Kings and Queens of Promise

“No, Jared, don’t go!” I begged, clinging tightly to Jared’s hand as he tried to walk away.

“Em, I can’t,” he said for the hundredth time. “I can’t do this with you.”

“Jared, I love you. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Not this time,” he said sadly.

“But...but...I don’t want you to leave me alone with a bunch of women I don’t know!” I whined. Jared chuckled, pulling me close and kissing my forehead.

“You’ll be fine, Em. Violet and Bastian are here, so you won’t be alone. And you’ll have Frank and Zacky. Besides, it’s your baby shower.”

“You suck,” I pouted.

“I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow morning,” he smiled, giving me a gentle squeeze before getting into the truck. He waved at me as he pulled out of the driveway; I just pouted at him.

Once he was gone, I went into the large house before me.

“Em, you’re finally here!” said a woman I didn’t know. “I’m Val, Matt’s fiancée.”

“Hi,” I said shyly. She took my hand and led me into the living room.

“That’s Lacey, Johnny’s girlfriend, and over there is Leana, Jimmy’s fiancée. Oh, and that girl over there is Kim, David’s girlfriend,” she told me, pointing to the other girls I didn’t know.

“Hi,” they all greeted, quickly coming over to me and showering me with friendliness.

“Hey, Em,” Violet said, coming over and giving me a one-armed hug. Nestled in the crook of her elbow was little Sebastian, smiling up at me with his sky-colored eyes sparkling.

“Em! Em! Em!” an excited voice shouted. Frank came running up to me, dragging Zacky with him. “We got you the best present ever.”

“But not really,” Zacky contradicted.

“Shut up, Zack, she’s going to love it,” Violet insisted.

“It’s ridiculous,” Zacky said. “She’s already going to have to worry about a baby, she doesn’t need to worry about a-”

“Puppy!” I exclaimed, when I saw Matt appear with a wiggling ball of golden fur.

“He’s excited,” Matt laughed, dropping the furball into my arms. The pup squirmed around so that he could lick my face.

“Aw,” I smiled. “I will call you Merry, yes I will.”

“Merry?” asked Val.

“Yeah, like from Lord of the Rings?”

“Nerd,” Frank sang under his breath. I smacked him.

“I hope Icky doesn’t mind him,” I said, petting the puppy’s head.

“Well, it’s not like it matters since Syn’s selling the house anyway,” Matt shrugged. I almost dropped Merry.

“Brian’s selling the mansion?!” I exclaimed.

“Well, yeah, but he’s generously put down payments on five houses right on the beach.”

“Five?”

“Yeah, one for him, one for Jared, one for Pierre, one for you, Jack, and Alex, and one for Frank and Zacky.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that’s cool...are they nice?” Matt laughed and patted my head.

“You’ll have to talk to Syn about that.”

“Okay, Matt, you have to leave now,” Val said. “You’re throwing off the all-girl theme.”

“What about them?” he demanded, gesturing to Zacky and Frank.

“Special circumstances, now go!” Finally, he was ushered out of the house. “Now, let’s get this party started,” Val said, clapping her hands together. “It’s game time!”

I waddled over to the couch, sitting down with a groan of satisfaction: my 37-week baby belly was really hard to carry around. Lately, I’d found myself flying short distances just to give my legs a rest.

“Where is she?!” demanded a loud voice from the entryway. We all looked up as the sickeningly familiar voice screeched from the hallway. “Where’s that whore?!”

“Oh, no,” Violet groaned. Then in stormed a now-too-familiar blonde woman, clutching a rolled up magazine in her hand.

“You whore!” Trisha shouted at me, waving the magazine in my face. “You think you can just come along and get yourself knocked up and think he’ll be yours forever?! He’s mine!”

“You have to leave,” Val demanded, grabbing Trisha’s wrist. The blonde looked at Val with pure hatred, swiping her wrist away.

“You will not marry him,” she said to me. “He’s mine and no one else’s!”

“If he’s yours,” I fumed, standing up, “then why has he been spending all his time with me? Why has he been holding my hand and kissing my lips?”

“Because you’re a man-stealing slut!” she screamed, throwing herself at me. Her fake nails scratched my skin as she wrapped her bony hands around my neck. I was knocked backwards, landing on the floor with my right wing at a painful angle. Trisha’s weight landed on my stomach, shooting pain through me. As she tried to strangle me, I got my feet between us and kicked her off. As I scrambled to my feet, she lunged at me again. I dodged her hands and grabbed her wrist, twisting it behind her back. I wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her into the air. I phased through the roof and flew higher and higher. Ten feet, thirty, fifty...

We rose still higher, until the ground below us was blurry and small. Trisha was petrified, staring down in horror. My stomach was aching terribly, but I had to deal with this once and for all.

“Listen to me,” I hissed in her ear. “If you don’t leave me and Jared alone, I will end you. You can’t just walk into someone’s life and claim them as your own if they aren’t interested, which Jared isn’t. If I ever even hear that you’re around-”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” she screamed. “Now put me down!”

“Fine,” I replied, shooting downward in a steep dive that made Trisha scream bloody murder. I dropped her on top of the Huntington Beach water tower and left her. The stabbing pains in my stomach were close to unbearable by the time I landed in Matt’s front yard. I landed heavily on my hands and knees, gripping my stomach.

“Em!” Violet’s voice shouted above me.

“Don’t worry, we’ve already called for an ambulance,” Val said, appearing by my side. I just nodded and then collapsed.



The next thing I knew, I was waking up with two concerned pairs of eyes looking down at me. Jared’s piercing blue and Pierre’s concerned brown.

“Wh-What happened?” I asked groggily. I could hear an annoying beeping sound to my right.

“The stress and physical effort caused you to stress the baby too much. They had to do a C-section,” Pierre said. My eyes widened and my hands gripped my stomach. It was the same size, but it wasn’t hard like before. There were stitches there and I realized: my baby was gone.

“No,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes.

“Miss Gaskarth?” said a nurse, who had walked into the room with a little bundle in his arms. Was that my dead child? But...if it was, why was the he smiling? And why were Jared and Pierre smiling? “Meet your daughter.”

My eyes widened again as a beautiful baby girl was placed in my arms.

“Oh, my God, she’s so fat!” I exclaimed, but in the most affectionate way.

“Nine pounds, nine ounces,” the nurse said. “Have you looked at her hair?”

“No,” I replied, reaching up and pulling the little hat from her head. She had a head of white curls. I’m not even kidding; white. “She’s beautiful.”

“She’s quite the baby,” the nurse said.

“Em, this is your doctor’s assistant,” Jared said. I laughed: how often do the doctor assistants come back for a second look at the babies?

“What color are her eyes?” I asked.

“She hasn’t opened them yet,” the assistant said.

“Brown, probably,” I sighed. “Does anyone have anything but brown eyes in your family?” I asked Pierre. He shook his head and I shrugged.

“It’s impossible for her to have anything that’s not at least a shade of brown,” said the assistant. “Hazel at lightest.”

“She’s beautiful either way,” Jared smiled, gently stroking the baby’s soft hair.

“Oh, Ellie,” I breathed, smiling. I heard someone clear their throat and I looked up, spotting my nervous-looking twin in the doorway. “Alex, you’re an uncle.” Alex grinned and walked to my side, shoving Pierre aside for a better look.

“Wow, that hair.”

“I know, right?” I smiled.

“How’d she get blonde hair? None of us had hair that light.”

“I dunno,” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s a recessive gene or something.”

Just then, Ellie yawned and her tiny eyelids lifted, revealing a face like a china doll: white, blonde, with great big eyes.

Great, big, shockingly blue eyes. We all stared at them in shock. Then, after a moment, Pierre’s hands balled into fists and he looked up at Jared.

“You son of a bitch.”