Page 176 of Unspoken Lies

“Yes,” he says, nodding. “My mama would smack me for not helping. I’m sorry I startled you. My mama also says I need a bell.”

Laughing as I begin to relax, I nod. “Some people are just very quiet walkers,” I admit. “I do appreciate the help. She’s going to wake up soon and want to eat.”

Donovan looks at the curls peeking out of my wrap and smiles.

“I’ll get the chairs put up and then run to class. I promise it won’t make me late,” he says firmly. “Go feed the baby. Crying babies give me the worst kind of goosebumps. I just want to fix them.”

“They’re loud too,” I grin. “Thank you again for this. If your teachers give you trouble, tell them I have a hall pass on my desk with your name on it.”

“I mean, I was prepared to just take the blame for it,” he says honestly. “That’s good looking out though, Miss Rachelle.”

“It’s the least I can do when you’re helping Ariyah and I,” I say.

My baby chooses this as her moment to complain, her fists pulling at my shirt.

“That’s my cue,” I whisper, turning quickly to half run to my office. “Shh, I know. You’re doing so good, baby. I’m almost there.”

Once safely in my office with the door locked, I settle in my chair to nurse her. I work at the school on Monday thru Wednesday, and two Thursdays a month I work at my private practice. I wasn’t sure if I should offer therapy services outside of the non-profit organization, but Theo reminded me of my disastrous experiences with therapy.

If I can spare others from being treated the way I was, I will. I only see patients that are ages twelve to twenty four, not because I don’t think they won’t take me seriously, but due to the chaos those years can bring. I’m enjoying it so far, and I have really great clients.

My mind pulls me back to when she and Adelina decided to make their way into the world hours apart. Ignacio went to the hospital first with Liliana when her water broke, and I continued to labor with Theo, Jared, and Elijah at home until my contractions were four minutes apart.

Liliana and I shared a room together, and I got to watch Adelina enter the world before I started to lose myself to the pain of labor. I do remember though that Lili punched Ignacio because he told her to ‘suck it up and push’. He was really excited, and forgot how lethal Lili is. He’s just lucky she didn’t have a knife on her.

Being a mom is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I really do love it. Having Mom so close has been amazing and helpful when we have questions about something. Since Mom was a nurse, she gives us factual information which we all appreciate.

Theo is the first to confirm her suggestions with his own research, and it always checks out. Having so many hands to help is a blessing, and one of the guys is always getting up to help with the babies. It doesn’t matter who the father is, we’re a unit.

For the girl who didn’t have a very large family, I made my own. We decided to tear down a wall between our bedroom and the next to give us more room, so now the nursery is within reach. Our sex lives are still just as wild, it’s just that sometimes it’s interrupted by babies.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. I wanted a life I could fight for, and I have one. Every damn day, I’ll choose us.