Chapter Seventeen: This Left Feels Right
A/N: Sorry it has taken so long for me to update. My computer crashed and I had to use a recovery disk; erasing all of my hard drive, including my fan fictions! All of my ideas for the story were gone, but I've pretty much remembered it now.
Manny was busy making breakfast. She had discussed moving with Jimmy, and he thought it was a great idea. There were only three weeks left of the summer, and they wanted to move before school started for the kids. Jimmy, Lily, Lucas, and Jonathan were leaving for a week long vacation to New York. Jimmy was going to pay for the house they found and let the kids get to know the area. Manny decided to stay home with Emma and Bella. She also had to make preparations to move her office to New York, so she didn't lose the adoption agency.
"Here you go," Manny said, placing all the plates on the table. She had made pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs.
"You didn't have to make this much," Jimmy said. He kissed her in thanks.
"Ew! Can't you guys do that in private?" Lucas complained. Everyone laughed and started eating.
"Where's Aunt Emma? Isn't she coming to say goodbye to us?" Lily asked.
"Well, she's still sleeping honey," Manny said.
"Don't worry, I'm right here," Emma said cheerfully from the kitchen. Her stomach was getting bigger by the day.
"Sit down and eat. You must be hungry," Jimmy told her. Emma sat down with them and they all finished eating.
"The car is all packed, so you're ready to go," Manny told everyone.
"Honey, you didn't have to do that," Jimmy said.
"I couldn't really sleep last night, so I figured I'd do something useful," she replied.
"Why couldn't you sleep?" Jimmy asked, worried.
"It's just the first time I've been away from my babies for so long!" she said, trying not to cry.
"You should come with us Mommy," Jonathan said.
"No, I can't. I have to stay here with Bella. She's too little to go on the airplane. I want you all to have lots of fun so you can tell me all about it," Manny explained. "Now, everyone put your dishes in the sink; we have to get going." Everyone obeyed and put their dishes away. Lucas helped Jonathan with his, and then they all went out to the Suburban that Jimmy and Manny recently bought for more room. Emma got in the far backseat with Lucas and Lily. Isabella was strapped in her car seat in the middle of the first backseat, and Jimmy lifted Jonathan up and sat him next to his sister. Finally, Jimmy and Manny got into the front and they drove to the airport.
"Bye everyone. I love you so much and I'll miss you," Manny said. She hugged and kissed them all, saving Jimmy for last. "I'm gonna miss you so much," she cried into his shoulder.
"It's not too late to change your mind. Come with us," he said.
"I can't. I have to work everything out with the adoption agency. It's only gonna be a week; I have to keep reminding myself that," she said.
"Well, I love you so much and we'll be back before you know it." He kissed Manny for what seemed like hours, and then turned to Emma. He took his daughter from her arms and gave her a huge hug and kissed her on the forehead. After handing her to Manny and giving Emma a hug goodbye, he and the kids turned to go through the metal detectors. Manny watched them until she couldn't see them anymore. She and Emma drove home in silence.
Manny was sitting on the couch with the TV on, but she wasn't really watching it. Emma was upstairs taking a nap, and so was Isabella. It had been four hours since Jimmy and the kids left, and Manny didn't have anything to do. She was waiting until the next day to go over to her office. A knock on the door startled Manny, but got her excited. She turned the TV off and ran to answer it.
"Hi Chris…what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Can I come in?" he asked, without answering her question.
"Um, sure." Manny stepped aside and Chris walked into the house, sitting down on the couch. Manny sat down next to him.
"I came to see the kids. I haven't seen them in a week," he said.
"Well, you're gonna have to wait another week because they went on vacation with Jimmy." Manny told him. Chris sighed and his face fell.
"I wish you would have told me. I would have gone to say goodbye," he said.
"Jimmy wouldn't have liked that very much."
"I don't care what Jimmy likes and what he doesn't like. You should know that by now. They're my kids!" he raised his voice a little.
"Just because you're their father by blood, that doesn't make you their real dad. You didn't raise them. You were in prison!" Manny shot back. Chris opened his mouth to argue, but closed it. Instead of speaking, he threw himself at Manny and kissed her. She was about to pull away, but instead she let her body relax, and kissed him back. She had missed the familiarity of his kiss. When Chris pulled away, Manny got angry again. "Why did you do that?" she yelled.
"Manny, I love you. I've always loved you and you know that. All of these years, I've missed you so much. I have wanted to be with you. We were supposed to get married."
"I'm already married to Jimmy. Chris, we had a chance together, and you blew it," Manny explained.
"Isn't there any way you'll give me another chance?" he asked. Manny shook her head no, and Chris leaned in to kiss her again. Manny couldn't resist, and she let him. The sound of Emma clearing her throat startled them. They jumped apart and looked at her. She was glaring at both of them.
"I think you better leave Chris," she said. Before getting up to leave, Chris whispered something to Manny that only she could hear.
"In that last kiss, I could feel that we've been disconnected. You really love Jimmy, don't you?" he asked. Manny nodded her head. "Don't forget that I love you, okay? I'm going to let you go now. But also know that I can never let my children go." He stood up and left. Emma, still glaring, sat down on the couch next to Manny.
"What did he say to you just now?" she asked, furious.
"It's not important; at least not to you," Manny answered.
"Manny, what are you doing?" Emma asked. When Manny didn't answer, Emma shook her head in disbelief.
"Emma, I need to ask you something. You can't get mad at me; you have to tell me what you really think. I need you to be my best friend right now; not my mother. Can you promise me that? That you won't get mad?"
"I promise," Emma whispered. Manny waited a minute before she started talking again.
"Even though Chris did so many bad things, and hurt me so much, I feel like he's still a good person. He's only made mistakes; like everyone else. No one's perfect. Do you agree? That he's a good person?"
"Yeah, I do. I know that no one's perfect Manny. That doesn't mean you can go kissing your ex-boyfriend. You're married!" Emma raised her voice a little.
"You're starting to sound like my mother. I need you to reason with me here. Chris isn't just an ex-boyfriend. He was the first love of my life. He's the father of three of my children. He's…" Emma interrupted her at this point.
"He's not your husband."
"Emma, do you think that Chris and I are meant to be together? He hurt me so much, but I have a feeling that we should be together. I feel like I can forgive him for anything that he's done," she said, ignoring Emma's protests.
"No Manny, I don't think you're meant to be together. You and Jimmy belong together. He loves you so much and it would break his heart to know that you were talking to me about this. What other guy would raise three children that weren't his own? Chris wouldn't even do that. He couldn't even raise his own kids," Emma said. Manny sighed.
"I think you're right. I just have to let him go." Without discussing anything else, Manny left the room to check on her daughter. When she got upstairs, she saw that Isabella was still sleeping, and decided to make a phone call. After three rings, he answered.
"Hey Manny, I'm sorry about all that. I didn't mean to piss Emma off."
"Don't worry, it's just her hormones. Listen, Chris, I have to talk to you. It's important. Emma's got an appointment at the doctor's tonight around 5. How about you come over for dinner?" she asked.
"Sure, I'll be there at 5 on the dot," Chris answered and hung up the phone. Emma was walking by when she saw Manny hanging up the phone.
"Who were you talking to?" she asked suspiciously.
"I was leaving a message on Jimmy's voicemail. I miss him so much," Manny said, only lying about the message. She really did miss him.
"Oh, well, don't forget that I have an appointment at 5. I won't be here for dinner. I thought I'd visit JT afterwards. His letters are making me miss seeing him," Emma told her.
"I'm glad he's getting better for you."
"Me too," Emma replied.
Manny was just finishing dinner when Chris arrived. She made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.
"Come in!" Manny yelled when he rang the doorbell. She put the dinner on the table and quickly heated up some baby food for Isabella, who was patiently waiting in her highchair. Chris sat down at the table and watched Manny, smiling the entire time.
"You're so beautiful," he remarked. Manny blushed as she sat down at the head of the table. Chris was to her left and Bella her right. "Move her highchair over here, and I'll feed her," he offered.
"You don't have to…" Manny started to protest.
"I want to. You've gone to so much trouble to make this dinner." Chris moved the highchair himself and began feeding Bella. While she was chewing, or gumming her food rather, he took bites of his food. "Delicious," he said, smiling. Manny blushed again, but continued eating. "Now, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" he asked. Manny hung her head down and slowly set her fork and knife onto her plate.
"You're not going to like it," she said. "Not at all."
"Just tell me, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Chris…we're…moving…" she managed to spit out.
"Where are you moving to? Not too far away, I hope," Chris said.
"New York," Manny said quietly.
"New York, as in the states?" he asked.
"What other New York do you know of?"
"But that's great Manny!"
"How is it great?" she asked him.
"Because, I grew up in New York. I'll definitely be moving down there too. Let me know your address so I can get an apartment nearby. I'm sure my buddy Mike will let me stay at his place until I find somewhere," Chris explained.
"Oh," was all she managed to say.
"Are you surprised that I'm moving out there with you guys?" Chris asked her.
"Well, yeah, a little," Manny confessed.
"Like I told you before; I'm not giving up on my kids. I can't. I've missed too much of their lives already. I'm not missing anymore."
"Jimmy's not gonna like this."
"Screw Jimmy! He's not their father!" Chris said, starting to get angry. "Look, I'm sorry I got loud, but these are my kids we're talking about. I want to start seeing them more too. Like pick them up after school and have some time with them until dinner or something."
"I'm sure we can work something out. But let's wait until we're all settled into our new house in New York okay?" Manny asked, trying to reason with him.
"Sounds good to me," Chris said, smiling. He finished feeding Bella and then Manny and he finished eating, silent for the rest of dinner. Manny hoped everything would work out and Chris just hoped he could stay in his kid's lives forever.
