Chapter 47: Journey away from home

Arizona's POV

A week later, Erica and Isla came to have lunch at Arizona's family home. We had settled into an apartment off the main house, which gave us some privacy. At this time, we didn't really know what our future would look like, but we had some time to decide on a place to call home, since Sofia wouldn't be going back to school until after the summer break.

Furthermore, the research center I had founded in New York did not need me since we had no training scheduled for a few months.

They both arrived around noon. Unlike the last time we saw each other, Isla had a tired and scared look on her face. She really seemed to have changed her mind dramatically in a few days. We all sat down together in the living room to have a glass of wine before dinner, but the situation was really weird. Only Erica and Callie were talking and discussing our children. Isla was hopelessly silent and only looked at her glass.

At some point, Sofia joined us and was quickly followed by her little brother. Anyway, Will adored and idolized his sister. He could never be far from her. From that moment on, Isla became even more strange. She looked up and never took her eyes off my children. The kids played near us and then decided to go play in Will's room. A few moments later, she received a call on her phone. She walked away to answer it, then came back for a few seconds and announced:

"I'm sorry, I just got a call from my boss. I have to get back to the office, there are cases we need to work on quickly."

"Well," I replied, not really knowing what to say, "have a nice day!"

"Have a nice day too!" Isla said as she left.

Callie's POV

A few moments after Isla left, I decided to talk to Erica.

"Erica, is everything okay for the two of you?"

"No," Erica replied in an emotional voice, "we'll probably break up. She's really getting crazier."

"What caused her to become like this?" Arizona questioned her.

"Six days ago," Erica announced hesitantly, "I told her that I didn't want us to try to have a baby. I told her that if we could not adopt, there must be good reasons and that we probably were not ready to have a child. Above all, we had to make sure that we had all the requirements."

"How did she react?" I asked her.

"At first, she did not say anything, but a minute later she started screaming and getting really mad. She kept telling me that I was a whore and that I only wanted to hurt her. I tried to calm her down, but it took me a long time to get her to go to bed. The next morning, she was totally silent. I tried to talk to her, but I could not get her to look at me. I still have not been able to. For a week now, all the words she has for me are insults. She kept telling me that she wanted to have a child!"

"I feel sorry for both of you." Arizona said with a look of empathy.

"I don't see any solutions that would make our relationship work again." Erica explained as she began to cry. "As much as I love her, I really don't think my love for her is enough anymore. I'm not happy anymore with this version of Isla that is so hard and abusive to me."

"You know, if you're not happy at home and want to take a breather," Arizona offered, "you can stay here for a few days. Since we're sleeping in the guest apartment, there are plenty of spare rooms upstairs that you can move into, at least until you get your head around what you want."

"I don't think it's the best idea for the situation," Erica replied, taking a long sip of wine. "I'd really feel like I was giving up on our marriage. If I do that, there's no going back!"

"Do you really think that the situation will improve if you continue like that?" I said to her. "It's only going to get worse if you keep arguing all day."

"I agree," Arizona agreed. "You both need to take a step back to get a calmer view of what you want. Sometimes the best way to fight for your relationship is to stop fighting. Even if your relationship works differently than ours, and even if your problem is obviously complicated to solve, it can still be good for you."

"I guess you're right." Erica concluded.

"Now," I suggested as I stood up, "let's go into the dining room and start having dinner."

"I'll ask Sofia and Will to come downstairs," Arizona said before calling the kids over. "Sofia, Will, it's time to eat."

A few seconds later, Sofia joined us and spoke words that I will never forget:

"Will is missing! The woman took him!"