The Guard To My Sanctuary - Chapter 49: Chapter 49

"Oh my god they are going to kill each other and we're going to go to jail for child neglect and endangerment and I'm going to become some muscle heads bottom bitch and have to wash his underwear with my bare hands and eat vitaloaf," I said going through a scenario of what could be going on at home while we rode around in the car Marco had rented. He seemed as chill as ever looking at the road through his aviator shades.
"Honey can you do something for me," he asked me with a soft smile.
"What," I asked him.
"Shut the hell up and enjoy yourself, the kids will be alright. If something is wrong they have a gaggle of people who can help them who live less than fifteen minutes away. I love you but you worry too much, this is our honeymoon. We've been together for fifteen years and the hardest thing we've been through was a few petty arguments. I think we should celebrate, so what we're doing today is we are going to be recreating our first date. I'm going to drop you off at the hotel and you're going to take a nice long bath and relax, then you're going to put on something nice and you're going to enjoy your day. You worry about those boys so much, in three years they are going to be out in the world. If they don't know how to solve their own problems by now then we have failed as parents. You're going to have to cut the cord," He said placing his hand on my thigh.
"Did you just tell me to shut up," I asked him.
"Yup," he said popping the P at the end of the word.
"We're here," he said parking up to the front of the Hilton Resort and Spa.
"Remember when we were poor, not that we're rich. I mean we're comfortable now but remember when the boys got sick as toddlers and money were tight," I asked Marco.
"Yeah that wasn't fun, luckily we worked it out to get where we are now," Marco laughed as we got out the car while the valet pulled the car into the checking-in area. Marco grabbed my bags and we walked into the resort leaving his for later. I stood to the side while Marco got the keys to the room we hastily reserved. Marco walked over to me along with a bellhop who had my bags on a trolley.
"I'll be back in two hours to pick you up, remember what I said," he told me and left out handing me a key to the room. The bellhop showed me to my gorgeous room that was bright and airy and dropped my bags off receiving his tip before he left out. I immediately dug into my belongings and grabbed my bathroom stuff and walked in running a tub. I placed me Bluetooth speaker on the counter and turned it on allowing the neon colored strobe lights to dimly illuminate the area. I connected my phone to the device and wondered for a second how that all worked then returned my focus back to the music. I walked over to the tub and poured my soap into the rising waters and watched as the soap foamed up obscuring the bottom surface of the tub. I was distracted from my distraction by the sound of my phone ringing through the speaker. I cut the water off and walked over to my phone seeing that it was Ozias calling me. I smiled at my child calling my phone knowing that some children didn't even care to speak to their parents when they weren't around. I genuinely enjoyed being a parent even though the road to becoming one wasn't so fun. When they were finally born into the world watching the grow, although heartbreaking was still amazing to watch and be a part of. Watching them do the basic things like learn to walk and speak made me feel like I was flying but when they started to develop their own lives it took a while for me to not take it personally and project those feelings onto them. When they stopped wanting me to walk them inside of the school for the first time I had to run back to the car and cry. I picked up the phone and placed it to my ear.
"Hello," I said into the receiver of the phone.
"Hey Ma," he said. I could hear the commotion going on in the background and hopes they weren't fighting.
"What do you need Ozias your Dad told you not to call unless someone was dead," I said trying to be stern and present a united front between Marco and I. We had four kids at home who I'd we weren't careful could divide and conquer us.
"I know, I just wanted to apologize for making you cry. I know you hate it when we fight and the whole going behind Calloway's back with Beo thing," He said sounding genuinely sorry. I smiled remembering him despite wanting to run off with his brothers into the school still holding my hand and letting me walk him to the door.
"I accept your apology, but what do you really want," I said remembering he was still the most emotionally manipulative out of all his brothers.
"Ma I just wanted to say I'm sorry, but I also wouldn't mind knowing how to cook a hamburger," He said finally suffering from not paying attention when I tried to teach him and his brother's how to cook for themselves.
"Well there's this good friend of mine named Google and she's always there to answer your questions. She has her own website, in fact, it's open 24/7 even on holidays, government or religious. Just type that same question in and she will give you a whole bunch of websites that will provide tutorials. If Google is too hard to find my good sis YouTube will give step by step videos. I'd go with one from a person with some form of melanin to get the proper seasoning but do you," I said to him.
"Ma really," he said back to me and I could hear the voice of Maddox in the background asking who he was on the phone with. I knew he'd calm down really quick he was by far the kindest one and the most protective. He liked when things were calm and chill and tended to enjoy spending time with people rather than be cooped up in his room.
"Hey Mom," he said.
"Hey, boys I have to go tell Calloway that I love him and love you all,", I said and hung up. I quickly took my clothes off, turned the main light off so that the neon streaks were the only light in the room and sank into the bubbly water. It was so warm and relaxing I could even feel all the built up muscles in my body relax. I couldn't help but think about the boys and hoped they did the right thing. I knew that even though Calloway could be sweet and gentle he was also quite introverted. From what I learned and observed while becoming a psychologist was that introverts tended to cut people out of their lives instead of talking things through. I had seen Calloway do it to people he felt had wronged him before and I didn't want him to do it with his brother and best friend. I hoped for me they would bury the hatchet. They were all "momma's" boys even if they didn't want to admit it. Calloway talked about things with Marco a little bit more but they all seemed to have a high level of respect for me and my feelings which made me feel proud.
Maddox called me Mom, Ozias chose to go with Ma, and Calloway went with mommy. They started calling me Mom in the first grade when a few kids were mean to them about having two Dads' and they wanted to fit in. It hurt me when they told me the reasoning and I went up to the school threatening to fight the child's Dad in one of the few times I lost my cool. I knew that despite all the love we gave them they still didn't have a "mom" in the traditional sense so I was willing to do what I could despite the looks I got out in public to make sure my kids were happy. I remembered when a few gay parents said something about the way I parented when I went to a PTA meeting and me having to get them together about telling me what to do in my household. I came back to reality when my phone rang again and climbed out of the lukewarm water realizing that I had wasted an hour of prep time. It was Marco calling and I answered.
"I'm fifteen minutes away," he said into the phone while I dried myself off.
"Alright, I'm ready and waiting," I said to him.
"I can hear the water draining out of the tub Honey," he said laughing.
"Fine I'll be done soon," I said to him hanging up. I did my best to get dressed while replying to text from my family and a few patients who needed a quick pep talk all while brushing my teeth. When I was finished my phone rang and it was Marco telling me to come down. I smiled and grabbed my wallet, phone, and room key before leaving out. Outside Marco was waiting with a huge smile wearing a nice pair of new jeans and a t-shirt. He stood holding the door out for me and was showing his nice white teeth visible. I smiled at him and got into the car, once inside my gentle giant leaned down and kissed on the side of my face before shutting the door and rushing to get in himself. He drove out of the parking lot before he pulled to the side of the road and stopped then turned around and pulled a box from behind my seat filled with orchids. I knew I was smiling like a child when he pulled them out.
"So if I'm being honest our first date was something a teenager would do. I didn't have the money available to spoil you like I wished I could have but now I do," he said placing the round box that felt like velvet in my lap. He pulled my face to him by grabbing my chin and kissed me quickly and turned back around pulling out a stuffed koala bear that I knew Goliath would tear apart once I brought it home and a huge bag of Tropical Skittles. I ripped the bag open immediately while Marco began driving. I couldn't help but smile wider as he drove us to the beach and I saw people skating on rollerblades. He parked the car and got out and walked to open my door up. When I stepped out he offered the corner of his shirt as he did during the times when I needed him to be close and I grabbed it letting him lead me to this building that rented bikes and skates. He got his giant size 16 skates I was surprised they even supplied and handed me my 7.5's. Marco placed the shoes in a book bag he had on his back and we skated off. It was an amazing feeling to glide down the paved sidewalk letting the warm wind blow past us as we held hands. The sun was on my skin and the smell of ocean air wafted into my nose. I noticed that Marco was trying to subtly lead me off the path everyone was going on.
"Baby we have to return the skates after an hour," I said to him after a while.
"I bought them just follow my lead," he said as we skated for a few moments and stopped at a bench.
"Baby we have four kids at home," I said about to complain about money not that I was ungrateful that he was spoiling me but I was also scared to go broke.
"Honey I love you but once again you worry too much," he said getting on one knee and helped me out my skates then put my shoes on for me. He quickly changed his and put the skates in his backpack then we were back walking.
"Where are we going," I asked him as he dragged me along storefront crowded sidewalks. He didn't answer just pulled me into a jewelry store and walked to a counter where a pretty woman with tan skin stood smiling at us.
"Hello Mr. And Mr. Tafferty," she said greeting us already knowing our last names despite me never seeing her before in my life.
"I have your necklace ready," she said pulling out a box and opening it in one single graceful move. Inside was a Russian ring to be worn around the neck. It had a rose gold, silver, and rose gold rings connected together. It was beautiful and not too flashy at the same time. Marco smiled at me and took the necklace out of the box and put it around my neck.
"Thank you, Rebecca," he said grabbing the empty box and ushering us out. Apparently already having paid for the jewelry.
"Marco this is too nice," I said looking at him as we continued to walk while running my fingers along the metals.
"Cut it out, I've been saving money for a while we're not dipping into any of the important funds. If it makes you feel better all I have planned was the weekend so we can spend all next week in the hotel, ordering room service and wear minimal clothing," He said pulling me into a restaurant while I tried to stop blushing.
"Tafferty for two-thirty," Marco said to the hostess.
"Right in time sir," she said leading us to a table. We were in a seafood restaurant same as our first date except the appetizers were more than the whole meal of our first date. We sat down and talked about both of our jobs and avoided talk of the boys since Marco informed me that he told my dad to drop by and check on them and Alder was sending Cartier to the house since he had to fly out for work and Thalia was coming with him. Cartier was scared of being home alone even though she lived in a gated community. It was hard to focus on anything said but the fresh caught stone crab claws in front of me. I did my best to act like I had home training and not make noise while I ate. Marco was not so concerned and was humming with pleasure at every bite. The waiter came back and giggled at how Marco was acting and I joined him as he placed our food in front of us. Marco had ordered a $44.00 swordfish steak that looked amazing while I had randomly picked Salmon Béarnaise. Marco talked in between glasses of lemon water and swordfish about his idea to get temporary guardianship over Beo which I thought was a good idea even with all the drama between Ozias and Calloway.
"His mother talks about him as if he was just some bum in the street. If we can get him he wouldn't have to go back there at all," Marco said. His ensure desire to defend others is what made me fall in love with him in the first place and seeing him defend a child like he was our own only pushed me deeper into the love I had for my husband. I smiled at him feeling this pure form of love.
"I mean if we do that we should probably turn the GUEST room into a bedroom for him," I said seeing a way to turn that useless game room that only Marco used to watch sports even though the boys all had TV's and there was a huge one in the living room. They would all eventually end up going from room to room to talk about the game they all were watching.
"Ugh, I guess," Marco said to me smiling.
"Yeah I know," I responded. He leaned over the table and kissed me then pulled away making my blush. We quickly finished lunch making sure to eat everything since it was expensive than paid the waiter for the meal and a hefty tip. We ended up getting a cab back to the car and Marco started driving. I knew our next stop was probably for some ice cream. He brought me to this place that had a whole bunch of cool unique flavors. I picked a scoop of brown sugar, ginger cream, and Thai tea. Marco got a cup of white chocolate, coffee, and dark chocolate. It tasted amazing and the flavors were so rich I was struggling to finish it. Marco had no problem downing his and didn't even have any left as we walked on the beach near the water. I was so happy he went through all the stress of upgrading a day that I already thought of as perfect. Our hands were held together as the water ebbed and flowed over our bare feet. He looked down at me for a while before he pulled me close and kissed me.
"I promise you that I'll never stop loving you," he said to me.
"I promise you that I'll never stop loving you too," I responded. He kissed me so passionately that I dropped my ice cream and was tempted to kick one of my legs up like in the moves.
"I'm in a complete unbreakable state of love with my Husband."