying for twenty-four hours straight.” Chloe said as she started walking from the kitchen into the bathroom. She flicked the light on and closed the door. She looked at herself in the mirror and hated what she saw. Another man had caused her to cry. She was a newlywed, she should be excited to be married. Now she was crying while she tried to wipe the tears away. She turned on the sink and put her hands underneath the faucet and leaned over to wet her face with the cold water. It woke her up from the last two days of hell and as she dried her face with a towel, she noticed a small figure out of the side of the mirror. Little Gracie was peeking from the door. She didn’t hear the door squeak and she smiled slightly as she put the towel back on the sink counter. “Come on Gracie, come to Aunt Chloe.” Little Gracie came up to her aunt slowly and Chloe lifted her up and cradled her to her chest. It was surprising for someone so small and hardly talked, knew when somebody wasn’t happy.

Brenda cleared the table while her middle sister was in the bathroom. She was in shock, but knew it would happen someday. Chloe had always wanted true love, but so do Brenda. She believed that she would be safe from the backlash of their father’s infidelity , but they weren’t. John cheated on Brenda many, many times. Her younger Claire was the one who cheated on her boyfriends. In her words, it was easier than the other way around. And now, Hank who just married their sister just a week ago, was in the running of becoming a father to a five-year old. How could all of this happen to her family? As she continued to think about her family’s curse, she felt physically ill inside. She poured the rest of her coffee out of her cup. She washed the dishes and dried each one, while her mind continued to circle around everything that has happened in the last nine years. Claire noticed her older sister staring off into space as she washed the dishes. Claire wasn’t the perfect girlfriend in her past relationships, especially her most recent relationship with Matt. She knew he had cheated on her with a couple of girls, but instead of speaking to him about it, she cheated on him with his best friend. Matt found out and actually forgave Claire, he actually wanted to start over their relationship, but that’s not what Claire wanted. That’s not what she was used to, she was used to her exes breaking up with her, after her wrong doings. So in the end, Claire had to break his heart again and discontinue the relationship altogether.

Ring, ring, ring. Brenda’s telephone starts ringing, which brings her out of space and she stops Claire from picking it up, because she knows its John wanting to meet up with her to talk about their crumbling marriage. Even though her sister was going through her own drama she wanted things to work out for the sake of the girls. “Hey” she said in a normal voice, but also firm too. “Yeah I’ll meet you there, in about fifteen minutes.” She said into the phone while both Claire and Chloe are staring at her. While Brenda was paying more attention to her sister’s angry looks, she heard John say “I love you” before he hung up. She hung up the telephone and accepted the looks before she moved past Chloe to go change for the meeting. “Claire, can you babysit the girls for me while I go out for lunch?” said Brenda as she walked into her bedroom, and changed her clothes. “Yeah, sure. I’ve got nothing else to do today.” Claire said in annoyed voice. “Thank you.” Brenda said while putting on a little makeup, like she was getting ready for her first date. Which ironically was with John too. “You’re joking, right?” said Chloe, who was still holding Gracie as she said those words. “You’re going to meet up with him, he needs help and you need to wake up from this make-believe marriage you have in your head.” Chloe said as she handed over Gracie to Claire who offered to put her in the play room. “I need to do this for the girls. They need him in their lives. They can’t be like us and watch their mother cry constantly about the fact their father is with another woman. Besides who are you to judge me, when your husband might’ve fathered a child that is five years old, Chloe? How could he haven’t known about him?” Brenda said as she grabbed her purse and keys. “Sorry Chloe, but you know it’s all true.” Brenda said as she walked out the door.

Claire was just walking out of the play room as the argument was ending. Chloe didn’t speak but turned her head towards Claire. She was again on the break of crying once again. In all honesty, everything was getting too much for Claire to handle. She didn’t believe in love and liked things that way. She hurt the ones who loved her when she denied feelings for them. “Chloe, what are you going to do with Hank and Nicole?” Claire said, as she walked back into the kitchen and grabbed in the fridge to fix something for her to eat. Coffee wasn’t going to hold her over with everything that’s going on. “I don’t know Claire, I mean it feels like an episode of Maury.” Claire couldn’t help but laugh out loud, which got Chloe laughing too. “You know our entire family could be on his show for how we all been acting for the last several years.” Claire said, while she walked back over to her sister to give her a tight hug. “Do you want something to eat? I have to fix the girls something to eat too.” Claire said as she walked back over to the kitchen. Chloe said as she noticed three of the girls, running out of the play room, “Yeah, and I guess they are hungry too.” Three little girls grinned from ear to ear. “All right, I’ll get them ready for lunch and make them something. Can you get Ivy from her playpen for me?” Claire said as guided the girls to the sink to get their hands washed and dried before lunch. “Love to.” Chloe turned on her heel and headed to the play room for Ivy until she gets an unexpected text from Hank.

From Hank: “Hey, we really need to discuss this. I’ve already told you and Nicole that I’ll take the paternity test. You know everything Nicole and I did was when we broke up. Just so you know, I never said I’d take care of James, and I’ve never seen him before. You of all people wouldn’t believe Nicole, so why should we believe her now?” 

He had a point. After everything with her parents and Nicole and her mom making up rumors about her family when they were younger. She shouldn’t believe it, but it was five years ago. James is exactly five years old, or seemed to look like a five-year old to her. Things just kept tumbling down on Chloe. She tried to ignore everything and tend to her baby niece Ivy, she got her cleaned up and brushed her thin light brown hair, she looked like John. It would kill Brenda, if any of her daughters ended up in her position or in John’s when they got older. Chloe was trying to wrap her mind over the life of a five-year old, whose mother doesn’t even know who her baby’s father is. A child so young, doesn’t need to be through that. Chloe thought about how it must’ve felt for Claire, she was only ten, when their father left and look who she’s become. A person who cheats while she’s in relationships. She never tried to fix them, it was like if it was going good, she needed to ruin it and fast. She had always seen heartbreak on our faces and our mother’s face. This was how she learned to fight back the heartache in her love life. She carried Ivy into the kitchen as Claire was giving the girls their plates of sandwiches and chips. Chloe stuffed Ivy’s little feet inside the high chair and turned to face the cabinet to find Claire had already grabbed two jars of baby food for her.

It was around noon. Brenda had been at the nice little cafe for half an hour. She physically remembers telling John she’d be there in fifteen minutes. She thought if he really wanted to work things out he’d been there on time for once. She turned her heard around to search for him, but found no one. The cafe was fairly large and looked like a hunting lounge, since it was full of wooden tables and chairs. The place had solar lights, but was decorated with dead animals hanging up on the walls. Each table had a small stuffed animal as a centerpiece. Surprisingly enough, they had good coffee and pastries. She got comfortable in her seat as a lady in a black and white uniform, asked her if she would like anything. “Um, I’m actually waiting for somebody, but I would like a Mexican hot chocolate please.” Brenda said as she was handed the coaster for her drink. “Sure, coming right up.” said the blonde waitress, as she walked back, a tall dark-haired man walked past and gave a small grin to Brenda. “Did you get me anything?” John said, as he sat down next to her. “No, I didn’t think you needed any help in that department.” Brenda snapped, as she pretended to look at her phone. “So how are the girls? Do they miss me yet?” John said, they both looked up to the waitress giving Brenda’s hot chocolate to her. “Thank you.” Brenda said in a soft voice. “And, um, can I get a black coffee, miss?” John said with a wink. Five minutes with his wife and he’s back to flirting again.

The nice blonde waitress brought back his black coffee in a to go cup. My god is this woman a mind reader? Brenda thought to herself and kind of gave a chuckle. “What are you laughing about over there?” John said, like he was the innocent one in this picture. “Nothing, just thought of something, but it might be because I haven’t slept in the last three days.” Brenda said as she took a big gulp of her hot chocolate. Too bad there wasn’t any Khalua in her drink to make her feel better, but she did have to drink back to the house after this was over. She wondered if she had any at the house. If she didn’t, she might need to make a pit stop at store for a few things. “Why haven’t you been sleeping for the past few days, babe? Ivy keeping you awake?” John said as he put his arm around her. “No John. Keep your hands off me, Ivy has been an angel compared to your ass.” Brenda snapped back to reality, maybe Chloe and Claire were right. Maybe this was a mistake. “You just think that you’re the innocent one in this, don’t you? Because I remember leaving early from my own sister’s wedding and didn’t get say “bye, enjoy your honeymoon,” because I found out what over half of my family knew that you have cheated on me countless times during our marriage.” Brenda stood up and took her hot chocolate over to the counter, where the pastries and the pretty waitress was, “can you please, put this in a to go cup for me?” Brenda said back in her nice voice. John walked over and grabbed her arms, Brenda felt confused and pissed off at the same time. She missed his touch, but knew that he would only use her and go cheat on her again. “John, I was wrong. You can go to hell.” She said as she paid the blonde double and left the cafe and John, for good.

Brenda rushed to her car, with John right behind her. As she went to unlock her door, John came around to her left side and tried to stop her from getting away. “Leave me alone John! I’m through with you and your shit!” John looked like a deer in the headlights, just blank. “Look, yes, I’ve cheated on you. I still want us to work. Please, for the sake of our girls.” John pleaded, as Brenda finally unlocked her door, she looked up at John who looked like he hadn’t shaved his face in over a week. She wanted things to work out for the girls, but did they really need that kind of drama around them? Staying at their mother’s one day and father’s the next? Everything was just going too fast and she desperately wanted a break from it all. John leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. She really wanted things to work out, but this wasn’t going to work out as fast as they wanted. John leaned in again and put his hands on her face and pulled her in again and kissed softly on the lips. She felt a sense of happiness, but didn’t know how long it would last. How long would he be faithful to her? That simple question stopped the passionate kiss and she pleaded to be let go. He wanted to keep going, but he respected her wishes and let go. As John walked away, there stood Hank in the window of the cafe. Obviously not happy about what he saw, but where was he to judge? She got in her car and drove away.

Flesh And Blood — Part Four

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When I last left off in part three, it was at the last hour of Chloe and Hank’s wedding reception. Different things have started to unfold on Chloe’s almost ruined day. If you have read “Little Liar” then you know what’s going on. If you haven’t, you need to catch up! I’m still surprised I’m even considering to continuing this awful but quite hilarious story with you all. Enjoy part four!

I couldn’t believe that I was sitting next to my older sister, trying to comfort her at her time of need. It was my wedding day and I was drunk off my rocker but yet I still showed my heart and caring ways. So did my newly husband, who after seeing Brenda crying her eyes out about discovering the truth of her cheating husband. Things became clear that things were about to get a lot worse. I thought it was best for Brenda to leave the reception early and take herself and my nieces home before things got too out of control to keep them blinded by the scenes that were come as the night came to an end.

Brenda dried her tears the best she could and put on a brave face when she gathered her daughters, with the help of our younger sister Claire, who also agreed to go home with her to help with the girls for the night. Claire brought all four girls towards me to get my last hugs before they left and as they put on their coats, they asked where their daddy was, and it was hard to break it to them, but I knew one day they would know about it and that is Brenda’s responsibility, not mine. Thank god! Brenda finished making her rounds and as she said her last goodbye to me and hoped that our honeymoon ends up being better than the reception, things became real again. Those worries, creeped up again. Will Hank ever go so low to actually cheat on me? Will I have to tell our children while it still breaks me apart inside? I couldn’t imagine Brenda’s pain for her daughters, but I could imagine the pain that Hank was inducing on John right about now.

After Brenda, Claire and the girls were leaving the venue. I rushed back to the outside of the reception hall. I had to make sure I found Hank and Levi, and hope they weren’t too bloody to come back to the reception. I remembered thinking of all kinds of things I’ve been wanting to tell John since I first found him cheating on my sister, but for once I was at totally loss for words. I had turned into a narrow hallway, and passing me was the waiter that I saw before the whole started and asked him, where the two angry men were and surprisingly he knew exactly who I was talking about. He pointed straight and turn to my left and there was a door, they were in there. Great! It’s one thing that Hank and groomsmen were already fired up, but now that they were in an actual room with a door that could possibly lock, scared me a little. I’ve seen Hank get mad before and he’s drank some tonight. John would be lucky if I actually get there in time to save his sorry ass. I ran down the hall as fast as I could before turning and finding the door. I could hear the grunts of pain and I instantly knocked on the door, hoping for a reply back. Five seconds later, one of Hank’s groomsmen, Blake opened the door with a grin and said,

“Hello Chloe, uh, Hank is a little busy, anything I can help you with?

“No Blake, just let me in!” Chloe said back to the fairly large guy standing behind the door. “You know I can’t let you do that.” Blake said, Chloe thought about it for a second and then said back to him, “Okay, I’ll give you deal if you don’t let me in, I will tell your mother that you are planning on going to the new strip club that just opened four blocks from your apartment on your 18th birthday.” It took Blake a minute to stand aside of the door and let Chloe’s outrageously large gown in the small, occupied room. “Sorry dude, she was going to bust me!” Hank lifted up his muscular body to show me small splatter of blood on his white shirt. John’s nose was definitely broken and he definitely had a pretty good swollen right eye. However, the look of sorrow and forgiveness was very clear to see. “Chloe, you know I’d never meant to hurt Brenda. It just happened and I couldn’t control myself.” John pleaded to Chloe, but who he really needed to be begging to was Brenda, but since she was with the girls. Chloe had to act as a supporting actress and answer for her hurt sister.

“You know what John, I don’t know if my sister will or should forgive you. You had every chance to stop the mess you started and had every right to be the bigger man and tell her the truth. I regret not telling her about the time Claire and I saw you down the street picking that girl up with flowers. I think Hank should have told her that he seen you flirting with some girl at the bar. You had every chance in the world, but yet you never did a single thing to help yourself or your marriage to your wife. Now saying that, I wouldn’t go home first. I’d go to the hospital instead and I’d stay there for a while, because you know my step father is going to want to break your neck as well.”

John gulped, because even though Hank was a huge guy and could have killed him, he knows somebody has already called dibs on his sorry ass. It was only a matter of time before the word spread and all hell would break loose. Two other of Hank’s groomsmen grabbed John’s arms and stood him up. He was weak from the fight with Hank and bleeding like a river flowing down a stream. He had a lot to think about before he faced his faults and the wrath of Brenda. If our step dad doesn’t kill him, Chloe was pretty sure Brenda was prepared of going all Carrie Underwood on him. This time it was a 4×4 pick up truck, this was a Benz instead. Chloe was just tempted on passing on her honeymoon and stay behind to watch it all in place. She figured it would be more entertaining than watching Hank get chased by a bunch of seagulls at the beach. Love is a crazy emotion. It can come at you at an instant, but in that same instant it can also disappear.

To be Continued!