Eighty Seven
Their housekeeper was already with Hazel and Hailey, they both had twin sorrowful looks on their faces. Hazel came not too long after their wedding, ten months later, Astra had a child another girl. This time, the child looked like her. Her pregnancy was sure from the beginning and she knew that she was pregnant, she all but glided through it, Nicholas was there to hold her hand through it all, and he was present for the birth. Hazel was a quiet child, Astra prayed for one since she was running a company and handling three children, two who were still babies.
It was not easy for her, but Astra viewed Hazel as good luck, she was able to open the firm successfully and it grew. Since she was born in a home that she felt favouritism as a child, she tried to avoid it as she trained her own children. Even though the beginning of Hailey’s pregnancy had not been pretty, Hailey was the strongest child to her. She refused to give up, and also helped her love with Nicholas to blossom.
In as much as Astra tried to be equal with her two daughters, they were like cat and dog, they were always fighting. For children that were five and four respectively they seemed to have a lot of energy and they used it to fight each other. Her friends and family told her that they were just children and it happened a lot in children that were so close and that they would outgrow it. Astra sincerely hoped so. What gave her hope was the fact that they played as hard as they fought, they were still friends after all.
“What happened here?” Astra asked the two guilty faces.
“Hazel wanted to get you that vase up there, as a going away present, so that maybe you will not go,” Hailey said, she pointed at the vase on top of the counter. Astra could not even reach it, she wondered how the two little girls thought they could.
“But it is really high, but I knew that you would like it Mommy, it has flowers, so I climbed. Hailey refused to help at first and then she did,” Hazel explained at and Astra’s eyes widened.
“You were climbing the kitchen counters?” Astra asked her children. She knew that she was shouting but she could not help herself. How? Why? Were the questions that were on the tip of her tongue after the first now, she could not figure the children out.
“They did not get very far, I caught them and she was trying to come down and this ceramic jug broke,” the housekeeper explained and Astra sighed. All because they did not want her to leave. She could not even be angry at them if she tried.
“We are really sorry Mommy, don’t leave us alone,” the children said and hugged her legs.
“We promise we will not fight anymore and we will be good girls,” Hailey said. Astra reasoned not leaving then, it would be so easy, but Astra knew what Nicholas said was true, if they did not go now, they would never go. They had been married for five years and they had not gone for their honeymoon yet. They went on vacations as a family, once in a while, during the weekends, they would fly to some state or country to have fun. The three children, Nicholas and Astra, but they barely had the time to do anything themselves.
“Mommy and Daddy will come back, we are just going for two weeks, fourteen days and we will be back, you can mark it on the calendar, and you can play with all your friends and cousins when we are gone. Aunt Yvonne is also coming for the two weeks,” Astra said to the children. It seemed like they did not understand the vacation and they thought that Astra and Nicholas were leaving them for good. Her poor babies.
“Can Theo and Elise come?” Hazel asked as she sniffled, she was referring to Saran and and Jared’s children.
“Can Isla come too?” Hailey asked. Like Steph had predicted, the two girls were best of friends.
“Of course she can, and you can go to Aunt Charise’s place for a while,” Astra continued and the girls shrieked. They were clearly excited about that. Charise was very popular with her children.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“You can stay with Grandma Iris for a while too,” Astra continued and the children jumped this time. The reason why Astra did not just dump the children at Iris’ house for the two weeks was because she did not want to impose, there were three of them, and it was two whole weeks. Anyone would be frustrated. So it was best that they stayed at home and went to visit.
“You both won’t even notice that I am not here,” Astra said to the children.
“We will notice Mommy, but you will be back,” Hailey said smartly.
“That’s right,” Astra said and she bent to kiss the both of them on the head.
“Where is Brian?” Astra asked as they cleaned up the kitchen. She was already dressed and their luggage was ready, it was almost time to leave.
“He is doing his homework,” Hazel said and rumpled her nose, she did not like the idea of homework. Brian was more intellectual than anything. He loved to read and to gain knowledge on anything and everything at all. He was just ten years old and he was already reading so much, he even knew things that she did not. He was really so inquisitive and it had only grown with age, his curiosity.
“Hey Brian. Do you have time for Mommy?” Astra asked as she peeped into the room. She was there with Nicholas.
“Are you sure you are not just waiting for us to leave so that you can read up on everything in this house?” Nicholas asked his son and he scratched the back of his neck with a smile. Her son was really so handsome even if he was a nerd. He was an handsome nerd. He looked so much like Nicholas till then. Astra was reminded again of the child that she lost, Brianna. She would have been ten too. Would she have liked academics like Brian? Astra doubted it. The only person that would be close was Hailey, she was curious too like her brother.
“I did not know you were leaving so soon,” Brian said and Astra moved to hug him, she held her son close and Nicholas smiled at the awkward look on Brian’s face.
“Take good care of your sisters when we are gone, okay. we will be back before you know it,” Astra said.
“I will, thank you Mom. I will you both, come back very soon,” Brian said and Astra felt like she would cry.
“Come on now, we need to get to the airport so that we did not miss our flight,” Nicholas said and he led Astra outside. She hugged all of her children again, and Nicholas too with tears in her eyes.
“I love you Nicholas,” Astra said as they were on their way to the airport, to enjoy two weeks of their life, and to celebrate their five years in marriage and up to thirteen years in love.
“And I love you Astra,” Nicholas said to her.
Astra had come quite a long way Nicholas, from being dazzled by the billionaire, to loving him, getting pregnant, getting divorced and somehow finding their way back to each other. It had been a ride. A very long and turbulent one, but she would do it again, she would go through all that she had been from the beginning if it was sure that at the end, she would still be this billionaire’s wife.