The blood was pounding in Olivia's head, making her headache even worse as she fumbled with the plastic bottle in her hand. She couldn't get the lid off, for whatever reason, and Elijah was screaming at the top of his lungs in the small baby carrier he laid in on the other side of the kitchen.
An anger began to pulse through Olivia's body as the wailing grew louder and the bottle continued to refuse to open. Finally, she paused and took a deep breath. Only seconds later, she hurled the plastic bottle at the wall, turning towards the baby as it clattered loudly against the wall and floor.
"Stop screaming!" she yelled furiously, tears streaming down her face. "God, for once in your life, just shut up!"
Elijah's face was red and blotchy from all of the crying he'd done in the past days, and Olivia reached up and grabbed her head, unable to think with the loud noise of the upset baby. Finally, she turned, grabbing her purse and keys from the edge of the counter, and fled towards the front door.
She slammed it behind her, sprinting to her car, and once she was inside of the vehicle, she locked the doors. "Just shut up," she sobbed against the steering wheel as the sound of Elijah's cries echoed in her mind. "Please."
Four years from now, basically. :) But this isn't going to happen. It's just a drabble.
heartbreak tw btw
The words rung in Liv's mind, playing over and over, and her heart stung once more every time she remembered the words her husband had murmured to her. That was the night that she'd told him she wanted a divorce. Two nights ago, she'd covered her eyes with her hand and whispered the words she'd never imagined she would. She remembered how quiet it was in the kitchen and the pain on his features, and she remembered how she'd begun to cry, desperately wishing she could imagine some other way out of her situation that didn't include the ending of her marriage.
True to his character, Keith had wiped away her tears and kissed her deeply before agreeing to let her have what she wanted. "I'm always going to love you, Olivia. Please remember that." And after that, he'd grabbed his jacket quietly and walked out the front door.
They were both still sleeping in the house, but Keith had moved into the guest room. Elijah and Amelia were none the wiser to the changes occurring in their home, seeing as neither of them had woken up in the night and come to crawl in bed with their mother or father. They seemed to miss every time Keith's eyes would linger sadly on his wife from across the dinner table and every time Olivia's hand would linger too long when she bumped her husband's while reaching for the dishes on the table.
Much of the time, Olivia kept her eyes away from Keith. The pain on his face was too evident, too potent, for her to bare looking at for long without feeling her chest tighten. She locked the bathroom door when she showered now, too -- something she hadn't done in years. The only time she truly spoke with him was when it was required because their two children were interacting with the two of them.
Now, she was walking through the front door, her purse on her shoulder and a large envelope in her arms. Amelia and Elijah streaked by, giggling and yelling after each other. "Slow down, sweet pea!" Olivia called in warning to her four-year-old daughter, who was leading her slightly-older brother on a goose chase through the front rooms of the house.
Her breath was steadier than it had been in days as she found her way into the conservatory, where Keith was staring blankly at his laptop screen, as if he knew what he wanted to convey, but couldn't find words, due to his mind being in another place.
"Keith," she murmured quietly, catching his attention. Olivia held out the envelope for him, and watched as he retrieved the legal divorce papers from inside of it. A long minute passed as he simply stared at the front page, not daring to open it.
Finally, his thumb twitched gently, and he flipped over to the page where he could sign. Unsettlingly, Olivia already had a pen in her hand, offering it to him. It took him longer than normal to accept it before looking back down at the pages.
"You haven't signed them?" he asked quietly, looking up at her. His green eyes stared directly into her own brown eyes, which quickly filled with tears.
"Please sign the papers," she gasped, turning on her heel and escaping the room quickly. She found herself on the back porch, leaning against the wooden railing that overlooked the beach. She felt sick to her stomach as she struggled to control herself, tears slipping down her cheeks.
A tugging on her pants startled her, and she looked down to find her baby boy staring up at her with concern in the eyes he'd inherited from his father. His shaggy hair fell into his face, long mostly because Olivia couldn't bear to cut his hair often. She loved it too much. He looked like his father with his brow furrowed and eyes wide, a small frown on his mouth.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" he asked, his child's voice high and worried. "Why are you crying?"
Olivia turned towards Elijah, getting down on her knees so that she was at a better level. She toyed with his hair gently as she thought, wondering how to explain heartache to a child. Finally, she took in a breath and spoke. "Remember that ouchie you got on your knee a couple weeks ago, baby?" she inquired, tapping his kneecap with her pointer finger.
Elijah nodded, concern still written plainly across his features.
"Mommy got one on her heart today. But don't worry, because it'll heal up and I'll be good as new. Just like you," Olivia smiled, tugging his shirt down absently.
He didn't look pleased with her answer, but he nodded, and after a moment of thinking, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Olivia smiled at the kiss and poked her son's belly. "What was that for?" she asked, scrunching up her nose.
"When Daddy does it, it makes you happy and it makes you smile," he explained simply, placing his hands on either side of her face.
Olivia couldn't help the tears that pooled in her eyes at the explanation, and she nodded, fighting to keep her smile in place. "Yes it does, baby," she breathed.
Olivia's eyelids felt heavy as the cool breeze the fan over her provided swept over her skin. The back of her neck was cold from the water dripping from her hair, but she was comfortable thanks to the small bundle of warmth lying between her breasts.
Her eyelids fluttered open and she glanced down, looking over the baby boy for the millionth time. His thin but pouty lips, wide nose, and long eyebrows. The expression he wore as he slept almost conveyed that he was frustrated, though he was perfectly content where he was.
Olivia traced her fingertips over the top of his head, the little hair he had soft and feathery under her touch. A gentle smile rested on her lips as she moved her hand to his back, rubbing slightly.
She'd tried a million things to get the baby to sleep, but after running out of ideas and simply lying down with him, she'd realized that pressed up against her chest where he could hear her heartbeat, he'd fallen asleep easily. It seemed almost ridiculous how she'd attempted so many things when the answer was simple.
Sighing, she wondered whether she could move him to get up and do things that needed to be done without waking him. The thought was fleeting, though, and the decision to stay there with her baby was easy.
Olivia let out a small huff as she finally adjusted herself in a reclining position on her side of the bed, propped against thick downy pillows and the headboard of the bed. She moved her hands and spun her thick, dark hair into a messy bun, her slightly swollen wrists turning slowly as she tied up the strands with a hair tie from her wrist.
As she adjusted herself once more to get into a more comfortable situation, she noticed that as she had moved, so had one of the twins she was carrying. The left side of her belly felt tighter now, and when she looked down at it, she could see that it was being pressed against by Amelia. She laughed gently and moved one hand to rest under her belly. Her right hand found where Amelia had pressed the soles of her feet and rubbed gently and slowly.
"Hi, sweet baby girl," Olivia said in a near whisper. The pressure against her belly increased in response and Olivia laughed again, pressing into the foot that she could feel pushing back at her. "How is my little angel today? You've been very sleepy lately, haven't you?"
She cooed words and rubbed circles into the tiny feet for a few long minutes, breathing deeply and humming occasionally. Olivia followed the pattern of the foot and felt a smile spread across her lips as she found toes. "You have toes!" she gasped in a sweet tone. "Feel your beautiful toes, sweet girl. One, two, three, four, five toes," Olivia counted aloud, her smile never faltering. "They're such tiny toes, Mia. Such beautiful, tiny little toes."
The pressure on her belly seemed to release, but it was followed by a swift kick, and Olivia sucked in a breath, letting it out as an airy giggle. "Yes, you're very strong," she nodded, her eyes still trained on her belly to see the movement.
As she watched, her belly moved, almost in a rolling sort of way, as the other side of her belly shifted slowly. Gently, Olivia moved her right hand to stroke across the area where Elijah was located. Amelia kicked again, almost as if she wanted attention, and Olivia placed her left hand over the left side of her belly.
"There is no one, ever, who loves you more than I do, babies. No one will ever hold you like I will and no one will ever understand the way that I love you. Not your grandma or your grandpa or your aunts. Not even Daddy. I will always, always love you. Nothing will ever make me stop loving you. Not fear, not sadness, not distance. I will always be your mommy and I will always hold you in my heart."
Olivia sniffed and raised one of her hands to rub the pad of her thumb under her now-crying eyes, wiping the tears from her skin. "I love you forever, Amelia --. I love you forever, Elijah --."
NGL, I feel like in the post Cami just reblogged...Chris probably made some joke about Keith and Liv doing something dirty, because he seems like the type that would get a kick out of Elijah being like "Why's that funny? What's that mean?" his whole life, and this was the first time Elijah did know what it meant so he hit him because he was 'defending his mommy's honor'.
