Season 3 How I Met Your Father Novels & Stories

Mom. The hospital door cracked open. Dad walked in, carrying a thermos. "Emily, you're finally awake. Your mother stayed by your side for three days and three nights. We couldn't make her leave." I didn't speak. He hadn't given the "speak" command. Mom stirred. When she saw I was awake, she burst into motion. "Emily, you're awake?" "Interrogative sentences are not valid instructions." The words slid out of my mouth like a tape recorder hitting play. No emotion. No thought. Just reflex.

My breath caught, my chest tightening as the reality settled in fully, impossibly, making everything feel like it was moving beneath me. His father. I slept with my fiancé’s father. This couldn’t be real. The dizziness came fast, overwhelming, and I instinctively held onto Ryan, my fingers gripping him tightly, because I was certain that if I let go, I would collapse right there in front of everyone. “No, we haven’t met,” his father said calmly. His gaze never leaving mine. “Nice to meet you, Elara.”

No one will judge you for that. After three years, Ronald still carried himself with the same arrogance, enough to make me frown in disgust. Jenny mistook it for jealousy. A flicker of satisfaction crossed her eyes.

My grandma was pleasantly surprised. She came closer to me and held my hands, "this isn't a coincidence my child. I know you eventually have to accept one of them as your mate but for now, you can work with all three of them and get them to put an end to their feud with one other. Once you have achieved that, you can find out who our enemy is." I immediately recalled my encounter with the three awesome men this morning. The way I felt when all three stood in front of me is something I would never be able to explain. How could I work with all three of them?

The door hung open, hitting the wall with a gentle thud that matched my own startled heart. The sunlit room that has been my mother’s home for the last three years, smelled of fresh pine and lemons, with every surface shining and every blanket folded. It looked like my mother was just visiting a friend, or out on a walk. Except for one important detail–my mother hasn’t moved an inch since her stroke three years ago at my father’s funeral. “Where is she?” I demanded again, as I turned towards the nurse. “Shouldn’t I have been informed before she was moved?”

“Okay. That one’s not nothing.” Seraphine was instantly on her feet. “We’re done pushing her.” “I agree,” Adrian said tightly. Collins nodded. “Medical bay. Now.” As they helped me stand, the relay buzzed once more. A private channel opened. My mother’s face appeared on the screen, dirt streaked across her cheek, eyes bright and unyielding. “You didn’t flood it,” she said. Not a question. “No,” I replied. “I didn’t burn the world.”

Elaine's knees buckled, and she fell hard in front of the body. "Mom… How did this happen? You said you were going to wait for me to get off work today. You said you were making me barbecue ribs… How could you just leave me like this?" But the dead couldn't speak. The only answer Elaine received was the hollow echo of her own voice. After a gut-wrenching cry, something seemed to click in her mind. She snapped her head around and glared at me. Her eyes were a mix of utter despair and burning resentment. "Ashton, why? Why didn't you tell me it was my mom?"

Joseph's POV When my family heard me say I would be getting married in three days, the whole hospital room breathed a collective sigh of relief. With eyes welling with tears, my dad choked out a shaky "Good" over and over. That night, after I drove my mom home, she called me into the study for a private talk. "Joseph, there's something I've been holding back for a long time, but I really need to tell you." She hesitated, looking at me with heartache in her eyes.

Their third born. #THE END#

With that single sentence, it felt as if every trace of the man I had fallen for three years ago vanished from his face like he had never been there at all. Three years. I had left everything behind. Given up the life I had known, the person I had been all for him to notice me. And finally, finally, he had. And I had been so sure, so certain that in three days our mating ceremony was going to be the happiest moment of my life. The one moment that would do the one thing that had never happened. Prove the most powerful man in our world, my father wrong. As if the universe felt the need to underscore everything happening in this room, the phone still in my hand, I hadn't even realized I was