Chapter Sixty One

Stephen

We managed to get the kids inside without waking them, which gave me a chance to clean up Trinity's head wound. We were in our bathroom, her perched on the edge of the tub while I gently wiped away the blood to assess the damage.

Trinity asked, “So what's the damage, baby?”

“Cut isn't too bad, momma, just a nasty bump. How you feeling?” I replied.

“A bit of a headache, but I should be okay,” she said.

“Let me get you some paracetamol before it gets worse. You should lay down for a bit. I'll make you a cup of tea to have with it,” I suggested.

“Thanks, babe,” she said, heading into our room while I went downstairs to the kitchen to make her tea. My mind was spinning after hearing her call our babies our pea pods. I wanted to bring it up, but it didn't seem like the right time. I returned upstairs with the tea and tablets, laying down next to her on the bed.

“How you feeling?” I asked.

“Honestly, I'm fine, babe. It's just a little bump. Stop worrying so much,” she said.

“There's never a time I won't worry about you, Trinity,” I said, looking deep into her eyes as I reached out to stroke her cheek. “I love you too much not to worry and want to protect you whenever I can.”

She leaned into me, placing her hand softly on my chest. I felt her lips on mine. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her closer, rolling onto my back and pulling her on top of me. Our lips moved in perfect sync, our hands roaming over each other. The weight of the world could be on my shoulders, but the moment I felt her touch, her kiss, our love, I forgot everything else.

As I rolled onto my side, wrapping her in my arms, our legs entwined, my hand ran up to her butt, gripping it tightly. Our moment was interrupted when I felt a pressure at the foot of our bed. Looking up, I saw our little princess pulling herself up onto our bed. Trinity smiled softly at me as I picked up our baby girl and placed her between us.

“What are you doing up, little princess?” I asked.

Trinity brushed our baby girl's hair off her face as we both gave our daughter our full attention.

“Park, daddy. You said we go to the park,” Olivia said.

“That's right, he did. Naughty daddy,” Trinity said.

“Yeah, naughty daddy,” Olivia echoed.

“You fell asleep, not me,” I said, tickling her. She buried her head in my chest, trying to squirm away.

“Quick, momma, tickle her,” I said.

Trinity tickled her feet, causing Olivia to cackle and dive over me, hiding behind my back to escape her mother.

“Are you hiding from me, little miss?” Trinity asked.

“Baby!” I exclaimed.

“What?” Trinity asked, looking confused.

My heart pounded. Pea pods, little miss. All the things she used to say to our kids were coming out like she knew and understood why she was saying them. I wanted to ask her why, but I didn't want to alarm our daughter.

“We can talk later, I promise,” I said.

“Okay, baby,” she replied, still looking confused. I leaned forward and kissed her. Just as she kissed me back and brought her hand up to my cheek, Olivia sat across my hip and started bouncing up and down.

“My daddy,” she said, trying to push her mother away. Trinity and I burst out laughing.

“You possessive little monkey, he was my husband first,” Trinity said.

“Baby, you're killing me right now,” I said.

“Stephen, what? What is it? What have I done?” Trinity asked.

“All these things you keep saying, are you remembering them, or do you feel like you want to say them? It's everything you regularly said to our kids and it's ripping at my heartstrings right now, babe,” I said.

“I can't explain, Stephen, but I just said them because I knew to say them,” she said.

“Maybe we can speak to the specialist about it tomorrow,” I suggested.

“Whatever we need to do, babe,” she agreed.

“Dad's not a baby,” Olivia said.

“Hahaha, no, not baby, princess. Babe. It means mommy thinks daddy is cute and she wants to kiss him again,” Trinity explained.

“No! I kiss daddy,” Olivia said, lunging at me and covering my cheeks in kisses as her tiny hands gripped my head.

It was perfect, spending time with my wife and daughter, hearing their laughter fill our room, watching the twinkle in their eyes as they played. Once the boys woke up, we decided to walk to the local park instead of driving across town.

It was nice being able to just walk out like a normal family. Of course, I was still aware of the Federal Marshals that followed us everywhere, but I had learned to focus on my family and my time with them rather than the Marshals. They were there to protect us, and I would let them do just that, while I concentrated on my family.

Standing with my wife in my arms, watching our kids play, was when I truly felt at home. It didn't matter where we were, as long as we were together. Hearing the laughter of our kids was the most amazing feeling in the world, and knowing we had another child on the way made me feel whole. I was drawn out of my thoughts when I saw Trinity move to get Jay, who had managed to find some bark to eat.

“Baby boy, if you're hungry, mommy can sort that, but this is yucky,” Trinity said.

“He's going to be walking soon, before we can blink, you know,” I said.

“He got up awfully quick then when he eyed up what he wanted,” Trinity said.

We watched our kids for a little while longer before getting them in their strollers and heading back home.

“You want to do dinners or baths tonight, babe?” Trinity asked.

I smiled at her. All these little things coming back to her felt like I was getting my wife back.

“What do you prefer?” I asked.

“I might bathe the kids tonight so I can spend some more time with them, if that's okay,” she said.

“It's perfect,” I replied.

We got in and started our nightly routine. Trinity bathed the kids while I got dinner ready. Then we all sat down together and had dinner. We decided to let the kids stay up an extra half hour tonight since we hadn't seen them all morning. We all sat and watched one of their shows before getting them ready for bed.

I was reading a bedtime story to the twins while Trinity was getting Jay ready for bed. Once we had the kids tucked in, we took turns in the shower and then crawled into bed ourselves. I set a reminder on my phone to call Trinity's doctors in the morning. We needed to schedule an appointment to talk about the memories and confusion that were starting to resurface.

As I turned to give my wife a goodnight kiss, she swiftly swung her leg over my hip, pinning my arms to my sides as she straddled me. I couldn't help but grin up at her, loving the view I had at that moment.

“Stephen, what are you up to, doll?” I asked.

“Mmm, Daddy,” she purred, “Little Momma wants to play right now.”

A growl rumbled in my chest as I quickly flipped Trinity onto the mattress, ready to lose myself in her.