I rushed to end the call. I don't want to hear the rest, I don't owe him that. I began crying, somewhat from pain and some from relief.
"Momma," I whipped my head around in horror to see the twins staring at me.
"Dad is going to jail?"
I caught my breath as I cried harder and looked away. This is the worst way they could've found out the truth.
"Was Dad the one who hurt you, Momma?"
I stood, wiped my face, and slowly walked to them as they seemed to scan my face for answers. I kneeled in front of them before taking one of each of their hands. "What are you two doing in here?"
"I needed to go to the bathroom," Archer whispered as he stared at me still.
"And we wanted you to come out to play." Ashley added as her hand began shaking in mine. "Momma..."
I gave them a sad smile, "I didn't want to say anything until everything was solved," I whispered. "But now it is. Are you two okay talking with just me right now? We have some really hard stuff to talk about. We could get Chase and Emit to come in if that might help you." I choked slightly as I tried not to cry again, "I'm so sorry. It has been torture to keep things from you two, but I had to. I'm not really ready to talk about it yet, but you deserve to know." I shook hard as I looked to their hands that squeezed mine. "Please don't hate me. Please."
Ashley gulped, "can you call them to come?"
I looked to her with relief as she still was willing to speak to me, "yes! Hold on."
My phone rang and all three of us froze. I looked to it and felt overwhelmed, but froze when Archer suddenly took it.
He swiped to answer, "Uncle Hunter?....yeah, it's Archer....Momma isn't okay....but he wants to talk to us....Can we call you later?.....okay." He hung up the phone and handed it to me.
I called Chase and asked for them to come in. We heard them rushing and came into the room. Chase rushed to hug the twins and Emit came to me. He suddenly hugged me and I felt him shake.
"Is it over?"
I nodded as he let go of me, "for now." I gestured for the kids to go to my bed. Archer sat in Chase's lap and Ashley sat in Emit's. I looked over to the door as there was a gentle knock and was met with a smile.
"She fell asleep, but I wanted to wait until you were off the phone." Zara glanced to the boys, "is everything okay? You both were running."
I went to her and took Addie gently, "everything is okay. We just need to have a family meeting."
"About everything?" I nodded, but averted her gaze. "I will update you tonight if you don't hear from Elijah."
She patted my shoulder that Addie didn't rest on and gave me a sad smile. "I'll be sure no one bothers you guys. Let me know if I can help." With that, she quietly shut the door behind her as she left. I went and placed Addie in her crib that I had moved earlier to be further from the bed. I turned on her quiet music box and came back to the bed. I sat near the footboard as they all watched me from their seats near the headboard.
"Do you need a minute?" Chase asked before clearing his throat to not tear up.
"I don't want any secrets between us. We are a family and we need to work together." I looked to either twin every few minutes, "I don't feel comfortable telling you every detail, but I will tell you everything I can. Okay?"
They both nodded and I took a few deep breaths. Where the hell do I start? How do I tell them everything without them coming to the same conclusions as I did. I was abandoned; I'm not loved. I don't want them to think that.
"For a while now, your dad has been in a difficult situation with his family. They did not want your dad and I to get married. Instead, they wanted him to marry a woman that was his friend ever since he was a kid."
"But he gave you that ring...!" Ashley protested but froze as she realized it was no longer on my hand. She looked to me with pain as Archer followed suit when he noticed it too.
"Your dad lied about being on a business trip for the past few weeks. He was actually planning his wedding."
"But he is marrying you, Momma!"
I gulped, "he chose to marry her, not me. He.... he wanted to make his family happy."
Ashley began shaking, "we're his family too."
I nodded, "I know, sweetie." I took a deep breath, "that is why I didn't want to stay there anymore. I didn't want all of you to have to deal with this because it hurts."
"That is why we went to see Elijah," Chase said in a light voice.
"Why didn't you come with us when we went there?"
I began shaking as I remembered what happened, "your dad suddenly showed up. I thought we should talk just the two of us."
"Did dad hurt you?"
I looked away and shook harder. I couldn't get words out. What do I say? Totally lie and say I tripped and fell? He got mad and he hurt me? He raped me? He nearly killed me? I can't tell them and not break their hearts.
"Did he bite you?"
I choked and began crying as I looked down, "Yes."
"He hurt your arms?"
"Yes."
"He made those spots on your chest?"
"Yes."
"Wren said dad did something really, really bad to Momma."
I shot up and met their gaze, "she said he tried to kill you."
"Dad would never do that, Archer! I told you she is a liar! It's not true, right Momma?"