All These Things We Do

Eloise walked slowly down the stairs, Nathan in her arms as she followed Brian who was carrying Katie. She continued to follow him as he picked up his case that had been sat at the bottom of the stairs and out the front door towards the tour bus that was parked up at the end of their driveway.

“Hey guys.” She said greeting their friends as they gathered around the driveway, ready to say good bye to each other before the guys headed out to play a few dates. They were only going to be gone four days, doing some shows in Colorado and Utah. However this was going to be the first time they’d left since the twins were born.

“How’s my favourite twins?” Jimmy asked stepping closer to Brian and gesturing for him to pass Katie to him.

“Sleeping as usual.” Eloise replied quietly.

“Can I have a hold?” Leana asked quietly as she approached Eloise. “I’m sure you and Brian want to hug good bye and stuff.” She added as Eloise passed her Nathan with a knowing smile.

“She has a good point. Come here Mrs. Haner.” Brian replied with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around Eloise, pulling her as close to his body as he could manage. She sighed heavily, inhaling in his scent, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall.

“It’s four days baby. We’ve gone longer.” He whispered soothingly into her ear.

“I know, I’m just scared about being on my own with the babies.” She replied quietly into his chest.

“Hey, you’re going to be fine, you’re a natural mother and the girls will always be here if you really need them.” He assured her. She pulled away from him to look up into his deep brown eyes that sparkled with love.

“I know. I love you Bri.” She whispered as she continued to gaze up into his eyes.

“Love you too baby.” He replied, dipping his head to kiss her lips. She responded to the kiss with a soft moan, her hands gripping hold of his shirt. They pulled away at the sound of the bus’ engine being gunned into life, Jason’s signal to get the guys moving when it was time for them to get going.

“Four days.” He whispered with a wink. She nodded with a smile as he turned back to Jimmy.

“Ok Sullivan, let me say good bye to my beautiful daughter.” He said. He took her into his arms and whispered something to her before placing a kiss on her tiny head and placing her back into Eloise's arms. He then turned and took Nathan from Leana, again whispering something to him before kissing his head and passing him back to Leana who’d finished her good byes to Jimmy, who had knelt down to kiss her unnoticeable bump.

“Sorry guys, but we gotta go!” Zack called from the front of the bus to Matt, Jimmy and Brian who were still saying good bye to their loved ones.

“Bye baby.” Brian whispered, placing a fleeting kiss against her cheek before he ran to the bus.

Eloise took a step forward, all the girls huddling close together to watch the bus pull away from the driveway.

******

Eloise unclipped the small portable baby monitor from her waist band and placed it on the coffee table in front of her as she finally relaxed into the sofa with a steaming hot mug of coffee. With an exasperated sigh she closed her eyes leaning her head against the back of the sofa. For the first time in four days the twins had gone down together for their morning sleep, leaving Eloise with time to her self just to relax for ten minutes before she had to do some much needed house work.

She opened her eyes and lifted her head back up to take a sip of her coffee but as her lips made contact with the mug the doorbell rang, followed by two loud knocks. Whoever was on the other side of the door seemed eager to let her know they were there. With another sigh Eloise placed her mug back onto the table and lifted herself off the sofa and walked over to the front door.

On the other side of the door was a young, nervous looking woman. She was around the same height as Eloise, slim, with hazel eyes and long, wavy brown hair.

“Can I help you?” Eloise asked, trying to sound as polite as possible, all she wanted to do was get back to the sofa and her coffee.

“Um, you don’t know me, but I know your husband.” She began in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

“A lot of people know him Hun, he’s in a band after all.” Eloise replied.

“No, you don’t understand, listen can I come in, I don’t think this is something you want to be discussing on your doorstep.” She replied, taking a step forward. Before she could get any closer Eloise held up her hand to stop her.

“Wait, I have no idea who you are, for all I know you could be some crazed fan.”

“My name’s Katelyn, and yes I am a fan, but, please can I come in, I really don’t think you want to hear this on the doorstep.” She replied but Eloise still didn’t move.

“Ok, but tell me how you know Brian.” Eloise asked through narrowed eyes.

“I met him when they were on tour a little over a year ago. Please, let me explain this inside.” She pleaded again.

Eloise stared at her for a long moment, trying to figure out what she wanted, what she needed to tell her. Finally she nodded and stepped away from the door to allow the woman in. She closed the door behind her and gestured her to follow her to take a seat in the living room.

“Ok, will you please now tell me what you want?” Eloise asked as she sat on the edge of the sofa. “How do you know Brian?”

“Ok, this isn’t easy for me to say but when Brian and I met when they were on tour, we um, well we were intimate together.” she began nervously.

Eloise felt as though she’d had the wind knocked out of her at the sound of these words. Was this woman being serious? Was she implying that Brian had cheated on her?

“No.” she whispered staring at Katelyn shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have told you but, well, when I saw an interview where he was talking about his twins and how happy he is, well um, I thought he should know about Joseph.”

“Joseph?” Eloise enquired quietly.
Katelyn nodded silently as she reached into her purse before taking out a photograph.

“Brian’s son.” She replied passing the photograph across to Eloise. She took it from her, staring at the young baby staring back at her. He can’t have been more than a few months old, around the same age as Liam. He had dark brown eyes and a head full of dark hair. Eloise couldn’t deny the fact that there were definite similarities between the child and Brian. Between the child and Nathan.

“No!” she whispered still staring at the photo she had in her hands.

“Eloise I’m sorry, but I thought you need to know the truth.” Katelyn said as she watched Eloise.

“No, you’re lying, Brian would never.” Eloise began, her eyes brimming with tears. Before Katelyn could interject again Eloise continued, the volume of her voice rising quickly as she stood up. “Get out! Get out of my house, you sick, twisted, lying little bitch!” she screamed, screwing up the photograph and throwing it towards the trash can in the corner of the room.

“GET OUT!” she screamed again when Katelyn hadn’t moved quickly enough. Tears of anger and pain flowed from her eyes as she watched the woman cross the room towards the front door.

As the door closed behind her, Eloise sank back into the chair behind her, tears falling freely as she sobbed uncontrollably. The biggest part of her knew that Brian would never cheat on her. She knew that he loved her more than anything and would not do anything to risk their happiness. However, the child in the photograph did look a lot like Brian. It could easily have been a photo of him from he was a baby or one that could be taken of Nathan in a few months time.

Her mind was swimming with questions and she didn’t have an answer for any of them. Had Brian cheated on her? Was this child his son? What would Brian say when he found out? Would he tell her the truth? Would she want to hear it? What would she do if this was the truth? Would she be able to stay with Brian? Trust him again? Stand back and watch him be a father to a child who wasn’t hers? What if he decided that he wanted to be with Katelyn and his son instead? How would she cope raising the twins by herself?

As these questions went unanswered more tears fell and more sobs filled the otherwise silent room. Suddenly her cell phone ringing broke through the silence but Eloise chose to ignore it. It was Brian’s ring tone and she couldn’t deal with talking to him at that moment. She didn’t know what she would say to him for a start. Moments after it had rung off the house phone began to ring and again Eloise ignored it. Again it rung off and there was a short moment of silence before her message tone rang from her cell, which again she ignored.

She just wanted to be left alone to think. Slowly she leaned across and took hold of her cell phone, pressing the button that turned it off before placing it back onto the coffee table before she curled up on the sofa, bringing her knees up to her chest, hugging herself.