Chapter Twenty-Four – Family and Friends
Chloe and Philip were embraced when the door opened and the children came in.
"Grandma said we could see Momma but only for a little while because she's still recovering." Ariana reported to her siblings.
"We know Ana we were there too when she told us. Must you repeat everything she says?" Dominic replied following her through the door. By this time Chloe and Philip had composed themselves so the children wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong.
"I'm glad to see the two of you haven't changed much in my absence." Philip said to the twins as Jessica came over to him and he lifted her up.
"Nope, Daddy they still fought, they didn't change at all." Jessica said as she moved over to Chloe. "Are you okay, Momma? We were worried about you." Reaching over to touch Chloe's hands from her seat on Philip's lap.
"Well, I'm sorry you were worried about me munchkin. But, you all will be happy to know that I'm fine." Chloe pulled Jessica into her lap and kissed her cheek. Meanwhile the twins and Jarod had come over to the sides of the bed and were standing beside them.
"Are you sure you're okay, Mom? Dad said they wanted to keep you overnight." Jarod had said Dad so naturally like he had calling Philip that all his life. Chloe had been caught off guard so she looked up from smoothing down Jessica's hair in slight shock. She looked at Philip who nodded and smiled in acknowledgement.
"That-that's right. Just one night and that's all. But, I'll be coming home tomorrow." The children nodded in complete understanding. "Good." She grabbed Philip's hand. "There is something your father and I would like to tell you. Well two things actually."
"Are you talking about Jarod being our brother? Because we alright knew that. We were just waiting for you and Daddy to get on the ball and tell us. We're not stupid you know." Dominic replied as his twin nodded in agreement,
"Yeah, I mean it was sort of obvious. We were wondering what was taking you so long to tell us." Ariana added as she leaned against the mother's bed waiting for either of them to speak. "So what else did you have to tell us?"
Philip tried hard to suppress his smile but failed miserably. His children were nothing if not sassy and very bright. But, he wasn't really sure which parent his children were mimicking, himself or Chloe. Before either he or Chloe could respond to their inquisitive children the door to Chloe's room opened again, and entered the doctor, her chart in hand.
"Oh my you've got a full room, Dr. Kiriakis." She remarked as she looked upon the children in surprise. She noted the resemblance of the children in their mother. All of them except for the little girl in her lap. She didn't resemble in the other children or their father.
"Yes, Dr. Copeland this is my husband Philip Kiriakis and my children Ariana, Dominic, Jarod, and Jessica." She pointed all of the children out as the doctor leaned forward to shake Philip's hand.
"Does my Momma really have to stay tonight?" Asked the youngest child sitting on her patient's lap.
"I'm afraid so sweetie but, only for tonight. Your Momma can go home tomorrow, though." She looked up at Chloe. "The paperwork will be ready for you to sign and document tomorrow morning. I'll leave you with you family." Chloe nodded and then the doctor turned to leave the room.
Chloe was silent for a moment before she looked down at her children waiting somewhat expectantly for her to tell them the announcement. "Okay now that is settled. Would someone remind me of what I was saying before Dr. Copeland's visit?"
"Mo–––m," the twins sighed together. "You were going to talk about something you and Daddy needed to tell us." Ariana replied.
"Alright, alright. Your dad and I have some very good news to share with you and –– well I hope you think it's good news, too." Chloe told her children, they still looked a little clueless.
"Okay Mom will you just tell us already. We're all dying of curiosity." Jarod requested exasperatedly.
Chloe opened her mouth to speak but Philip stopped her, squeezing her hand. "What you're mother and I want to tell you has to do with why she's in the hospital today. We just found out today and wanted you to be the first to know …" he paused dramatically. " … Your mother is pregnant and in a couple of months you'll have a new brother or sister. So what do you think?"
The twins were seemingly speechless as they looked at each other, then their parents. "You're kidding, right?" Philip shook his head no. "Well, then as long as it's not another boy, I'm happy." Ariana replied.
"As long as it is another boy and not another annoying sister, I'm happy too." Dominic said wiggling his tongue at his sister.
Ariana rolled her eyes, flipped her hair over her shoulders, and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's precisely why we don't need another boy in this family."
"Okay, besides all that, can I assume everyone is happy about the baby?" Philip pointedly looked at Jarod as if he were the deciding factor on whether there would be a new baby Kiriakis.
Jarod knew his father was asking if he was okay with everything. But, to be completely honest he didn't know how to respond.
"Well, I'm glad because it means I won't be the baby of the family anymore. But, I don't care if it's a boy or a girl." Jessica chimed in sensing that Jarod need a few moments.
"Well, I'm glad your glad sweetie." Chloe said as she kissed Jessie's cheek. "What about you, Jarod? You haven't said anything."
"I'm happy, Mom and I can't wait for the baby." Chloe beamed as she pulled him to her and hugged him. Then, she did the same to the twins.
~Finally… my family has come back together. ~ Philip thought as he looked around at his children and wife. With Philip was half-sitting on the bed beside her talking to Jessica and Jarod was refereeing between the twins. Philip finally felt everything was back to normal.
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The next afternoon…
Chloe had been released from the hospital earlier that day. Philip picked her up after he took the children to the school. They all had protested of course insisting that they should go with him to pick her up but Philip had informed them they all needed to go to school. And there was no argument about it. He had been very happy and somewhat nonchalant when he picked her up. That, however, had quickly changed once he heard what Chloe had to say.
In the car …
Philip had been acting like nothing happened as if this had just been some sort of routine check-up for Chloe. It wasn't and Chloe couldn't allow him to ignore the problem any longer.
"Philip are you just going to pretend the last couple of weeks didn't happen? Because, newsflash, it did and there are some things that we have to talk about. Ignoring or avoiding the issues won't make them go away."
Philip pulled into the garage of the Kiriakis manor and turned off the engine before answering Chloe. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not ignoring anything. I realize that there are some things we still have to talk. But, I wasn't trying to act as of there wasn't."
"Well, you're acting like it was nothing. I know you went away to Italy to find out the truth about Jarod. I love you for doing that but the fact of the matter is you broke a trust to do it. You left me without telling me where you were really going. You lied to me Philip, for three weeks you lied to me. You called every single day like clockwork and not once did you even hint at the truth. You have no idea how it felt to have Victor be the one to inform me that you had lied of your whereabouts "
He had turned toward her now and was listening to every single word she spoke trying to think of something to say. "Chloe, I know and I know that I shouldn't have lied to you. I'm sorry–––,"
"That's my point Philip, you're always sorry afterward. You're always sorry afterwards when you've gotten caught in your lies. And then you promise never to do it again. Yet, you always seem to get caught. We're in a never-ending cycle of lies where over and over you lie to me and promise not to do it again. And I accept it as a truth and we move on. It's been like this for us since high school, but now it has to stop. Because I refuse to bring another child of ours into it."
"What are you saying Chloe?"
"I'm saying that unless we can figure a way out to maybe explain why this keeps happening to us, to our marriage––," she paused not wanting to say what she knew had to be said so she explained it. "It's just different now, Philip I just can't think about myself anymore. I have the twins. Jarod, Jessica, and," she moved her hand to her stomach "This baby to think about. I-we." She took a breath. "We have to figure out what's going on and do something about it. We can't let the cycle continue. I think we need to consider a separation or maybe even a divorce as an option." Philip interrupted her immediately. Before she could even complete her statement.
"No, Chloe I won't, —"
"Philip I'm not saying that I want a divorce or even that I think we should separate. But, if we can't get things together before this baby comes…" she left the obvious unsaid. "Look, you need to get to work and I want to go lay down for a while. So I'm going inside." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, and then she opened the door. "Philip it's not that I don't love you because I do. But, this has gone on far too long and it's time we finally did something about it. Even if it means getting a divorce. We have to face these things. Just think about what I said and we can talk later when you get home." She got out of the car and walked into the house leaving Philip to his own thoughts …
Chloe was still thinking over the conversation when Belle entered the room hesitantly standing silently by the door.
"Hi, Chloe can we talk?"
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Shawn knew this was something he needed to do. So after checking in with his office he headed over to his parents house to finally see his mother and talk to her. He rang the doorbell and waited a few moments as he heard someone come to the door. It opened with his mother standing behind it the surprise was apparent in her thin features.
"Shawn, I wasn't expecting to see you." Hope said as she stepped aside so he could enter the house. She closed the door after him.
"I know, I just got back in town yesterday. I would have come then but Chloe fainted at the airport. Anyway, we went to the hospital and we found she's pregnant." He knew was babbling but it was something that he did when he was nervous.
"Oh well that turned out well, I imagine Philip is relieved and happy about that. I heard that Jarod is his biological son, too." She paused looking at her son. "But I know you didn't come here to talk about Philip and Chloe."
"You're right, I didn't come here to talk about that. You know left here because I didn't think I could deal with JT not only being my brother but Belle's too. But, I realized that I was wrong to do that for a lot of reasons. I guess being with Philip made me realize that it's not blood that makes you a parent … it's love. What I'm trying to say is that while it will still take me some time to get over this, I understand that it doesn't change my relationship with JT. He will always be my brother regardless of who his father is."
"Do you mean that, Shawn?" JT asked from the staircase. Shawn turned to his brother, the young teenage boy, whose enigmatic blue eyes were so like Belle's. He had never noticed that before today. It was amazing how much he resembled Belle.
"Of course I mean that, nothing could every change those things." Shawn turned to his brother now standing in front of him. He pulled him into a hug. "No matter who your parents are I will always be your older brother, no matter what."
Hope felt tears sting the back of her eyes at the sight of her sons embraced. "Shawn is right John Thomas. No matter what happens you will always have him, and your father and I. We will get through this as a family." She was standing behind him, so he turned. "You, Shawn, Bo, and I." She patted his head and turned him to hug him and he didn't resist. Now openly crying Hope hugged her son, her second-born child.
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"Of course, but I really don't think we have anything to say to one another." Chloe replied as Belle walked hesitantly into the room.
"Well, you don't but I have to say something. I had to come and tell you that I'm sorry––,"
"That's all well and good. But, I think you owe me a little bit more than that." Belle seemed somewhat off guard by Chloe's attitude but she hadn't expected it to be easy. "I'd like an explanation of why you, my best friend, accuse me of doing things for which you had no knowledge of or for that matter wasn't any of your business in the first place."
"I don't know why I said the things I did to you Chloe. Maybe, it was because I was still upset over how things happened with JT. I was so mixed up at the time that I wasn't sure about some things I'd said. I only know that I was wrong then and still am now because it was uncalled for. And you're right it wasn't any of my business, either." After pleading her apology once more she awaited Chloe's response.
Chloe was silent for a few moments after hearing what Belle had to say. "Alright, I accept your apology." Belle released a deep breath and sat down on the sofa.
"Thank goodness for that. Now tell me all about …" she paused "Everything, tell me everything I missed and don't leave out a thing."
"Well … " Chloe and Belle were back to chatting like old friends once again like the pass couple of weeks had never happened.