Chapter 9
Finishing the class Elizabeth hugged her students and wished them a good evening. Looking at the clock it was now time for the more advanced teacher to take over. Elizabeth cleared the way for Mrs. Lorenzo and smiled at her kids and left the studio.
“You really like what you do” Howie said and smiled.
“I do, it took me a while and a couple of years of working two jobs and continuing school” she said softly.
“I’m sorry I said anything” Howie said softly.
“No Howie wait….I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, but it’s just that’s what I went through” Elizabeth said.
“Why? Why couldn’t you just come to me?” Howie said softly.
“Look, you were at the top of your career, I would have ruined it” she said as they stepped into the office.
“You don’t know that” Howie said as he closed the door.
Taking a deep breath Howie took her hand in his and with his other hand gently caressed her cheek. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it but he couldn’t help himself.
“Don’t….” Elizabeth started to say.
“Don’t what? Don’t love you? Don’t try to work things out?” He said softly as he pulled her close.
“Howie this isn’t the time or place” She said trying to pull away.
Howie licked his lips and pulled her in. Their lips crashed and for a second Elizabeth started to resist but she slowly started to let go and listen to her heart. That one simple kiss made her head swim, she snaked her arms around his neck and was going to deepen the kiss when a small voice rang in her head.
“If you get back together with him, I will make sure to take your kids away”
“No, we can’t” She said and pushed him away. “I’m sorry Howie I don’t feel that way anymore” she said as she opened the office door and walked out.
Howie stood there confused as to what just happened. He was positive that she was giving in. It was just weird that she would say that. He needed to find out what was going on. Taking a small breath he was about to head back outside the office when his cell phone rang.
“Hello?” he said softly.
“Howie? Dude, where are you and AJ man?” it was Nick.
“Hey we’re in Hawaii, I found Eli and Marco and AJ and Ashley knew where they were the whole time” Howie said.
“Oh wow, cool, hey do you mind if I join in, we don’t have to be in the studio for another three more weeks” Nick said.
“Yeah sure Nick you can come, There is just one thing you need to know” Howie said.
“What’s that?” he said softly.
“I have Kids, and they’re six years old” he told Nick.
“Wow you have Kids…wait a sec? You mean Kids, as in plural with an S at the end of Kid?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, she had triplets” he said and sighed.
“Oh dude, wow you had triplets with Elizabeth wow. Hey wait” Nick said and Howie heard the phone exchanging hands.
“Howie its Kevin wherever you are we are going to catch up with you guys” Kevin said and hung up.
Howie looked at the phone and raised a small eyebrow. He thought that it was weird that Kevin, Brian and Nick would ask for while they were on break. There was definitely something going on and he was going to do everything in his power to find out what. Shaking his head he dialed Alex’s cell phone number.
“Talk to me” He heard Alex say.
“We have visitors coming” He said.
“Wait you men the guys are coming?” Alex asked.
“Yes, and Kevin sounded really weird on the phone” he said.
“Ok, I’ll call them up and give them the details I guess” Alex said softly.
After hanging up with Alex, Howie went back to the front desk and waited for the rest of the dance classes to finish for the evening. Elizabeth had decided to observe the Hawaiian Folklore class after the heated kiss with Howie. She wasn’t paying that much attention to the class at the moment. All she could think about were how soft his lips felt on hers. She missed it so much. Shaking from her thoughts she tried to focus on the girls who were working hard on learning their routines. She smiled at their progress and congratulated the teacher on a job well done. Getting up she smiled at the girls and walked out the door.
“Hey, the other guys are coming” Howie said softly.
“Oh ok, cool I haven’t seen them in a while” she said avoiding his gaze.
“Eli about the kiss, I……”
“It’s ok it was a onetime thing, it won’t happen again right?” she said interrupting him
“Uh, yeah right, a onetime thing” Howie said softly.
Elizabeth smiled and walked past Howie as Jr, Joshua, and Jocelyn walked out of the class. It wasn’t long before the last of the students were out and it was time to close the studio. Elizabeth went around making sure nothing was left behind and if there was anything that was forgotten it was placed in the lost and found box. Howie had taken it upon himself to sweep the floor and tidy up the chairs. The kids looked at both their mother and father and then at each other.
“What do you guys think?” Joshua said to his brother and sister.
“I think he wants to take us away from Mommy” Jocelyn said and frowned.
“You heard mom no one is taking us away from her” Joshua said.
“What do you think Jr” Jocelyn asked her silent brother.
“I don’t know, I think we should give him a chance and if he does hurt Mom, then we can just not talk to him” He said softly as he looked at his hands.
The triplets all nodded in agreement and waited for their parents to finish what they were doing. It wasn’t long and they were off on a nice moon lit walk home.
“I was wondering if I could take you and the kids out for dinner” Howie asked softly.
“I think that would be nice, Marco is on his date with a guy he met and Ashley and Alex are probably having a picnic in the back porch” she said softly.
“Ok, what do you say we let the kids pick” he said and smiled at the kids.
“I want to go to Kamea’s Restaurant” Jr said softly.
“Ok let’s go” Elizabeth said as they led the way to a small restaurant filled with the locals.
Howie noticed that a lot of the people knew Elizabeth and hugged her softly. The kids greeted the familiar faces and Howie stood in the background watching them interact. He felt out of place and he felt awkward. It wasn’t long till Howie saw himself shaking hands and getting complimented on the well behavior of his kids to which he beamed with pride that his kids were being well raised. He never doubted Elizabeth and he knew why he loved her still. They were soon shown to a small table close to the windows so that the kids could look outside. Not long they were looking over the menu and ordering their food and having dinner like a normal family. But that didn’t last long as Jake the kids PE teacher spotted Elizabeth and walked up to the table.
“Hey guys sorry for interrupting, Elizabeth I know you are having dinner but could I talk to you for a sec” Jake said softly ignoring the harsh looks Howie was throwing at him.
“Uh yeah sure, Excuse me” she said and walked with Jake away from the table.
“Mommy sure like him” Jocelyn said in a soft sing song voice and then giggled.
“He seems nice” Howie said simply to his daughter “So, why don’t you guys tell me what your favorite thing in the world is” He said wanting to get to know his kids.
“I like Drawing and Ballroom Dancing” Joshua said simply as he looked at his father.
“I like Barbie’s, Dancing and the beach” Jocelyn said and then started humming to herself and tried to annoy Joshua.
“I like surfing, and modern dance” Jr said as he looked down at the table.
“Wow, that is great, I would love to see you guys perform and maybe we can hang out a little more” Howie said softly.
“I guess” The triplets said together.
Howie smiled and started to make funny faces and the kids all laughed, easing the tension between them. It wasn’t long until the triplets where telling Howie stories and jokes and they were getting along.
“Hey guys, what is all the laughing about?” Elizabeth asked.
“Nothing” They all said together.
“So what did you and Jake talk about?” Howie asked innocently.
“He asked me out on a date this Friday” she said softly.
“Oh well that’s nice” he whispered.
The triplets looked from their mom to their dad and then at each other. They were all thinking the same thing. Their dad was still in love with their mom.
