What's Mine is Ours What's His is Not

(This book takes place a couple years after book #8, putting the fact that there is a book #9 to the side. If you are reading this story and have already read book nine, pretend there's no such thing as Twisted :P)

Hanna.

The hot and humid July air crowded around my slender body as I opened the backdoor. The crystal blue colored pool glistened in the sun and I smiled. "C'mon, babies, it looks great!" I yelled to my two year old daughter and son. I held the backdoor open for the little kids to run out in their oversized inner tubes and elbow floaties. Mike followed them out and shut the door.

These were the moments I lived for – the moments that reminded why I'm living. I've had a crappy past, and I'd do anything to make sure nothing reminds me of it. As Mike closed the door, he immediately launched himself into the twenty feet pool. Droplets of water landed on my makeup-free face, also on the babies'. They shrieked. "Come here, Tara." Mike gave Tara a warm fatherly smile, and Tara jumped into his arms.

"Babe, you going to come in?" Mike looked up at me. I tossed my auburn hair over my shoulders and wrapped it into a high ponytail. I nodded and grinned, "Just waitin' for the babies to get in. Go on, Mikey." I urged my son, who was ready to jump off and fly.

That was all he needed. With full force, he leaped into my husband's arms screaming, "Gooooooo!" I grinned wider.

It was great that Mike wanted a relationship with my babies, even if they weren't his.

You see, it happened like this. A couple years after I graduated college, I didn't know that Lucas – my ex-boyfriend from high school – was still keeping tabs on me. Mike and I were broken up at the time, due to the fact that I was "insecure" because I thought he'd cheated on me at a Frat party. So, Lucas called me. I missed him. He missed me. A stupid screw-up led to Mike and Tara. Three months into my pregnancy, I broke up with Lucas, got back with Mike, and here we are, two years later, a happy family.

At least six months into my pregnancy, he proposed. I accepted and we got married five months later.

That was the kind of past I was talking about. I'm not going to let Lucas ruin my happy relationship with my family, putting to side the fact that he has custody of Tara and Michael.

"Babe?" Mike's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up. He was holding Tara and Mike on both of his hips, dunking them under water.

"Yeah, I'll be in." I nodded, subliminally assuring him that I was ok. I removed the rainbow towel from my body and laid it on the stretched out beach chair next to the outdoor furniture set. The simple black bikini tugged my body in a way that was transparent to my curves, but not too much (considering that the babies were here). The piercing in my bellybutton glimmered in the sun as I jumped in the pool, letting my past go.

If I try not to screw up, I'll be ok.

(Reminder: the first four chapters will be just a catch-up on their lives. Btw, the scene is set six years later. They're all twenty-three!)