Chapter 21

Shaw

       Surprisingly, the twins didn't want to have a birthday party this year. Instead, they just wanted to go bowling as a family, Holden included of course. 

       Holden and I hadn't told anyone we were engaged yet. We wanted to wait for the right moment to tell anyone, and I knew telling my kids on the twins' birthday would be the perfect time.

       The bowling alley in Spruceworth was a five-pin bowling alley since it was a lot easier for the kids. We tried regular bowling once, but Castiel could barely pick up the ball and he would start crying because of it.

       Apparently, I wasn't the best at bowling. In fact, I had the lowest score so far. I was lucky to even knock down two pins.

       Even Castiel was doing better than me.

       It was Holden's turn right now and big surprise, he got yet another strike. "Oh, come on," I said. "You must be cheating at this now. There's no way you can get that many strikes in one game."

       "Obviously I can," Holden said as he sat down beside me. "Look at the scoreboard."

       "Alright, Mr. Cocky," I said. "We get it. You're winning. You don't have to rub it in everyone's faces."

       Holden just shrugged as Castiel sat down on the other side of me. "Daddy, we have no more onion rings," he said.

       "What, really?" I asked. "I just bought them."

       "Yeah, but we all love onion rings," Castiel said.

       "Alright, I'll go buy some more," I said, getting up and walking over to the concession stand to order more onion rings. I knew I should have ordered more than just one batch. 

       After ordering them, I stood off to the side to wait for them to be ready. Someone soon walked over to me and I felt like groaning. "Seriously, do you not know what it means to stay out of my life?" I asked. 

       "I do, but I chose to ignore it," Dad said. 

       "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked. "You don't seem like the type to come to a five-pin bowling alley."

       "Maybe I came here for the food," Dad said.

       "When there are plenty of diners and restaurants here?" I asked. "Right, makes sense."

       "Okay, the truth is Viola said you would be here," Dad said.

       I scoffed. "Of course she would tell you that. Let me guess, you two are all buddy-buddy now and she forgave you just like that? No surprise there."

       "She forgave me because I'm her father," Dad said. "I know I shouldn't have left and didn't make a single effort to contact you two..."

       "No, you don't," I said. "If you knew you shouldn't have done it, you wouldn't have taken nine years to come back. Now seriously, just stay out of my life. I don't want anything to do with you."

       I wasn't surprised when Dad didn't leave and he stayed where he was beside me. "What are you doing here anyway? Because I'm pretty sure you're not the type to get five-pin bowling as well."

       I didn't know if I wanted to tell him that I was here celebrating my kids' eighth birthday. I didn't want my dad to know I had kids, but he was going to find out anyway, especially if he stayed in the bowling alley and I went back to our lane.

       "If you must know, it's the twins' eighth birthday today," I said.

       Dad furrowed his eyebrows. "Twins? What twins?"

       "Oh, right, I forgot," I said. "You wouldn't know since you don't have a clue what's going on in my life because, you know, you didn't want to talk to me."

       "That still doesn't answer the question," Dad said, right as the onion rings I ordered were ready. "What twins?"

       I grabbed the basket of onion rings before facing my dad. "Mercedes and Lucian. Two of my kids. Castiel's the third and he just turned six not too long ago."

       "Wait, you have kids?" Dad asked.

        "I do," I said. "And you would have known that, but you didn't. So again, please stay out of my life. And don't think about going anyway near my kids. I don't want them to have anything to do with you."

       I walked back to the lane everyone else was at, sitting back down beside Holden as I placed the basket of onion rings on the table. "You alright?" Holden asked.

       I sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just ran into the one person I don't want to see. The worst part is Viola already forgave him."

       "What? Really?" Holden asked. "Just like that."

       "Yeah, so it won't be long before she tries to convince me to forgive him," I said.

       Too bad Viola could never convince me of anything I didn't want to do. All she was going to do was get me annoyed and make me not want to forgive Dad even more.

       I was a bit worried Dad would try to approach us and attempt to get to know his grandchildren, but he didn't. I really was hating Dad living in Spruceworth because I was now just worried every single day.

       After we finished the game of bowling, with me losing of course, I said, "So, I know you're opening your presents after dinner, but I have a sort of present to tell you three."

       "What is it?" Mercy asked.

       "How would you three feel about getting a step-dad?" I asked, but they didn't even understand what I meant by the question.

       Instead, they all scowled. "We want Holden to be our step-dad, but you said no," Lucian said.

       "I didn't say no," I said. "I said Holden and I would have to get married first."

       "Wait," Mercy said slowly. "Are you getting married?"

       "We are," I said, and all three kids immediately got up to hurry over and give me and Holden a hug.

       "I knew it!" Mercy said. "I knew you wanted to marry him! We're all so happy!"

       "When's the wedding?" Castiel asked.

       "Not for another couple months," Holden said. "We still have to plan it and save up."

       "Can it be next week?" Lucian asked.

       "That's not how it works, Lucian," Kendra said. 

       "But we want them to get married," Lucian said. "We want Holden to be our step-dad."

       "I know you do," I said. "And Holden and I will get married. It may not be next week like you want, but it will happen."

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i love shaw's kids ahahaha.

to clarify: five-pin bowling is bowling. but with five pins and a smaller ball so it's a lot better for younger kids. i just found out it's a canadian variant and it's not anywhere else. i went there with my family for my birthday and my four year old brother did better than me the first round. :(

idk i always feel so tired even though i slept in until 11:30. so this took me a while to write because i can't concentrate ahahaha i love life.

I'M STILL SPAMMING THIS BOOK. And tomorrow will most likely get at least three chapters.