"I-Is it true?" The raven haired woman whispered to her phone.
The person sighed on the other line, speaking gently to Leighla as if she was a child.
"Yeah. Yeah it is baby girl. I'm so sorry," the person sympathetically said, hearing Leighla Schultz's tears from the other side of the phone. "Are you okay?"
"No. No i'm not Renee. I thought i was going to spend the rest of my life with Colby. Getting married, having kids, growing old together. But it'll never happen now, will it? He went behind my back and fucked the whore, i don't know how many times, and got her pregnant. He broke my heart. Shattered my soul. In my heartbreak, i did something messed up. I know i did. I posted those pictures, but immediately took them down, realising what i was doing. It was too late though, Renee. The world saw them. The world hates me now. Is what i did so bad compared to what he did? Is posting pictures online worse than having an affair behind your fiancee's back? Getting your mistress pregnant and leaving me in the cold. He broke me, Renee. He ripped my soul to pieces, threw seven years of our lives down the drain for some crusty ring rat. Does he still see her? Is he with her right now?"
Renee Paquette couldn't lie to her friend, nor could she find it in her heart to tell her what was in front of her. All she could do was answer as gently as possible. "Yeah." She whispered. "They're together. They're together right now" Leighla swallowed thickly and tried to keep the tears at bay one more time. She failed, and her tears became sobs, which grew in volume until she was hysterically crying on the phone.
"Why?!" She cried suddenly. "Why did he do this?! What happened between us?! What did i do wrong? What did i do to make him want her?!"
"You didn't do anything, sweetheart. You know that." Renee shushed her. "Colby just couldn't handle the distance anymore. He got lonely, so he turned to her for comfort in his time of need."
"I was always there! Always on the other side of the phone! Even if what you're saying is true," Her voice broke from the hysterical woman to a broken and lost little girl, whispering to the blonde woman. "What made him hate me? What made him hate us? What made him hate his life?"
"He told Jon that he saw what he could have with her, travelling the world, being together everywhere, he couldn't have that with you. So, he favourited that life he had, but didn't think about the life he had with you, until it was too late."
Leighla silenced. Thinking of those words. He knew why she couldn't work for the WWE. A few years before, she found out something she never thought could happen. She found out she had a half sister that she never knew about. A heavily pregnant half sister at that, and Leighla knew about her when it was far too late. She knew about her when Laura was in labor, and barely had the time to accept her and the baby into her life, before blood loss took her precious baby sister away from her for eternity.
Leighla could remember that scene to vividly, even though it happened years ago.
"Ahh! So-So your the sister i never had, right?" Laura Schultz-Francis tried to smile, despite her agony. A young woman had walked into her room after a nurse that had been looking after the woman in labor. Leighla didn't know what to think. Sure, the young girl looked like both parents, sure, but it was such a shock. One moment, she was in the park with Kevin, doing their weekly exploring. The next, she was being called saying she had a sister who was in labor, and who wasn't going to make it. There was no denying it though. She'd seen hers and Laura's birth certificates, and the parents had matched. Laura had been a test tube baby, as both parents had died long before she was conceived, so it was just by chance that her mother and father were picked as the birth parents who would never know their little girl.
"I-I" Leighla stuttered, being pulled aside by another nurse.
"She won't last another few minutes. It's best you make peace with her whilst you still can." Gulping, she nodded and was forced to sit on a blue plastic chair, her well manicured hand being grabbed instantaneously.
"I'm sorry i haven't contacted you, cause i was always brought up knowing my parents wern't my birth parents. I knew i was a Schultz, but i didn't know i was your sister. U-until now. I should've tried harder. We both should have. I'm so sorry about this. It's gotta be a shock, right?" Leighla nodded, unable to believe this was what was happening. "i'm sure it is. Just, i know your the only one left. Brothers on the other side of the country, so your all i got, all he's got. Please. Don't abandon him. Love him as if he's your own. Ahh!" She suddenly screamed as something was done, and Leighla could see the baby coming out. Her skin went porcelin white and she went limp for a second, before whispering to Leighla.
"Tell him i'm sorry. Tell your kids i'm sorry. That i wasn't strong enough to do this. To bring them into the world and stay there."
"No! No! You can't! You have to stay awake! The baby needs you!"
"Your all he has. Don't worry. I'll be with mom and dad. I'll put in a good word for you, up at those gates. At least, i'll get to see my parents for the first time right? I got to see my sister though, not many of us could say that. I'm sorry Leighla. So Sorry." She was fading fast. Standing up, she gently stroked Laura's cheek, making her open her half lidded, tear filled, cobalt blue eyes and look at the woman.
"Shh. It's okay. You're my sister, and we've only just begun" She whispered, stroking her sisters hair, before she went limp in her arms. Leighla's bottom lip wobbled and she cradled the dead woman's corpse in her arms, rocking her back and forth.
"No! No! Wake up! Come on, please. I'm begging. Wake up, please! You can't go! You can't leave me!" Leighla sobbed out, until two arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her off the dead woman. Leighla was sobbing in heartbreak, thrashing against him, trying to go back to Laura, but the shrill scream of a baby stopped er in her tracks, and was soon placed in her arms.
Leighla cried more, seeing her firstborn nephew. He looked just like his mom. The spitting image. Crying, she kneeled on the floor, unable to process any of this. At this point, counting to infinity would make more sense than this.
She looked at Laura, getting to her feet, with the small boy in her arms.
"I promise. I won't let you down. He's gonna be okay. I'm never gonna leave him. Ever."
Since the father wasn't known, and their mother died when Leighla was a little girl, the baby boy was deemed Leighla's child. Otherwise, the baby boy would be placed in care until he was eighteen. Leighla couldn't let that happen. There was no way she could do that. So, keeping her baby nephew a secret from the world, she adopted the baby boy and named him Lucas Axel Schultz and took him home with her.
Colby was extremely understanding and supportive about this, and raised little Lucas as his own son. But, what they didn't know, was that the little boy was his flesh and blood too. His older brother Brandon had been with Laura for a one night stand nine months previously. However, Laura ran before Brandon awoke, so he never knew her, or his son. The little boy was why Leighla couldn't travel the world with her future husband. A life like that would be too traumatising for a child. Not knowing what a home was would kill a child, Leighla was very aware of that fact, so she stayed home with her nephew whilst Colby did what he loved. Only, she didn't know that letting him travel the world would come at a cost. Her heart. And Lucas' father figure.
"Leigh?" Leighla snapped to reality. She looked away from the little boy and focused her attention back on her phone call.
"Yeah" she breathed, holding her hurting heart.
"What's going on?" The little boy was never mentioned, other than between the two of them and extremely close family members. So, Leighla couldn't expose her nephew like that.
"Nothing. I'm just hurting" She turned the conversation back to how it started.
"Oh baby, i know. But it'll get better soon. I promise." Leighla shook her head.
"No it won't." She muttered, without realising it, looking at the other little thing that caught her eye. "It never will."
"What do you mean?"
Leighla froze, gulping audibly. She hadn't ment to say that.
"It's nothing." She whispered. "Nothing at all."
"Don't lie to me. I know when your lying to me."
Leighla shook her head, keeping quiet. She stared ahead of her, at one of the best things that ever happened to her. A tiny body slept in a freshly bought pink cot, where a small baby lay inside. With flowing dark hair, the brightest blue eyes and the prettiest little face, the baby known to only Leighla and her family as Avianna Anastasia Katja Schultz-Lopez.
"Look. I gotta go. Just tell Colby he's in for a surprise when he gets home for the rest of his stuff."
