I came down the stairs to the mass confusion that having 8 kids in the house creates. I seen daddy still standing in the hallway and smiled. He had grown his hair back long a couple of years ago and it was now red with a lot of grey streaking it. He had it in a braid. He still looked like the strongest man in the world to me. He still worked out and looked damned good for a 57 year old man. I ran up to him and hugged him.
"Hey daddy." I said kissing his cheek.
"Hey baby girl." Mark said.
"How were the kids?" I asked.
"They were great. I taught Scott and Mark some moves in the ring." He said smiling.
Scott and Mark were determined to become wrestlers like there dad and grandpa and Uncle Scott.
"Daddy I'm sorry I haven't even started dinner yet." I said.
Daddy threw his arm around me and laughed.
"Hailey you don't ever change do you." He asked.
"Come on. I'll help we'll have dinner on the table in no time." Doc said.
We went into the kitchen and set about making a huge pot of spaghetti, French bread and a salad.
"Chris was pissed cause I hadn't got dinner started yet." I said laughing.
"Oh really he looked a little flushed when he answered the door." Doc said giggling.
"Well we kinda got carried away." I said.
Doc laughed. "Keep it up and you'll be having number 5." Doc said.
"Well I wouldn't mind another." I said. I really wouldn't either. I loved my kids they made my life complete in a way that nothing else had. I heard the door bell ring and heard several children squealing.
"Let's see who this is." I told Doc.
I headed for the living room. Scott and Mark ran up to me.
"Its uncle Scott and Uncle Vince." They said.
I followed them in to see Scott and Vince weighed down by the kids jumping on them. I thought back to the night I gave birth to Scott and Mark. It was 8:00PM that evening and I was lying there looking at my twins in amazement along with Chris. There was a knock at the door and Chris went and opened it.
"Honey Its Vince. Do you want to see him?" Chris asked.
I sat there for a minute and told him yea.
"Chris can ya give us a few minutes." I asked.
Chris nodded and left the room.
Vince had flowers in his hand and sat them down on my table.
"Mark called me and told me you had twins." Vince said.
"Yea ,turn around and take a look at them." I said still not sure how to act.
Vince turned around and bent down to look in there bassinets. He stayed that way for the longest time. When he turned back around he had tears streaming down his face.
"Hailey I finally realize what I lost. I'm sorry I won't bother you again." He said turning to leave.
He was to the door when I called his name.
"Vince." I said.
He turned around and looked at me.
"Come back." I said.
He came over and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Vince for so long I hated ya. I wanted nothing more than to take everything you cared about. I realized something the last time I talked to ya. I didn't hate ya no more or maybe I never did. I was just hurt and angry for a long time. Mark is my dad and he always will be. He is going to be grandpa to my kids." I said.
Vince lowered his head again tears streaming from his eye. I reached out and took his hand and he looked up at me.
"You know kids can't ever have too many people to love them. I'm sure they would be happy to have you in there life." I said.
In that moment I let go of my past and of the pain. I wanted nothing but to go forward and my heart was telling me it was the right thing to do. Vince stayed a while that night and held the babies. He became Uncle Vince to them an important part of there life. I think he showered all the love on them he regretted not giving me. I shook my head of the memories and looked up to see Vince standing there holding Tasha.
"Hi Vince." I said.
He leaned over and kissed my cheek.
"Hi Hailey. Scott and I decided we missed the kids." He said smiling.
"Stay for dinner?" I asked.
"I'd love too." He said and walked off telling Tasha there were a ton of presents in the car.
I shook my head and laughed.
I felt someone grab me off the floor.
"Hey kid." Scott said turning me around to give me a kiss.
"I hugged his neck. "Hey Scott." I said.
Scott sat me down. "Lord it's a houseful when you get all us together." Scott said looking at the loud room.
"Yea aint it great." I said.
"Yea it is kid." He said throwing his arm around me.
I looked over at My daddy who had Chelsea and Jasmine On his lap telling them a story. Doc was sitting on the arm of the chair smiling down at the picture they made. Justin and Lucas were trying to get Chris in a submission move on the middle of the floor without much success and with much laughing and carrying on. Tasha was on Vince's lap opening a present he had brought her. Just then Chessy ran up to Chris and knocked him off his feet and got him in a damn good ankle lock. I started laughing at the look on Chris's face. Just then Mark and Scott ran up to Big Scott. "Uncle Scott you gotta get us in an apprenticeship ship next summer." The boys said at the same time. Scott started laughing. "Come on boys let s go talk about it and they eagerly followed him off. They say that family ties are the ties that bind and that's true but my family ties came not from blood but from love and trust built over the years. I Looked up and seen daddy standing in front of me. I smiled up at him. He put his arm around me and looked out over the room with me.
"It's good aint it baby girl?" He said.
"Yea its real good daddy." I said.
The End
Thanks everyone for the great reviews. I hope you all enjoyed the story.