Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I'm just borrowing them. I don't get paid for these stories; this is purely for entertainment purposes.
Author: Kimmi
Feedback: Yes please.
Rating: PG13
Authors note: Here is another part. I hope you enjoy it.
Summary: Jarod sends Lyle, Chrissie, Sydney and Broots back to Chrissie's old neighbourhood so Chrissie can see her family again. How will she react when she sees what her sister Marietta has become?
Strange Things Happen
Part 13
Chrissie sat at her desk patting her large stomach. There was only three months until the twins would be born. She was getting home sick. She wished that she could see her mother, sisters and brother. She'd barely had any contact with them at all and she couldn't bring herself to tell them about the twins with the small amount of contact she did have with them. Lockie walked up to her and put his hand on her stomach.
"It's okay Mamma." Chrissie smiled and caressed her son's cheek. She looked at Joe the sweeper and smiled.
"He can sense what I'm feeling." Joe smiled and nodded. Broots entered the room.
"Chrissie, could I talk to you a moment… alone?" Joe looked up and smiled at Broots. He put his hand out to Lockie.
"Come on little guy. How about we go for a walk?" Lockie took Joe's hand and followed him out. Broots came to sit opposite from Chrissie. He lowered his voice.
"I got a call from Jarod. It seems he's set up a lead we have to follow." Chrissie shrugged.
"So, what does this have to do with me?" They had decided that since she was nearing the due date they didn't want her going on any hunts. It had recently been just Sydney, Lyle, Broots and some Sweepers. Broots slid a piece of paper across the table at her.
"He told me you'd know where this is and what it means." She picked up the paper and smiled. She definitely knew where this was.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"But I know this area better than any of the people you'd send. I promise all I'll do is show them around. I won't get into the hunt. I'll leave all the hard stuff to the guys." Chrissie stared down Mr. Parker. He knew there was no use arguing with her. She'd get her way one way or another.
"Fine then, but don't blame me if anything goes wrong." Chrissie smiled triumphantly. She turned on her heel and walked happily to the door. Waiting outside for her was Broots.
"I'm going." Broots smiled.
"I'll, uh, make arrangements." He walked off to call Jarod and tell him that everything was set. Chrissie walked off towards her office. She needed to say goodbye to Lockie before heading out. She was happy that Jarod had set this up. She was looking forward to finally going home.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Jarod looked around him. He couldn't believe Chrissie hadn't come back since she'd left. He knew that she couldn't and that she would have liked to but somehow standing where he first met her it seemed wrong somehow, like without Chrissie there, everything had gone downhill. Chrissie had, after all, been a protector of sorts so he wondered how everyone was doing. Last he'd talked to any of them they were fine, but he wasn't sure about now.
"Jarod are we going to be finding a place to stay or not?" Jarod turned back to Miss Parker. He smiled. She was getting impatient. He walked back over to her.
"Yeah I just wanted to stop by but I think I'd better get you settled in first." Miss Parker smiled.
"Thank you. You know Chrissie's going to be so excited that you brought her here." Jarod lent in for a kiss.
"I hope so. She needs to see her family. And I'm sure seeing you here as well will be a treat." Miss Parker smiled and got in the car.
"I hope so."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chrissie, Lyle, Sydney and Broots got out of the car outside the building Jarod wanted to meet at. They had convinced Mr. Parker that they didn't need sweepers because they were sure Jarod would be long gone. They were alone. Jarod walked down the steps and saw them.
"You're here. Do you want to get settled in here first or go straight… home?" Chrissie smiled.
"I think I want to go home." Jarod smiled. He turned around and dashed up the stairs. He came back with Miss Parker. As soon as she was downstairs she was swamped with hugs.
"What are you doing here, sis?" Miss Parker laughed.
"I had to be here for my friends coming home." Chrissie smiled and hugged Miss Parker again. She started laughing again as their stomachs bumped.
"Look at us; we're both huge so maybe we shouldn't try hugging again." Miss Parker laughed and nodded. Chrissie turned to Sydney and Broots. "Are you two coming?" Sydney and Broots looked at each other.
"I don't think so. We'll leave you to that, won't we Broots." Broots nodded.
"We'll meet them after your reunion." Chrissie smiled. She turned around and grabbed Lyle's hand.
"Well, let's go. I can't wait to see the look on Mamma's face when I walk through the door." Jarod and Miss Parker followed after Chrissie and Lyle as Sydney and Broots went into the hotel they'd be staying at.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chrissie stopped in front of her old building. It was all exactly as she remembered it. She kicked herself mentally for thinking that way. It wasn't like she'd been gone for years; just one. She turned around and looked at Lyle, Jarod and Miss Parker.
"Here goes." She started up the stairs. She stopped when she heard Miss Parker yelp behind her. She turned around to see Miss Parker with only one shoe on.
"What happened to you?" Miss Parker sighed.
"My damn heel broke." Chrissie smiled.
"You stepped in the crack. It used to happen to me all the time. It's annoying as hell." She turned around to go back towards her. Lyle stopped her.
"You go on up and I'll help her. Jarod you go with her." Jarod nodded and took Chrissie by the arm. They started up the steps. When they were halfway up the stairs, Chrissie turned to Jarod.
"This was so much easier before." Jarod smiled and helped her with the last few steps. Standing outside her mother's door; Chrissie hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Chrissie put her head down.
"What if they don't want to see me?" Jarod sighed and knocked on the door. He put his arm on her shoulder.
"They will, trust me." Chrissie's mother opened the door at that moment. She almost had a heart attack.
"Christina? Christina, you're home." She pulled her in the door and embraced her in a huge hug. She then turned to Jarod and hugged him as well. "Jarod you brought my baby home." Hearing the ruckus Luis and Rosa came rushing in the room. They were also shocked by what they saw.
"Chrissie… Chrissie you're home." They both ran at her and hugged her. Chrissie bent down to their level and hugged them tightly.
"It's so good to see you. I've missed you so much." She stood back up. It was then that everybody saw that she was pregnant.
"What's happened to you my child?" She put her hands on her stomach. Chrissie smiled.
"Mamma, I'm… I'm pregnant." Her mother smiled.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Chrissie frowned.
"I was scared." Her mother laughed.
"You shouldn't have been. I'm glad to see you made it this far this time." Jarod raised his eyebrows at the comment. He didn't know what she meant. Chrissie was obviously uncomfortable so she changed the topic.
"Where's Marietta?" Chrissie's mother frowned.
"She's… she's…" The door swung open and Marietta stormed in. She was wearing a skimpy outfit. Chrissie's jaw flew open. She walked over to her immediately.
"What are you wearing?" Marietta stopped in her tracks and looked at her sister. She sneered and laughed at her stomach.
"What's happened to you?" Unlike her mothers comment it was harsh.
"I'm pregnant." Marietta laughed.
"You finally managed to make it through this time." She looked past Chrissie to Jarod. "But then again with him as the father I'm sure it was easier this time." Jarod still had no idea what she was talking about.
"What are you wearing? Where did you get those clothes?" Marietta laughed again.
"Look familiar? They're yours. I found them in storage. Perfect don't you think?" Chrissie got tears in her eyes.
"No I don't think. What are you thinking? Don't tell me you're going down the same road I went down." Marietta walked past Chrissie and walked over to Jarod.
"Good to see you again Jarod. I'm sure she's no fun right now, wanna have some fun?" She started giggling. Chrissie walked over to her and tore her away from Jarod.
"I'm not with him. The babies aren't his." Marietta laughed.
"You never were one to stay in a long relationship were you?" Chrissie had no idea what to say. She was disgusted her sister could be like that.
"What are you doing?" Marietta laughed at the look Chrissie was giving her.
"Relax sis. I just stopped in to get something. I'm leaving again." She grabbed something off a table and walked out. Chrissie burst into tears. She walked over to her mother and hugged her.
"I'm sorry Mamma." Her mother held onto her.
"It's not your fault." The knocking on the door pulled them out of their moment. Rosa went to open the door.
"I'm sorry; you must have the wrong apartment." Lyle smiled at the girl who was obviously Chrissie's sister.
"Is Chrissie here?" Chrissie heard Lyle voice and walked to the door. She hugged Lyle tightly and wept into his chest. He stroked her hair. "What's wrong?" Chrissie sobbed and pulled him inside. Miss Parker followed after him and walked to Jarod.
"What's going on?" Jarod shrugged.
"I'm not entirely sure."
"Lyle I'm glad you're here. This is my mother, my sister Rosa and my brother Luis. I wish you could meet my other sister Marietta but she's… acting up right now. Mamma, this is Lyle, the father of my babies." Chrissie's mother shook his hand.
"I do wish what just happened didn't happen so this could be a more joyful occasion." Lyle nodded, although he wasn't exactly sure what had happened. Chrissie walked away from him.
"I'll, uh, be back in a minute. Braden's playing with my bladder." When she was done using the bathroom Rosa was waiting for her.
"It's not your fault you know. Marietta was just mad that you didn't call. She was out with friends when she ran into Ben." Chrissie's eyes shot up to look at her sharply.
"She ran into Ben?" Rosa nodded.
"He was talking to her and then she started with how she is now." Chrissie got angry.
"Do you know where she is now?" Rosa thought for a moment then nodded.
"She's at Ben's now. Don't tell her I told you." Chrissie nodded and walked out. She walked over to a cupboard in her old room and got out her old gun. She hid it behind her back as she walked out.
"I've got to do something. I'll be back soon." Miss Parker saw the gun. She leant over to Jarod and whispered in his ear what she saw. He told Lyle. Lyle looked up at the door.
"I'm going after her." Jarod nodded.
"Me too, Miranda you stay here. Mrs. Lopez we'll be back in a while." She nodded as they walked out the door. They weren't as fast as Chrissie was so they had to follow her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chrissie walked into the dark sleazy strip club. She looked around disgusted. She saw Marietta up on stage. She walked over to her and pulled her down. She put her coat around her. Marietta opened her mouth to say something but Chrissie gave her a stern look.
"Don't even think about saying anything. I want you to sit here and don't move, don't speak, don't even think out of line." Marietta nodded. Chrissie walked over to the head table. She spotted the man she came for. Ben looked up and saw her.
"Well if it isn't Chrissie Lopez. How are you? You have to have been my biggest paying attraction, although right now you're sister's coming close." He smiled smugly. Chrissie took out her gun and aimed it at him.
"Shut up Ben. I'm not one of your girls anymore." He eyed the gun warily but continued.
"I see you made it past your first term for once, how nice for you." Chrissie gritted her teeth.
"Well it was easy without you around. Get me pregnant, knock me around, and don't give a damn about the baby we both lost. It was like a game to you wasn't it? It wasn't even like the last time was yours but you still made me lose it." Jarod and Lyle were standing near her shocked by what they were hearing.
"Well it was such a fun game. Hey maybe I'll start playing it with your sister." Chrissie cocked the gun.
"I wouldn't provoke me. You have no idea who I work for now. Sometimes it's in my job description to kill people like you. Plus I have some steam I need to let out. You're good to let out steam with." She inched her finger closer to the trigger. He flinched. Lyle stepped in front of her.
"Chrissie you don't want to do this. Trust me; it will get you no where. What kind of life do you think the twins would have if you were in jail?" Chrissie faltered for a moment.
"Listen to your boy there Chrissie. Although I should tell you buddy, those kids may not even be yours. She was pregnant three times by me and I'm still not sure whether they were mine." Chrissie gritted her teeth again.
"Shut up Ben. He doesn't need to know about that." Chrissie raised the gun.
"He's not worth it." Lyle put his arms around her and eased the gun out of her hand. She burst into tears. Lyle held her tighter.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Lyle soothed her and rubbed her back. Ben laughed behind them.
"Just like always, you're weak Chrissie, you always have been." Lyle turned around and punched Ben straight in the face knocking him out. He turned back to Chrissie and put his arm around her.
"Let's go." He turned her around and nodded for Jarod to get Marietta. They all walked back to the apartment building in total silence.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chrissie sat next to Lyle not knowing what to say. He definitely knew about the past she didn't want anyone to know about now. She sighed and watched as her mother came walking back to her.
"Marietta would like to talk to you. Now remember some things she'll say aren't true, you said some horrible things to me when..." She trailed off not wanting to remember the bad memory. Chrissie nodded and stood up.
"I know Mamma." She kissed her cheek before walking into her sister's room.
"So you really came when I asked?" Chrissie smiled at the comment. She nodded and sat at the end of her bed.
"Of course I did. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't?" Marietta laughed humourlessly.
"Well you didn't come home when you said you would, why would you come in here?" Chrissie sighed and slid closer to her on the bed.
"That was different. I would have come home if I could. I definitely didn't want to stay in Blue Cove." Marietta looked away from her. She clearly didn't believe her.
"It doesn't look like your life is that bad. You're with that Lyle guy, you're still friends with Jarod, and you're pregnant. Your life doesn't seem too bad to me." Chrissie put her head down as well.
"You know I wish it was as simple as it seems, but it's not. Did you happen to know that Lyle is technically my step son?" Marietta looked up at her in shock. Chrissie continued. "I have to act as though I hate him everyday and I have to make his father think that the twins are his and not Lyle's. And then there's my friendship with Jarod. I have to make out I never met Jarod personally but I do have to hunt him. Then there's Miranda. She's on leave from work right now because if her father found out she was pregnant with Jarod's child then he'd take the child as soon as it was born then kill Miranda. I do not have the perfect life, despite what you may think." Marietta was shocked.
"No one told me you were married." Chrissie sighed.
"No one here knows. I just know it would break Mamma's heart. The fact that not only am I married to a man Mamma's age but I'm also technically having an affair with his son and my babies also belong to his son would definitely be too much for her." Marietta didn't know what to say. She had thought that Chrissie didn't come home because she didn't want to. Now that she knew the truth she was shocked.
"I still don't understand. Why did you marry this guy in the first place if you didn't love him?" Tears streamed down Chrissie's cheeks. She looked back up at Marietta.
"He threatened to kill you, Mamma, Rosa and Luis if I didn't. I couldn't let him do that. I did what he asked, despite my own happiness and the happiness of those I care about." She stood to leave. "But I see you don't care about my sacrifice, I'll just leave now. Do whatever you want with your body. Go get pregnant like I did. Go through the same heartache I did." She stopped dead in her tracks. "Do you know that the whole time since I first found out I was pregnant I've been scared something will go wrong? Do you remember what happened with Jeremy?" Marietta nodded remembering her still born nephew. "I've been scared that that will happen again. I nearly killed Mr. Parker when he tried to make me think that was happening." She sighed again and walked towards the door.
"Wait, you didn't tell me what you were having." Chrissie turned around and smiled at her sister. She knew it was a step in the right direction.
"A boy and a girl, I'm naming them Braden and Chloe." Marietta smiled.
"I like that. Can I… can I feel them?" Chrissie smiled and sat on the bed. She took her hand and placed it on her stomach. In her head Braden and Chloe muttered something and started kicking her hand. Marietta jumped then smiled.
"They like you." It was the truth. The muttering in her head was saying just that. Marietta smiled and started talking to Chrissie's stomach.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Chrissie lay curled up with Lyle in bed back at the hotel. Neither one of them had mentioned anything about what happened earlier at the strip club. Chrissie was becoming uncomfortable with that fact. She thought he'd at least want to know what happened.
"Lyle, about today…" Lyle stroked her hair and clamed her.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Chrissie shook her head.
"I think I want to talk about it." She turned around to face him. Lyle sighed.
"If you want to, then go ahead." Chrissie nodded.
"You might want to know about some of the things Ben said." Lyle nodded.
"I was kind of curious." Chrissie sighed. She wrapped her arms around him as a support net.
"When I was about Marietta's age I met Ben. I was very lost. I didn't have a father and I was very… naïve. Ben took me under his wing. He was about twenty at the time and I had a little crush on him. I started working at the club. At first it was just serving the drinks, then Ben started paying me some attention and he said I could do better then half the girls there, in hind sight I actually did." She laughed slightly but got serious again.
"It's okay; you don't have to continue if you don't want to." Chrissie shook her head.
"I want to continue. I think it would do me good to get it out." Lyle nodded. He knew that it would be good for her to let it out but he didn't want to push her.
"So you started… dancing?" Chrissie nodded.
"In a few weeks I was the number one attraction there. It didn't matter to these guys that I was too young to be doing that, they just wanted to see me shake my ass." She closed her eyes painfully at the memory. "Ben started paying me more attention. I became his girl. He started taking a little bit of my money, then half, and then he took most while I got just a bit. By then I thought I was in love with him. Soon after that I first became pregnant. I…I lost it after two months. Ben wanted me to still dance while I still had my figure, I didn't want to. He hit me for the first time then; I went flying across the room and lost the baby." She put her hand on her stomach and started rubbing it. Lyle stroked her cheek.
"It's okay. You don't have to continue…" Chrissie shook her head again.
"He acted all caring. Said he was sorry. I left him for the first time. I came crawling back to him, I was stupid. About two years later he leant me out to one of his friends; I became pregnant again. This time Ben got angry with me and pushed me down the stairs. I lost the baby again. It would have been a girl." Tears slid down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away. Lyle hugged her tightly. Just listening to her knowing she was in pain was making him be in pain as well.
"You went back to him didn't you?" Chrissie shook her head.
"That time I didn't even leave him. It took a while longer before I became pregnant again. I went full term; but Jeremy was born still born. He was so… so tiny when he was born, so lifeless." She couldn't hold back the tears. Lyle held her close until her sobs subsided.
"That Ben guy didn't care, did he?" Chrissie nodded.
"He said that it obviously wasn't meant to be, that I wasn't meant to have kids." She rubbed her stomach. "I guess he was right in some ways. I wasn't meant to have kids with him." She hugged Lyle tightly. "I was meant to have children with you." Lyle smiled.
"It still doesn't make up for losing the other three." He pushed a lose strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.
"I came to my senses after Jeremy. I left him and left him for good. I cleaned up my act, started looking after the kids around here. I turned my life around completely. Oh god Lyle, I never wanted you to know about that part of my life. I wanted to forget it all. You probably hate me now don't you?" Lyle shook his head and kissed her.
"Like I said before, I wouldn't hate you. I won't hate you. I couldn't if I tried. Besides, I had a horrible past as well, much, much worse than yours. You made me want to change to what I am now; you're not a bad person because of your past, if anything, it's made you stronger for the present, for your… our future." He kissed her as she smiled again.
"Thank you. I needed to hear that. I love you so much." Lyle smiled and kissed her again.
"I love you too."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning Chrissie, Lyle, Jarod and Miss Parker brought Sydney and Broots with them. They all warned the two to not worry about Marietta because she was just sorting a few things out in her life. Chrissie promised to give them each full accounts about what she was talking about some other time. Now they all stood outside Chrissie's mother's apartment about to knock. A little girl with pigtails came running up the hallway. She stopped when she saw Chrissie.
"Chrissie, Chrissie, Chrissie." Chrissie turned around and looked for who was calling her. She smiled when she saw the little girl.
"Sara? Look at you, you're getting big." The little girl giggled and ran to Chrissie. Chrissie knelt down as best she could and hugged the little girl. Sara was looking at her stomach.
"Is there baby?" She put her little hand on Chrissie's stomach. Chrissie nodded.
"Yeah sweetie, actually there's two." Sara beamed and hugged Chrissie tighter.
"Sara sweetie, could you come here and help me?" Chrissie looked past Sara and saw another familiar person coming near them. The woman did not notice who the people were so she was very edgy. "Sara, you know not to talk to strangers." Chrissie stood up and the woman's mouth opened wide.
"Oh my god, Chrissie, is that you?" Chrissie nodded. Her eye's fell to the woman's stomach then to her own.
"Are you… are you…?" The woman nodded and stroked her stomach. She looked at Chrissie's stomach as well.
"Are you?" Chrissie nodded and suddenly felt Lyle's hand in her own. The woman looked through the crowd of people until she found someone she recognized. "Jarod, you're here too?" Jarod nodded and smiled.
"Yes. It's good to see you again Emma." Emma smiled.
"Are you two together?" There was a chorus of sighs. Everybody seemed to be thinking that. Chrissie shook her head.
"No we're not. This is Lyle, the father of the babies." She held up Lyle's hand. Lyle smiled at her. "And that is Miranda, Jarod's wife. As you can see she's about ready to pop herself." Emma laughed. They heard a man humming, walking up the steps. Emma looked towards the steps and waved for him to join them. He walked immediately over to her and kissed her cheek.
"What are you doing on this floor Hun? Are your feet sore?" Emma smiled happily and shook her head.
"No Jeff, I'm fine. I was just catching up with an old friend." She nodded her head towards Chrissie. Jeff looked over at Chrissie and nearly fainted.
"Oh my god, Chris, what are you doing here?" He walked over to her and hugged her tightly. It was as if he was afraid that if he let her go she'd vanish. Chrissie laughed and pulled away from him. She put her hand on her stomach to soothe the twins and it seemed that this was the first he saw of her stomach.
"I'm visiting. I finally made it home." Jeff didn't seem to have heard a single word she said.
"What's that?" He pointed towards her stomach. Chrissie laughed.
"Now that's a stomach Jeff. I thought I taught you that when we were kids." She laughed harder at the look that crossed his face.
"Ha, ha, very funny, that's not what I mean." She laughed again.
"I'm pregnant. You'd think you'd be able to notice that with Emma looking just a bit less far along than I am." He looked at her dumbly which just made her laugh more.
"You're mother didn't say you were…" He trailed off. It was obviously a bit too confusing to him why he didn't know before then.
"She didn't know until yesterday when she saw me." Jeff looked shocked. He bent down and picked up Sara who was tugging at his legs.
"This is just… I mean I didn't know… pregnant…. Holy cow…," He snapped out of his state for a moment. "Ma will want to see you. You should drop by later." He backed up muttering to himself again. "Should warn… can't believe it… her own mother didn't…" He disappeared from sight with Sara and Emma. Chrissie frowned now.
"I guess I'll be getting that a lot from my old friends." She sighed and turned towards the door and knocked loudly. Her mother came to the door and smiled at the sight of her daughter.
"Christina, come in. You've got two other people with you." She looked at Broots and Sydney.
"Mamma this is Broots and Sydney. They work with Lyle, Miranda and I." She shook both of their hands and led them into the small living room. She ushered for all of them to sit down. She walked out of the room and came back with a tray of biscuits and some tea.
"Please help yourself." Broots smiled and took one of the biscuits. Chrissie laughed at the look of delight that lit up his face after swallowing.
"That's Mamma's own recipe. She's been making them for years, only ever on special occasions. We should feel honored." Everyone around the room smiled. Each took a biscuit feeling it was the right thing to do if it was considered a special occasion. Broots looked around the room and saw the many faces around hanging on the walls or sitting on tables.
"Hey Chrissie, this room sort of reminds me of your office." He picked up a photo from the table next to him and laughed. He showed it to the rest of them. It was a picture of Chrissie when she was a baby sitting in a bathtub. "Oh how cute." Chrissie snatched the photo out of his hand and put it face down on the table in front of her.
"No more looking at the pictures." Mrs. Lopez sighed, picked up the picture and put it in its rightful place.
"Why not, you were an adorable baby." Chrissie blushed. Lyle next to her put his arm around her.
"She's still adorable." He turned Chrissie's face to face him and kissed her nose. Chrissie smiled and blushed even more. Mrs. Lopez laughed.
"Christina, I'm sure you'll be putting photos like that up around the house of the twins when they're born." Chrissie nodded.
"Probably, I have a picture like that of Luis in my office." As if by hearing his name Luis walked in the front door. He stopped still at the sight that they had company. He looked at Chrissie and ran over to her flinging himself onto her lap.
"You came back? I knew you would. I dreamt it." Chrissie smiled and hugged him.
"Of course I came back. I said I would, didn't I?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. She had promised to come back once she got the money for her mothers operation but she didn't. Luis seemed to sense her inner turmoil.
"I knew you wouldn't come back then. I hoped that you would but I knew you wouldn't." Everyone stared at Chrissie's little brother like he was crazy, everyone except Chrissie and Mrs. Lopez.
"Why didn't you tell me? I probably wouldn't have gone." Everyone in the room snorted. She looked at each of them in turn, finally leaving her gaze on Lyle who was next to her and easier to reach. "What?"
"It's just that… once you get an idea in your head it's kind of hard to stop you." Chrissie raised her arm to hit him but stopped. It was true and she knew it. She remembered how Jarod had offered to get the money for the operation but she had refused.
"Okay. I would have gone. But I would have kept in contact more." No one disagreed with her. It was true. She would have done anything in her power to keep in contact if she knew how her brother was feeling.
After a while they were joined by Rosa as well. The conversation went from how Chrissie and Lyle met to what Jarod and Miss Parkers wedding had been like. When they were there for about three hours they heard a small cough coming from a room off the side of the living room. Marietta had stuck her head out the door slightly. Mrs. Lopez got up and walked over to the door. Marietta said something to her in Spanish then looked around the room. Mrs. Lopez looked around the room and sighed. She walked back into Marietta's room where there was a longer conversation in Spanish. Chrissie tried to take the focus off the conversation happening in the next room.
"So, Rosa, how's school?" Rosa opened her mouth to speak but yelling coming from the next room cut her off.
"Usted no puede guardarme en aquí todo el tiempo." Chrissie sighed and walked over to the door. She opened it and disappeared. They could hear Chrissie talking in rushed Spanish. After a few minutes Chrissie emerged with Marietta behind her, Mrs. Lopez behind her.
"Yo lo advierto, usted se porta mal y yo lo volveré a poner en allí yo." Marietta nodded. Chrissie turned to the others. "I'd like you all to meet my sister Marietta." Marietta looked at each of them. Her gaze stopped on Sydney. She turned to Chrissie wide eyed.
"Is that… is that him?" Chrissie had no idea what she was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Marietta was still gazing at Sydney. She whispered into Chrissie's ear.
"Is that your… your husband?" Chrissie looked up at Sydney then back at Marietta.
"No, that's not Mr. Parker. Marietta this is Sydney. I wouldn't bring Mr. Parker here." Marietta nodded. Chrissie sat back down next to Lyle. Marietta sat on the arm of Chrissie's chair. She was looking at the people all around her.
"Um so what were we talking about? Oh yeah. Rosa, how's school?" Rosa gave an in depth answer talking about her friends and her school work. Marietta sat on the arm of the chair looking like she didn't think she belonged. She got up to go but Chrissie took her hand and forced her to sit back down. The rest of the time they were there Marietta had her hand securely in Chrissie's. This act seemed to have given her confidence as Marietta joined in on the conversations more and more as the time went on.
"Excuse me will you. The twins seem to think that my bladder is a kick ball or something." Chrissie stood and left the room. When she came back in she realized the room had fallen into an awkward silence. She sighed. As soon as she sat back down she found Marietta's hand in hers again.
As they were leaving later in the late afternoon Marietta pulled Chrissie aside. Chrissie watched as Sydney and Broots walked into the hallway, Jarod and Miss Parker saying goodbye to Mrs. Lopez and Lyle waiting for her.
"Chrissie, I can't stay here. Can I come back to Blue Cove with you?" Chrissie was shocked. She didn't know what to say. The only thing she knew was that she wasn't going to take her back to Blue Cove with her.
"Marietta, I'm sorry. I can't take you back with me. I told you about Mr. Parker. We'd both be in big trouble if I brought back a family member. Mr. Parker has a habit of keeping his wives from their families. He's a very dangerous man; I don't even want to think about what he'd do to you." Marietta sighed.
"I just… I wanted… you understand what I'm going through. Mamma doesn't, plus I'm breaking her heart…" Chrissie sighed.
"Don't you see you'd break her heart even more if you came with me? She's already lost me in some ways. To her it would be like she's losing you as well. That would kill her." Marietta frowned but nodded.
"I know it's just that… I'm scared. The reason I got the way I did is because I thought… I thought you didn't love us anymore. I don't want that to happen again." Chrissie pulled Marietta into a hug. When she pulled back she noticed Marietta was crying.
"Well you know better now. I love you very, very much. I promise you; as soon as we can bring down the Centre, which I promise you will be soon, I will make sure we are back together." Marietta nodded and hugged her again. "I'm not leaving completely yet. I'll see you tomorrow."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Everyone was standing outside Mrs. Lopez's building saying their goodbyes. They were all sad that their time with each other was over. Chrissie hugged her family and friends goodbye. Most of her old friends had turned up during the course of their stay wanting to know if the rumors that she was back and pregnant were true. Each was totally shocked when they realized they were.
"Mamma I'll keep in contact better now. I promise. I'll call you when the twins are born, maybe even before then." She hugged her mother one more time.
"We're going back to Jackson's. I'll see you guys when I get back to Blue Cove to finalize the plans." Jarod hugged Chrissie and shook Lyle, Broots and Sydney's hands. He let Miss Parker hug them all then led her away to their car. Chrissie looked at her family one last time, a tear sliding down her cheek.
"It's alright, you'll see them again. I promise." She smiled at Lyle. She knew that he wanted her to be happy and he'd probably do everything he could to make sure he kept his promise.
"I hope you're right."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued...