When we got into the house, we did our daily routine. Well, for the most part. Emma was there already, so it was a little different, but she disappeared into her office to get some work done. So I grabbed my laptop and sat down at the table with the kids and worked on some work too. I focused on editing the pictures from a baby photo of a 2-month-old named Adelaide and one of this adorable german shepherd named Beau. Those were my two favorite types of photoshoots, and I knew they would raise my spirits.
Once the kids finished their homework, I decided to save what I'd done so far and put my laptop back in my office. I came back to the kitchen, got washed up, and started preparing dinner. You may not believe me, but if you're bad at cooking, just wait till you have kids, you get pretty good at it. I wasn't ever horrible at cooking; in fact, I always loved doing it, but I didn't know how to make a lot of meals. That, of course, changed when I had the twins. I threw myself into learning multiple meals and even learned how to braid hair.
I heard the doorbell to my door and smiled. That would be Chloe and them. I haven't seen them in a long time, and I was extremely excited. They were 30 minutes early; they were always early. They fully lived by the saying, "If you're early, you're on time, and if you're on time, you're late." I made my way over to the door and greeted them with a huge smile. Chloe held a couple of pies up for me to see.
"Where should I put these? Either on the island in the kitchen or the fridge, your choice." She walked towards the kitchen, and I was soon engulfed in a bear hug by Julian.
He had grown a lot over the years. He didn't look old by any means but rather more mature and significantly taller. His hair was darker and his facial hair had grown in better. I felt a tug on my shirt and looked down to find Jazmine. She almost looked like a spitting image of Chloe. I picked her up with a huge smile.
"Well, isn't it my favorite niece?" I poked her a very light poke on her nose, and she broke out into a fit of giggles. Even though she was a year older than the twins, she was shorter. Julian is really tall now, but Chloe is maybe an inch shorter than me. So, who knows where Jazmine will fall on the spectrum of height, but I had a feeling she wasn't going to be that tall whatsoever.
"Hey, Auntie Mila. Where're my cousins at?" She was looking all around and had a bit of a sad expression when she didn't see them anywhere. I lowered her to the ground and told her they were upstairs.
Julian and I made our way to the kitchen. Once I got in there, Chloe gave me a big hug.
"Don't worry; I made sure to watch the food. What are we having? It smells delicious." I went over to the stove and opened the big pot for her to look in.
"Jambalaya. I know it's one of your favorite meals I make." It looked like her mouth was already watering.
"Yes! I am so excited." I looked chuckled at her, amused. Then, I looked over and saw Emma entering the kitchen. She went over and immediately took turns hugging Chloe then Julian.
We all surrounded the island and conversed till the food was ready. It was going to be finished here in about 15 minutes.
"Emma, how's everything going on with this virus? If you can tell me." Emma sighed and scratched the back of her neck.
"Honestly, not very well. But we have hired three more people, who will lead the research and investigation into a cure. I have a lot of hope that if anyone can solve this, it will be this group." I already knew she was holding back many details from Chloe and Julian, but there was only so much she could share right now.
"Has there been anyone to survive yet? How many cases are there now?" Emma looked down and had a downcast look on her face.
"As of right now, cases have tripled in numbers. Unfortunately, there have not been any survivors. But one of the doctors who was piloting the program had realized a connection between how fast the virus spread and the species of the supernatural being." Julian motioned for Emma to continue. Emma gave him and Chloe a very serious look.
"What I'm about to tell you is privileged information and cannot be repeated to anyone else. We are going to go public with this information as soon as the theory is fully proven. Now I'm not going to list all of the species and their rates because the full list will be released at a later date. Related to us, however, the statistics show that most vampires and werewolves tend to survive up to a week; for most witches, it's closer to two weeks before they succumb to the virus and die. Right now, the one species that succumbs to the virus the quickest are Fae. Most only last up to three days. Now, this is only an average. There have been plenty documented to have passed within the first 24 hours." Chloe mumbled some curses under her breath. And know that Chloe doesn't cuss very often.
"That's not very long at all." Emma nodded in agreement.
"I know. We are working around the clock trying to find something to help alleviate the symptoms to where they can either survive till their body can fight it off on their own, prolong their life a little longer. However, the main focus is finding a cure that will fully eradicate the virus. This is going to be challenging considering there's never been a cure for viruses or any medication that makes it go away quickly like a disease." Emma shrugged before continuing. "I have some high hopes, though, since one of the new people we hired helped find a cure for Ebola Virus Disease." Julian seemed to become a little less stressed after hearing the last part of what Emma said. Knowing how good this group of doctors/scientists was gave me hope too.
I heard the timer go off on the oven, alerting me that the food was done.
"Em, can you set the table for me while I go get the kids?" She kissed my temple and headed over to the cabinets to grab the plates. Chloe always needed to help, so she made her way over to grab the silverware and placemats. While they were doing that, I headed upstairs.
I followed the trail of laughter, leading me to Aleksey's room. This surprised me a lot, considering he didn't really ever let people into his room. My son has been showing a lot of changes that have all caught me off guard. I'm still curious as to why. I knocked on the door and waited to be invited in. I never busted into my childs' rooms without permission; as I said, I respect their privacy.
"Hi there, dinner is ready." I only stuck my head into the room after hearing Aleksey say I could come in. They all scrambled up and hurried downstairs to the kitchen. Well, then, they must be starving.
I don't mean toot my horn or anything, but my jambalaya was delectable. Everyone gave sounds of satisfaction and complimented me. I love that they all liked the food. It's definitely an ego boost. I mine as well be considered a professional chef.
"Who's ready for dessert?" Chloe spoke up, and everyone nodded their heads in excitement, especially the kids. The twins, Emma, and I grabbed everyone's empty plates and took them to the sink. I washed them all off and placed them into the dishwasher. We didn't have any food leftover, so I made sure to rinse out the pot and place it in the dishwasher as well.
Chloe grabbed the two pies and took them to the table. She placed a slice on everyone's plate. One pie was a sweet potato, and the other was apple crisp. You could tell they were both homemade. Home-made anything always tasted the best.
"Momma, can we please have a piece of each pie?" I looked over to Emma, looking to see how she felt about it.
"Up to you, love." I looked at the kids and responded in a serious tone.
"That's fine, but only one of each. No staying up past 9, and make sure to brush your teeth a little extra." They all broke out in smiles.
"Deal." With that, they all hurried and grabbed a slice of pie from the opposite they had originally. Aleksey scarfed his slice down as if his life depended on it. That is one thing that hasn't changed about him; he still has a huge sweet tooth.
We all continued conversations about how all of our days went. Seeing Aleksey actually excited about what he was learning made me very happy. Chloe discussed how her law firm and her metaphysical store (as some would describe as a witchy shop) were going really well. Julian was talking excitedly about how he landed this big architecture project for some hotshot millionaire's new business building. I'm glad we were all successful with our businesses.
As soon as it hit 8 o'clock. The Santiagos left and headed back home. I just started the dishwasher and was wiping down the countertops and stovetop when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I felt a kiss on the side of my neck and melted back into Emma.
"How are you feeling?" I turned myself around so I could actually look at her.
"I'm fine. I feel exhausted, and still, in the back of my mind, I want to sit in the shower to cry, but I'm trying to just focus on the positives of today. Getting out of bed and doing everything we did today, I feel, has done me a lot of good. But, we'll see once I've run out of distractions and am left alone to my thoughts." Her eyes held a sadness to them at my last confession. I hate to make her upset and concerned about me, but I needed to be honest with her.
"I'm going to be staying with you again tomorrow. So don't try to protest me on it, either. I'm not leaving you alone right now." I huffed out in response.
"Fine, I won't fight you on this. But tomorrow will be the last day, okay? Your work needs you now more than ever." She looked at me apprehensively but reluctantly agreed. I kissed her right before we headed upstairs.
In the middle of the night, I heard the doorbell ring. I looked at my phone to find it was 3 in the morning. Emma didn't even stir, so I pushed on her shoulder. The doorbell sounded again, and Emma finally sat up with me.
"Who would be here at 3 in the morning?" Emma shrugged and got off the bed. I followed closely behind her. I was in full self-defense mode, ready to fight if I needed to.
Emma looked through the peephole and immediately let out a gasp. She flung the door open, and I peeked around her to find an older lady. It was obvious this older woman had been crying, and it didn't take a scientist to see she was in a great amount of emotional distress.
"She's gone, isn't she?" Emma's voice slightly cracked, and I put my hand on her back to try and provide some comfort.
"Yes. Thirty minutes ago. I came here immediately afterward. They transported her body to the crematorium shortly after she had passed. They are cremating anyone who dies from the virus." The older lady's knees buckled and broke out into painful sobs. Emma had to catch her before she hit the ground. We went on each side of her putting her arms around our shoulders to help her inside. We immediately took her to the soundproofed room so we didn't wake up the kids.
By the time we got her into the room and sat on the couch, she had gone reticent. She was just staring at a picture of what looked like her, Melissa, and Asha. Even though she was quiet, I could tell that she was still crying because I could see them hit off either the floor or the picture.
"This is the last picture we took of all of us together." Her voice sounded so hollow. It was as if there was no life within her words.
"I didn't get to hug her goodbye. I didn't get to hold her hand as she took her last breath. We just sat back to back with that clear wall in between us. I listened to her shallow, weak breaths. I still remember the way she exhaled her last breath. I can't get the way it sounded out of my head. I could hear the life leave her body." I saw her body start to shake and heard her voice significantly waver. She looked up, and I could see how haunted she was from looking into her puffy, bloodshot eyes. My heart was wrenching, and I felt my chest tighten.
"I'm so sorry, Julia. I'm sorry you had to go through that." I felt Emma was using her abilities to reach out to calm Julia's nerves. Julia gave Emma a thankful look.
"I should be going now." Julia stood up, and Emma stood up with her.
"You don't have to. We have a guest bedroom you can stay in for the night. You've just gone through a very traumatic event. Maybe you shouldn't drive." I could see Julia thinking over Emma's offer.
"You're probably right. This way, I can talk to Asha tomorrow, and we can go pick up her mother's ashes. I'll call the school in the morning and let them know what's going on and that Asha won't be there tomorrow." With that, we led her to the guest bedroom. I grabbed some pajamas that my mom kept here and hadn't worn yet and gave them to Julia to sleep in. She gave a small thankful smile before shutting the door.
Emma and I made our way upstairs to our room. As many of our nights have gone lately, we just stared blankly up at the ceiling. We held each other's hand during this moment, completely lost in our thoughts. We didn't have to exchange any words for letting one another know how we felt and where our thoughts were leading us. My heart ached, and I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of this happening to my kids. I don't know how I would get through it. Poor Asha, I can't imagine how she's going to feel tomorrow. Well, I guess I imagine her being extremely depressed and broken-hearted.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep, Em." She squeezed my hand tightly.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep either." I turned my head to Emma just as a tear made its way down my cheek.
"The only blood family Asha has left is her grandma. Emma, she won't ever see her mom again. And Julia, oh my god, I can't imagine our kids dying before us." My voice cracked at this. Emma turned towards me and brought me into her chest.
"I know, amore. I can't imagine either; I don't want to. I won't let anything happen to us. We are going to be there for Julia and Asha through all of this and let them know that they have a family with us." I sniffled and nodded into her shirt.
"Do you want to go take a hot shower with me?" I always wanted to either run or take a hot shower when I was depressed.
"Yeah, I was thinking about taking a shower too. Let's go." She helped me off the bed, and we made our way to the shower. Both of us, hoping it would provide us some time of relief.