Chapter Twenty-Three

Eddie fell asleep feeling so much more relieved that they had at least a chance. Jamie had to go to work later and he wasn't in the place yet of being with Eddie for long periods of time. Hailey was going to come over and help with the girls. When they were content and cared for she sat down by Eddie for an update. "Hey everything good?"

"Jamie wants to move to Pennsylvania and try to work things out, six months trial" Eddie told her friend. She sat down, and was visibly shaking. "He can't let things go yet. He beat him Hailey. He beat him so hard that Jamie's hands were banged up and swollen."

"Oh wow, but at least you may be able to work things out," Hailey said. She hated to see her friend like this, she hadn't been the same since she lost her little boy. "What did you tell him?"

"Yes" Eddie replied. "Yes I know, I told him absolutely yes. This is the last chance I have to fix this, he said it's this or separation, and I cannot take that. I need him in my life."

Hailey nodded smiling, "I'm glad you guys are at least trying to work it out. I'll miss you, but this is for the best."

"You can come visit me anytime you want..." Eddie smiled. "We will be only a half hour or so from Hershey"

"Yeah, I'll definitely come visit," Hailey smiled. "I can stick around if you want to nap, I know you had a hard time the last few days. Anything I can do, I'm here."

"No, that's okay," Eddie replied. "Mary has therapy and I have to find her a doctor there as soon as possible." Hailey nodded saying bye before taking her leave.

Eddie worked the phone all day until she found a doctor and therapist at Hershey hospital for Mary. She got on the MLS and started to look at houses, determined to make it work.

"Mommy," Mary called from her room as Eddie finished. Eddie put a big smile on her face and went to her daughter. Mary was sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes, still sleepy.

"Hey Monkey," Eddie smiled. "How you doing sweetie?"

"Sleepy," Mary curled into Eddie's arms closing her eyes.

"You feeling okay?" Eddie asked. "You still sleepy from therapy? Do you need the bathroom?"

"No bathroom Mommy, just tired, please stay with me."

Eddie held Mary tight "Okay, you snuggle back down with Mommy. Oh, I love you so much."

"Love you Mommy," Mary whispered already on her way back to sleep. Eddie rocked her until she fell asleep.

It was late when Jamie came in Eddie and the girls long asleep not expecting him home

Mary had an incredibly rough day and Eddie laid with her and Bella in Mary's room to keep her company.

Quietly taking off his jacket to hang, Jamie wanted to check in on Mary before going to his room.

There he found Eddie, Mary, and Bella all curled up in the bed, sound asleep.

Jamie smiled at the picture all three of his girls together, longing for Joe to be a part of this too.

He was missing from this picture and it hurt. He couldn't take another loss, this had to work. This family was important to him, he loved Eddie so, and that's why her infidelity hurt so much. He wanted this to work, he needed this move to fix things as much as she did, if not more.

Slowly Jamie moved closer standing to watch them sleep…his family.

Bella looked so innocent, her tiny mouth suckling the air, one little hand out of her blanket. Jamie leaned over and kissed her head, then moved on to kiss Mary's. He had to debate kissing Eddie for only a second...he laid a gentle kiss on her forehead and moved to cover them all when Eddie opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

"Jamie, you came home," she said voice ridden with sleep still.

"Of course, I did," he replied turning his head to the side to hide the tears shining there.

"There's room for you here to lay down with us," Eddie offered hopefully.

He shook his head, "No, that's okay, Mary needs leg room. I'll see you in the morning."

Eddie carefully pushed the blanket back to stand, "Wait Jamie please I want us to be together."

He kept walking to Joe's room. Eddie took Bella and laid her down in her crib. She put the nightlight on and went to speak to Jamie, she knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in." Jamie's voice sounded small and far off. Eddie pushed the door open armed with the beginning of her research. She wanted to prove to him she was all in on this idea.

"Hey, I just wanted to update you," Eddie said sitting on the floor. "I found a couple of doctors for Mary and they do children's therapy at Hershey hospital. I'm going to see her doctors tomorrow about which course of action they might recommend and go from there, we need her to have the best and both of these doctors have great reputations."

Jamie nodded, "That was my biggest concern about this. That Mary would suffer physically, but I'm worried that emotionally she will suffer if this marriage doesn't make it. She will make it her fault. You know she'll make it her fault."

Eddie nodded, "I know. I know that and she is so innocent here, she is so innocent in all of this, her and Bella and we have to try for this, we have to try."

Eddie held up a couple of photographs, "I found these three houses in Lancaster, all on the backroads, and reasonable rents. They are rentals with an option to buy so we can take them for the six months and see where you feel you are then. If you want to continue or…" Eddie was trying not to cry.

"No," Jamie shook his head. "I want to give my family a stable home so they can feel safe and find some peace. Even Bella has been affected by this, we all need to find a new sense of peace. I don't' want to bounce the girls around more than we have to."

Eddie inhaled, "So if you decide at the end of six months…" She was scared. She was terrified he was going to take her girls away.

"If we decide that things aren't working at the end of the six months, then I will find another place to go, and you keep the house with the girls. I'll be very close by."

Eddie smiled again, his words gave her hope, the tears shined in her eyes as she looked at him. Jamie took the papers and met her eyes with a gentle smile. "Let's talk about this tomorrow and make a couple of calls about these houses. I'll have Danny get in touch with his friend to grease the wheels. I want to get out of here as fast as we possibly can. It's the only way we can heal, Eddie and in spite of all we've been through, I want to heal."

Eddie reached out and touched his face, he didn't' recoil, she took that as a good sign. "I want to heal too. We need to find forgiveness for each other and for ourselves."

Jamie nodded, "Get some sleep. I'll get Bella if she cries."

Eddie nodded and headed back to her room. She wanted to ask Jamie to come in with her, to lie with her, she wanted to beg him to do that, but she knew him well enough to know he needed a lot of time, just like she did. She hadn't completely forgiven him for Joey, not yet, and she would never forgive Danny. Perhaps Jamie was right, perhaps this change would be the best for everyone.

They would have to break the news to Mary, that she would have to leave her home, the Hershey angle would help there, she hoped.

Eddie laid down and pulled the covers around her, shutting her eyes trying so hard to fall asleep. She must have dozed because she slept through the night in a dreamless state.

Bella slept until almost four. Jamie got up and gave her a bottle and sat with her on the couch. "We're going to move, Bella girl," he smiled. "And we are going to make things good again. They'll never be perfect, your brother is gone and we miss him so much…you're so lucky that you don't hurt like that."

Bella let out a belly laugh and kicked her legs. "Yeah, you're a happy girl. I wish we could all be happy like this. Mommy made a huge mistake, but so did Daddy. I don't think I'd mind as much if I didn't feel like she did this because she still hates me for what I did to your brother, I hate myself, why shouldn't she."

Bella laughed again and exercised her little voice, "What's that? You don't hate Daddy…I love you so much Bella girl…I love all my girls so very much."