Love Series (Complete Series)

by Natasha Madison

  “Oh my God,” Judy says, looking at Adrian. “This isn’t true, right?”

  Adrian looks down at the floor, and we don’t even see Elliot move or hit his father in the face. “You fucking asshole.” I spring into action, grabbing him and holding him back. “You motherfucker,” he sneers at him.

  Judy cries silently by herself, Ethan holding her now. “I can’t …”

  Everyone looks at Samantha, who slowly walks to her. “I want to be sad for you and hurt for you,” she says, and my mother goes to stand beside her, “but I can’t. When he sat at that table and told me that if I took care of my wifely duties, Eric wouldn’t have left me …”

  Jensen now hisses. “Motherfucker,” he sneers.

  “When you came into my house and spat your shit in my face, gutting me and making me feel like I did something wrong. Telling me that maybe if I stopped harassing him when he was home and had been more understanding, it wouldn’t have led to that, or maybe if I had been there for him and caring to his needs, he wouldn’t have gone elsewhere.” She uses her finger to wipe away a tear. “I guess I should be a bit more compassionate and feel bad for you, but I don’t. I feel nothing for you.”

  “Samantha,” Elliot says to her and walks to her, and my father and I both go on alert. “You can’t say that.”

  “I can’t?” She turns to him and laughs. “Why not?”

  “She’s family,” he says.

  “NO!” she yells out, “she isn’t my family. Family holds each other up; family supports each other. Families don’t shit on each other to better themselves; they don’t fucking cut each other down at the knees. They don’t leave them to cry by themselves in the bathroom.” I walk to her now, standing beside her.

  “SO what?” he says. “You’re going to choose him over us?” He points at me.

  “Any fucking day of the week,” she says proudly. “I just hope I’m good enough for him. He deserves the best there is, so hopefully, that is me.” I put my hands over her shoulders, pulling her to me. “You guys keep this shit up, and I’ll make sure you never see the girls.”

  “You can’t take my babies away from me,” Judy finally says.

  “Wake up,” she tells them. “It already happened. We’re moving. Far away from here, where they don’t have the fear that someone will take them away from their mother,” she says but doesn’t stop. “Where they won’t have to worry if they will end up homeless.”

  “Samantha,” Judy says, and Ethan and Elliot both stop her.

  “Mom, let’s go,” they both say. “It’s enough.”

  Adrian is now standing by their side. “I can explain,” he says, walking behind them.

  My father stops Mr. Feldman. “You don’t pull this case, I’m going to get a subpoena for Lucille.” He doesn’t say anything, just nods his head and walks off.

  I look down at Samantha. “I think I just got my girls,” she says, laughing. I lean down and kiss her lips in public.

  “Holy shit.” I hear Nanny say. “I need a drink.”

  Samantha looks over at Hailey and leaves my side. She walks up to my sister. “There are no words that I can say to thank you,” she finally says, and the tears stream down her cheeks. “Nothing I can say will make what they did to you okay,” she continues, and Jensen kisses Hailey’s forehead. “I swear I had no idea, none …”

  “I know,” Hailey says softly, and I see that Crystal is now running into the courtroom.

  “What the fuck did I miss?” she says, huffing while Gabe follows her.

  “Woman, you didn’t even wait for me to stop the fucking car. Are you out of your mind?” he says with his hands on his hips as she rolls her eyes, and he takes in the scene. “Oh, fuck.” He walks to Crystal and holds her shoulders as she looks at him. “Just in case you get ahead of yourself.”

  She shrugs him off. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

  Nanny throws her head back and laughs. “I like him.”

  “Good. You’re the only one,” Crystal says as Jensen looks down, chuckling.

  No one says another word because the bailiff calls the court back. Samantha nods to Hailey and walks back to the table with my father. My family now all sits on her side, so for a woman who started with just me and my mom, she now has her own cheering section.

  “It’s come to my attention that the plaintiffs have pulled their petition. So with that, I award the children to their mother,” she says, and we cheer. But then she holds up her hands. “Off the record, I have to say, Ms. Schneider, from the reports from the social worker, you are doing a wonderful job. My ruling would have been in your favor anyway,” she says. Samantha sobs, and my father takes her in his arms. “Court is adjourned,” she says and crashes the gavel.

  “Thank you,” Samantha says to my father. “Thank you so much.”

  She turns to look at me. “Can we go get the girls?”

  I just nod my head. “Yeah, baby, we can.”

  “We need to celebrate,” Nanny says loudly.

  “Everyone is invited over to my house,” Samantha says and then looks at Hailey. “It’s Eric free, but I understand if you don’t feel comfortable.”

  My sister smiles at her. “That would be lovely.” She turns to me and smiles. “I can’t wait to meet these girls who captured my brother’s heart.”

  She hands her house keys to my mother as we get in the car and go get the girls. Both of them appear with a worried look on their faces. “Mommy,” Lizzie says, holding Daisy’s hand.

  “Hey, girls,” I tell them. “We thought you might want to come have a celebration lunch with us.”

  “Okay,” Daisy says, “is there ice cream?”

  “That can be arranged,” I tell them as we walk to the car.

  “So we went to court today,” Samantha starts, and Lizzie stops walking.

  “Do we have to go live with Grandma and Grandpa?” she asks while her lower lip trembles.

  “No, baby.” Samantha shakes her head, and Lizzie runs to her and wraps her arms around her waist while she sobs. Samantha leans down, kissing her head. “It’s okay, baby.”

  We finally manage to get the girls in the car and back to the house. The girls don’t notice all the cars, but I do. When they open the door, they both step back. The room is filled with balloons in different shapes from hearts to stars. There are a whole bunch of zoo animals, and I look down and smile when Nanny comes out, shouting, “Surprise,” with her hands in the air.

  The kids jump up and down and then run to her. “How are my beautiful girls?” she asks them as I look around. My mother and father come out from the kitchen, followed by Crystal, Gabe, Jensen, and Hailey.

  “Oh my God,” Samantha says next to me. “This is amazing.” She looks at me. “So, so amazing.”

  “It’s only starting,” I tell her, bending and kissing her.

  Samantha

  Samantha

  I look around the room at all the balloons. “I think they outdid themselves,” I tell Blake, who’s holding my hand. I walk in and thank everyone for coming. I make eye contact with Hailey and motion to the back door. I see her nod her head, and I follow her out.

  She walks down the stairs, taking in the playground structure that Eric built. “We can go swing on the swings?” I tell her, taking off my heels and walking to the structure. She does the same and follows me. I sit on one swing while she sits on the other.

  “I really don’t know how to start.” I laugh and look down. “I’ve never met my husband’s fake wife before.” The nerves set in, and she looks down and laughs also.

  “I thought it would hurt more,” she says, looking down at her feet in the grass and then up at me. “I thought I would break.”

  “I know. I think I did break,” I tell her. “I mean, after the shock came in, and then I felt the hate.”

  “I did that too,” she says. “I would sit on the beach and think about everything we went through.”

  “I did that too,” I tell her. “I would go through these
things and then call Blake to find out if he did them for you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says, looking at me with the biggest tears in her eyes. “I would have never, ever done anything with him had I known.”

  “I know,” I tell her, swinging slowly. “I’m sorry that they stopped you from coming to the funeral.”

  “Yeah,” she says, “but I think it was for the best. Can you imagine?”

  “I had them close the casket because I couldn’t stand to look at his face.” I look down, and the tears fall. “I stood there the whole time watching the casket, trying to ask him why,” I say, sniffling. “People would come up to me and tell me what a great guy he was, and I wanted to laugh in their face and say yeah, you should ask his other wife how great he was.”

  Hailey laughs. “I haven’t even read the letter he left me.” She looks over. “I don’t know if I want to.”

  “Well, I can tell you it’s probably better than the shit he left me,” I tell her. “I mean, after I cried over it and questioned my whole am I good enough.”

  “It was never you.” She smiles at me. “It was him.”

  “I love your brother,” I tell her, “which is weird since I haven’t told him yet.” I look down at my fingers and then back up again. “I mean, I know the whole Frankie thing, and he told me he would never be able to love again. I know this, but I can’t help it. I love him. With all my broken pieces and all his broken pieces, maybe we’re whole together.” The tears fall down my face.

  “I think you’re the best thing to happen to him. He is the one who came to me,” she says. “He drove seven hours to see me and plead your case.” She looks down with her own tears falling. “At first, I told him no.”

  “I understand,” I tell her.

  “But then I thought of Jensen and his daughter, Mila, and pictured him losing her, and I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t do it.”

  “So you and Jensen?” I smile at her, and she nods.

  “Hands down the best thing that ever happened to me. I loved Eric, but what I feel for Jensen is more. I can’t even explain it to anyone. But you …” She looks at me. “You get it.”

  “I do.”

  “I wanted kids with Eric.” She smiles. “But I was like whatever. With Jensen, I would die to have his child. To give him that. For there to be a part of me and a part of him.” She smiles so big. “It would be worth everything. It would be worth all the hurt I’ve gone through if I could have that one thing.”

  I look at the door, seeing Lizzie come out toward us. “Hey there, princess, did you meet Hailey?” I tell her, and she looks at Hailey.

  “Do you hate us?” she asks her, and Hailey just looks at her. “I know who you are. I heard Uncle Elliot and Uncle Ethan talk about you.”

  “Honey,” I say to her, and Hailey holds her hand up to me, letting Lizzie finish.

  “I know Daddy did the wrong thing. I know he lied to you. But …” She looks down with tears brimming her eyes. “But we didn’t do that, and if you hate us, so will Blake.”

  “Oh, baby,” Hailey says, getting up, going to her, and stooping down to see her.

  “Mommy likes Blake and so do Daisy and me. And with Blake, Mommy doesn’t cry anymore. Like ever, not even in secret.” I put my hand to my mouth. “So please don’t hate us.”

  “I could never hate you or Daisy or your mom,” she tells her while she cries. “Ever, ever.” She rubs her face softly.

  “So you won’t tell Blake not to like us?” she asks her with her eyes so beautiful and clear.

  “Silly girls, Blake doesn’t like you,” she says, and Lizzie gasps in shock. “He loves you.”

  “Really?” she asks, looking at me with hope in her eyes, and then leans in to whisper, “We’re going to move close to him.”

  “Are you?” She smiles at her. “He’s super lucky then.”

  “I think we should get inside before Jensen sends out a search party,” Hailey says, getting to her feet. Lizzie runs ahead of us. “Whatever shit things Eric did, he did two things right.” She turns and looks at me as I look back at her.

  “I mean. I did help, but yeah. Let’s give him that one,” I tell her. “You think he’s looking down on us?”

  “I fucking hope he is so I can tell him that he didn’t break us; he unexpectedly made our broken love stories perfect!”

  We walk in hand in hand, opening the door and looking around at everyone. Crystal looks at us, making sure Hailey is okay. She gets the nod from Hailey and only then smiles. “There you are,” Blake says, coming to us. “Are you okay?” he asks, looking back and forth between us.

  “Yeah,” Hailey says, “just bonding.” She smiles and then walks to Jensen, hugging him and kissing his neck while she talks to him.

  “Can we come over this weekend?” I ask him, looking up at him as he looks down at me.

  “The girls have already packed their bags, and they’re already in the car.” He smiles. “Go get your bag ready.”

  “Okay,” I tell him. On the way to my room, I see Henry sitting in the living room talking to Joanne. I walk to them.

  “Hey,” I say to them, and they both smile at me. “I can’t …” I say with tears and a smile. “I can’t thank you enough.” I shake my head. “What you guys did for me and for the girls, I can never repay you,” I tell them.

  Joanne gets up first and comes to me, grabbing my face in her hands. “Honey, you already paid us back tenfold,” she says with her own tears. “You gave us back our boy,” she tells me. “You made his eyes shine again. You made him smile again.”

  Henry now stands. “So consider us even.” He kisses my cheek. “Sweetheart,” he says, “he waited a long time for this. No matter how much I hate Eric, in the end, he gave us both gifts. We get you three, and you made my boy come back to me. Frankly, I think we owe you.” He smiles, and I hug him, trying not to sob against his chest but failing miserably. “Enough tears,” he says. “Go get your bags packed.”

  “Okay.” I shake my head at them, walking up the stairs to my room and packing my bag for the weekend.

  I’m tossing clothes into a bag when the phone rings. I pick it up. “Hello,” I say into the phone.

  “Sam, it’s Elliot,” he says softly.

  I stop packing and sit on my bed. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “Nothing, I was calling to check on you and the girls.” I try not to pfft out.

  “We’re fine,” I tell him. “We’ve been hanging on for a while now. But you wouldn’t know that,” I tell him.

  “I know, I know,” he starts. “Instead of doing what was right, I followed what my father said, and it was wrong,” he breathes out. “I want to make up for it.”

  “Okay,” I tell him.

  “Can I maybe come over for dinner or take them to the park tomorrow?”

  “We’re leaving,” I tell him, “for the weekend. But after that, I’m moving.”

  “What?” he says shocked.

  “I can’t stay here; for the past two months, I’ve been a recluse in the house. I can’t stay here.”

  “What about the girls?” he asks me.

  “They want to go also,” I tell him, “especially after this whole mess. They are happy to go.”

  “You don’t have to do that. We won’t bother you or the girls.”

  “It’s too late for that,” I tell him. “The damage is done.”

  “Can I come over when you get back and see the girls?”

  I close my eyes, then tip my head back. “Yes.” I give in. “I’ll call you when we get back.”

  “Okay,” he says softly and disconnects. I toss the phone on the bed and get up to get my clothes. I don’t even bother changing what I’m wearing. I walk down the steps and see that everyone is gone.

  “Where is everyone?” I ask them, and Blake comes to me.

  “Crystal, Hailey, and the guys went back home.” He smiles at me. “My parents went home but made me promise we’d go over for breakfast tomorrow morn
ing.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” I smile at him.

  I walk out of the house, locking the door, and not once do I look back. “I’m ready,” I tell him when I close the door.

  He grabs my hand in his, driving us out of town toward his house. He doesn’t even make it a secret that we are sharing a room. He asks the girls to pick which room they want, and the girls squeal when they go in the room. So I follow them. In each room, he has added a television and a desk. Along with pink lamps, some rugs, and coloring books for Daisy, but a journal for Lizzie. “Who did all this?” I look at him.

  “I just wanted them to feel at home and have their own space,” he says, and if I didn’t love him before, I love him now.

  I don’t say anything to him. I just go to him and wrap my arms around his waist, looking at the girls while they find all the new things to keep them busy.

  Dinner is quiet and just the four of us. The stress of the past week has finally caught up to us, and we all fall asleep early.

  Blake

  Blake

  “I bought a new tent.” It is the first thing my mother says when we walk into the house the next day for breakfast. “And we bought a blow-up bed, so we can sleep in there,” she tells the girls, dragging them outside to look in the tent.

  We walk hand in hand, following the girls outside where they ooh and ahh over the twelve-person tent with three bedrooms. The tent is shaped like a letter T. Two bedrooms on each side with a zip up door and another bedroom in the middle. Each room can be closed. I peek in and see that she bought them all memory foam blow up mattresses on stilts, and it looks like a hotel room instead of a tent. Each girl has their own bed with pink covers.

  “This tent is crazy,” Samantha says, stepping inside as the girls choose their bed.

  “Mommy, can we sleep here today?” Lizzie asks, and Daisy agrees with her.

  She looks over at me, and I just shrug my shoulders. I honestly don’t give a shit where they sleep as long as they are with me, near me. “I’m dying to try out this bed,” my mother says. “The guy at the store said it was the crème de la crème.”