Chapter 68 – Whispered Wishes
Roman stood in the doorway and gently set his bag down as he watches them sleep. Melanie facing the door with her arms wrapped around Jo who was wound around Melanie as if she were a snake and Melanie were her prey.
Shaking his head he wiped his hand down his face and remembered the last conversation he had with his loves on facetime after the two had finally gained a semblance of peace after the shit storm they had just been through.
Flashback
The side of her face was red and beginning to swell and Roman could see marks all along her neck, but he ignored them for now intent only on talking to and reassuring his daughter and his wife.
"Baby girl daddy is so sorry, if I would have known I would of never of made you go to your moms house, baby I swear it" Roman said softly, the anguish in his voice palpable.
Sitting in Melanie's lap she pulled Melanie's arms around her so that she was draped in her embrace before gently shaking her head and using Melanie's arm as a pillow.
"It's not your fault daddy" she says through a yawn "You didn't hurt me….mommy did….you would never hurt me"
"No baby I wouldn't" he said with tears in his eyes as he looked as his daughter "And your mom shouldn't have either, she should've never of hurt you like that baby"
"I know" she said again as she snuggled her back against Melanie and closed her eyes "But Melly saved me…she always comes for me….whenever I call her she comes." she said as her eyes begin to close and Melanie gently ran her fingers through her hair as she closed her eyes to hold her own tears at bay.
"I know she does baby, our Mel always come through" he said as he smiled softly at Melanie who was gazing down at Jo.
Joelle nodded her head sleepily before turning in her arms and nuzzling into Melanie's chest "Always" she said softly as she wrapped her arms around Melanie's waist.
Cradling her close to the chest Melanie and Roman were quiet as they watch Joelle drift off to sleep.
Less than 5 minutes later Melanie felt Joelle's body go completely slack against her own. Turning to place her on the bed Joelle began to toss and turn and cry out in her arms as she felt herself being removed from her embrace.
"Okay baby, okay, sssshhh it's okay I got you, Melly's got you baby." Melanie soothed as she brought Joelle back to her chest and smoothed out her hair as she calmed her down.
Falling back into a deep sleep Melanie looks up at the computer screen and shakes her head as Roman wiped away the tears that fell from his eyes.
"How could she do that her" he said sadly
"Le I don't know all I know is I'm never sending her back" she said with a shake of her head
"Oh that's not even up for debate, she is never getting near our daughter again" he says the anger rising in his voice.
End Flashback
Quietly walking forward he leans on the bed and kisses Joelle on the head as he moves her hair away from her face.
Leaning forward he does the same to Melanie before attempting to uncoil his daughter from his wife.
He was able to get one arm unhooked before Joelle started to whine in her sleep and he felt a punch colliding with his chest that not only knocked the wind out of him but knocked him flat on his ass as he landed with an oomf and clutched his chest.
"Shiiiitttt!" he groaned out as he looked up at the bed to see a wild eyed Melanie clutching a still sleeping Jo to her chest.
"Bella! Winter! Intrusus! (Intruder)"
Before he can even blink Bella and Winter come charging into the bedroom teeth bared and growling as if they haven't been fed in weeks.
They look around from side to side as Melanie gets to her knees, the whole while still cradling a sleeping Joelle in her arms.
"Lalelei it's me babe, it's me…I'm sorry I scared you" Roman panted wildly as Bella and Winter continued to look for the intruder, completely oblivious to the fact that Melanie was referring to Roman.
"Le…" she gasped as she squints and tentatively leans forward.
"Yeah baby" he says slowly making his way to his feet as Winter rubs up along his body.
"Shit, I almost had Winter and Bella rip your throat out…Winter, Bella et falsum terror" (Down…false alarm)"
"I know, it's my fault I should have told you I was coming home tonight"
"Yea….I thought you were going to come home tomorrow night"
Shaking his head he inched his way up on the bed still rubbing at his chest "I couldn't stay away, not knowing that you and Jo needed me" he said reaching out to caress her face in his hand.
Leaning into his caress Melanie closed her eyes and rubbed her face against his palm.
"I'm so glad your home Le" she whispers as her breath catches in her throat.
So am I baby, he says as he leans forwards and gently presses his lips to hers.
"You think you can get out of her octopus grip to come and talk to me for a few minutes?"
Melanie looks at him and slightly shrugs her shoulders as she looks down at Jo and runs her fingers along the side of her face.
"She's been like this since you got her back hasn't she?"
Melanie nods her head as she places gentle kisses along her face, and slowly pulls a limb at a time from being wrapped around her body.
Jo begins to whimper a little but Melanie instantly goes into action.
"It's okay baby girl, Im here….Melly's here….lay down and sleep baby…your safe…I promise" she says as she continues to kiss at her face.
Her method worked as Joelle slowly but surely slackened and loosened her grip around Melanie just enough for Melanie to untangle herself from Jo and slowly ease out of bed.
Roman extended his hand, and waited for her to place her hand in his before standing and quietly leading her to their walk in closet. Turning on the light and closing the door enough to give them privacy but leaving it open just enough to see Joelle he pulled Melanie into his arms and wrapped one arm around her back while his other hand gripped the back of her head.
Wrapping her arms tightly around his midsection she pressed her face into his chest and finally let go.
"Leati she hurt her…she hit her..she mocked her…she choked her.." she said bobbing her head as she sobbed into his chest.
"I know baby, I know"
"How could she?!" she sobbed "How could she do that to any child let alone her own daughter….Jo didn't deserve that, she doesn't deserve to be treated like that by anyone, let alone her own mother." she says as she continues to sob into his chest as Roman holds her in his arms.
"Evelyn doesn't deserve her Le…she doesn't" she cried as he continued to let her get it all out.
Roman knew she had been strong for Jo, she had kept it together for his baby and now it was his turn to be strong for her. He saw the depths she went to, to get Joelle back, he saw her getting assaulted and pushed against the wall but refusing to let Joelle go. He saw her heart break in front of his eyes as she listened to what was happening to Jo and he related one hundred and ten percent because so did his as he repeatedly watched the video that Nessa had sent him of the incident that night.
He said it before and he would say it again, this proved his point to a T, blood alone does not make someone family just as Evelyn birthing Joelle doesn't make her a mother. Melanie was her mother, that was a fact and after tonight he would defend that with his dying breath.
"She doesn't babe, she doesn't deserve her at all, but that is why Jo has you. You're everything Evelyn isnt" he says as he holds her face in his hands.
"You give her everything that she needs, everything that she wants, and everything that she deserves. You're her mom Lalelei. I know this, you know this and Jo knows this. Why do you think she looks for you when things go wrong? She depends on you and as of now you've never failed her." he says as he strokes her face with his thumbs.
"She admires you, she looks up to you, hell she idolizes you and has since the moment she saw you walk across the screen that one faithful night when she and I were facetiming" he says as a small smile graces her lips.
"Jo loves you and so do I Mel, we were incomplete before you walked into our lives but you fixed us, you fixed us both" he says as he leans forwards and captures her lips in his as her tears streamed down her face.
"Don't cry baby" he murmured against her lips "I'm going to fix this I promise" he says as his own tears begin to fall.
Melly nods her head and leans up to kiss his lips as her hands inch up and around his neck.
His arms wrap around her waist as she lays her head on his shoulder and they both enjoy the long awaited comfort of being in each other's arms. Both of them sighing contently, their quiet and serene moment is broken when they hear a soft cry followed by
"Mellyyyyy…where are yoooooou?"
Immediately pulling from Roman's embrace Melanie made a bee line for the bed with Roman following closely behind. Easing up on the bed Joelle instantly latched onto her and wrapped her arms tightly around her.
"Melly where'd you go?" she asks shakily
"Lady bug I was in the closet. I didn't want to wake you" she says as Roman sits down next to her.
"Why were you in the closet" she asks with her eyes closed.
Melanie kissed her on her forehead and pushed her hair behind her ear.
Looking up at Roman she smiles and says "Because we didn't want to wake you"
Joelle yawns and wipes her face before gripping Melanie's shirt in her hand "Whose we Melly?"
"Me and Mel" Roman answers with a soft smile "Melly was talking to me baby girl, I came home early" he says as he runs his fingers along her cheek.
Joelle slowly puts her head up and smiles at her father in the dark.
"Daddy…you came home?" she says as her voice cracks.
"I sure did baby, I came home to be with you and Mel" he says as he scoops her up and into his lap.
She wraps one hand around his neck and reaches for Melanie with her other.
Melanie brings Jo's hand to her lips and then leans her head on Roman's shoulder. He wraps his arm under her chin and caresses the side of her face before lifting his arm and bringing her head to lay on his chest as she clutches Jo's hand in her own.
Yawning Joelle snuggles into her father tightens her grip on Melanie and falls asleep.
Roman sits holding his family for a while before taking a deep breathe. Kissing Melanie on her forehead she stirs next to him and sits up while rubbing at her eyes.
"Laleleli take our baby girl while I change and get ready for bed."
Nodding Melanie stands up and lifts Joelle into her arms walks to her side of the bed, and lays down exactly the way that Roman found them when he walked into the bedroom, facing the door with Joelle tangled around her body.
Roman quickly changes inside the closet into a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt and climbs into bed. Reaching out he placed his hand on Melanie's back and pulls her close to him so that Joelle is sandwiched protectively between the two as he rubs his hand up and down Melanie's back, the both of them falling into a deep dreamless sleep while holding Joelle safely between them.
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Roman takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. The site in front of him is nothing short of breathtaking as he watches Joelle alternate between slowly rubbing her hand against Melanie's cheek before laying her face down so that it is directly on top of her cheek and placing little kisses all along her face. He watched her whisper something to Melanie before snuggling down and hugging her closely.
His daughter was deeply attached to Melanie and it was for good reason.
Without opening her eyes Melanie absentmindedly runs her hand up and down Joelle's back.
Joelle sighed in content and ran her hands through Melanie's tousled hair.
"Morning Lady bug" Melanie sighed as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Morning Melly" Joelle said softly as she placed her hand on the crown of Melanie's head.
Melanie caresses her face with her hand while Roman watches on in awe. This is the life that his daughter deserves.
Looking over in his direction Melanie smiles and blows him a kiss "Morning Le" Roman shakes his head back and forth as he motioned with his index finger for her to come closer.
"Don't give me that, give me the real thing."
Giggling Melanie inches forward as Roman does the same and presses her lips to his in a sweet good morning kiss.
"Much Better" Roman mutters as he slowly pulls away. Taking his arms and wrapping them around Melanie he pulls her and Joelle into his arms.
"Morning Baby Girl"
"Morning Daddy" Joelle says as she turns her head and kisses her dad on the cheek before turning all her attention back to Melanie.
Smiling he kisses the back of her head as Melanie gently shakes her head and kisses her forehead.
"Baby girl stay here with daddy I need to go to the bathroom"
Joelle softly whines but Melanie simply smiles and cups the back of her head while kissing her along her face. "It's okay baby I'll be right back plus daddy is here" she says as her thumb caresses Joelle's cheek
Roman sits up and reaches out for Joelle "Come here baby girl come cuddle with daddy"
Joelle looks at Melanie and to her dad and back at Melanie again before slowly nodding her head and crawling into her father's arms. Cradling her to his body he watches Joelle watch Melanie like a hawk as she climbs out of bed and heads to the rest room.
"Baby Girl" he whispers as he kisses the back of his daughters head just as Melanie closes the bathroom door behind her.
"Yea daddy" she answers softly
"What did you say to your Melly while she was sleeping before she woke up?"
Joelle put her head down and began to play with her fingers. Roman shifted her so that she was facing him and tilted her head up to look at him.
Swallowing thickly at her swollen little cheek and the deep red bruising around her neck he tucked her hair behind her ear and ran his fingers along her cheeks.
"You can tell Daddy" he coo'd
Joelle opened then closed her mouth, before turning her head over her shoulder to look at the bathroom door. Slowly turning her head to face her father, her eyes filled with tears as she whispered "I said I wish I was her daughter instead of my mom's"
Romans heart instantly broke as he pulled his daughters head to his chest just as Melanie exited the bathroom.
Catching the look on his face she eases back into bed, scoots closely to his side leans her head against his shoulder and runs her hand through Jo's hair.
"What's wrong Lady bug" she asks as she waits for Jo to look at her.
Roman leans down and rubs Joelle's back. "Tell her baby girl…Tell your Melly what you just told me." he urges.
Joelle shakes her head no
"It's okay baby you know you can tell Mel anything right?"
Joelle looks up at her father and briefly at Melanie before slowly nodding her head.
Closing her eyes she takes a deep breath before slowly opening them and saying hesitantly "I told daddy I wish I was your daughter instead of mommies" she said as she quickly lowered her head and shut her eyes.
Melanie's eyes grew wide as tears began to circle around the rim of her eyes. She looked at Roman who smiled softly at her before looking back at Joelle who still had her head down and eyes firmly planted on the comforter.
Lifting her little face with her index finger Melanie smiles at Joelle as she wipes the stream of tears from her cheek.
"Who says you're not my daughter?" she says softly as Joelle looks up at her in question.
"What do you mean?" Joelle asks
"You said you wished you were my daughter instead of your moms."
Joelle nods her head yes
"Who said you're not my daughter? Because as far as I'm concerned you are" Melanie says honestly as she again wipes her tears away.
Joelle shakes her head "But I can't be your daughter because you didn't carry me in your belly" she says sadly as she reaches out to touch Melanie's stomach.
"Oh lady bug" Melanie sighs as she cups her cheek. "I want to show you something okay" she says as she nods her head "Stay here with daddy. I'm going to go and let my fur babies out and then I'm going to bring something upstairs that I want you to see." She says as she leans over and kisses Joelle on the nose and Roman on the lips as she quickly rolls out of bed beckoning Winter and Bella to follow behind her.
Returning less than 5 minutes later clutching a photo album to her chest she slides back into bed and up next to Roman as Joelle continues to look sadly at the comforter.
Placing the book in her lap she moves it over so that it is sitting in the middle of her and Joelle's lap.
Turning to the first page she points to a very old picture of a young girl, a young boy and 2 adults.
"You remember when I showed you the picture of my mom that's in my locket?"
Joelle nods her head yes.
"Well this is her with her parents and her brother…..my uncle Ric"
Joelle's face scrunches in confusion as she looks at the picture then up at Melly as Roman smiles on at the both of them, knowing exactly where Melanie was going with her line of questioning.
"What's wrong Jo?" Melanie asks knowing full well why Jo was looking at her completely confused
"She looks different from the rest of her family….why?"
"Well that's because my mom was adopted"
Joelle looks up at her as if mulling over the information she was being given.
"Her mom couldn't carry another baby the way she did with my moms brother Ric but they desperately wanted another child, so they adopted my mom when she was almost a year old." Melanie explained softly.
"So your grandma didn't carry your mom in her belly?" she asked as she sniffled and gently wiped at her face.
"Nope she didn't but that didn't change the fact that her parents, my grandparents" she says as she points to her own chest.
"Loved her with all of their hearts" she said as she pushed back a small sob "And it doesn't change the fact that even to this day" She says using her finger to point down at the comforter. "My Uncle Ric still adores my mom, and you know why?" she asks as Joelle shakes her head as a lone tear runs down her cheek.
"Because blood doesn't always make you a family baby, no my mom wasn't their blood but she was still a Fleihr, and they still loved her just as much as they loved their son, and they never made her feel any differently, never made her feel less than, or that she wasn't just as much theirs as her brother regardless of what she looked like." Melanie says as she runs her hand down the side of Joelle's face.
"I say all that to say it doesn't matter to me that I didn't get to carry you in my belly, all that matters is that I love you beyond reason, I love you more than anyone else in my life and I will do anything to protect you because I love you just that much Jo" she said her voice crackling the entire way.
"So blood or not, you're my baby, my daughter the same way my mom was her parents. They didn't care about a blood connection and I don't either" Melanie said shaking her head "Because I have a connection with you here…." She said patting her chest "In my heart and in my heart you little one….are mine" she said tearfully as Joelle burst into tears and flung herself into Melanie's arms.
"You promise I can be yours" she says through her tears as she clutches Melanie tightly.
"Baby as God as my witness you're mine, I'm sorry to say you got the short end of the stick because you're stuck with me, you and your daddy" she says chuckling through her tears as Roman wraps his hand around her neck and places his lips against her forehead.
"I have to disagree with you Lalelei, I didn't get the short end of anything, I hit the jackpot" he says as he picks Melanie up and places her in his lap as he holds them both in his arms.
Shifting out of bed he puts an arm under Melanie's legs and one around her arms and lifts her in the air bridal style as she holds onto a now smiling Jo.
"Come on, I need to feed my girls" he says as Joelle places her hand on his face and smiles happily at him from Melanie's arms.
"Ohhh wait, Melly can you make us muffins?" Joelle asks as she whips her head around and gives her the puppy dog eyes.
"If its muffins you want sweetpea then its muffins you'll get" she nods as Joelle does a quick fist pump in the air as Melanie and Roman both let out a laugh.
Getting to the kitchen Roman places Melanie on her feet, and Joelle on a kitchen stool.
Melanie immediately goes to the fridge and starts to pull out the things that she need to make the muffins.
Roman takes a few steps away to head toward Melanie to begin to help but Joelle quickly tugs on his hand.
Darting her eyes from Melanie who was had her back to them as she put everything on the kitchen counter and back to her father she waves him closer to her with her hand.
Smiling he bends at the waist so that his face is close to hers.
Joelle looks around him back to Melanie. Nodding her head in relief once she realized Melanie still had her back to them she leaned forward and whispered to her father.
"Daddy, can Melly adopt me like her grandma adopted her mom?"
Roman tilts his head and is shocked for a moment before shock gives way to a small smile that spreads across his lips. He can't lie the thought crossed his mind he just hadn't had a chance to bring it up to Mel yet. That and he knew Melanie didn't care about legalities, just like she told Jo upstairs in every way that counted Joelle was already hers.
"Is that what you want Jo?" he whispered back at her
Joelle nodded her little head and ran a hand through her hair "I do dad…I really, really do. I know Melly already said I was hers and I believe her because well she's Melly" she says as she darts her gaze around him again to make sure Melly was still occupied. "And I know she wouldn't lie, not about something like this but I want her to adopt me because I want her to be my mom….my real mom." She says softly
"I have a friend who is adopted so I think I know how it works, but I'm hoping that we can ask Melly to do it." she says quietly as she continues to plead her case. "Especially if it means she would really be my mom"
Roman looked at Joelle with tears in his eyes, how could he deny her this heartfelt request when she was so adamant about it.
"I'll ask her baby girl" he said as he ran his knuckles softly over the side of Joelle's face.
Joelle shook her head and asked hesitantly "Daddy can we ask her together?"
Roman smiled even wider "Of course baby girl" he said as he smiled uncontrollably.
Joelle nodded her head and looked back over at Melanie who still had her back turned.
"Melly….can I…" looking at her dad who nodded his encouragement, she cleared her throat and started again "Melly can me and daddy ask you something?"
Melanie turned around smiled and walked towards Joelle and Roman.
"Of course baby you can ask me anything" she said as she put her hands on the Kitchen Island.
Joelle briefly lowered her gaze and took a deep breath before looking back up at Melanie and saying
"Well I was wondering, if you would…..if you would adopt me"
A/N
I love this family so much...I want Mel, Roman and Joelle to be a family and I want Evelyn out the picture and I'm trying not to kill her off but she is making it hard for me...the Court scene is coming up and its gonna be a heart wrencher so buckle up!
XOXO
Really241