"Da!""What the fu...dge ice cream!" Seth whispered urgently, launching to his feet and running to approach the two toddlers fighting. One minute he was on his phone and the next, his daughter was getting her face buried in the sand by some giant toddler in the park. "Let go of my daughter this instant!" He snapped when he reached them, pulling the dark-haired toddler off Victoria. His feisty child had big fat globs of tears in her eyes and Seth glared at the fat, dark-haired girl in his hands. "You big fat-" "Hey! You have no right to call my daughter fat!" A woman, whom Seth deduced was the fat toddler's mother yelled and walked briskly toward them. She did look like she would be. She had to be ten times bigger than she ought to be. Not that Seth was judging or anything, but her daughter had sat on his daughter, he had the fucking right to judge!"Your daughter had no right sitting on my baby either!" He spat, releasing the woman's daughter who had begun to cry in his arms.The w
Isabella paused before the door to the daycare, peering through it to see what was going on. She couldn't hear much but one thing was for sure, Samuel was crying his eyes out. Just like he had been doing the past few days. There was nothing Isabella or Marilyn hadn't tried. Even promising to buy him chocolate wasn't working anymore. He had been inconsolable and frankly, he was beginning to drive her crazy. This is why you need Seth, her mind proffered. He's great with babies. She scoffed stubbornly and pushed the door open. The daycare was shockingly quiet and she ran her eyes through the room looking for her son. Most of the kids in the daycare were asleep, but she couldn't find her son. Quickly she stepped in and marched towards Marilyn's desk. The woman turned around to face her with a tired smile and a sleeping Samuel on her lap. "Hey, Isabella." She greeted and Isabella gave her a sad look. "He cried again today, didn't he?" She asked, receiving the sleeping boy from his nann
"Ma'am" the policeman's voice filtered through the air. It echoed and bounced on the walls but he got no reply in return. Isabella was crouched on her knees, her brown eyes were wide in fear and her lips quivered as she tried to process what the man had just told her. Seth and Vicky. An accident. Her mind was befuddled, clouded in fear, confusion, and anxiety. What could have happened? How did it happen? Were they safe? "Oh God," she choked out finally. Her throat worked up and down to swallow saliva and she trembled rising to her feet. "Oh my God." An image of Seth bloodied and battered stood before her. His green eyes, the same ones that had always stared at her with such intensity now looked blank and empty. The grin on his face was soulless, unlike his spirited ones. In his arms was Vicky. Her baby. She lay limp in his arms, her eyes closed and her lips pursed in that arrogant manner of hers. The image raised his hands, pointing at her and she shook her head vigorously. Her r
Isabella reared her head to the back, shocked by the venom in Mrs. Allen's voice. The same woman who had been nothing but an angel ever since she had known her. Taking in the ferocious glare that rested on the older woman's face as she glared at her, Isabella swallowed, knowing she was in deep deep trouble. "B..." She whispered, trying to stand her ground before the woman who stalked towards her. Without a warning, the older woman grabbed Isabella by the shirt and pulled it down so they could see eye to eye. There was nothing Isabella could say or do, she was doomed either way."This is all your fault!" Mrs. Allen accused, screaming all over Isabella's face. Her hands gripped the shirt rather tightly and Isabella's face became disgruntled as she tried to escape the latter's clutches. When Isabella had come into her son's life, B had been incredibly happy to finally have a grandchild. And then instead of one, she got two grandkids. To say she was excited was an understatement. She ha
"Bella," Vicky's baby voice reached her ears and Isabella opened her eyes, trying to figure out where the sound came from. "Bella." "Vicky?" Isabella gasped, jumping to her feet, and looking around her. "Vicky, I'm here! Victoria?" "Bella," her baby's voice echoed back to her, then slowly faded away. "Vicky!" Isabella screamed when she could no longer hear her voice anymore. "Vicky!" "Isabella!" Anna's loud voice pierced through the cloud of nightmares that had cocooned her and her eyes flipped open. "Vicky," she whispered tiredly, staring into Anna's dark eyes.Her friend was hunched over her, a hand on her shoulder as if she had been trying to shake her awake. On her stomach lay Samuel who peered up at her with soft brown eyes, cocking his head to the side. "Picky?" He mumbled and smiled when his mother gave him a small sad smile. "What's going on?" Isabella asked, glancing around the hallway. Mrs. Allen, her mother, and Nate all stood up, peering at the entrance to the thea
At the doctor's question, Isabella felt everyone's gaze burn holes in her face. She blushed, embarrassed by the stares, and stepped forward. "I am." She croaked. Her eyes were red from crying. Her arms were heavy from carrying Samuel, but she couldn't put him down. She had just spent the past hours regretting a lot of things. If he got sick from touching the hospital floor, she would never live through it. The old doctor nodded. "I figured as much. He woke up quite a few times before the surgery, while we were prepping him, and he kept muttering your name."Isabella winced at his words. One, when he had said 'prepping', he made it sound like Seth was some five-course meal that needed prepping. It was quite weird. Two, knowing that Seth had called for her several times made a load of guilt on her chest seem heavier. How would she live it all down? "Thank you, doctor," Nate said after a long while of awkward silence had settled on them. "We'll go and complete the family clearance so
A loud beep sound echoed in the room. It bounced off the walls in ping pong and through Isabella's ears. She sat by a bed, staring down at the face of a man she had yearned for but hoped she would never see again.The beeping sound came from the machine he was wired to. The squiggly lines on it were supposed to tell her he was still alive. Like an inverter. Isabella had been so close to it just once. And that day, it slowly migrated from slow and steady beeps into one loud and long one. It was the day Irene died. Or Victoria as she preferred to call her sister.She had laid on the bed in the same way Seth did. Her skin had turned white and sickly, but it had a bit of color there as well. Black and blue fresh bruises, fading purple ones, had littered her sister's skin like she was Joseph's coat of many colors. Her husband had made sure there was nothing to salvage anymore of her sister. Isabella had been asleep by her sister's bed when the loud long beep sound woke her up and she saw
A tensed Isabella stood outside the hospital entrance, before the numerous steps. She eyed the curb casually, wondering when her boss would show up. It had been almost an hour since he had called and declared he was coming over. "Jackass." She mumbled and sighed, feeling like an awful person.. In her defense, she was pretty sour about the whole forcing himself to come over to the hospital thing. She could have sworn a day ago that Dave didn't have a forceful bone on his body. Since she had known him, he had been attentive, trustworthy, and considerate. Well, him coming over to the hospital when she had protested was not very considerate of him. She understood that he may be detached from the media and publicity but there was no way he didn't know about that video clip. It was everywhere. Especially on social media. And he had to at least have a messaging app, right? Or a freaking browser! Either way it was, he had to have known that Seth and everyone else could put two and two toge