Elizabeth woke up the next morning alone in the king size bed, she could hear the shower in their adjoining bathroom and Jordan humming to himself.

Her alarm had not gone off yet which meant that Alexander was probably still sleeping and Mya wasn't crying for breakfast.

Thinking she had some time Elizabeth slipped from the bed and stepped into the large bathroom.

Through the glass shower door she could make out Jordan's tall silhouette, steam billowing into the bathroom.

She slipped out of her satin pajama bottoms and unbuttoned the matching top dropping them softly on the porcelain tile floor.

Opening the door she stepped into the shower, Jordan immediately turned to look down at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I thought maybe you'd want some company," She said with a shrug.

He looked her over, from head to toe in a way that always made her feel like he didn't like what he saw. She looked down at the water swirling around their feet.

"I don't have time this morning," He said finally.

"Oh."

"Shouldn't you be feeing the children?" He asked turning back to face the water that was falling down.

"They're still asleep," she said.

"No reason you can't get an early start on breakfast."

"Will you stay and eat with us?" She asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"No, I'll take mine to go."

She gave a small nod but didn't move, she felt stupid and humiliated standing there in the shower, cold and naked while he blatantly ignored her.

He turned around and smiled, leaning down to kiss her forehead. Then he opened the shower door and motioned for her to get out.

After putting her pajamas back on she wandered downstairs and started breakfast for her children, she decided on blueberry pancakes, Alex's favorite.

She was finishing the pancakes when Jordan finally came downstairs, he was wearing a new suit and tie that she hadn't seen before. He went straight to the coffee machine and filled his thermos.

"Is that a new suit?" She asked.

"Yeah."

He grabbed his briefcase and a piece of toast off of Alex's plate, then without another word he was gone. Elizabeth stood in her empty, lonely, gourmet kitchen.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and taking it with her walked upstairs to check her kids.

It was odd for Mya not to be crying for a diaper change and breakfast by now.

She opened Alex's bedroom door and saw him sleeping deeply still in his bed, he was clutching a large dalmatian stuffed animal that was bigger than he was.

She smiled and then turned walking down the hallway to Mya's room. she took a drink of her coffee and smiled at a picture of the kids that hung on the wall.

She opened the door to Mya's room and froze.

Standing in the middle of her baby's pink and yellow room, his black boots planted on the butterfly carpet stood the man from the other day. He was holding Mya gently against his chest and she appeared to be sleeping.

Her hands went numb and the coffee mug in her hands slipped from her fingers, it hit the hardwood floor at her feet and shattered into pieces, the hot coffee splashing onto her bare feet.

"Hello, Mrs. Parks." He said his voice deep.

***********************************************************************************************

Her blood ran cold, her heart thundered until it was painful. He held Mya with one arm and in his other hand, was a gun.

"Who are you, what do you want?" She asked, her voice shaky and wavering.

He smirked and walked closer but he didn't seem nervous, in fact, he seemed completely at ease.

"I need to talk to you, it's about your husband."

"He's not here."

"I know."

She took a tentative step closer but he didn't move, didn't back away or even react.

She wasn't stupid enough to think he was intimidated by her, she was tiny by nature. Short for a woman with a small frame and while he wasn't large for a man he was quite a bit bigger than her.

He looked dangerous.

Up close he was even more terrifying than he had been that day he watched them eat lunch.

"Please...please give me my baby." She asked.

"Relax, we're just hanging out," He said, jostling Mya just a little bit.

"Please, I'll tell you whatever you want I'll do anything just..don't hurt my kids."

"Oh, you're going to tell me everything," He assured her.

She took another slow step closer, reaching out for the baby. Images of him pulling the gun and shooting them both then Alex, flashed in her mind and made her hands shake.

"Let's go to the kitchen," He said.

She stopped and he motioned with his gun for her to turn around and go downstairs.

She hesitated a minute then did what he said, after all, he had the gun and she didn't have a choice. Her legs were wobbly and unstable as she walked down the stairs, hyper-aware of his presence behind her, his heavy footsteps on the stairs.

They reached the kitchen and as they entered two large men joined them, they had obviously been stowed away in the house somewhere.

Her eyes darted to the large wooden block that held all her knives, she could grab one and try to stab him but if she missed and hit her child she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

He stepped into the kitchen and she walked around the island, needing something between him and her.

"Do you know where your husband is?" He asked.

"At...at work," She said.

He chuckled and glanced at one of the large men beside him, acting as if this was a normal occurrence and he visited her all the time.

"Look, whatever this is about just...let my kids alone, please. I'll give you whatever you want."

"You can't afford what I want," He said.

"What does that mean? I don't understand, please just give me my daughter." She begged, her voice teetering on full-blown hysteria.

"Your husband owes me a lot of money," He said.

"How much money?"

"Thousands."

"I'll write you a check right now, we'll pay it. We have money." She said reaching for her purse that was sitting on one end of the counter.

She flipped it open and grabbed her checkbook and a pen, her hands were shaking as she opened it.

"No, sweetheart you misunderstand. All the money you think you have your account is mine too."

Her head spun, how could Jordan owe a man like this so much money and why?

"In fact, this beautiful, lavish house and everything in it was purchased with my money. It's all mine."

"I...." She didn't know what to say, she made a small noise of confusion.

"I know, it's a lot to take in."

She looked at the other two men, they were way too big she couldn't fight them and she definitely couldn't fight all three of them on her own.

"What do you want me to do?"

He shrugged and then looked down at Mya who was beginning to fuss slightly.

Elizabeth winced, she needed to hold her baby she had to get her off of that man and back into her arms.

"Mom?" Alexanders voice echoed from upstairs.

The two large men instantly pulled guns from somewhere and Elizabeth jumped letting out a small cry.

"Mommy?" He called again, this time from the stairs.

"Alex, stay in your room!" she yelled back.

His small footsteps stopped on the stairs, he hesitated a minute then called out again.

"Why?"

"Alex, just please do as I say. Go back to your room and stay there."

She heard him going back upstairs and closing his door, then turned her attention back to the three guys.

"I don't want anything from you, not now." The man said.

He shoved his gun into a holster on his hip and then walked forward, handing her Mya.

She almost wept with relief when her hands closed around her daughter's tiny body. She pulled her closer, inhaling the scent of her shampoo.

"I will be back, I just wanted you to know for a while I'm going to be very close by. If you call or go to the police I will know, I will kill all of you, even those children...I want my money and you're going to get it for me."

She gave a small nod, not really focusing anymore on anything but holding her daughter close.

He motioned to the two men with him and together the three of them walked out the front door.

When she heard the door close Elizabeth lost all the feeling in her legs, relief flooding her senses.

She sank onto the kitchen floor and then while in tears stripped Mya's clothes and examined every inch of her for any injuries she didn't see anything.

******************************************************************************************

She spent the rest of the day in the yard with Alexander and Mya, they even ate their lunch at the patio table.

Mostly she wanted to be out in the open, if those men came back she wanted witnesses that would see them and anything they might do to her or her children.

She tried to concentrate on her kids and be the mom they were used to but she was on edge, every car door, every person walking everything she saw and heard shot fire clear through her.

He said he would be back but he didn't say when and that could be anywhere from an hour later or a year.

She wasn't afraid for her, couldn't honestly say she was afraid for Jordan either. She was terrified for her children.

Her own father ran off when she was six, her mother died not long after her wedding. Jordan's family was wealthy and well off but they were cold people and they didn't approve of his slumming it with her. If something happened to her and Jordan what would happen with her kids?

"Mommy?" Alexanders voice brought her from her thoughts.

"What?"

"Did you ask dad about a puppy?" He asked hopefully.

"I did, sweetheart. He doesn't think we're ready right now," She said gently.

Alexander was sitting on the swing to her left while she pushed Mya in the baby swing. His tiny shoulders slumped as he dragged his feet to stop his swing.

"I knew he would say that," He said.

"But he said maybe we could get you some fish, that might be fun. You can keep them in your room, we can get some colorful plants and you can feed them all by yourself every day."

"Yeah, that might be fun," He agreed.

"You can even pick them out all by yourself," She said, trying to get him more excited.

"I want orange ones." He said quickly.

"Then...we will get orange ones."

"When can we go? can we go today?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Not today, but a day this week. I promise."

"Is Dad going to come help?"

"I doubt it," she said honestly.

He gave a small smile then sat quietly on his swing, his shoulders slumped and his feet dangling just an inch or so above the ground.

"Will you push me?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Sure."

She moved from Mya to Alexander dropping a kiss on his light brown hair before giving him a quick push on the swing.

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?"

"Who were the men in the house this morning?" He asked.

"What men? did they talk to you? did they touch you?" She asked, mild panic rising. She stopped his swing and hurried to kneel in front of him.

"No, I heard them talking to you...they sound mean." He said.

"They didn't hurt you? you can tell me." She said.

"No, they didn't hurt me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

She didn't want him to be as scared as she was so she let the subject drop, standing and walking around to continue pushing him on the swing.

"Morning neighbor," A familiar voice called.

She turned and could see her neighbor Craig standing on his back porch, he was tall and handsome. If she had any friends at all in this neighborhood Craig was the closest thing.

His husband Chet worked and Craig was the homemaker, the people in the neighborhood were snobs and the only thing they disliked more than the gay couple was the riff-raff that Jordan Park had married.

"Hey Craig," She called back.

"Hey listen, I thought I saw some men lurking about this morning. They looked like pretty rough characters, I have no clue what they were doing in this neighborhood but best be on the lookout."

"Yeah...that's good advice, thanks for letting me know."

He smiled warmly then turned and ducked back into his house.

Whoever the man was that had been in her house that morning he had a lot of nerve to been seen in broad daylight.

She stayed outside as long as she could with her kids, playing and enjoying the sunshine. Not ready to go back into the house that those strange men had been in just hours earlier.

Alexander, however, did not seem to be even a little bothered by the fact there had been strangers in his home.

He watched television in the living room while Elizabeth started dinner and Mya had a nap.

As she cooked Elizabeth again felt the worry deep in the pit of her stomach about her children.

If the man killed her and Jordan Mya wouldn't remember either of them, Alexander would remember her but over time that would fade as well. She couldn't be sure that Jordan's parents would take them and she didn't want them to be in the system.

She debated asking Jordan about them men, why he stole money, how he pulled it off and how much exactly he had taken but she didn't know how to even bring it up, plus she had no name for the man.

She couldn't just ask her husband why there had been three men in her kitchen with guns.

So she didn't bring it up at all, not when he came home, not during dinner, not when they cleaned up dinner, not later in bed when he lay next to her watching tv and she pretended to read.

She simply kept it to herself.