Chapter One ~ Ariana

"Hey beautiful."

I turned around to see him poking his head through the half open door with his heart-stopping grin that still had such an effect on me nearly seven years later.

"Hey," I smiled back, hushing him with a finger on my lips as I steadily rocked Ava to sleep. I twisted my neck to relieve it of its ache as I yawned, still shifting from one foot to the other.

"Lemme help you with her." He offered.

I shook my head quickly, "No it's fine. I'm sure you've had a long day at work, you should rest."

He dropped a kiss on my sweaty forehead, "You're so understanding but I still want to help."

"Shh." I whispered. "She's asleep already. Just a little more rocking and I'll lay her to sleep properly. Go freshen up."

"Yes ma'am." He threw a mock salute that had me chuckling lightly.

He left. Minutes later, I successfully laid my daughter to sleep, giving her soothing back rubs just to make sure she wouldn't be awake for a while. I was mentally prepared for her waking up in the middle of the night but physically, I was exhausted. New born drama. No wonder Damien didn't want another baby. It was no easy task raising the twins and now my long awaited baby girl was not making things any easier.

He had just gotten out of the shower when I walked into the room. I walked past him and went ahead to make sure the baby monitor was in good working condition. Fully assured of that, I prepared the bed, more than ready to sleep.

I collapsed on the mattress, laying my head on the soft pillow with a content sigh when I felt his arm creeping up my thigh and the other around my waist. His lips soon made it to my neck and the trail of soft kisses began.

I shrugged him off lightly but he was determined and continued with plastering his kisses all over me . "Babe please I just want to sleep." I eventually said.

"What's wrong?" He sounded concerned but I wasn't ready to turn around and meet his gaze.

"It's nothing. I'm just tired." I let out a sigh for emphasis.

"Lemme ease your stress," He was already tampering with the strap of my nightie when I pulled back abruptly.

"Damien, stop. Please." I enunciated with as much firmness as I could muster.

"What's going on with you?" He frowned.

"I just said that I'm tired, can you at least let me sleep??!" I snapped.

He swallowed. "Ariana I get that you're tired, so am I. I've had a long day too. But we don't even spend time together anymore and I'm just trying to make things better."

I sighed, regretting that I snapped at him the way I did. "Babe I'm sorry. I've just been stressed out recently. You know Ava and-"

"Should we get a nanny?" He cut my statement short.

I immediately disagreed. "No! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of my baby."

"We had one with the twins remember?" He reminded me of something I wasn't exactly comfortable with in the first place.

"That's because they are twins and also because mom couldn't handle babysitting both of them and Sky all at once, Fiona went to college and you and I had a lot of trips for some reason." I said in one breath.

"It doesn't mean we can't get one." Damien was insisting. He did that every time this conversation came up.

"I'm not working anymore Damien, the least I can do is be a full time mom. Don't rob me of that." I muttered.

"Now you're making me feel bad for insisting you stop work." I suppose that rubbed him off the wrong way.

"You always have your way." I adjusted the pillow, ready to place my head back on it.

"It was and still is in your best interest. The restaurant flopped!" He exclaimed.

"It probably wouldn't have if you had stopped interfering with everything," I retorted.

"Excuse me? Are you blaming me for the fall of a business that was bound to hit the rocks?" He blurted out.

I was too hurt to utter a word for the next few seconds. "Well thanks for believing in me Damien." I said, trying my best to steady my voice but not only did it betray me, a tear dropped from my eye too.

The guilt he felt afterwards was evident. "Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"It's fine. Good night." I turned away from him, put off the lamp from my bed side just before I laid my head down and shut my eyes tightly to sleep. Of course I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon after what just happened but I had to force myself to cause either way I had to be up early in the morning to get the boys ready for school.

~~~

"Mommy! Damon ruined my hair!!!"

"Damon, stop ruffling your brother's hair." I said, not looking up from the sandwich I was preparing for their lunch boxes.

"He started it!"

"Liar!"

"I'm not lying, you are!"

"No you are!"

Stepping out of the kitchen with a displeased grunt , I scolded them. "Stop it! Both of you eat your breakfast quietly."

"They're kids Ariana, let them do their thing." Mom spoke up.

"Mom please don't encourage them." I shut my eyes and sighed out as I added, "And you're not supposed to be feeding these grown men."

"They're my babies." She said as she placed kisses on each of their cheeks, making them giggle.

"You should have your own breakfast. They can feed themselves." I turned to the two culprits with a frown. "Darian, Damon, eat your meals and stop stressing your grandmother."

"Oh Ariana..." Mom sighed when they picked up their spoons and started feeding themselves with long faces.

I went back to finish up with their lunch boxes and I was done in no time.

"Hurry up, we can't be late for school." I reminded them.

Damien came in with Ava just then, fussy as always. "Look who just woke up and won't let go of daddy's shirt." He said, pointing at the wet shirt he had on. My three-month old sure did not like water. Most of the time, I was glad that Damien at least bathed her and relieved me of the extra stress whenever he was available.

"Daddy!!" The boys hopped on their feet and ran to their favorite parent. They did not even bother to hide it. I took Ava from him, dodging his kiss just as the twins ran into his arms.

"Isn't that my beautiful baby girl." Mom gushed and took her out of my hands as I went into the kitchen to pick out a bottle of pre-pumped breast milk. I had no idea she followed me in so I was startled when I saw her there.

"What's going on with both of you this time?" She asked me.

"Our fights aren't new to you mom, why are you worried about it?" I chuckled.

"Your fights are usually hot and zesty but there's this sort of coldness I'm sensing from your end." She said, shocking me.

"Me?" I felt accused.

She immediately corrected my train of thoughts, "I'm not saying you're at fault honey. I'm saying that your relationship might be losing its spark."

"That's what kids do to you I guess." I muttered.

"Now, don't blame it on your kids..."She tsked.

"Mom, things are different now." I stated.

"It doesn't mean you should let the spark die."

"Can we talk about this when I come back? I can't let them be late for school." I hurriedly dropped the warm bottle of breast milk for her to feed Ava, grabbing the lunch bags with my other hand before jogging off.

"Time to go boys!" I yelled, grabbing my car keys.

"I'll drop them off." Damien came forward.

"Don't you have work to go to?" I asked him.

"Well I'm gonna be a little late. That's if I go at all."

"Hmm okay." I stretched palm forward, ready to hand the keys over to him.

"We should go together." He suggested.

"No. I have stuff to do."

"Ariana,"

"You're going to make them late." I reminded him.

"Ariana..." He said but I didn't let him speak further.

I walked away even when he called after me helplessly.

What was the problem? I didn't know. I just wasn't up for anything these days. More than anything, I wanted some alone time. That was what I craved and still there was no hope of getting any no matter what I did.