*Mikayla's POV*

It had been three days since Aris left for college and so far we hadn't heard anything from him yet. I was pretty sure he will send us something towards the end of the week or next week sometime. The kids miss him like crazy and so do I. 

It was five o' clock in the morning and I was going out on my morning run with the kids. Yesterday was the first day I decided to take Cameron and Rose with me on my morning run; I haven't run in the mornings since I started watching the kids. Thank god I found the double stroller in the back of the garage on Sunday, or I would not have been able to go.

Cameron was already sleeping in his seat and so was Rose; I couldn't blame them though since they woke up so early. The sun was rising in the East, making the sky spew with multiple vibrant shades of pink, yellow, and orange. As I felt my feet hit the concrete, it soothed me, as always, but the quiet sound of my feet pattering against the concrete made me happier.

As I looked around, I saw houses lined up against each other while people slowly filed out of their homes to prepare for work. Some elders sat on nearby benches drinking coffee and reading. The temperature was decent too. It was around fifty five degrees which was pretty decent for mornings in Ohio.

Finally, I heard a small bit of stirring in the strolled and soon, a loud grunt broke the silence around us. I stopped the stroller for a second and tip toed to the front of the stroller to see Cameron slowly waking up.

"Morning, buddy!" I smiled, rubbing my fingers over his messy brownish- blonde hair.

"Okay. Where's Daddy?" He asked anxiously, his head turning rapidly as I tried to see him standing beside me.

I sighed. That one question was beginning to irritate me since he was constantly asking that exact question every single morning. I offered him a small smile before responding.

"He's at school, remember? I'm sorry, but Daddy won't be home for a long time." I replied, a sad smile covering Cameron's face.

"Oh uh-huh," he mumbled," I miss him." He threw his head back against the stroller and looked up at the still dark blue sky. His blue eyes scanned the birds flying overhead and the clouds that were slowly becoming more and more prominent as the sun rose higher in the air.

I let out a long sigh as I fixed my shirt, which began to cling to my wet skin.

~

"Mikayla?" A voice shouted in the distance. I quickly turned my head to see my best friend, Julia walking towards us with her dog, Sodapop.

oh shit. . . I haven't told anyone- about the kids! I have to improvise, which is not really my strong suit.

My anxiety was shooting through the roof, so I did what I could think of on the spot. I grabbed a blanket I found in the compartment on the bottom of the stroller and pulled it out. Holding the blanket in one arm, I put my other arm up and made a "shh" motion to Cameron. He stared at me blankly, but I hope he got the memo.

"Oh, uh, hey Julia!" I smiled, leaning against the stroller, praying that Rose wouldn't start bawling any second.

"Hey Micky," She greeted as she waved at me, her blonde hair billowing around her as the breeze passed over us. A huge smile came over her as she looked over at the stroller, "Why the hell do you have a stroller with you?" She laughed examining the stroller in front of me.

I paused trying to brainstorm a quick and reasonable excuse,"I'm bringing over some surprises for someone in the neighborhood! I couldn't miss a chance to walk in this gorgeous weather, and the stroller was the only reasonable option I had to use. Not sure why there is still a stroller in my parent's garage."

Julia's eyebrows were drawn in confusion as she looked at me and the stroller. She crept towards the stroller and was about to lift up the blanket to peek inside.

     "No!" I screamed, almost too loudly making her feel more suspicious," Please, don't touch it okay? It's really fragile."

That was the dumbest excuse I had made; I could not believe myself.

     Julia put up her hands up in mock surrender as she wrapped Sodapop's blue leash around her small hand before giving me a confused look.

"What's really in there, Mikayla?" She inquired, her eyes hardening as she tried to determine what I was up to.

"I told you, it's just some stuff I need to deliver.  I should really continue with my run so I can get to where I need to be. It was really nice to see you!" I exclaimed as I begin to push the stroller as hard as I could.

"Uh, bye!" She waved her voice trailing behind me as I quickly sped through the neighborhood, trying to get back to the house in time.

"Mommy, what was that all about?" Cameron asked, lifting the elephant blanket over his head so he could look at me.

I could feel the sweat droplets beading on my forehead as I began to pace myself when we reached the homestretch.

"Don't worry about it, Cam," I reassured, offering him a quick smile," so, what would you like for breakfast?"

Cameron quickly replied," I want a blueberry pancake!" He exclaimed happily as he clapped his hands.

"I would like," I corrected with a laugh as I unbuckled his buckle, watching him jump up from the seat.

He smiled at me before he opened the garage door and ran inside.

~

"One blueberry pancake for Cameron," I catered, sliding the plate filled with two pancakes across the table.

"Yummy!"

"And for you, Rose, I will give you some yummy mushed bananas, how about that?" I asked, grabbing a cup of mashed bananas for Rose.

"Ew!" Cameron groaned, pretending to make a disgusted face while he plugged his nose.

After we finished breakfast, Cameron heard the mailman at the door.

"THE MAILMAN IS HERE!" Cameron shouted, his little voice echoing throughout the house as he screamed.

I let out a laugh before motioning him to open the front door.

"Hi!" Cameron greeted with a smile as he watched the mailman hand me a package, which was designated for Aris and an envelope.

"Hi, Cameron. Have a nice day!" He bid goodbye as he jogged back to the mail truck as we watched him drive down the road.

Cameron squealed with delight after he had a conversation with the mailman," What did ya get?" Cameron inquired as he jumped up and down anxiously.

"Well I have a package for daddy, and I have a letter," I gasped while reading who the letter was from," look! It's a letter from Daddy!"

     "A letter? Lemme seee! Lemme see!" Cameron screamed trying to grasp the letter out of my hand.

     "Hold on, how about you go sit down in your chair and wait for me to come over, okay?"

     "Okay." Cameron obliged as he raced over to his chair, pulling himself into his Thomas The Train booster seat.

I pulled out the letter and then I began to read it out loud. I was dumbfounded at the news of Braydon being Aris's roommate. I could not believe that the odds of that were so high.

If there was anyone who had a reputation at Ohio East, it was definitely Braydon McCabe. Braydon was a horrible person who would go around scaring the crap out of everyone in the halls. Plus, he was just a complete ass in general. Like Aris stated in the letter, he bullied Aris for dating me; he would punch Aris as hard as I could and call him rude names. Strangely, I found out that he only did that because he had a huge crush on me in high school. One time, he called a teacher a bitch and he had three week suspension. We all were blessed, of course, to have three tranquil weeks without Braydon.

The strange thing was that when he came back to school after three weeks, he was a totally different person than before. He still had an attitude and he was always rude, but there was something in him that had fallen from him, thankfully.

     It was the way he acted towards women. . . he was much politer to me, the teachers, and all the other girls in the grade. 

"Daddy don't like Braydon?" Cameron asked as he cocked his head to the left in confusion. His inquiring mind was spinning like crazy today.

"He doesn't like Braydon because Braydon was never really nice to him." I explained, wrapping my hand around his small one.

"Oh, well maybe Braydon will be nice to Daddy because Daddy is the best. No one should be mean to him, that hurts his feelings." Cameron muttered, looking at the carpet beneath him.

Rose smiled down at us and let out a small gurgle-like noise and she started laughing. I didn't know why but Rose's pink cheeks were brighter than ever and her baby blue eyes glistened as laughter spilled from her toothless mouth.

"What's so funny, Rose?" I questioned, watching as Rose confounded to giggle in her highchair.

I looked over at Cameron who was rolling on the ground laughing. I couldn't help but to laugh myself.

Oh, how I loved those kids.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, my day was unexpectedly busy so I didn't have a lot of time to work on this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Oh, and just so you all know, the next chapter will still be in Mikayla's POV. Then, it will go back to Aris for a chapter:)

Have an awesome Saturday!
~SDS

By the way, the picture above is a of when Rose was just a newborn I just thought the picture was super cute so I used it😊.