Forgive Me- Part 3

Jaime’s POV

I still can’t believe what just happened and the smile is still glued to my face when I walk back into the room where all the guys had been gaming. The second I open the door to the room I am swarmed by all the guys; they are obviously eager to hear what Milly had called for, Gaskarth is at the front of the pack.

“Was it her?” Alex’s voice was desperate “Was it really Milly?”

My grin spreads further and I nod my head. “She’s working late today and asked if I could take care of the kids” I say.

“Seriously? That’s awesome” Vic exclaimed

“Are you going over there or..?” Mike said

“Nah, I have to pick up the kids from school and have them here by seven. But she said I can take them to the zoo!” I explained

“Wait she’s coming here?” Tony looks thrilled “Does that mean we get to see her?!”

I nod again, the smile never leaving my face.

“Give me her number!” Alex demanded suddenly

“What?” I ask

“She called you right?” he explained

“It was on private...”

“But what if something happens and you need to get in contact with her? Shouldn’t she have given it to you?” Alex looked very confused and concerned

“Shit. I didn’t think of that...”

“Obviously” Mike said with a roll of his eyes.

Suddenly I felt my pocket vibrate and immediately take it out to look at it. I don’t know the number. I open the message and read it.

From Unknown: hey, it's Milly. I just realised you didn't have my number. EMERGENCIES ONLY! :) thanks again.

I smile as I read it and quickly save her number into my phone before replying.

To Milly: yea I was just thinking about that. And it's okay :) can I be your official babysitter from now on?

I press send and look back at the guys who were eyeing me suspiciously.

“That was her wasn’t it?” Alex asked

“Maybe” I tease as my phone vibrates again.

From Milly: only if you're good

To Milly: I'm always good!

“Give it to me!” Alex demanded playfully

“Nah, it’s for emergencies only”

“Sure, I totally believe that you’ll stick to that” He laughed

As I held my hand away from Alex, Tony reached over and snatched it out of me hand.

“Hey!” I exclaim. He just smiles and pulls out his own phone to copy in the number. “Guys! She’ll kill me if she finds out I gave you her number”

“It’s okay” Tony grins “I’ll happily take the blame. She could never stay made at me”

Tony messaged Milly’s number to the rest of the guys who then proceeded to save it into their phones. After which everyone began to calm down from all the hype caused by Milly’s called and eventually returned to the video game. I look up at the clock hanging on the wall. It’s 2pm, only three hours; three hours until I get to spend the afternoon with my children. It really can’t come soon enough.



The second the clock hits 2:30 I’m out of the house and on the way to the pre-school, trying my hardest not to speed to get there early. I pull into the parking lot and practically dive from the car and rush into the pre-school. I decide to go see Lydia aka ‘She-Devil’ and get Casey first to get that crazy woman out of the way and be able to leave on a less sour note with Tess.

I take a deep breath before knocking on the door to Lydia’s class room and wait until I hear her call for me to come in. I push open the door and slowly walk into the class room, mentally preparing myself for the abuse that I am sure to receive. When I’m inside I immediately see Casey looking very intently at her desk. She doesn’t look like she’s actually doing anything, more like she’s trying to keep out of trouble.

“You’re early.” Lydia states.

“Umm, yea, traffic was a lot lighter than usual” I say, not that it explains me being 2 hours early. Lydia looks me up and down before sighing.

“I don’t think we have properly been introduced. I’m Lydia.” She says with a polite and fake smile before holding her hand out to me. I look at her suspiciously for a moment before shaking her hand.

“Jaime Preciado” I introduce myself.

“You’re Casey’s father correct?”

“Yea, I am” I say proudly before looking over to Casey whose attention was now focused entirely on us. I smile at her and she sends me a huge grin in return. I am thrilled to see that she had inherited my dimples.

“I thought that Amelia was raising them on her own.” Her voice was accusing

“She was.” I say shortly. Not wanting to talk to this woman any longer than necessary. She eyes me suspiciously but nods at Casey, telling her she can leave. Casey jumps up from her seat, smooths out her dress, grabs her bag and runs over to me, throwing her arms around my leg in a tight hug. I can’t help but laugh; I rest my hand on her head before asking where to sign her out. Once I signed the paper saying that I had picked her up we head over to the much more pleasant classroom that Cale was a part of.

Tess gawks a bit when she sees me walk in with Casey. I smile at her and she smiles politely back before calling out to Cale. When Cale looked up to see myself and Casey, the joy that was present almost made me melt. I can’t believe I had missed so much of this. What were they like when they were younger? How much did Milly have to go through? Was it tough? Did she struggle? I wish I had been there to help her through all of it and have gotten to watch these two gorgeous children grow to be the marvellous humans that they are now. Milly really did a good job.

Cale ran over and hugged me just like Casey did and I felt myself fill with pride at the two human beings before me. These are my children. It’s still hard to see myself as a father and honestly I don’t think it has hit me yet but these kids are going to look up to me. They are going to expect a great deal from me and all I can hope is that I don’t let them down.

“So Milly gave in?” Tess asked with a smile.

“Yep! I get to take care of them for the afternoon.” I smile

“Yea I heard!”

“who from?’

“Both the office and Jaxin; Milly called the school to let them know you would be picking them up and Jaxin came but a little earlier than usual to pick up Ruby.”

“Oh yea fair enough.” I look down at the kids then back up to Tess “Anyway, we should probably head off. Big plans for this afternoon.”

“Okay, have fun! And don’t forget to sign him out” she says with a smile and a wave as I head to the door, a child clinging to each of my hands. I lead them to the car and buckle them into the car seats that I had borrowed from Jaxin earlier today. I slid into the front seat and looked into the rear view mirror to see two brightly smiling faces.

“So, I was thinking that we might go to the zoo this afternoon. What do you guys think?” I ask them as I pull away from the school.

“Yes!!” they both yell in unison; practically bouncing in excitement. I let out a chuckle and drive in the direction of San Diego Zoo.

We pulled into the zoo and Casey and Cale were bursting with energy. I let them out of the car and pulled out the bag of food that I had packed before leading them to the entrance. I show the people my membership card and surprisingly Casey and Cale were members too. Apparently Milly brings them here quite a lot. We walk through into the zoo but I stop when I see a group of people standing there. Those bastards. I lead Casey and Cale over to them but they haven’t noticed us yet. It’s not until I flick Vic on the back of the ear that they turn to us.

“Oh! Jaime! What a coincidence.” Mike says with a sly smile.

“Seriously guys?”

“What?”The all ask.

“You couldn’t wait a couple of hours?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; Jaxin was bringing Ruby to the zoo and invited us along.” Tony said innocently.

I felt a slight pull on my sleeve and I look down to see Cale almost cowering behind me. Casey on the other hand looks fascinated. I smile at Cale reassuringly.

“Casey, Cale, these are your uncles.”

“But Uncle Jason is our Uncle.” Casey said.

“Yes he is, and so are they”

“We have lots of uncles?” she asked.

“Yep, you have heaps” I say and she looked awed by the idea. She steps forward and holds out her hand to them.

“Hi! I’m Casey Annabelle Preciado. Nice to meet you.” she says proudly but I just stood there dumbfounded. Preciado. She called herself a Preciado. Milly gave them my last name?

“Nice to meet you too Casey; I’m your Uncle Vic” Vic said crouching down to her level to shake her hand. “And what’s your name?” he asked Cale but Cale just hid further behind me.

“That Cale James Preciado; he’s not very good around people” Casey explained

“A little shy are we?” Vic asked with a smile and Cale simply peeked around my leg but didn’t answer. Tony walked around everyone and over to Cale.

“It’s okay. I’m not good around people either. I’m your Uncle Tony” he said softly and with a small smile. But Cale was only looking at his tattoos. “Do you like them?” Tony asked holding his arm out for Cale to look at and Cale nodded. Cale traced his fingers over the large array of tattoos and stopped at the turtle.

“I like turtles” Cale said quietly.

“Me too!” Tony enthused. After that Cale was much more comfortable and introduced himself to the guys and said hello to Ruby. Then when everyone had introduced themselves, we began our tour of the zoo.


By the end of the day Casey and Cale were exhausted. Content that they had seen everything they wanted, aka every animal in the zoo, they requested piggy backs. So we headed back to the cars; Casey on my back and Cale-after taking such a liking to him-demanded to be on Tony’s. We walked them to the car and buckled them into their seats. All but asleep, Cale asked if Tony could ride with us and Tony agreed with a small chuckle and a nod.

To the joy of the kids we bypass Macca's on the way back to the house and when we arrive both kids are fast asleep in their car seats. With a smile Tony and I both carry a child into the house. Because they had eaten and it was getting pretty late I figure that it’s alright to let them stay asleep. We walk them upstairs and put them both into my bed considering that the room Alex was occupying probably wasn’t inhabitable for other human beings. I still have trouble believing that he actually flew all the way out here. He really missed Mil; well we all did. Mike had seen Milly as his baby sister, especially after she went and stayed with them. I remember how excited he got to be able to go home and cook dinner for her because she actually enjoyed what he made for her. When she Milly left, everyone felt betrayed in some way or another. Tony and Alex were angry and upset that she didn’t talk to them first. Mike felt like he lost a vital member of his family. Then Vic and I both blamed ourselves.

I watch the kids sleeping for a moment before I close the door behind myself and head downstairs to the back veranda where all the guys had congregated; excluding Jaxin who had to go home with a sleepy Ruby. I grab a coke then sit back and simply watch the guys for a while. Before long however Alex came to sit beside me.

“Want a beer?” he asks as he sits down, offering an unopened beer to me but I shake my head.

“Nah I’m good” I say simply

“You look good.” He says watching me carefully “You look happy”

“I am happy. Milly’s back, I have two gorgeous children who are happy and they don’t hate me. I’m happier than I have been in years.”

“I’m glad; you deserve it. The past four years were hell for you, we could all see that. Just, promise me something.”

“yea?”

“We don’t know if she’s sticking around yet...” he looked at me carefully and I knew exactly where he was going with this. “don’t get your hopes up okay?”

“Says the one who flew all the way out here”

“Alright I know I can’t talk but still”

I let out a chuckle before standing up. “I’m grabbing something to eat, want anything?”

“Yea, I’ll be inside in a second. I just need to chat to Vic for a second.” He said with a smile before he stood and headed over to where Vic was standing.

I head inside to the kitchen and grab myself a bag of chips. Just as I open the packet I hear the door bell ring. I glance at the clock quickly as I walk past and see this it’s 6:57. It’s almost definitely Milly. Just as I suspected, when I opened the door I found Amelia standing in front of me looking rather awkward. I smile at her in an attempt of reassurance and surprisingly enough it worked. The tension in her shoulders eased and a faint smile appeared on her face. Just as her mouth opened to speak I hear someone coming up behind me.

“Hey Jaime, where’s-" I turn around to see Alex frozen in the corridor eyes glued to Amelia. “Mil?”

I look back to Milly. She looks scared stiff, completely immobilized by the sudden confrontation. I reach out slowly and gently lay my hand on her shoulder which shocks her out of her thoughts. She looks up and me pleadingly before looking back at Alex.

“Hey Lex...”

Notes

Heya guys! I didn't take a month to update this time :) hopefully next time I'll be even quicker. I just have to get back into the rhythm of things haha :D Anyway, i hope you guys like it and leave me a heap of comments and that anyone who hasn't already subscribes and rates and such because all of that stuff is amazing.

also if you have any hints, complaints or anything that just doesn't match up about my story I'll see what I can do to sort it out because this story really is just for you guys!

I love you all dearly!

Gabbi
xox

(P.s. I made it longer for you to make up for the crappy posting schedule :D )