Chapter 1

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She closed her eyes as the salty sea air blew on her soft skin. She smiled softly as she felt familiar arms wrap around her waist. Leaning back she took in his scent and felt her heart flutter. The soft white dress she had on flowed around them as if playing with the wind. She could hear her children laughing in the background as she felt soft cool lips on her neck. All of a sudden the warm sunlight began to disappear and the clouds started to turn dark. She felt the arms around her disappear and she looked furiously for the man she loved to come back. Her children approached her and she felt her heart ache at their sad faces.

“Mommy, where did daddy go?” her daughter asked her  

“Yeah Mom, how come dad doesn’t love us?” one of her sons asked.  

She tried to come up with the words to tell them everything would be ok; But, for some reason her voice was lost. It wasn’t until she looked past her children that she saw him. He was standing there banging on an invisible glass that seemed to prevent him from being with her and the kids.  “That would be, because she never told your dad about you and she was being selfish” She heard from behind her. When she turned to see who the voice belonged to she felt herself fall into darkness.   

            Sitting up she awoke with sweat dripping from her brow. Taking deep breaths she brought her knees to her chest and placed her head in her hands. Seven years and she still wasn’t over the fact that she had left him. Giving a soft groan she tossed the covers off of her body and pushed herself off the bed. Putting on her robe she opened the curtains for a second to look at the sandy beach of the Hawaiian shore. She remembered moving to the day she arrived on the Hawaiian shores. Here she gave birth to triplets’ twin boys and their fraternal twin sister. Howard Dwaine Jr, Joshua Raul, and Jocelyn Faye were turning six years old in two weeks and just looking at the triplets made her heart ache for their father Taking in the sun light shining in through the window she closed the curtains in order to get dressed.             

         Marco sighed as he heard the footsteps coming from Eli’s room. He looked at the three chairs filled with the toddlers all happily talking to each other and giggling.

 “What are you guys talking about?” Marco asked as he brought out the last of the breakfast he cooked.

“Nothing” the triplets said all together.             

Marco raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled as he saw Elizabeth walking into the breakfast area and sat down next to Jocelyn and wiped her mouth clean of syrup.

 “I swear you guys get messier and messier everyday” She said as she tickled Jocelyne slightly.             

         Marco smiled as he saw Eli interacting with the kids. Usually, she would get sad about Howie but this year seemed different. Then he remembered that today AJ and Ashley were coming. It didn’t surprise them that they ended up being a couple since AJ and Ashley had the same style and mannerisms. Today was going to be special. She was going to make sure that the next two weeks were special for her kids. As they were cleaning up the breakfast table and putting the dishes in the sink for washing the Doorbell rang.  

“I’ll get it” The Triplets screamed at the same time as the dashed to the door.

“Hey no fair, that’s cheating Joshy!” She heard her daughter yell.

“Don’t call me JOSHY!” She heard her son say irritated with the nickname his sister came up with.             

         Marco sighed as he walked past the small wrestling match that was know going on and answered the door. He cleared his throat once he saw AJ and Ashley in a tongue wrestling match. AJ and Ashley pulled apart and looked sheepishly at Marco.

 “Sorry Marco, How are you man?” AJ said as he hugged Marco and walked in.

“I’ve been good, dating around town not to many closet boys out in the open” He said as he hugged Ashley.             

     They were interrupted by the triplets tackling AJ to the ground and giggling.

 “Uncle Alex, did you bring us presents?” Jocelyne said sweetly as she batted her eyelashes.

“I don’t know you’ll have to ask your Aunt Ashley” he said as he pulled the kids off of him and got up.             

         He looked around nervously and walked to the kitchen. It was amazing how he kept the secret from Ashley. He only hoped that tomorrow’s beach excursion was not foiled in anyway. He sighed as he looked at the baby pictures decorating the living area and marveled at how the kids looked like both their mother and father. He only hoped that Elizabeth wouldn’t blow her top if she found out what happened.

 “Hey Alex there you are” Elizabeth said as she patted him on the back.             

           Elizabeth had been the only one who refused to call him AJ and he liked that about her. He knew that Ashley loved him because she would only call him Alex when they were alone and intimate, but around their friends she was happy to call him AJ. AJ looked to Elizabeth and could tell right away that she was masking her true feelings behind her eyes.  

“Hey, yeah I was just taking in the scenery, you know all the touring and I can now finally take a deep breath” He said and hugged her tightly.

“I know, I let the kids watch you guys, and well they love seeing you guys perform” She said and he knew where she was going.

“He misses you” He simply said.

“I know, I can tell when he sings. You know full well why I did this though, if I hadn’t you guys wouldn’t have made it big” She said and looked away.

         That caught him as strange since she never looked away when she would talk to him. It was this that told him that there was more to her just picking up and walking away and he was going to find out the real reason why. Giving her a smile he looked to the kids who were enjoying the company of their Aunt Ashley and Uncle Marco’s stories.

 “I’m going to step outside for a minute I’m going to call my mom and let her know we got here safely” he said as he stepped out into the back porch.             

      Taking a deep breath he took out his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.  

“Hey, we made it ok. We are going to be at the beach tomorrow near her house” He simply said and listened to what the voice on the other end had to say “Yeah dude just make sure you don’t make a scene” he said and hung up the phone.

“Who was that you were talking to?”  He heard the voice from behind him making him jump. “Oh that was no one just letting my mom know that we made it Marco” He said simply and walked back inside.              

          That night Marco kept a close eye on AJ as they ate dinner. He could tell that he was anxious about something and he was going to find out what. After dinner they all retreated to the living room where they watched Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. AJ sat next to Ashley with his arm around her shoulders, Marco sat in his favorite chair and Elizabeth sat on the couch next to Ashley with Joshua and Jocelyn on either side of her and Jr, was sitting on the floor his head leaning against her shins. It wasn’t long before the credits were rolling and the Kids had fallen asleep. AJ and Marco took it upon themselves to carry the triplets to their beds. AJ made two trips as he carried Jocelyn to her room and came back for Jr as Marco had just finished placing Joshua in his bed. Elizabeth had woken up when she felt the kids being moved and sighed. She thanked both her friends for their help and retired to her room for a well deserved rest.