She found herself watching her children play. Their laughs and giggles rang in her ear. She smiled at the warm sun and the sound of the crashing waves. After a while she joined her children in running and tumbling. They were building sand castles along the shore and Howie had joined them at some point. They became the picture she always dreamed; one family united together. They laid down under the sun taking deep breaths and relaxing. It suddenly grew dark and cold. She sat up and looked around, her children were gone, and he stood there with a letter in his hands and the man of her nightmares next to him.
“You lied to me, they weren’t my kids” Howie said harshly throwing the letter on the ground.
“The court has deemed you an unfit mother” the man said with a sly smile.
Frantically she pushed past them and searched everywhere for her children. She found herself in the house rushing to their rooms. Their things were gone, their beds where empty and she cried. She dashed around the house calling their names. She sank to the floor and cried. She didn’t stop calling their names. She thought she could hear them in the distance along with her name being called.
“Mommy, wale” up she heard.
“Mom, come on wake up” Joshua said trying desperately to wake his mother up from her dream.
Howie walked into the room and placed a gentle hand on his sons shoulder and gently motioned for him to move. Howie sat down on the side of the bed and gently caressed her cheek.
“Elizabeth, honey you’re dreaming wake up” He said gently.
“Mom please wake up” Josh said as he approached the side of his bed and shook his mothers shoulder gently.
Elizabeth sat up with a jolt knocking Howie to the floor. It made Joshua snort as he held his laughter. He then looked to his mother and hugged her. He was the only one out of the triplets to notice his mother was having nightmares. He was always there to wake her up and it was funny to see his father try. Joshua gave a small yelp as his mother pulled him into a tight hug. Elizabeth started to touch every part of her sons head to make sure he was really there.
“Mom, its ok I’m here” he said as she squeezed his cheeks together.
Howie looked at Elizabeth from the floor and gave a questioning look to Joshua who shrugged. Giving a groan Howie got up and sat back down on the bed. He went to caress Elis face again only to have it stopped by her before it reached her cheek.
“I’m ok, just a nightmare.” She said as she avoided his gaze.
“Sweetie it’s ok if you want to talk about it” Howie said.
“No, I’m fine really I am it was just a nightmare I shouldn’t worry about it” She said and pushed to covers off of her making Howie get up off the bed.
Giving a nod Howie gently touched Joshua’s shoulder and motioned for the door. They reached the living room still being the only ones awake in the whole house. Howie quietly folded the bed sheets and placed them neatly on his side of the couch with the pillow on top. He looked to Joshua who was sitting on the love seat staring at his hands.
“What do you say we, make everyone breakfast?” he asked.
Joshua looked up at him and nodded solemnly. Together they walked into the kitchen and rummaged around looking for ingredients. Howie smiled as he found the perfect ingredients for his special breakfast Spanish omelet. He looked to Joshua and smiled.
“I learned this recipe from your grandma. You think you can help me out?” He said and smiled.
“Ok” Joshua said as he got on the step stool and watched as his father started to work on the omelet.
Howie and Joshua worked together on the omelet. Howie let Joshua add the ingredients and stir them together. Once it was ready to cook Howie made sure that Joshua was far away from the stove so that he wouldn’t get burned. Joshua smiled he like his father, and it felt good having one. Uncle Marco was more like an Aunt then and Uncle and he liked that. He watched his father intently looking at the details of how his father cooked.
“Do you think we could have bacon and hash browns with your omelet dad?” Joshua asked.
“Sure buddy, why don’t you go wake Uncle Alex up so he can help us” He said and Joshua smiled.
Joshua dashed to the room he shared with his brother and sister and woke Jr up. He motioned for Jr to be quiet so that Jocelyn could sleep. The quietly walked into the room that Ashley and Alex where in. Softly Joshua walked up to Alex and pushed his cheeks around. Alex gave a small groan and turned around and placed an arm around Ashley. Joshua frowned and looked at his brother. Howie smiled and made a motion about covering Alex’s nose. Josh smiled slyly and reached over and pinched Alex’s nose shut. Josh was pushed back as Alex shot up and looked at the boys. Joshua placed his finger on his lips and whispered in his ear. Alex Nodded and got up quietly and headed to the kitchen with the boys. Josh looked at the clock, School started at 8 and it was 6 in the morning. He sighed and walked after his Uncle and brother to the kitchen. The noticed that Howie had already started the potatoes and he had a plate of the omelets in the microwave to keep them heated. It wasn’t long until they were laughing and telling stories.
Elizabeth had gotten dressed after being woken up and sighed. She decided her bell bottom ripped jeans and a grey tank top, with a pair of sneakers. Walking to her dresser and mirror she picked her hair up in a ponytail and finally noticed the sweet smell of breakfast that surrounded the house. She looked at the time and walked into the kid’s room and gently woke Jocelyn up and left her to see what the commotion in the kitchen was. She smiled softly when she saw Alex, Howie, Howie Jr, and Joshua setting the table.
“Just because you made breakfast it doesn’t mean you don’t have to get ready for school” she said and kissed her boys on their heads.
“We know, we know” They said and dashed to the room to get ready.
Elizabeth noticed Howie staring at her and she turned away from him. Taking a deep breath she walked into the kitchen and began to set the table. Quietly she heard the soft rumble of footsteps on the floor and doors opening and closing. When she was done setting the table she moved out of the way so that the boys could place the food on the table. It wasn’t long before Jocelyn came up to her to have her hair done. Howie watched as Eli and Jocelyn bonded and he watched how Jocelyn looked at the many ribbons she had picked for her hair.
“I don’t know mommy I like the blue one because it sparkles, but I really like the yellow because I have yellow on my shirt” she said making the grownups chuckle.
“I think we should go for the yellow” Elizabeth said softly as she finished braiding Jocelyn’s hair and placed the bow at the end.
Jocelyn smiled and skipped to her seat on the table and began humming softly to herself as she ate. The boys joined in sometime later and joined their sister at the table. After breakfast it was time to walk the kids to school. Elizabeth and Marco checked the kid’s bags for their school things and any contraband they were trying to sneak into school. Once they were sure that the kid’s had everything they needed and nothing that would get confiscated they were on their way to a short walk to the school. Howie stayed behind the group quiet and thinking. He was worried about the dream Eli had and the way she reacted to Joshua being there. It was as if she was scared that he was gone. He smiled when he saw his children running to their teacher and he unknowingly found himself standing next to Elizabeth. He was about to say something to her when a man came up to her.
“Elizabeth how was your weekend” The man said.
“Oh hi Jake, My weekend was eventful how about yours” She said and blushed slightly.
“It was good, you know, Surfing sun, and this weekend there is a luau” Jake said and smiled at Elizabeth.
“Oh that sounds great, I’m sure the kids would love to be there” She said.
Howie looked at the man Elizabeth called Jake and sized him up. Jake had a perfect tan on his skin, light hazel eyes and sandy blond hair. He was wearing a pair of what looked like Physical Ed shorts and a white shirt with the schools insignia on it and a whistle around his neck. Howie figured he was the Phys Ed teacher and wondered what Eli saw in him. He had never felt jealous before, and he was very sure that if he lost it Elizabeth would be furious with him.
“Um….can I help you sir?” Jake said to Howie.
“Oh…Jake this is Howard Dorough he’s the father of the kids” Elizabeth said softly.
“Oh…It’s nice to meet you are you two…” Jake started to say.
“No, no…we are just friends what we had ended a long time ago” Elizabeth said.
Alex, Ashley, and Marco winced at the
hurt look on Howies face. Alex walked up to Howie and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Come on D, I’ll take you to your hotel so you can grab your stuff” Alex said.
“Ok, Alex one sec…So Jake you teach the Phys Ed program here at the school?” Howie said casually.
“Yes I do” Jake said walking up to Howie and raising his eyebrow a bit.
“Oh, well I’m sure my kids are getting the right exercise” He said.
“You would know if…..” Jake started.
“Hey, Jake I kept the pregnancy from him ok” Elizabeth said as she placed a hand on his chest and gently nudged him away from Howie.
“Oh, I’m sorry I just…..I’ll talk to you when you pick up the kid’s?” Jake asked.
“Of course” Elizabeth said.
Hearing the bell ring the waved goodbye to the triplets and began to walk off. Elizabeth walked to be besides Howie and looked at him.
“What was that about?’ she asked.
“Nothing I just wanted to make sure the kids had a good PE Coach, it’s not my fault he got in my face” Howie said innocently “don’t know what you see in him anyways” he said under his breath.
“What?” Elizabeth said looking at him.
“I didn’t say anything” Howie quickly said.
“Whatever,” Elizabeth said and she began walking at a faster pace.
Howie watched as she stormed off and looked to his three friends.
“What just happened?” Ashley asked.
“Oh I know, you see Howie still likes Eli, but she wants to see other people and is finally going to try and go out with Jake, but Howie is jealous” Marco said
“Yeah, I’m going to take Howie to the hotel we’ll be back” Alex said.
They got into Alex’s rental car and drove off to the hotel.
