“My Princess, I’ve missed you.” He lifted her up. “Ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s?”
“Yes,” she said excitedly.
I blew Charli a kiss and cuddled Nate. “Have fun. I’ll see you after school tomorrow.”
“Wednesday, after school on Wednesday if that is okay. I would really like to have them for the extra day this week considering I missed out over the weekend.”
I breathed in deep and closed my eyes momentarily. Bryce came around behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. I exhaled.
“That seems fair,” Bryce added. He gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze. “We’ll both pick you up after school on Wednesday. How does that sound?” he asked Nate and Charli.
“In the limo?” Nate suggested.
“No,” I said at the same time as Rick. Hang on a minute, where does he get off saying ‘no’ to the limo. I should say yes now! No, Alexis you’re just being bitter. “We’ll see you Wednesday.” I kissed Nate’s head.
As they walked out into the foyer, I waved, then headed upstairs to my shower—my emotion-venting, steamed-filled, head-clearing shower.
CHAPTER NINE
Riding a rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows had been a regular occurrence for me over the past month—mainly riding the lows. Rick and I had continued to take nasty stabs at each other which afterwards left me feeling pained and angry, but more so incredibly hurt. The beautiful relationship we once shared was gone, seemingly never to return and it saddened me. I tried desperately to get back that calm, that blah feeling I had felt in the beginning when I had found out the truth about him and Claire, but for some reason I was just so angry now. Surely it was my hormones, it had to be.
I hadn’t properly spoken to him since our 14th wedding anniversary, which had been one week ago when he sent me a text during that day:
What do I say to you on a day like today? - Rick
My response had been:
Nothing, what can you say? - Alexis
I’d never meant it to come across as nasty or harsh, instead, my intent had been more like ‘it is what it is, so maybe not say anything at all’.
Rick obviously took it the wrong way and replied with:
I can’t fucking win with you. I don’t know why I bother. - Rick
It had made me feel completely awful the entire day, having been pissed off to the point where I had taken it out on Bryce which was completely uncalled for. After I had explained the significance of the day—which was no excuse for taking it out on him—we had made up with fiery sex on the stairs. Needless to say, his sexual ability to make my mind stop thinking about Rick and our anniversary was incredibly successful.
Gareth had also triggered my emotional rollercoaster ride, because during the past week he had been unbelievably kind, and I guessed somewhat normal. Normal, to the point that sometimes when he was in my presence, I would forget that he suffered from DID in the first place. I was starting to think that maybe his medication and visits to Jessica were really helping him, which deep down I really wanted because, regardless of Gareth’s alters, Bryce really did love his cousin and felt that he owed him infinitely.
With all the ups and downs with Rick, Gareth, and even Bryce to an extent—yes, he had still been overbearingly protective and aggravating at times—the main reasons for my feeling uptight, frustrated and angry were mainly due to the fact I was fourteen weeks pregnant and still keeping it a secret. It was increasingly stressful and difficult to do, especially around the kids. Thankfully, the time for our baby secret to be revealed had come. Tomorrow was my birthday, and Bryce had organised a party for me at the apartment, inviting our close friends and family. He had also organised hotel rooms for all of them to stay in which was not only convenient but wonderfully thoughtful. We planned to announce our happy news at the party, but not until we had let Nate and Charli know that they were going to have another brother or sister first.
I don’t know why I was so terribly nervous about telling them, especially after the positive reaction they gave us when Bryce had tentatively asked them during that stupid game of Truth or Dare. I guess it was just the thought that deep down inside there was a possibility that the news could disappoint them in some way. Regardless, the time had come, and we had come up with the best idea of how to reveal the information.
“Nate and Charli, come here. We need your help with something,” I called from where I was standing at the bottom of the staircase. Both of them came out of their rooms simultaneously. I motioned them down the stairs. “Remember how we came up with that idea a couple of months ago of a treasure hunt for children staying at City Promenade? Well, we want to test it out on the two of you before we make it into a permanent thing. So we thought we’d have a little practice in the apartment. Does that sound good?”