It was getting late and the girls were getting tired. After getting them ready to leave, they had them give their grandparents a hug, and kiss goodbye. "I'll call, or stop by after my doctor's appointment. I'm crossing my fingers all tests come back normal."

"Please do." Charlotte said, giving her a hug. Harlow walked over to her dad, giving him a hug. "I'll see you in a few days," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Take care of yourself. We hate seeing you hurting," James said while hugging her.

Harlow was still feeling the tightness in her stomach and kept an eye on any bleeding. She had a bad feeling and couldn't get it off her mind, causing her to toss and turn throughout the night, keeping Antonio.

"Hun, try to get some sleep, it's not good for the baby," he whispered.

"I can't sleep. There's so many things running through my mind."

Antonio slid his arm underneath her, pulling her into his arms. She took a deep breath, laid her head onto his chest and closed her eyes while caressing his chest with her fingertips. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Might as well get some sleep there's nothing we can do right now, but close our eyes and hope for the best." She moved closer, wrapped her arm around him and pressed her body tightly against him. The comfort of being in his arms, easily relaxed her and was finally able to fall asleep.

The next morning, the girls awoke early and walked into their room, trying their hardest to climb up on the bed. Antonio felt the blankets tugging away from him and opened his eyes. Seeing what was going on, he helped them into the bed. "What are you girls doing awake so early?" he whispered, trying not to wake up Harlow. They climbed in under the sheets and snuggled in between Harlow and Antonio.

Harlow opened her eyes, and giggled quietly when she saw the girls lying with them. "This is perfect, isn't it," she asked with a big smile.

He rolled to his side, resting his arm over the girls and over Harlow's body. "Yes, luckily we're dressed," he chuckled.

They laid in bed a while longer after the girls fell back asleep. Enjoying the moment with them all together, Harlow closed her eyes. Antonio figured he better start making breakfast for everyone and quietly rolled out of bed.

He dug through the kitchen cupboards, and the fridge to see what he could make. With everything going on with Harlow, she hadn't been able to do any grocery shopping. He raked his fingers through his hair, thinking. He noticed they had a loaf of bread sitting on the counter and decided to make French toast.

While preparing breakfast, he heard the girls giggling while sliding and bouncing down the stairs. He walked out of the kitchen to see what they were up to and had to laugh when he saw them with a blanket, using it as a sled to go down the stairs. He walked over to the stairway, rested his hands on the railing, and smiled. "Where on earth did you girls learn that?"

"Ethan." Isabella giggled, while going down the stairs.

"Figures..." he said shaking his head. "You girls better come down and watch some cartoons before you hurt yourselves and before you wake up your mother."

"I'm awake." Harlow said as she walked to the edge of the stairs, looking down at the girls.

"Did you know your brother taught them that?"

She giggled. "Yes. They were doing that the other day with him." She started walking down the stairs and stopped to pick up the blanket. "He's got to be the fun uncle, you know," she giggled.

Antonio laughed, shaking his head while walking away. "I better finish making breakfast."

Harlow walked into the living room and turned on cartoons for the girls. She then walked over to Antonio, giving him a hug. "Thanks for making breakfast this morning, it smells good."

"It's almost ready."

Harlow grabbed the girls and put them into their booster seats. Antonio fixed and set their plates in front of them. "Breakfast is served," he said to the girls. While eating breakfast, there was a knock at the door. Antonio walked over to the door, opened it and was surprised to see a couple police officers standing outside the door.

"How can I help you?" Antonio curiously asked.

"Can we speak to your wife, Harlow, for a moment?"

Antonio sensed in the officer's voice something was wrong and curiously looked at them, his first instinct was Ethan was in trouble. "Ah yeah, come on in," he said, opening the door wider. The officers stood at the doorway while Antonio got Harlow.

"There's a couple officers asking to speak to you. I'll stay here with the girls," he said, as he sat down next to the girls.

Harlow turned around and instantly felt sick to her stomach. "Shit, what did he do now?" she said, as she stood. She nervously walked over to them. "Can I help you with something? What did Ethan do now?"

A few minutes later, Antonio heard a gut-wrenching squeal come out of her and quickly turned around. Next thing he saw, was her dropping to the ground in tears and quickly ran over to her. He looked up at the officers and furrowed his brows. "What's going on?"

"Antonio, Charlotte and James have been in an accident-" the one officer started to say.

"I need to see them," Harlow cried out, cutting the officer off.

Antonio helped Harlow up and spoke with the officers before letting them out the door. After the officers left, Antonio quickly got the girls ready and into the vehicle, while Harlow changed. The entire way to the hospital, Harlow cried, smacking and punching the dash. "They knew I hated them being on that damn thing. My dad was always assuring me everything would be okay."

"Hun, it's not their fault, someone pulled out in front of them."

"They knew how I felt about them riding. It's exactly what I told them would happen; and now look..." she cried.

Antonio pulled into the hospital parking lot, finding a spot close to the doors and parked. Harlow practically ran into the hospital, hysterically asking where her parents were. "Third floor, room 387," the nurse at the information desk said, pointing to the elevators and explaining how to get to the room.

As they got off the elevator, Harlow noticed Ethan walking towards them and sprinted over to him. Ethan stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders, with tears in his eyes. "They're gone..." he said as Harlow wrestled to get out of his grip, wanting to get to her parents' room. She broke away from his hold and ran into the room.

"Ma'am, we can't have you in here," the nurse said to her, trying to walk her out.

"Those are my parents," she cried, pushing the nurses hands off her.

Ethan and Antonio stood outside the room with the girls, listening to Harlow cry and argue with the nurses. They finally let her have a moment with them and walked out, closing the door behind them.

"This was the last thing she needed," Antonio sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. "She's been cramping up and not doing well..." He released his hand from Gabriella's and covered his face, feeling worried more than ever.

"Sorry, Antonio. I just had a conversation with my dad last night about this. He said not to worry, that they'll be fine." With his back against the wall, he slid down and sat on the ground, letting Isabella sit on his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "It's almost like they knew something was going to happen."

Antonio pushed himself away from the wall and looked down at Ethan. "What do you mean?"

"The cookout yesterday? My dad letting me know after church, they're going riding..." he said, letting out a deep breath. "I don't know, I just feel like they had a feeling. Why else would they out of the blue get everyone together like that?"

"I just figured they wanted everyone over. It's not the first time they've done that."

"No, but I just had a vibe."

The nurse was about to walk into the room, but was stopped by Antonio. "Please let her grieve a little while longer with them. She's pregnant, and the pregnancy isn't going too well."

"I'll give her another ten minutes; we have to get them out of there," the nurse said.

Harlow walked out of the room and into Antonio's arms. He tightly wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry Hun; so, so sorry..."

Antonio brought the kids home, while Harlow left with Ethan to go to their parents' home to figure things out. Antonio wanted to be there for her, but knew he needed to take care of the kids and to let Harlow and Ethan grieve together, alone.

Antonio figured he would help Harlow out and did a little grocery shopping, buying her flowers, cleaned the house, did laundry, and got dinner going. Placing a roast into the crockpot. He wasn't sure if she was going to eat, but at least there would be food ready for her if she was hungry.

He laid the girls down for a nap and decided to play the piano for a while. Hoping to get into his own little world and escape from the craziness they've been facing. After a couple hours of playing the piano, he called his parents, giving them the news.

Ethan dropped Harlow off and came inside with her. After taking her shoes off, she turned around and gave Ethan a hug. "Thanks. If Antonio asks, I went to lay down. I just want to be by myself for a while."

"Okay."

Ethan walked around looking for Antonio and found him in his office, talking on the phone. Antonio looked up at Ethan, raising up his finger, letting him know to hang on. "I have to go, but I'll call you later this week," he said before hanging up.

"How is she?" Antonio asked.

"As expected, but she's finally calmed down. She wanted me to let you know she went to lay down and that she wanted to be by herself for a while." Ethan sat on the chair, groaning as he leaned his head back.

"We just got back from picking out their caskets and headstone," he said, lowering his head back down.

"That was quick," Antonio said surprised.

"She found the ones she liked right away. We ended up deciding to do just one headstone for the two. They've been together since middle school and passed away together, doing what they enjoyed. Might as well have the one headstone and be buried next to each other."

"Makes sense." Antonio leaned to his side and opened the bottom drawer, pulled out a bottle and reached across the desk, handing it to Ethan. "Need a pull?"

Ethan took the bottle, opened it and took a big swallow. He set in on the desk and sighed, "Thanks. I needed that."

"I'd have some drinks with you right now, but I'm sure I'll have the girls for the night."

"I'll have some for you," he said, trying to smile.

"I do have a roast going if you're hungry. Knowing Harlow, she might not feel like eating."

Ethan stood rubbing his stomach. "I suppose I could use some groceries; I haven't eaten since the cookout yesterday."

Antonio checked on Harlow, peeking his head through the door. Seeing she was asleep and didn't want to wake her, he quietly closed the door and left to check on the girls. They were awake and talking to each other.

He carried the girls down the stairs, and set the girls down when they saw Ethan. They ran over and stood on each side of him, watching him eat. Ethan looked to his one side, then to the other side of him and smiled, he cut two tiny pieces of meat, handing a piece to each one of them. "You two remind me of dogs, begging for food," he chuckled.

"They might not eat it," Antonio said, as he sat down. "Usually they turn their nose up to meat."

Ethan looked at Gabriella, watched her take the food out of her mouth, and reached up, handing it to him. "Oh, thank you." He shrugged his shoulders, took the piece she tried to chew, and ate it.

"Gross." Antonio laughed, making a face when he ate Isabella's piece also. He stood and grabbed a plate for himself. "How does it taste? Normally Harlow makes this."

"It's fine, thank you for the food."

Harlow woke up and laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn't know what to do now that she lost both her parents, and was feeling lost. She was close with her mom, and despised Antonio's mom, happy she lived where she did and even more happy, she wasn't around to bug her.

Without her mom, she wasn't sure who to turn to, besides Antonio. She talked to her mom about everything and helped her out with whatever she needed help with, as she did with Harlow. She broke down, asking why everything bad kept happening to her and asking what she had done in life to deserve what's been going on with her the last two years. "It's not fair!" she cried out, repeating it over and over while banging her fists on the bed.

Antonio heard Harlow and ran upstairs to get to her. He opened the door and rushed over to her. "Hun, I'm here."

"It's not fair, Antonio. It just isn't fair!"

"I know. It's another bump in the road and I'll be here to help you get through it." He had no words; he didn't know what to say to her anymore and figured everything he would say, wouldn't be the right thing, and remained quiet.

The next few days, Antonio helped Ethan and Harlow set up all the funeral arrangements and contacted everyone Charlotte and James knew. Harlow pushed her doctor's appointment back until after the funeral and took another leave of absence from work.

Harlow had a hard time during the funeral, barely making it through her speech when she talked about her parents, bringing up stories about them and how they loved helping the community, as well as how they loved doing their missionary work.

After the funeral, Harlow finally came to terms with her parents' deaths, reminding herself that her parents wouldn't want to see her this way and knew she had to cherish all the memories she had of them.

While eating their meal and celebrating the life of her parents, she thought about how Antonio kept bringing up hiring a nanny. She looked at Antonio, giving him an overwhelmed look. "Maybe you're right, maybe we should hire a nanny," she said softly.

Antonio and Ethan stopped eating, looked at each other, then both looked at Harlow. "You want to hire a nanny?" Antonio asked.

She looked away from her food and over to Antonio, sighing, "Well, not really, maybe at least a maid to help me out. But if I decide to go back to work, I won't have my mom anymore to help and I'll need someone to watch the kids."

Antonio didn't want her going back to work and felt she was stressing herself out by working, thinking it was too much for her. "Maybe we should talk about this later."

Ethan pursed his lips, thinking and looked at Harlow. "What do you need to work for anyway? Work is overrated."

"I need to work, especially now. It'll keep my mind off things."

Ethan looked at Antonio and smirked, then smiled while he looked at Harlow, "You know, my annual performance review was the other day, I was told I lacked passion and intensity, can you believe that?" he chuckled. "I guess my boss hasn't seen me with a double cheeseburger."

"You're such a bullshiter. For one, I never said that, and two, I witnessed you eat that double cheeseburger back in Texas... but I'll be honest with you, I never want to witness you eat that shit again," he said, holding back a smile, having a feeling he was trying to get Harlow to laugh, and it worked.

Harlow giggled, which then made Ethan laugh. "There's the smile I was looking for," Ethan grinned, reaching across the table and giving her a playful shove. "I'll bet you a hundred dollars, you can't smile again."

She smiled, and giggled. "Now, you owe me," he said, holding out his hand.

Sad chapter, hope you enjoyed it anyway!🤞😫🤞❤🤞😭