I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

Chapter 91: Five Months Later

Five months later, Frank gave birth to his third child and second born son, Jasiah Ellis Iero. It had been a long and extremely depressive few months than before when he was carrying his first-born twins which went along much more smoothly. In the end, however it was all worth it. Now Lorenzo and Venetia had a baby brother, and Frank’s family only seemed that much bigger with love and the tiny new addition. In the minutes before his contractions had hit, Frank was frightened about giving birth a second time. For some reason, he felt like he needed Gerard to be there to hold his hand and assure him that everything would be alright like he’d always had before when something was wrong. While Frank was crying out for his parents in the early morning, he had gripped onto his sheet and sobbed for dear life as he waited for them to rescue him. When they came busting through his bedroom door like they were a part of the feds, Frank had found himself reaching out to them desperately, his cheeks drenched with tears, and his eyes bloodshot. Apparently throughout his contractions, he repeatedly begged his parents to call Gerard whom he hadn’t seen since their first, and ultimately, last fight.

Frank Sr. was flabbergasted that he would be demanding the presence of the young man who babysat his grandchildren and tried to have sex with his son under his own roof. Margo was the least bit surprised and promised her son she would try and find a way to get ahold of him. Running out of the room for her phone, Margo had used as many numbers as it took to track the young man’s number down, but no one could locate him. Sadly, Margo was forced to return to her son and inform him that they couldn’t get ahold of him, it was as if he’d disappeared off the face of the planet. Their heartbroken son fainted right after hearing that information and woke up when his parents and a nurse were trying to get him into a wheel chair.

“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” Frank asked his parents as he cuddled his slumbering newborn in his arms. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Jasiah the moment he was handed to him. The only times were of course when Venetia and Lorenzo came waddling in with their Grandma Margo. Frank’s life couldn’t have felt any more complete than within that very moment where he and his twins sat on the bed observing the tiny human life.

“Of course, he is! All the Ieros children are perfect in the making!” Frank Sr. valiantly spoke from the chair beside his wife who clung to his hand and wiped her happy tears on a tissue with the other. “There’s nothing to debate about that, now is there?”

“No, my love, of course not!” Margo whimpered out as she tried to keep up with her fast tears. The scene in front of her was just so touching it was overwhelming her emotions. She didn’t want to look like crybaby of a mother when Edith and Peter finally returned from the cafeteria where they had wondered off for snacks for the twins.

“We’re the perfect family. I can feel it in my heart.” Frank fought to express to his parents and children without breaking into a sob. Still, he couldn’t stop his own tears from spilling as he smiled at the three little lives he brought into this world alone. When he spoke this time, he addressed only his little twins. “And from here on out nothing will ever tear us apart again, you hear me?”

Before the twins could babble away, Edith and Peter walked in with a tray piled with food for everyone…including HIS twins who were still Frank’s in his eyes. Just the sight of those two buying food for Venetia and Lorenzo was finally enough to make Frank snap. He was so sick of this! Sick of them coming in and out of his life taking his twins from them all because they had custody over them. Frank has been busting his ass off trying to make the money to regain custody of the twins again and prove that he can 100% care for them alone, and yet here his aunt and Uncle come strolling in playing ‘mommy and daddy’ to HIS children right in front of him for the billionth time! Despite the fact he loved his Uncle Peter and Aunt Edith, Frank couldn’t keep himself from shooting them both a violent glare and desperately reaching out to pull each of his twins closer to him and away from them. He snapped out a quick demand towards them that came out as fast as a whip before they could even have time to react to his sudden black aura. “Get out of here! I don’t want either one of you in here with me or my children!”

“Excuse me?” Edith answered back, looking just as taken aback as all of the adults in the room. They had literally been in the cafeteria for a few minutes to grab everyone some refreshments after Frank had fallen asleep after the birth and now were being told to exit the room in such a hostile fashion coming from their beloved kind nephew. What on earth had happened since they left?

“Franklin, what’s gotten into you!” Margo demanded of her son, shooting up from her chair to place her hands on her hips. This behavior was so abrupt and random, not to mention inappropriate, of her son she wasn’t about to stand for it.

“Whoa, Frankie! Calm down, it’s just Uncle Peter and Aunt Edith.” Peter reminded him, gesturing to himself then his wife. He had no idea where all this rage was coming from but he was certain it had to be some side effect of whatever drugs he was given for Jasiah’s birth.

“Don’t you see!” Frank’s eyes snapped to his parents defensively, the glare still there, as he now shifted it back to his other relatives. Tears began to pour more earnestly from his eyes, but that didn’t lesson the rage burning within himself. “They’re here for my son! They want to take him away from me just like they took Lorenzo and Venetia!”

“WHAT!?” Edith exclaimed in disbelief, not believing what she was hearing. Staring at her sister in alarm, she pointed towards her nephew with geuine concern. “Is he being serious? What kind of medication do they have him on? Is it making him behave like this?”

Before Margo could reply, Frank cut in to continue his rant. “YOU’RE NOT GONNA HAVE MY SON, OR ANY OF MY CHILDREN ANY LONGER! FROM HERE ON OUT I’M AM THE SOLE GUARDIAN OF MY CHILDREN, AND THAT’S INCLUDING THE TWINS!”

“ALRIGHT THAT’S ENOUGH FRANKIE!” Frank Sr shouted, silencing everyone in the room with his intimidating size and boisterous tone of voice. He stood up from his chair and crossed over to the bed, trying to keep his temper down because the twins were already clinging to his son and crying from all the shouting going on around them. “Where the hell is all this talk coming from, huh? You were just fine two seconds ago and now you’re being disrespectful to your Aunt and Uncle for no reason at all!”

“I have every reason!” Frank argued passionately, not planning on letting any one of them win this battle alive. Even though the twins had been crying since he started arguing, they began to cry louder when the voices in the room rose significantly. “Jasiah is MY son! I won’t let them try and take custody of him too! I want to be a full-time parent to him, MY daughter, Venetia, and MY son Lorenzo too! I want to be the one to raise them from now until they’re 18. I refuse to let anyone else try to step in and stop me from making that dream a reality even if those people are my own family! I’ll die before you take them from me again!”

“Wait a goddamn minute, hold on!” Peter called out into the room, silencing everyone once again. “Are you telling me…you want to have full custody of the twins and this new baby? You don’t want the twins to come home with us anymore?”

Frank nodded his head frantically, his shoulders trembling from holding back his sobs so that he could appear like he’s holding himself together “Yes! I don’t want them going home with you! I want them to live with me from now until they go off to college and start a life of their own! They’re my children and I won’t stop fighting to win them back from any one of you!”

“Oh, pumpkin.” Edith cooed, using Margo’s nickname for her nephew to calm him down. She was no longer concerned and confused, she completely understood everything now and wanted nothing more than to sooth her nephew of his troubles. “Is that really why you don’t want us in here? Frankie…we never intended to keep Lorenzo and Venetia forever from you.”

“Y-You didn’t?” Frank whimpered out, now completely dumbfounded. He had been certain he’d have to fight them to the death for his children and was prepared to do it. Had he been wrong this whole time about them?

Edith shook her head and smiled lovingly at him. “No, darling. When you first told us, you didn’t want to keep the twins, I knew that wasn’t the case that’s why we took custody of them instead of allowing a stranger to get their hands on them. Somewhere inside my heart I knew you’d want to be a parent to these children at some point, you just needed to see it for yourself first, and you finally have! We’d gladly give up custody of the twins for you right this second if that’s what you want, and we’ll continue to be here for you in case you still need our support.”

“Oh my god…” Frank couldn’t believe his luck. He truly indeed had been blessed with the greatest family that has ever graced upon this planet, and he couldn’t be more relieved. Feeling all the anger and tension leave his body, Frank sagged against his pillows in victory and finally let out those sobs that shook surprisingly Jasiah awake and began to make him cry. When his family reached out to comfort the crying children, Frank didn’t try and stop them. He welcomed their aid as they soothed the little ones down. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, thank you! Thank you, guys, so much I-I can’t ever repay you for this! You guys are literally the best!”

“Don’t thank us, we’re family.” Peter reminded him with a smile as he stuffed his hands in his front pocket. “It’s what we do, look out for each other.”

“And you can now rest assure knowing that we’ll take care of everything when it comes to transferring custody of the twins to you.” Edith assured him as she soothed a crying Lorenzo. “Before you’ll know it you’ll be the father of three kids instead of just one now.”

Frank Sr. cut in with more good news as he began to tickle Venetia so she’d stop crying too. “And your mother and I have been thinking. We’ll agree to you moving out at 17 years old when you’re ready BUT only one condition!”

“W-What is it?” Frank asked frantically as he wiped his tears and swallowed back his sobs. “I’ll do anything!”

“You must move out of state.” Margo informed him as she bounced Jasiah. “It’s a decision we should have made long ago before when you were kidnapped a second time. But now you can rectify that and keep you and your children safe. You must get out of here, Frankie, in case that man comes looking for you again.”

“You’re right.” Frank didn’t hesitate to agree. For the first time, he was gonna run away from home and far away from his kidnapper’s reach. There was no way that man would be able to find him this time around. “We should definitely look out of state…like maybe…Pennsylvania?”