The phone was left ringing, forgotten in my hand, as I stared at the person standing on my doorstep, with my mouth wide open.

He, too, stared back at me while reaching into his pocket. Then he casually glanced down as he pulled out his phone, which was ringing.

Without answering his phone, he asked, "You're calling me?"

He looked up slowly, tilted his head to the side, and met my stare. His face was completely blank, and his eyes were unreadable.

"Uh huh," I answered. My voice came out squeaky, so I cleared my throat. I blinked slowly, coming out of my shocked state. "Gabriel?" I asked.

"Yea..why are you calling me?" He asked, putting his phone back in his pocket when it stopped ringing.

"Because I don't want you to go," I blurted out softly that I'm not even sure he heard me. My cheeks had turned pink, realizing what I had just said.

He raised one eyebrow in question, waiting for me to reply.

But I just gulped, staring at him with wide eyes.

"And why is that?" He asked when I didn't reply, confirming that he had indeed heard me.

"Ummmm...well.." I started unsure of what to say, I looked down, shifting from one leg to another nervously. "I.. I just wanted us to finish whatever fight we are having before you go." I finally rushed out, saying, peeking up at him to see his reaction.

"We are not fighting." He said unhelpfully.

I huffed in annoyance, making his lips quirk slightly, and his eyes filled with amusement.

" I know, but we are not at peace with each other either! " I snapped back at him, making his face sobber again, which I regretted. I liked that his mood had lightened.

"I'm sorry. I have jumped to conclusions and judged you pretty harshly as well. I have blown up on you one or two times unnecessarily." I said, biting my lips, my cheeks turning even brighter.

" Can we please stop living in the past and move forward? I don't want the girls to feel any stress that we are creating. I want us to be able to get along with each other. Could we?" I tried explaining, pleading with my eyes to understand what I was trying to say.

I had taken a step closer to him without realizing it, and I got enveloped in his familiar musky smell with a hint of pine in it today. I instantly got distracted, looking up at his sharp eyes, which was busy searching my face at the moment, I drifted my eyes downwards. Down his straight, narrow nose to his high cheekbones. He had left his beard unshaven, which left a slight stubble, which was just calling out to be touch. I quickly shifted my eyes away from it before I did something stupid like that.

There you go again, Nicola! Stop ogling your sister's husband, for God's sake. Yes he is very, very hot, especially in that light blue figure hugging shirt with the collar left open and sleeves rolled up, which showed off his muscular body and gray pants hugging all the right areas... Any woman would be drooling right now.. But you keep your eyes and everything else to yourself! He is off limits for you!

"You want us to be friends?" He asked softly, making me snap out of my reverie, blurting out a harsh." No!"

I instantly regretted it, seeing his hurt expression, so I quickly corrected," I mean yes? I meant yeah, be friends. Of course, not like before," I quickly amended," but as two people who have a common goal would be friends. You know the common goal being, Livy and Bella.." I blabbered.

"Ok." He interrupted.

"Ok?" I repeated stupidly

"Yeah." He said, shrugging.

"Ok." I said, my face splitting into a huge smile, which he returned with a small one of his own. Instantly, my eyes led me to stare at his pink full lips. No! No staring!

"Ok....So, why did you come here, Gabriel?" I asked, finally wondering about that.

He lifted his other hand and showed a card that I hadn't even noticed he had been holding the whole time.

I took a closer look at it and felt my heart melt. "Awwn, my babies sent me a card," I gushed, holding my hands to my chest.

"And they informed me to come here personally to deliver it and to video call them as proof that I did indeed do it myself." He said with a frown, obviously offended that his kids thought he couldn't be trusted.

I giggled seeing him like that, which made him instantly look up with a surprised look on his face.

"Then come in. Let's make that call. Don't want the princesses to be kept waiting." I said, still grinning, moving aside to let him in.

"Umm.. give me a minute, though. I will just go change." I said, looking down at myself, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

I was in one of my overalls, which are my work clothes now, with a sleeveless tank top. My hair was up in a messy bun, with strands coming loose now. I was covered in paint as I had been a bit aggressive with it today, letting out my frustrations.

"Why?" Was his instant response, eyeing my clothes with an unreadable expression.

"Because I look a mess. I won't take long. I promise." I said, hurrying past him to go upstairs. I looked in his eyes while passing, seeing several emotions that I couldn't make out. He hid it again by masking his expression and looking away. I gave him a confused look and walked away.

As soon as I entered my room, I quickly stripped and ran to the bathroom, taking the quickest shower possible to wash off all the paint off me. Then I raced to my room and threw on the first thing I could find, which was a gray cropped jumper and black leggings.

I loosened my hair and brushed through the tangles as fast as I could, then looked at myself in the mirror. I looked decent enough, I thought, and hurried back downstairs where Gabriel still stood where I left him.

He was looking around, though, and his eyes were now resting on one of my paintings that was hanging on the wall in the living room. It was one of my favorites.

It was a painting of two little girls holding hands and running through the field laughing happily. It reminded me of happier times. When mom and dad were still alive, and Sarah too.. Simpler times.

I looked at Gabriel, frowning at the painting. He walked towards the painting slowly and raised his hands, and lightly brushed his fingers over my initials. He stood staring at the painting for some time until his eyes suddenly widened, and he whirled around, looking straight at me.

"You are Kerry B!" He exclaimed, pointing his finger at me looking shocked.

"Yeah..kerry is my middle name." I said, looking at him confused as to why he was reacting this way.

"So the whole time, it was because of you.." I heard him mumble softly.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"What? No, it's nothing." He said, looking preoccupied.

He walked away from the painting, asking, "Ready to make the call?"

"Yeah," I said, still looking at him confused.

He sat on the sofa, and I walked up to him, sitting down at the other end of the sofa, setting up the tablet and making the call.

I turned to him, remembering, "Hey, you didn't give me the card yet.

"Oh yeah," he said, handing me the card, still looking distracted.

I hesitated, wanting to know what was bothering him, but decided it was none of my business. So I sat back to enjoy my card.

It was pink and very sparkly with a glitter explosion inside, which made me grin. There was something written inside in their baby handwriting.

I squinted my eyes and tried to read what was written. And just as I was able to understand the words as 'I miss you Nicky,' the girls answered.

"You miss me?" I asked them immediately before they could even great me. "I miss you too, babies, very, very much." I said cooed.

I stared at the beautiful chubby faces of the two most adorable little girls, each with a huge chocolate in their hands, their mouths so full of chocolate that they couldn't even say a word properly.

"Girls, who gave you chocolate?" I heard Gabriel ask. I looked to my side to see that he had moved closer to me to see the screen properly.

His brows were furrowed on his handsome face, and he looked upset.

"Grmma," mumbled the girls, making me turn to them.

"Where is your grandma?"

"Donno," they mumbled again through their full mouth.

Gabriel closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He looked really upset.

I turned to the girls asking," Did you have breakfast?" To which they just shook their heads.

From the corner of my eyes. I saw Gabriel's fist clench on his lap. Thank fully he had moved away from the screen so the girls couldn't see him being upset.

"Where is your nanny?'' I asked them. To which they answered with, "grnma told hrm to go homm."

I was shocked by the response and turned to look at Gabriel.

Gabriel leaped to his feet, walking away, taking his phone, and calling someone. I watched him leave the living room and enter the kitchen to get some privacy.

"Did you like the card, Nicky?" Livy asked, oblivious to the tension that had risen on our side. They were finally done with their chocolates and were now able to talk properly.

"Yes, Livy, the card was so pretty," I said, smiling at them, trying to ease the tension.

"Did you like the glitter? I put the glitter." Livy said excitedly.

I laughed and said, "Yeah, the glitter was especially nice."

"See! I told you she would like it." Livy said to Bella, nudging her, which instantly started a banter between them.

I got distracted thinking about what could have happened there and if Helena, Gabriel's mom, had fired the nanny and who Gabriel was talking to. Probably Helena to find out what's happening there.

Meanwhile, the tiny little munchkins had become louder, arguing about whose decorations were the best. I decided that diverting their attention to something else was the best option to stop them before it got too far.

"Hey guys," I called and decided to give out a whistle for good measure.

They instantly snapped their heads towards me, saying, "woah," with their eyes like saucers.

I gave a sly smile, mission accomplished.

"So girls, where's Paula? She making breakfast for you?" I asked them before they remembered what they were doing.

"Yea, but I'm not hungry." Said Livy. Well, obviously, why would they be after eating a huge chocolate.

Just as I was about to speak, I heard Gabriel's voice from the kitchen. He was talking very loudly to someone and sounded very upset. But I wasn't given much time to think about him as Bella called my name.

I spent some more time talking with the girls before saying bye to them and hanging up.

I decided to wait in the living room until Gabriel was done with his call.

I was strolling through my phone when Gabriel finally came back into the living room. I looked up to give him a smile but stopped midway seeing how upset and panicked he looked.

I sat up instantly, but he was in a hurry, reaching down to the sofa to pick up his car keys.

"I have to go," he said abruptly.

I got up from the sofa and followed him as he made his way to the front door.

I stood back as he opened the door, but instead of leaving, he turned around, looking at me.

He looked so defeated and heartbroken. I couldn't help taking a step towards him, reaching for his arms, but he was faster grabbing my out stretched arms and pulling me to him and hugging me tightly.

I was too shocked to respond, and he buried his head on my neck, asking me ,"we are good now, right? I have you?" He asked in a muffled voice. He sounded so vulnerable that I just nodded, and he let me go saying, "Thank you."

He turned and left, leaving me standing on the doorstep too shocked to move.

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I am giving you guys a long chapter. Needed to give the story a bit of a push and make things move forward. Hope you enjoyed it!

As always, don't forget to give a vote at the end. ☺️❤️