Picking Up the Pieces

“Whatcha doing?” Mirian asked as I continued to circle ads for apartments in Madrid.

“Apartment searching” I explained without looking at her.

“Why?” she asked in what she attempted to be a light tone, but I could tell that from the quick response that she was not impressed.

“Because M, I can’t live with your parents forever. I need to move on sometime and I can’t be reliant on other people for the rest of my life”

“Why not? My parents love you and you can’t just move to a place with two little babies with no help. How will you juggle both of them with no extra help? And how are you going to earn an income? See you can’t go Rey. You are eight months along and you can’t be by yourself between this extremely precious time” Mirian rambled as I just watched her.

“You are not changing my mind M. I’ve spoken to your parents and they have reluctantly agreed and as soon as I get a comfortable place, I’m moving out” I stated before standing up and waddling over to the fridge.

I had already spent 4 months cooped up in the Ramos family home and I refused to sponge of them any longer. I was an independent woman and this was the longest time I had spent depending on other people but no more.

It was time to get back to the real world, a world where Sergio and I co-parent the girls and I live my life and he lives his.

“Does Sergio know about your plans?” Mirian spoke up as she burst my train of thought.

I cleared my throat as I turned to her.

“No he doesn’t…yet. And I swear if you tell him ANYTHING, I will make sure you never see your nieces EVER” I threatened before walking away to the bedroom I had made my own in the last few months.

**2 weeks later**

“That’s the last of the boxes” Rene grumbled as he threw himself on my new couch.

I smiled as I gave him a glass of orange juice before moving to sit on the sofa.

“Thanks so much for your help Rene. It means a lot, especially knowing that you could get killed for helping me do this” I explained as he nodded in understanding.

“So when are you planning on telling him?” Rene gauged as he waited for my reaction.

I shrugged before giving him an answer.

“I don’t know but soon” I mumbled as he just nodded.

“Ok well I trust you will make the right decision soon. Goodness knows you standing up on your own two feet will give Sergio the kick up the backside he needs to start winning you over”

I laughed at Rene’s comment because despite everything that had occurred, the Ramos siblings still had some hope that I would get back with Sergio. Somehow, despite all their cheering and well-wishes I couldn’t give them a clear answer that we would fix things.

Sergio had kept his word and maintained a safe distance between us, only ever pushing me when it came to decision regarding the twins. He never pushed me to make a choice about where we stood with us.

Maybe that’s because he had moved on with his life?

Maybe he got tired of waiting around for me.

Not that I could blame him because even I didn’t know what I wanted from him. Even though I knew I was in love with him, I wasn’t sure that was enough to make me fight for us to get back together.

“Well Rey, I’m leaving now. I’ll see you around?” Rene asked as we both stood up.

“Yeah…” I began but my breath was stuck in my throat as I attempted to reach out to hug him.

My hands quickly went to my stomach as a sharp pain hit me.

“Reyna is something wrong?” Rene asked worried as I felt a liquid worm its way down my legs.

I slowly bent to sit on the floor as the pain become too much to handle.

“Reyna…are you ok? Is there anything I can do?” Rene panicked as I tried to calm myself.

I held in my pain as only one answer kept running through my mind.

“Call…call Sergio… please. I can’t do this without him” I cried as I realised how close I was to giving birth.