Fighting For Family: Summer and Jordan

Chapter Four

Jordan

I didn’t sleep a wink that night, none of us did. Wanna know why? Not because of the idea that we all might be father’s because we still don’t know who Ellie’s father was, and of course, we all were not thinking one hundred percent logical at the moment. Not because I basically left the status of my relationship in the hands of my crazy fiancé, but because we had three screaming kids keeping us up. We ended up staying in the guest room at Dylan’s house since it was way too late to drive home and I didn’t want to walk. Eliana and Trey have been in a fit ever since they brought in Ellie and Ellie is just tired and confused, so we don’t blame her. So we took shifts and it seemed like my shift was the worst. Why does this s**t always happen to me? Literally…shit…everywhere.

Eliana had explosive diarrhea that went all the way up her back and almost hit her hair, twice. Trey ended up puking all over his crib so I had to change the sheets and after I was done and put him back in the crib, he puked everywhere again. Ellie just cried and she wouldn’t stop unless I was holding her, which was extremely difficult to do while taking care of the twins and their explosive selves. I noticed she gripped my shirt every time I held her, so I took it off and let her hold it while she went to sleep and it worked. Holy s**t, it worked.

“Hey you.” Jo knocked on the door holding a cup of coffee. She walked into the room, handed me the cup and went to check on the kids. “How was your turn with the monsters?”

“That’s an insult to monsters. Monsters are much more well behaved and don’t have explosive diarrhea or projectile vomit.” I laughed, “They were terrible, cranky, not feeling well. Ellie wouldn’t stop crying. Eliana had the worst case of diarrhea that I have ever witnessed and Trey puked twice all over his crib where I had to change everything. All in all, it was fun, a blast, can’t wait to do it again.” I rolled my eyes.

She sat in the rocking chair holding her orange juice, “I’m sorry about all this.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do this. I just want to know who the mother is. I don’t know why she didn’t leave her name in the letter or why she didn’t say the name of the father; it would help everyone out.”

“Thinking from a girl’s perspective, she must have been terrified even though something did seem off about that letter. She must have spent some time to track the dad down and embarrassed at the fact she couldn’t do it. It’s not excuse for her but it happened unfortunately and the only thing we all can do is be there for each other.” Damn, she’s bright.

“You’re a logical thinker.”

“Nah, I just got a good night’s sleep.” She winked at me, making me roll my eyes.

“But still, a name, any name, hers or ours would have been wonderful. But enough about me, how are you?”

She shrugged and I can see she had a million things running through her mind. She had it rough growing up with her mom. Her dad died when she was a child and her mom had many men coming in and out of the house and she ended up with a bad crowd and involved in a lot of drugs.

This dude, Fredrick, Francis, Frank of who ever his name was, doesn’t matter because he’s not relevant to our lives, wanted to use Jo as p*****t for his drug debt and tried to r**e her with some other dudes there to take their turn after. Fuckin’ asshole. Her mother, Suzanne, ended up saving her and bringing her to Tristian and Riley’s to keep her safe but she ended up leaving her daughter. So, they took her in, no questions asked. They got a letter from her mom of her terminating her parental rights around the same time Frank came and tried to find her for p*****t to the people he owed money to. Dumbass, Austin, Tristian and Eli all offered him money, but he didn’t believe they had what he needed. Jokes on him really. He was shot by the cops and taken to the hospital and once released he was put in a high security rehab facility. That fucker better pray to god that we never see him again. So, in the end, she’s a badass chick.

“The whole situations just sucks.” She shrugged.

“Who do you think the father is?”

“Well, it’s hard since we don’t know who the mom is. And to be honest, she looks like a mix of all of you. Thinking about it now, you all look alike, it’s kind of creepy. Minus some hair coloring differences and stuff, but still, you look like you all could be kind of related in some way.”

“Haha yeah, I guess we kind of do. What time is it?”

“Seven.”

“Fuckin’ a.” I groaned, leaning back in the rocking chair. “I’m not made to be up this early.”

“Come on. The kids are still sleeping, let’s go downstairs. Everyone else is up and helping with breakfast.” She laughed and made her way to the door. I followed, my stomach leading the way.

We headed downstairs and she was right, everyone was already up and surprisingly, they were all in good spirits, even Summer. I missed the smile on her face and it was good to see it appear again. I walked up behind her and snaked my arms around her waist and pulled her to me.

“Good morning sexy.” I mumbled in her ear as I kissed right behind it, making her arch her body into mine, “I miss you in my arms last night.”

“I missed you more. The kids asleep?”

She turned around and wrapped her arms around my neck, “Yeah, they are, finally.”

“That bad?” she laughed slightly. Man, I love that laugh.

“Oh yeah. It was gross so I won’t get into details, let’s just say Dylan and Ray have a lot of laundry to do and it’s not pretty.”

Ray came over and pulled me away from Summer and shoved a knife in my hand, “Can you make yourself useful and get to chopping the fruit?”

“I am not responsible if my finger ends up in the fruit salad.” We all laugh. It was good to hear everyone laugh.

We were all talking and having a good time, a great time actually, but something seemed off with Ray and Dylan. They kept whispering and looking over at me and it was confusing. I mean, if something was wrong, they would just come right out and say something, right? Did I have something on my face?

I shook off the looks they were giving me and I turned to see if Summer would like to go for a quick walk outside while Jo and Archer finished off the rest of breakfast since they were making the eggs and pancakes, but she wasn’t there. I swear, she was just there! I tried to call her and message her, but she didn’t pick her phone up. I let out a frustrating sigh and went upstairs to change and borrow some of Dylan's clothes since I’m sure I still had Trey’s dried vomit on my shirt. As I was passing the nursery, I heard Summer’s voice, so I stopped by the door to listen to what she was saying.

“Hey pretty lady, it’s okay.” I peeked around the corner expecting her her to be holding Eliana but to my surprise, she was holding Ellie. She picked her up out of the pack n’ play and brought her to the changing table to change her diaper, “Are you hungry? We can go down and get you some food.”

“Mama….” She cried holding her arms up and opening and closing her fists, like she was reaching out to her. What is that saying, ow, my ovaries? I mean, if I had ovaries they would be screaming right now because seeing her with Ellie, it was doing something to me, to my heart.

“Oh sweetie. I’m so sorry, your mommy isn’t here, but I can help take care of you. Everyone here is the best! Raegan and Dylan, they have two of their own and they are the sweetest. Finn is the funny one, always making jokes and playing airplane. Archer and Jo, they are like the big brother and sister of the little ones and Jordan, he doesn’t know it, but he treats them just like they were his and I love him so much for it.” She changed her diaper and brought her to the rocking chair and held her close to her, cuddling with her.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t know who your daddy and mommy are but I can promise you, I will be here for you every step of the way. I’ll be your cool aunt who helps you cause all the mischief.” She sighed and sat Ellie on her lap.

“I have this feeling like you’re going to become a hug part of my life little Ellie. But I have to say I’m sorry. Last night I was scared, terrified and I walked away from the man I love who might just be your daddy. If you are his daughter, I hope one day you can forgive me for walking out the first night. I just wish your mom would have left her name or your daddy’s name. I know it’s not Dylan. The letter said this was the closest house she could track your dad down, so it just leaves the other three.”

I heard her sniffle and I peeked a bit more into the room and I saw Summer wipe her eyes. I rarely see her cry. “This is all bringing back memories, kind of. When I was two, my mom told me my dad abandoned me and I grew up thinking my dad didn’t love me, but I was wrong. I don’t know why your mom did this. I am sure there is another reason behind it, but I promise you, no matter what happens, I won’t let you grow up thinking your parents didn’t love you, because I can tell by the words of your mom that she did this because it’s the best for you. Maybe we can find your mom and talk to her and see what’s going on. Maybe I can help her.”

“Summer…” I said, walking into the room. Her head snapped up to me and she had the smallest smile on her face. “What are you doing?”

She shrugged, “I went to go to the bathroom and I heard Ellie starting to whine so I came up to get her ready for the day. I don’t think she can understand me, but I at least wanted her to know that no matter what happens, we will all be there for her.”

“But what you said…”

“Stays between us three okay. Ray doesn’t know much about my past, just that my mom and I don’t talk. She doesn’t know the extreme details of my past.”

“I don’t even know…” She looked at me as I said that and it was like realization came to her.

“Someday, I will tell you the gruesome details of my past, but right now, we need to get these little one’s downstairs for some food.” We looked over at the cribs and noticed Trey and Eliana standing up, bouncing, and giggling.

Summer tried to put Ellie down but she just clung to her even tighter, nuzzled her head into her shoulder and I swear, I heard her cry out mama. I guess I wasn’t the only one that heard it because I seen Summer take a pause for a moment and then just held her closer and smiled.

Watching her hold Ellie was doing something to me. It was like she was holding our daughter and we were happy. Is this what it feels like? To be a family? To have a child? I mean, this is the closest I’ve been to it, so who knows. A small part of me was wishing she was mine, just so this can be our reality, but then comes the issues with the mother and I was not looking forward to it.

I got the twins changed and ready and carried them, one on each hip, downstairs to the living room while Summer carried Ellie. We rounded the corner and everyone went silent.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“The kids…they look good on you two.” Finn smirked, “I see a glimpse of your futures.” He laughed.

“Why didn’t you get one of us. We would have helped you.” Ray came over and grabbed Elianna while Dylan went to get Trey.

“Eh, it’s no biggie. We’ve bonded last night, all four of us.” I laughed, remembering the eventful night we had.

We got the kids settled and made their breakfast and we all sat down and enjoyed the meal. I have to say, I missed times like this. I missed the times we would all get together and just relax. Maybe having Ellie here will bring us all closer together. I mean, we were already close, but you know what I mean.

“So, I sent an email to one of mom’s friends from the clinic downtown…” Ray started to say, “She said we can come in as soon as we can go down there, whenever we want, and she will take the DNA samples, but it’s going to take some time for the results to come back.”

“But it’s Sunday…are they even open?” I questioned.

“No but she is in the lab all day so she said she will get us in.”

“Who is this person your mom knows?” Archer asked.

“Some person she went to school with. I don’t know the details. I just remember her because whenI was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I went to her clinic. But you know how our parents are, they know lots of people, lots of connections. But I know for sure this one is better than Tony.” She shrugged.

“What did you tell her?” Jo asked, “I mean, having four guys come down and take a DNA test, she must have asked questions and what if she tells your mom, Hannah or Riley?”

“I can understand you’re worried, but that is the beauty of patient doctor confidentiality. When we get the results we will figure out the next step, but until then, we do this together.” Dylan smiled at all of us, his eyes landing on me. Something is telling me he is feeling the same thing I am right now.

“Hey, can I talk to you.” I asked him, he looked at everyone while they went back to their breakfast. Jo was feeing Eliana; Ray was feeding Trey and Summer was feeding Ellie and it was a sight.

He nodded his head and we both god up and started to make our way upstairs to his office. I heard footsteps behind us and noticed that Finn and Archer were coming. I didn’t care, this involved them too. Something came to my mind thinking about all of this and I think I might have figured something out, something that might make this all a bit easier.

We got into his office and locked the door so the girls couldn’t get in. We weren’t worried about them hearing anything as well. When Dylan decided to let Archer move in, he went and got all of his rooms soundproofed because Archer was complaining about him and Ray. Whatever, it was his house, let them be as loud as they please.

“So, I think I may have figured something out…” I started to say as I was sitting down on the couch he had in the office.

“Okay, what is it?” Finn c****d and eyebrow at me, “I’m curious to find out what goes through that brilliant mind of yours.” he said sarcastically. I know he was using it as a defensive tactic, but dude, come on, it's so not needed right now.

“If I weren’t so beyond stressed and overtired, I would beat your ass right now.” I glared.

“You would need to catch me first old man.”

“Dude, I’m only like five years older and I was a freaken receiver. Catching you will never be a problem.” I rolled my eyes, “Anyways, remember what the letter said last night when Summer was reading it?”

“No, I was too busy looking at a freaking toddler that looks just like me…” Archer snapped.

“Well, it said something about papers being included about terminating parental rights. Do we still have those papers? Where are they?” Dylan’s eyes went wide. How could we forget that was included.

“We were so busy trying to figure out who was the father, we had the answer in front of us the entire time.” Dylan muttered, “I know I put all those papers up here last night before I went to bed.”

He started to go through his papers, looking for the documents, “What can those papers tell us and what do they mean?” Archer asked.

“You are so young.” Finn shook his head, “Those papers are basically saying that the mother no longer wishes to take responsibility for the child and has no obligation to make decisions for said child. So, basically, if she were to show back up five, ten years from now, she has no right to make any decisions or try to take Ellie back because she gave her up. On the paperwork, she had to sign it to release those rights and with every legal document you sign, you are required to print your name as well if it’s not typed.”

“So we see the name, then we know who the father is…”

“Exactly, because whoever slept with her is the daddy.”

“FOUND IT!” Dylan yelled. He pulled out a plain orange envelop and set it on the desk. We all just sat there and looked at it, scared to open it. “So…who wants to do it?” he asked. None of us made a move.

“Nah, I’m good.” Archer said, “I’m afraid if I touch that thing, my fear will become a reality.” He shook his head no with force.

“I feel some bad juju coming off that thing..” Finn replied.

Dylan and I just looked at it. It was like it was poison and if we touched it, we would potentially get super sick or die.

“I’ll do it.” I finally spoke. I understand we are all scared, but this is something that needs to be done. I walk over to the envelop and held it in my hands. They were shaking, trembling. I went to push the tabs up to open it when Finn stopped me.

“Wait.”

“What?” I said with a sigh and groan as my whole body kind of just reacted. I wanted to get this over with.

“I think we should do this with the girls too. They deserve to know as soon as we do. It’s at least we can do for them.”

Damn him and his logical ways of thinking.