"Hi, sister. Yes, it's me." Lucile answered, she's smiling devilishly. Maine was shocked.

Why didn't she recognize her before? She's Lucilaine Redford, the daughter of her father's wife, Serina Redford. She herself was sent to a boarding school after Lucile's mother married Maine's father.

Maine is a few years older than Lucile, about three and a half years. Basically, Lucile was sent to a boarding school, different from Maine's, at a very young age of ten almost eleven.

At first they had contacts till Maine got to her senior year in high school, then she got busy with racing and lost communications with her. She actually didn't know what happened to Lucile after that.

"Maine, she's your sister? I thought..." Alden uttered in surprised. She gave him a sad nod.

As everyone glanced and whispering and whatever else, Maine was trying to think of a way to get Periwinkle without being hurt. She's crying and scared. This is not good for Wink. She had enough trauma at her age to begin with, she doesn't need another one. For being a caseworker for the child protective services, Lucile is exposing Periwinkle to another trauma at the moment.

"Lainey, whatever happened to you has nothing to do with Periwinkle. Why didn't you call your Mom? Why didn't you call me? You always know where to find me!" Maine is feeling frustrated because she can't think of a way to get her baby from Lucile's grip.

"Lucile, if you have an issue with my fiance, why include my niece on this?!" Alden calmly but was trying to control his anger. When Lucile heard Alden's voice and saw him taking a step closer to her, she pushed the gun's barrel deeper onto Periwinkle's temple. Wink screamed in pain.

"Daddyyy..." They heard Periwinkle's high pitched scream and cry. They saw the gun's barrel digging on the child temple. Lucile is really losing her sanity.

"Moommmyyyy!!!" Wink cried out for Maine. Her heart was ripped from her chest at the sound of Wink's cry for help. This got to stop! Her mind screamed.

"Lucile! Put her down! She's got nothing to do with your sentiments!" Alden yelled this time. His voice echoed on the halls of the court house.

They are starting to get everyone's attention. Courthouse guards are coming. Cops are coming, too. Maine knows what will happen if she couldn't get to Periwinkle in time.

Lainey is past sanity, she lost the ability to think rationally. The stress that she's in was too much for her to bear and Maine can see through her. Her eyes are dark and glassy. The Lainey she cared and loved once is not there anymore, and she's hating the morbid visions playing in her mind.

"Ms. Ortiz, will you put the child down?" Bernie tried to persuade her, too.

"Just give me the child before the courthouse guards hurt you." Conrad was pleading, too. Lucile is getting everyone's attention that she's starting to get confused.

Maine saw it and took advantage of that and charged at Lucile while she was getting distracted by her friends. Lucile was caught off-guard and wasn't able to do anything but try to scramble back on her feet. Maine was quick and was already on top of her.

Lucile hair is all over her face. Her makeup is a mess and she has scratches. She's a total clown-face. Maine might have lost her ponytail and her hair is in a shamble but for Alden's eyes she's still the same beautiful woman whom he fell in love with, unknowingly.

Alden and Molly were quick to get Periwinkle. Aleck picked up the gun and aimed it at Lucile... or Maine. He's confused. He's not sure if he pulls the trigger, will he get Lucile or Maine?

Sofia saw Aleck pointing the gun at the brawling Maine and Lucile on the floor, she rushed to get the gun from him. She grabbed the gun from Aleck and is now panicking. She doesn't know what to do or who to give the gun to.

Alden saw it, too. He quickly passed Periwinkle to Molly, and rush to take the gun from Sonia and passed it to whoever was standing close by them.

Alden rushed to help Maine. The cops help to separate the two women. Finally, Alden wrapped Maine in his arms.

He was trying to fix Maine's hair when Lucile got out of the cop's grip and charged at Maine. Lucile pulled Maine's hair backward which caught Maine and Alden by surprise.

They didn't know what happened, everything was so fast that the next thing they knew Lucile had a small knife in her hand and it was on Maine's neck, by her carotid nerve..

Alden saw a little blood oozed out of Maine's skin. He closed his eyes and turned to whoever he passed the gun to, it was Big Mike. He was stunned at Alden's agility. Alden didn't think twice, he aimed the gun at Lucile and shut her on the thigh.

Everyone screamed and docked as they heard a gunshot. Lucile fell on the ground holding her thigh, screaming in pain. The knife slid on the marble floor. It stopped by Leon's feet, he picked it up using his handkerchief..

Alden was quick to break Maine's fall. The scene was so perfectly romantic if it only didn't involve guns, knives and shooting.

Alden is on the floor, Maine on top of him hugging her to safety. Isn't it romantic? No. There's no romance in that life and death situation but everyone felt giddy. Despite the fact that Periwinkle was in danger a little while ago, so as Maine, they still saw the knight in shining armor act on Alden's part.

Lucile was crying and screaming in pain, cursing Maine. Maine just leaned on Alden's chest and cried. Big Mike quietly took the gun from Alden and slid it somewhere.

The cops were supposed to handcuff Alden for shooting Lucille but Big Mike cleared his throat to get their attention. He shook his head to them. They obliged.

It was the messiest day of both their lives. Lucile was being ushered by the police to the stretcher with three EMT personnel. She was cuffed to the rails, crying, laughing hysterically, and she's everything in between good, bad and worst.

While watching Lainey being wheeled out, Maine wonders what happened during those times. What did Lainey's mother do to her, or worse, what did Lainey do to herself?

She thought it well, she is going to call her father. She thinks it is time. With Lainey's situation right now, she will need a whole lot of caring from her own mother than anyone else.

Thinking of what had happened to Lainey, she looked over to see Aleck. He was just quiet looking down, sitting next to Sonia. He pushed Alden gently. He has this questioning look, she did not say a word. She walked towards Aleck.

"Aleck." Maine took his attention. He looked up and smiled shyly. "Can we talk?" She lovingly asked. His forehead knotted.

"W-why?" He asked. Sonia got up to give her the chair she was sitting on to give them a little privacy.

"Because, I need to apologize to you." Maine started off. He looked up to her. She got Aleck's attention as his forehead creased.

"For what? For Kuya Vinny's Death? He's dumb, he did it to himself." Maine can feel the anger in his voice. Maine closed her eyes and took a deep breath and counted to ten before speaking again.

"That and everything else." Maine answered. He looked at her with curiosity.

"Maine, Atty. Carasco said we can go home. The judge trash the case and he's awarding Periwinkle to you." Alden said, carrying Periwinkle in his arms. It's Maine's turn to scrunch her brows.

"Why Me?" She asked. Alden just smiled. She raised her right brow waiting for an explanation, but there's none.

"Let's go. We need to take everyone for a celebration." He said avoiding her question. She was not satisfied with just a smile as a response , but she got up and walked with everyone.

The ambulance left a while ago. Two policemen accompanied the Ambie. Lainey is going to be charged with a lot of things.

When the judge saw the report from Allan and proved that he did it for the welfare of Periwinkle and the rest of the minors in the said group home. He immediately sent out fir policemen to extract the children from the property, since it's deemed unsafe for children and arrested a few.

Aside from Lainey, seven others are going to be charged with negligence and abuse, including the secretary, the person in-charge when Lainey is not around, the gardener, the three security guards who were found out to be molesting some of the minors in the said group home. The three kitchen staff were also put on temporary arrest pending further investigations of their involvement.

Maine wanted to scream out loud hearing that from Big Mike as they were sitting on the building rooftop. They all decided to have the celebration there since they know they will be to discuss sensitive matters.

Maine excused herself since she really wanted to either puke or passed out hearing all the gruesome details from Allan's investigations, Tracy and Gerald were quietly helping Allan with his investigations. That's why she doesn't see much of her best friend around.

The more than four months that Periwinkle stayed with her, she didn't know her friends bent backwards and forwards for Periwinkle's sake and hers. She may have lost a family in the past but God gave her a new family, her urgent care and firehouse family, including the two new people in Periwinkle's life, Molly and her family, Aleck and Alvin's friend, Egay and Utoy... and of course, Alden. She smiled just thinking of his name.

UNKNOWN to Maine, Alden followed her quietly. He's trying to help her to let her anger, pain or whatever she's feeling at the moment, out. She is not alone anymore, she has him, if she lets him. After today, he doesn't know.

Maine walked inside her house and straight to her bedroom. Alden, who's still following her, gritted his teeth because she did not close her door nor locked it. Is she that distraught that she can't think right? She can't think of safety. He wants to slam the door to be exact, but instead he quietly closes and lock it, shaking his head.

Maine has been driving him crazy since day one, crazy good. He smiled inwardly. First, when he still thinks of her being the reason for his brother's death. Second, right now, she is driving him up the wall with just being her, smart but careless at times, gorgeous, goddess even but down right an enchanting temptress and still careless. He doesn't know which category to put her in. But the fact that she carelessly made him fall for her, proves him that all of the above effortlessly suited Maine, he smiled.

He went up the split level of the house straight to her bedroom after he locked the house door. He opened her door quietly. He saw her sitting on her bed, her back facing the door, in deep thoughts.

Basically, she didn't even know if she's alone or not. He smiled bitterly when Gerald's face crossed his mind. That asshole can come in  and out here freely. Gerald is really getting into him.

He knows that Gerald is just her best friend, but still, he's a man, a boy, a guy, with a thing hanging down between his legs.

Alden closed his eyes tight to shake the thoughts away. He made a silent promise to himself, will make sure Gerald can't pass that stair to her room ever again. Come hell or high waters, he will prevent Gerald from coming in too close to Maine.

Alden leaned on the door frame just watching her curvy back. He smiled inwardly since his brain is going 130 mph fast on the road to erotica then slowed down on a speed of 15 mph.

He shook his head and took a quiet deep breath. He's trying to veer his mind off of the gutter or else, Periwinkle will have a brother or a sister before the day's end.

"Hello..." He heard her say. Her voice is shaking and she's sobbing. Alden was about to come near her when he heard another voice. He thought she was talking to him. Alden stopped and listened.

"Hi, baby." A man's voice echoed in the room from the speaker of her phone. He stopped and leaned back to the door, brows furrowed. Who is that calling her baby? There goes his mind again.

"D-dad. I'm... I a-am sorry." She burst crying. Alden almost ran towards her to console her but stopped himself right away when he heard the word Dad.

He decided to stay where he's at and just listen to her and be ready when she needs him.

"Nikki, are you crying? Why are you crying? what 's wrong? Did something happen?" Maine's Dad berated her with questions. Maine can't reply yet.

Alden was thinking maybe she's feeling overwhelmed with too much emotion, a mix of emotions.

"You tell me what is going on right now or I will come over there and get you myself." Alden heard the worried voice from the speaker.

That doesn't sound like an uncaring father? He almost sounded like panicking upon hearing Maine's distraught voice.

"I'm... eherm. I'm okay, Dad. I just wanted to say sorry for being so hard-heart and an ice queen to you." Maine was hiccuping and sobbing at the same time. The sound of her hiccups and sobs prick Alden's heart a million times more painful.

"You don't have to say your sorry, honey. We made so many mistakes in our lives, especially me, that I should be the one saying those to you. I am sorry for leaving you at a very young age, sweetie. I was not thinking straight that time. I was so angry, I was frustrated, so humiliated and I was wrong. I just don't know how to take care of you and to make you safe. I was a mess back then. I thought that if I take you with me, you'll be a mess, too. I love you so much to make you live the way I did." Victor said lovingly and apologetically. Maine was quiet for a while, she's trying to get her breathing evenly but can't.

She's trying to absorb everything her father was telling her, it's the first time her dad talked like this, she's sobbing and hiccuping at the same time.

"D-dad..." Maine sounds so awkward saying the word Dad. "I-I just wanted to let you know that I am very, very sorry for not giving you a chance at all." She continued crying in between.

"Sweetie..." Maine interrupted him.

"Let me do this, D-dad." She said quickly.

"Alright." Her dad said on the other end of the line.

"I was so focused on my anger, on my pain and on the wrongs that were done to me, I did not see the right ones. I was so blinded with these extreme negative emotions that I didn't think of what I had in the boarding school, how you thought of my safety and well-being first than yourself. As a nurse and an adult, I see children who didn't have the chance like I had. I disregarded it and I neglected to be thankful. Instead, I became hateful, cold and distant from you, from her. I-I'm so sorry, D-daddy." She stuttered and burst into crying again. That's it!! Alden's mind countered.

He quietly walked closer to Maine, trying not to scare her and gave her a gentle hug. She was startled a little but not enough to make her jump. She let him hug her. It gives the warmth and comfort she had been longing for.

"I'm coming." Victor declares. He can not stand the distraught sound of his daughter's voice.

He may not be the ideal nor the perfect father, but he can not just sit on the top floor office of his New York building if he can't be with his daughter. She needs him now and he needs to step up. Gone was the scared father, he needs to be her strength from now on.

"T-thank you, D-dad. P-please bring Serina. Lainey needs her, too." She said, stuttering. She's not used to talking to her father that long because she's not used to talking to him at all.

Victor didn't ask Maine what really is going on, he just said yes. Victor told Maine to wait for him, and she agreed. But before her Dad got off the phone she said something that blew her Dad's mind away.

"Dad, I'm getting married." Maine declared. She cleared her throat then hung up.

Alden, on the other hand, froze on his spot and couldn't think of a word to say. He knew she silently agreed to his proposal since she's wearing the ring he gave her but he didn't really fully grasp it till she announced it right now to her Dad.

"Maine..." Her name smoothly slip out of his lips and came out as a whisper.

Maine did not say any word, she just continued to cry and he just let her. Alden thought,  Maine needed to let all her aches and pains out. She needs to be sane.

Maine is so thankful that Alden is here quietly hugging her, keeping her company, making her feel secure and giving her a comforting peacefulness. She loves the fact that Alden is letting her take the moment she needed for herself but not leaving her completely all alone.

The pleasant quietness of the room, with just their heart beating are filling up her system. She loves it. She wants the feel of it. She had not experienced anything like this before and it is somehow satisfying her heart and pushing the pain away. It is scary but it is also pleasing and soothing.

Alden's arms and hugs are tight and strong but not suffocating, it is so warm that she can't remember how he was with her, all she could think of at the moment is, she doesn't want this to end.

Alden was so absorbed at the comforting moment between him and Maine, it was so reassuring, that he hoped to have more of these moments with each other. He slowly looked down to see her loving face and was surprised to see blood on his arm.

"Oh Gosh, Maine. You are bleeding!" 

__________
End of TPA 27: I'm Sorry

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💖 ~ Ms J ~ 💖
05.07.20

The Periwinkle Affair
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August 26, 2019