David's Journey Pt. 04

As we finish, Jessica has fallen asleep with a big smile on her face. I make sure she is ok before heading into the bathroom to clean my now softening dick and get my clothes back on. I pull on my shirt and underwear with my swim trunks. And silently walk out, closing the door so she can sleep peacefully.

Entering the living room, I see Caroline talking with the girls outside through the window and walk out to greet them. Jasmine looks up and seeing me alone, looking around for her mama. I look at her and tell her she is sleeping a bit, she is a little tired. Caroline looks at Jasmine and tells her she will go check up on her mama and Jas agrees.

I sit down with the girls and look at them. "Jasmine? I hope you're not mad at me. I just wanted your mother to have some time with me to show her how much I love her. I also hope you don't mind if I hold your mom in my arms while you two are around. For me, the physical touch that embraces her shows how much I value her and how much I absolutely love her. For me, it works more than words can do sometimes. Are you two ok with that? I won't do anything that will hurt you or your mom. If I did something you two aren't ready for, please tell me. I want you both to be able to talk to me freely about anything, ok?" I bargain. I look at them both and they do that twin communication thing and as I look at Jasmine, I hear her voice coming from Serenity and I jump, making both girls laugh.

"Oh you wanna be sneaky do you? Well, I think the tickle monster wants to come out!" I snarl playfully and go after Serenity. She squeals and runs as I chase her only to feel Jasmine grab my legs to hold me back yelling for her sister to run and hide. I reach down and start tickling her instead and as she is laughing I hear her sister yell out that she will save her and she jumps on me... As I pretend to fall down, Jasmine rolls out from under me and climbs on top to help her sister take me down. They start trying to tickle me as one of them shouts, "ready to give up?!" I'm laughing and say 'no.' So they go after me again together. Working as a team against me. They find my ticklish spot and work on it while they hold me down. I'm laughing and crying at the same time only to hear them ask me to surrender.

As the girls let me up, and start to turn around, I grab them up and hug them tight to me. As I got up with the girls in my arms, I hug them tighter as they twist in my arms and hug me just as tight. I fall back down from my knees and start to cry. I hear the girls talking to me, asking me what's wrong and if I'm ok. I look up at them smiling. "I never thought I could find people in my life again, people I could love, have a family with. But here in my home, I have 2 wonderful women, Caroline and your mama. Who I have found love and two wonderful little girls." I hug them tighter as I tell them this. "You two, both of you have snuck into my heart. Caroline was right, I can see myself as a father. You two have made me so happy. Thank you!" I can see tears in the girls eyes but I can see something else too. I just don't know what it is.

All three of us jump as we hear crying in the doorway to the house. It seems Caroline and Jessica heard everything I told the girls. I let the girls go and slowly get up on my feet. As I walk to Jessica, the girls follow me watching. I gently take Jessica's hands in mine and look her in the eyes and tell her how I feel. "Jess. I love you." I look over at Caroline, now standing with the girls in front of her. "Caroline, I love you." I move Jessica beside Caroline and look at them both so they know I'm talking to both of them. "I love you both, equally. Both of you have been a light for my soul and heart to find peace and happiness in. You have both made me stronger, I have been torn down and rebuilt, and both of you have been there for me."

I look at Caroline as I say this, "Sweetheart, you once asked me, If I could see Jessica's girls as hers and not his. Last week, when they were leaving, I looked at them and the only thing I could see was Jessica in them both."

I turn to look at Jessica. "Baby, I know you're scared, and even though I don't know what you're going through in your life, I will always be here for you and your lovely girls. Anytime you need me, I will be there as soon as I can, however I can, no matter what."

I bend down and look at both girls. "Jasmine, Serenity! I love your mother with all my heart. I can never see me hurting her, I can never see me doing anything but being what she needs me to be. I hope someday, you can accept me in your hearts, cause right now, you both are in mine. If you ever need me, I'll be there for you both as well. You will always be safe, and protected here in this home. And if you ever just want to talk to someone, I've got two ears just for you both. I am so happy to meet you both and can't wait till I can see you again."

I take a step back and see all of them with tears in their eyes but smiles on their faces. I look at Caroline and Jessica. "When you and the kids were here last time, I promised the girls something that I intend to keep." Jessica looks from the girls and back to me. "I promised them that I would be open and honest with them. When I took you up to the bedroom, I asked for permission from the girls, cause I want them to know I will not hurt you and I want them to see what kind of guy I am. My actions will show them better than my words."

I kneel down so I can talk to the girls at their level and look at the girls for this. "As for you two, I hope I have helped to ease some of your concerns with me? I know I don't have much experience talking to little ladies like you two, but I hope you can understand that you two have a place in my heart now." I look at them and instead of an answer, they both run and hug me tighter than they have ever before. I bend down and pick them up and hug them tighter. I know I still have a ways to go, but I hope this means I'm in their hearts even a little bit.

As Jessica watches, I can see Caroline reach over and give her a hug and a kiss. I let the girls go and they run to their mother. We move into the living room. I ask the girls what they want to drink and after getting their orders, I head to the kitchen to let the girls talk. When I walk out, I see all the girls looking at me. I stop and look at them. "What? What did I do?" The girls laugh and look at me with a disbelief in their eyes.

"You mean to tell me, after what you said out there, you don't expect us to have something to say, David?" Caroline said. All of them looked at me and I had to chuckle.

I sit down after passing around the drinks. Jessica is the first to speak... "David, I love you too. When you rescued me, you saved my life. At first I thought my feelings were because of that, but since then, I have come to realize I fell for you because of how you treat me, look at me, and how you make me feel in your arms. I have come to realize that I love you for you. I really don't like speaking ill of the girl's father, but this has to be said. If I didn't believe him going through with his threat, I would immediately ask to move in with you. I love my girls and I don't want to put them in harm's way or you David. All three of you are too precious to me."

She turns to look at Caroline and both nod to an unspoken question. "Jasmine, Serenity, I must tell you, Caroline and I will also honor David's promise to you about being open and honest." At this, Jessica takes a deep breath and Caroline reaches over and takes her hand for support. I have a feeling of what's coming, but keep my mouth shut. "Girls, Caroline and I are also in love with each other. We have been friends since we were in college and lovers as well. What I mean is, we have feelings for each other and we like to spend time alone with each other just like I did with David today. Do you understand what I mean?" The girls look at each other and that silent communication is on display again. After a couple minutes they nod at each other and then at their mother.

Jessica continues. "Good, that makes me very happy, girls. I want you to know that you're both very important to me. It would kill me if you got mad and hated me. You both know you can talk to us anytime you need to or want to and we all want you to feel safe and free here. Ok?"

The girls nod again and hug their mom before saying. "Mama, we could never hate you, but why stay with dad when he hurts you, he scares us and we hate living there. We hate him! We don't even laugh like we do here when he is around, you see that don't you? We love you mama!" The girls break down and cry against their mother. "We're scared mama, we don't know what to do and we are scared daddy will take you away from us!" Serenity speaks for the second time today, sounding just like her sister.

Jessica falls to the floor in shock. Caroline is looking at the girls as if seeing them for the first time and I'm looking at them all with shock and awe. These girls are smarter than they act!

Jessica looks at the clock and gasps. "Oh God! We gotta go, or we will be late, my husband is about to leave work, if we leave now we can make it!" I hurry to the mantle and take the key from it and hand it to Jessica. And give her a kiss. Caroline takes the girls out to the car as Jessica leans in and whispers. "I still have your seed in me. I will never get rid of it. Next time honey, I won't be protected. Caroline and I talked, we both want kids with you. Just be patient, for us?" I nod my head, too shocked to think straight or talk.

As we watch Jessica and the kids leave, we walk back inside and Caroline leads me straight to the living room. She shoves me onto the couch and sits on my lap. "We need to talk." Uh Oh, those nasty 4 words that no man wants to hear. My face must have shown my trepidation as she sits further down on my lap and pins me down. "Nothing bad, David. Just what you said, out there on the patio was absolutely wonderful. I could tell the girls are really seeing you in a different light. They are really warming up to you. Jessica told me they have laughed more in the 2 days they have been here than in the past year. You have definitely made an impact with them and they will remember how you are and how much love you have shown them. They already think higher of you than they do their own father. You should be proud of that."

All the while she is saying this to me, all I can see is the two girls' eyes, laughing and seeing me as a man they can trust and play with. My heart swells hearing this from Caroline. She continues, "Jessica has also seen such a turn around in their schooling as well. They are happier, more playful and sociable in school, even a couple teachers have commented on it when she picks them up. She told me they were asking what made the girls have such a sudden change. Well, you know she can't tell the real reason, but Jess told them that they had gone through a phase. She is so proud of you and the girls!" I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. Taking a moment to collect my thoughts.

"What I said was the truth, Caroline. I love you both equally. I want a family with you both, I want, no I need, both of you. I realized last week that I wasn't living life, that I was just coasting through it. Living life is having people you care and love in it and them having you in theirs, loving and caring for you. Both of you, over these months have shown me that life can be black and white, but is that life worth living? Or is what you two showed me worth more? Living in color, with you, Jessica and the girls. That is Living. I was in black & white. I don't ever want to go back to that."

"I NEED the girls in my life, I NEED you and Jessica with me as well. Both of you have made everything worth living. When I was down, Jessica came into it. When I thought I would lose everything, you came around thanks to Jessica. Now? Now I have the girls along with you both and I can NEVER see my life without them being here with us. Thank you Caroline, you are such an incredible woman and I will cherish all of you till my dying breath leaves me."

I move to get up and Caroline stands up, I hold her arms and ask her to stay there. I move to my music player and look through my music and select a playlist I made a long time ago. As the first song plays, Chris De Burgh's Lady in Red, I reach out and offer my hand to Caroline. As she takes it, I can see a questioning look in her eyes. I smile at her, "Do you remember our first date? The outfit you wore reminded me of this song. My lady, may I have this dance?"

Her smile brightens the room as I embrace her. We dance until the next song comes on, Kenny Rogers - She Believes in Me. We both switched up our dancing and swinging around the living room arm in arm listening to the music, enjoying each other.

As the next song comes on, from Scorpions - When You Came into My Life, we speed up our dancing. Her smile never leaving her beautiful face, her eyes alight with joy and love. I can never believe such a wonderful woman could ever have entered my life so completely.

We danced until we got tired. With my playlist running out of songs, I shut it down and sit beside a panting and fully satisfied lady. When I sit down beside her, she cuddles up to me as I put my arm around her, with a sigh of contentment.

As night falls, we both get up and take a shower and get ready for bed, while looking forward to tomorrow. Not realizing, tomorrow is gonna be a lot different than what we were thinking.

I awake to my phone ringing, I look over to my left and see Caroline sleeping on my chest and smiling. I can't help but smile at her peaceful face. Still marveling at how sexy she is. I look to my right and grab my phone, seeing it's Jessica, I answer the phone quickly.

"David!" Jasmine cries from the other end and I can hear panic in her voice.

"We need help, please, can we come to you? MAMA!" Hearing this, I quickly sit up and get out of bed. Caroline nearly falls off the bed, looking up at me worriedly when she sees the scared look on my face, and asks what's wrong, I tell her to get dressed quickly.

"Jasmine, what's going on? Talk to me sweetie!" I encourage her, trying to stay calm, not only for myself but most importantly for Jasmine, as Caroline helps me pull on my pants and shirt.

"Mama is driving, Serenity and I are hurt and mama is taking us to your place. Can we come there, please?" She implores me and I can hear the tears and how scared she is in her voice.

Still keeping calm outward, "of course all three of you can come here, you will ALWAYS be welcome here," I tell her, keeping the panic once again from my voice. "We will be ready for you sweety, ok? Tell your mama to be careful and we will see her when she gets here."

Jessica perspective 11:30pm:

Ugh, finally. The kitchen is done, the house is clean and all I have to do now is take the trash out and make sure the girls are in bed sleeping before I can go to bed. I seriously hate sleeping with my husband. I hate that I'm stuck where I am, yet I'm so thankful for David and Caroline. They have helped me and made my life so much better over the last 7 months. It fucking sucks that my own husband won't do anything around the house, yet expects everything to be done before he gets home and before he wakes up! I almost never get enough sleep myself. All I can do is hope one day I can get away from all this with my girls and be happy and free again. I feel like a slave. I love being a housewife and mother, but this? This is too much!

I wander back in the house and go into the master bedroom to get the laundry. I need it ready for tomorrow so we can have clean clothes tomorrow evening for David's place. I remind myself that my husband, George, is gonna be gone overnight with his uncle. Glad to have the day and evening at David's house.

I look up at the clock and see it's 20 minutes to midnight, and look in the bedroom to see if anything else needs done and notice that George isn't in bed. That's weird, he should be in bed by now. Maybe he is in the bathroom. I start to walk out of the laundry room and see him coming out of the girls room. He almost never goes in there! I take a step back inside and close the curtain, I leave enough to be able to peek out and see when he walks by.

I listen closely and hear the girls crying. What did he do or say to them!? My heart breaks, my babies! I hear the bedroom door close and then the master bath door as well. I hurry up and go into the girls room and see them huddled together. OH NO! As I look at them, I get terrified, OH. MY. GOD! Serenity has a busted lip and I can see Jasmine's left eye is closing! I run to them with tears in my eyes and terror in my heart for them. I go to hug them only to feel them wince in pain. I back away for fear of hurting them again. My mind is trying to rationalize what I'm seeing. My heart is breaking from their pain and the terror in their eyes. I fall to my knees and start crying, only to feel two pairs of hands wrap around me.

I look up at my babies. In pain yet willing to set aside theirs to make sure I'm ok. I ask myself what I did to deserve such wonderful girls?!

I lean in and draw them closer and best I can without hurting them. "Ok, listen, I'm done with this. I cannot let this go, I need you girls to quietly pack what clothes you can get and any toys you wanna bring that won't make noise. We are going to David's tonight. Make sure you bring that chest he gave you too, ok? I'll get myself some clothes somehow and get the car from our neighbor. She will want to know what happened though, can I tell her sweethearts?"

I walk quietly into the bedroom, trying to control my emotions. I can see George, sleeping like a fucking baby in that bed! I picture myself standing over him holding a knife ready to kill him. I take a moment to control my emotions, they won't do me any good right now, I have got to concentrate on getting my clothes and getting to a REAL man who will take care of us and protect us! I close my eyes for a moment and picture my babies, at David's house, tackling and playing with him. Their laughter at his antics with them makes this easier to get through. I walk over and with the bag I grabbed from the kitchen, I start quietly shoving clothes into it. Not caring if it's folded, dirty or what.

When I'm finished with my clothes, I look around for anything that I might need or not want to lose. Keeping myself reminded that I don't have a lot of time. I grab some of my jewels and a picture of my mother and father. Then head out the door. I see the girls are waiting outside with a small bag each. All three of us walk to the neighbor and knock on the door. Our neighbor is a wonderful older lady, and has always been kind and caring towards me and the girls.

We waited for a minute and knocked again just as the door was opening. "I'm so sorry Alma, I hate waking you but we need your help, please!?" I beg for her help. She looks me over and then the girls and I can see her anger coming in.

"Did your good for nothing husband do this to the girls? Come in, come in!" As we are led into her house, she walks to a closet and takes out a camera, asking the girls to stand close by. She takes a few snaps of the girls and hands me the camera, telling me to take good care of it. "Use this for evidence. Hold on, let me do something else as well to help you. I'm still known at the hospital, you know!" She tells me as she hands me a slip of paper to hold onto, detailing her observation of the damage and what she is doing to help the girls. As she finishes writing, she goes into the kitchen and grabs a bag of ice for Jasmine and asks the girls if their father hit them anywhere else.

The girls nod at her and she takes them into a bedroom with me and asks them to show her as she records and takes pictures of the damage. Looks like the only damage that's done is a few places on their backs and upper arms. As more is revealed, I start crying again and begging my girls to forgive me for being a horrible mother to let them get hurt.