16

It was all a blur, that night, that week, that month. Marley didn't know what to do. She felt as though she was numb. She felt as though there were no emotions in anything. Wake up, to go work, work through the motions, pick up the kids, put on a face for them, it was as though she was in auto pilot. She sat there with her mind going 100 miles per hour, but she sat there motionless. Something would break that trance she was in.

"Mommy?" A small tug on Marley's pants. She focus on little Jordan. "Mommy, what's the matter?"

"Oh nothing Mommy is just tired. Always keeping busy trying to keep up with you and little Ms. Addison. You two just go nonstop all day." Marley picked Jordan up and hugged him nice and tight. Jordan wrapped his arms around Marley and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you." Jordan said with a smile. Marley choked back some tears as she looked at Jordan. He had his daddy's nose, piercing blue eyes, and that dishwater blonde hair.

"I love you too." Marley tucked him in for one more hug before standing up and walking to Addison to get her ready for bed.

The days seemed long, and the nights got longer. Marley could barely sleep in her bed. She would wander down to that couch she was sitting on that night and go through all the thoughts and everything that happened that night. She couldn't get that night out of her head. She wanted to badly to erase that night from her memory, but she wanted to remember every detail. So badly she prayed that one day she wake up from this nightmare, and go back to that perfect life.

"Maybe that was just what it was. Something that was too good to be true. Something that wouldn't last. It's just something that would only exist in night time stories and dreams." Marley's thoughts raced. A splash of water and Addison giggling snapped Marley back to reality. Marley picked up the rubber duckies and squirted Addison, it was Addison's favorite part of her bath.

Jordan walks into the bathroom, "hey, those are my old duckies!"

"Oh you mean this one?" Marley fills it with water and squirts Jordan. Addison laughs and splashes.

"MOM. Stop!" Jordan tries to put his hands up to block the water. Sadly it was in vain. His shirt was soaked. Jordan walks to the vanity and grabs a cup and begins to fill it up with water.

"Jordan. Don't you dare!" Marley uncomfortably laughs. "Jordan, DON'T YOU FILL UP THAT CUP." Jordan turns on the water tap. With a smirk on his face he flings cold water onto Marley. Water everywhere. Marley gasps, trying to catch her breath from the cold water. "Oh, son, you just started a match you aren't going to win." She reaches into the bathtub and scoops a handful of water over on Jordan.

During that water fight, everything stopped, the worries, the consistent running of mind, the "what if's" all of it stopped. Marley was happy, her kids laughing, having a good time, a very wet time.

Jordan runs over and hugs a wet Marley and squeezes her as hard as he can. "Mom, I missed this."