chapter 9

With her head still shaken with shock and already in a panic, Jessi tried hard to focus her eyes on the smooth and grey freeway while her hands clasped the steering wheel. Her babies were a half-hour drive away, perhaps still playing with their favorite toys in the playroom.

She glanced at the dashboard clock and it read 1:21 in the afternoon. She noticed the black SUV three cars away from hers about a minute later. If her guess was right, then this would really be a long day. She remembered he owned two or three cars back then. Five more now, probably.

The show wouldn’t seem to end. Even the original producers couldn’t handle that long of a run and just huddled out their own families and bought a collection of vacation houses either in French Canada, in the Bahamas, or in the southeastern parts of Asia. Pete might even have five of them already.

Her guess was right when she was about a block away from the daycare and the black SUV was still behind her.

Lord, help me. Please.

It took her a moment to say a prayer. She was still a nervous wreck when she finished.

This can’t be happening.

After calling home, she was certain her parents were still on their way home and she estimated they won’t be there till four in the afternoon. She wanted to step out of her car at this instant, but hesitated whether or not to get the twins now and rush back home. Jessi took a deep breath, glanced at the rearview mirror again, and realized the SUV was gone.            

The daycare was now five lots away, she could even see the small white arch posited about a foot above the multi-colored front gate. But she didn’t stop in front of the daycare. Trying to be extremely cautious, she opted to just lose him completely and then get back on her daily route to the daycare to fetch the twins. She would rush back home shortly after.

It was around two o’clock when she finally felt safe. His car was nowhere to be seen. She drove back to the subdivision where the daycare was. Still praying in her head, she went to the backseat, took her cardigan off, and wore her black overcoat, which she luckily left in the car two nights before. She then tied her hair into a bun and put on the baseball cap she’d bought earlier for her dad. And of course, she changed her shoes, slipping into the tangerine pair of flops she bought for the twins’ summer camp next month. She was parked a block away from the daycare. Her huge shades were already concealing most of her face before she could calmly but briskly walk her way to the daycare’s entrance. When she was allowed in after swiping her ID, she quickly removed the cap and then let her hair down so the twins would spot her easily. They were supposed to get out at exactly two-thirty because nap time followed.

But this was an emergency. She headed towards the classroom and gave the teacher an excuse to get the kids home this early.

“Mommy!” Emily screamed when she saw her by the door and ran to her quick. Kenneth followed with a small grin on his adorable pudgy face.

“Baby! Hi!” She lifted Emily, then squatted to give Kenneth a peck on the cheek.

“We gonna go home now, Mommy?” Kenneth asked while glancing at her and Ms. Jenkins consecutively.

“Yes, Kenneth, Mommy’s here to pick you up early. It’s completely fine. Emily’s dozed off an hour ago; I’m sure she’ll be okay with nap time this early.”

“Thanks, I’ll make sure they come to class early on Monday.” She took Kenneth’s hand when he got back to her, now carrying both his and his sister’s backpacks with an excited look on his face.

“Not a problem. I’ll see you soon, Emily. Kenneth, don’t give Mommy a hard time at nap time, okay? Say goodbye to your classmates.”

“Bye.” Emily waved at everybody while Kenneth ran back to the kid with the nametag that said Harry on it to whisper something to him in the ear, who she knew was his best friend at the moment ‘cause he wouldn’t stop talking about the kid nights ago at home.

“I’ll see you on Monday, sweeties. Take care and behave, okay?”

“Bye, Ms. Clarke, thank you,” the twins replied, echoing each other.

“Bye, Phoe, thanks.” Jessi took Kenneth’s hand while still carrying Emily, and went out to the front gate. Before she could wear the cap back on, she put Emily down and waved at the guard post. She saw Tate, the security assistant she got to be friends with just recently. He babysat the twins for three hours one time when she got really stuck at work one afternoon. Her parents weren’t around to pick them up because they were vacationing back in Riversdale, her dad’s hometown.

“Hey, Jess. How’s it goin’?” Tate walked towards them. He ruffled Kenneth’s hair and tickled Emily a little.

“I need your help, man. Could you get us a cab?”

“Sure. In a hurry?”

“A little bit, yeah.” She smiled at him and asked about his wife and kids.

“Fine. Oh, Anne’s been asking if you could come to Elaine’s birthday party next weekend.”

“Wow, birthday party!” Kenneth shouted, leaving Emily confused about what they were talking about.

“Yeah, ‘course… Almost forgot about that. I’ll mark my calendar. Tell her I’ll give her a call.”

“Great. I’ll go get a cab for you guys. Wait here. Stay with Mommy, okay?”

“Okay.” Emily hugged her thigh while Kenneth was preoccupied with the raucous kids on the playground.

 “Mom, can I go play?”

 “Baby, we have to go, sorry… You can play with Randy and Jericho at home tomorrow, okay? We’ll call Aunt Elise later.” She was talking about their neighbors’ kids who were now in prep school. The mother was also a distant relative of her adoptive grandfather.

 “Okay,” mumbled Kenneth as he kept gazing at the kids on the playground.

 “Mommy, I’m sleepy.” Emily snuggled closer to her.

She anxiously waited for Tate to get back, certain there were lots of cabs in the streets today. Though it was a busy Friday afternoon, it was barely rush hour. “Come on, come on…” she muttered under her breath. “We’ll get home soon, baby. We’re just waiting for the cab.” She kept glancing at her watch. The cap was back on her head after she’d fixed her long hair into a small bun.

“Mommy, where did you buy that?”

She turned her head and saw Kenneth pointing at the cap. “Oh— I was at the mall, baby. I bought some things for Grandpa and Momsy; they’ll be home at four and…” Her heartbeat spiked for a second when she saw an SUV pass by the gate. But she felt relieved when she realized it was dark blue and not all-black. “And you know what, Momsy told me over the phone they have surprises for you both. So, we really have to get home soon. Okay?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“I miss Momsy.” Emily was about to put her thumb into her mouth when she got hold of her arm.   

“Baby, no. Kenneth, please get your sister’s pacifier in her bag.” She then reminded her daughter their rule again about thumbsucking, and just how many icky germs she could get into her tummy if she kept doing it.

“Okay.” Kenneth reached for it inside his sister’s backpack and handed the pacifier to his sister.

“Thanks, baby.” She smiled at her son. He was already being the big brother. At three, he’d already been looking out for his sister, always being caring and responsible that it never fails to get her mom over-sentimental about it all the time. The twins were born barely three minutes apart, since she had a C-section.

It wasn’t long before Tate appeared beside her and informed them that their cab was already waiting outside. Being precautious as ever, she left the twins to Tate and promised to be back in a minute. She told the cab driver to drop her off a couple of meters away from where she was parked.

Not later she was already parked right outside the school gate. She got out quick and carried Emily, thanked Tate when he carried Kenneth and the twins’ backpacks to the car whilst her daughter was already falling asleep in her arms. She strapped the twins with the baby buckles in the backseat of her Suburban and thanked Tate again. He asked if she was okay and she forced a smile and nodded, then said goodbye. She got inside the driver’s seat and buckled up, locked the car doors and windows, and drove away using a different route. In case the guy knew where they lived.

Heartbeat still erratic, she put on some classical music to somehow ease her nerves and maybe put the twins straight to sleep this early. The route she was taking would have them driving for about forty minutes ‘til they could get home. Fifteen minutes more than their daily driving time to school.

“God, please…” she pleaded as she got stuck in traffic again minutes later. She kept glancing sideways and back and forth, for the black SUV. There were SUVs everywhere, darn it. She swore inwardly when she saw about four black ones in the distance, stuck in traffic with them. Her Suburban was beige, and she tried hard to remember some distinctive features of the guy’s expensive-looking car. It was probably a BMW. Crap, she didn’t know that much about cars. Pete did.

And she swore inwardly again, and fought the urge to smack her head onto the steering wheel a couple of times. Her Uncle Pete knew about the twins. Even though they had barely talked the past few years. Well, he called her once on her birthday two years ago, to catch up and ask about what she’d been up to after she quit. And on Thanksgiving last year, he called her up again to check if she was still using the same mobile number. He called their home, since their phone line was enlisted under her dad’s name.

They talked for about two hours. He told her he wanted to visit them in their new home. And that night was when she owned up about getting pregnant, with twins. He was surprised, alright, and later on insisted that he wanted to meet the guy. But he asked her first if it was the main reason why she quit and went back home. She said yes, but she still lied about the twins’ dad. She told him it was a guy she met a few years ago, some guy she’d been dating for a couple of weeks, and that the guy didn’t even know she got pregnant.  Pete didn’t sound that convinced, although she just could’ve been too paranoid at that time.