Everybody Has a Secret

I couldn’t stop crying knowing that Alex was leaving today.

“Babe, don’t cry,” he said as he held me. “How much longer will you cry?”

“I’m a very emotional pregnant lady. I could cry all day,” I said sternly.

“Yeah… mood swings.”

I started crying again and pouting. “Don’t leave me,” I whined.

“Come on, I’ll still technically be here. Look at him.” He pointed at Eric. He was in his room across from us, playing. He knew we needed our alone time.

“He may look like you but it’s not the same…”

He sighed. “I know.” He looked at his watch. “I have to go soon. The guys are waiting for me.”

Tears were still running down my face. “Okay.”

“Hey. I love you.” He wiped my tears from my face. “I’ll see you soon. I’ll call you every night too.”

“I love you too. I’m just going to miss you a lot.”

He smiled. “I’m gonna miss you too. I’m sorry you can’t come with. But we’ve all got families now and it’s hard to take all of you.”

“I know. It’s okay. I understand.”

“You wanna say goodbye to the boys?”

I nodded. “I haven’t seen the others in a while. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to Zack. Did he and Kayla break up?”

“They did. He said he wants to be single for the time being. He told her what happened. Of course, she got mad but he didn’t want to be with her anymore.”

“Why?”

“He felt that she shouldn’t be jealous of you. I mean, we were all friends. I guess she never liked you much and you’re one of his best friends. So, he said if she can’t deal with that then they can’t be together. Jealousy got over her.”

“Aw, I feel bad.”

“I guess you should’ve been with Zack.”

“Stop.” I laughed.

“Oh, you cheered up. Good. Come on.” He grabbed my hand and I walked out of the room with him. “Hey, Eric, come on.”

Eric came out of his room and held Alex’s other hand and we headed outside. The boys and everyone else were already outside.

“Ellie!” Jack said. “I’ll miss you.” He gave me a hug and I reciprocated.

“I’ll miss you too,” I said.

I said by goodbyes and hugged Rian and Zack too. I said goodbye to Alex one more time. I watched as Alex said goodbye to Eric. It was making me emotional. I could hear Eric’s muffled crying through Alex’s hug. I knew Alex was getting emotional too. I could see tears starting to form and some of them slightly falling down his cheeks. I heard them say that they love each other and Alex said he’d be back soon and to take care of me. Eric ran back towards me and hugged me. I put my arm around him and we both waved goodbye as the bus started to move.

“I love you both!” Alex shouted out the window.

“Love you!” I said.

“I love you too!” Eric said.

“Don’t forget this thing here.” I pointed at my stomach.

“Oh, I love her or him too!”

I laughed and waved. “Bye!”

The boys all waved and said goodbye and with that they were gone and out of sight.

“I’m gonna miss Dad,” Eric said, sniffling.

“Aw, me too, son,” I said and wiped his tears away.

“You guys wanna go do something?” Crystal asked.

“I’m down,” Vanessa said.

“Me too. I don’t wanna be home and sulk in sadness,” I said.

“Mum, can we go to the park?” Eric asked.

“You guys wanna go to the park?”

“Why not? It’s a nice day out and JJ does like being outside,” Vanessa said. “He can go crazy.”

Eric grabbed my hand and we started walking to the park. It’s been a while since I’ve appreciated the outside world and we have a nice park. There’s a cute little pond that you can walk around because there’s a trail and a decent size play area for the kiddos. There’s also areas you can go to play chess, barbecue, etc.

I sat down on a bench and the kiddos went to go play.

“I’m tired,” I said.

“What? We literally only walked a block,” Vanessa said and Crystal laughed.

“No, I mean like I’m tired because of all my crying. I’m so emo.” I started getting sad again.

“Aw, he’ll be home before you even know it,” Crystal said.

“I just feel bad for Eric. He’s going to be stuck with just me for a while.”

“Oh, he loves you, dude,” Vanessa said. “Speaking of the little devil.”

JJ was playing in the sandbox and Eric was walking over here with a small white flower in his hand. He came up to me and handed me the tiny flower.

I took it from his hand. “Thank you,” I said, smiling. It was those small delicate daisies that start to grow during the spring time.

“I know with Dad being gone you’re a little sad so I wanted to make you feel a little better,” he said.

I smiled so big at him and he smiled back. I couldn’t bear it so I gave him a big hug. He gave me a big hug back. I looked at him and caressed his cheek and gave him a kiss.

“I love you, kiddo. Thank you. I feel a lot better,” I said.

He smiled. “I’m glad. I love you too.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“You can go play now, sweetie.”

“That was so cute,” Vanessa said once he ran off.

“I took a video of it,” Crystal said motioning to her phone. “I’m sending it to the boys.”

“Alex is gonna post it on Instagram or twitter or something I’m sure,” I said.

“Oh, my god, that’ll be so cute!” Vanessa said.

I got a text from Alex a few minutes later. He said cute and with an Instagram link attached to it. I opened it up and it was the video of course. He just captioned it with “I love my beautiful wife and son. Miss you both.” There was a little heart and flower emoji. I sent him a message saying Eric and I both love and miss him too. I just can’t wait until my hubby comes back and for this baby to arrive.