Triplets

Triplets

This is a story of a family of 2, a man and his loving wife. They have been married for a year and they have not spent more than a day apart. They started out as friends and after the 2 splits from their previous partners they decided that that they needed to be together. It was always the dream of theirs to have and raise a family together, so the news of a baby was welcomed by all. It was not until the first ultrasound that things began to fall. “Three heartbeats!” Exclaimed the doctor. A sense of excitement filled the mind of the wife, but the opposite feeling of dread overwhelmed the husband. “3 Kids is too much at one time.” Was his initial thought after going over their finances in his head. The wife, sensing his mood change, looked over at her husband with concern. She knew that look but had only seen it when he was experiencing stomach discomfort. She reached for him, but he pulled back. The doctor looked confused as the husband got up and walked out of the room. The wife, still on the bed, called out for her protector as his pace picked up down the hall. This was unexpected. The husband did not waste time getting on the elevator deciding on the stairwell. Full of adrenaline and fear, he took multiple steps at a time. Fleeing out the front sliding doors, his only thoughts were not of his wife and his soon to be born triplets, but of his own survival. He picked up his travel bag from the house, he did not consult his friends or family, he instead booked a flight to …

Stunned. Scared. Worried. Anger. Murderous. All the emotions that the wife felt in that moment that her former love made her experience. She slowly got dressed not knowing what to do. He was not answering his texts or calls. No response at all. Dead cold air. She made her next appointment with the nurse not knowing if he would be there with her or not. She expected him to be waiting for her outside, maybe pulling the car around, but when she got outside their Chevy was gone. Gone. She called him again, but no answer. Straight to voicemail. Again. Again. Panic took over her senses and her heart raced like she was escaping wolves in the night. Sweat covered her face as she stood at the entrance to Baylor Hospital. She called his mom to see if he had contacted her, but his mom said no. “What’s wrong sweetie?” She did not know how to answer that question. She could say, “Your cowardly son left me at the hospital after the Ultrasound!”, but she went with “I do not know honestly.” She needed to get home. Too embarrassed to call a friend, she pulled up her Lyft app and ordered a ride. Needing a ride home from the baby appointment was enraging and her plan when she saw him was not a peaceful one. If she saw him. “Please let me see him.” She thought. She got to the house that she had shared with her husband up until that morning and found the door wide open. Fear cleared out all the other thoughts. She climbed out of the Lyft Prius and shuffled to the open doorway. She rushed down the hallway to their bedroom not calling his name out loud but screaming it in her head. He was not there, but a travel bag was missing. “What?!” She finally said to only herself. The man had packed a bag and was not there. “What?!” She said out loud. Nothing else was missing. Everything was still in place except his toiletries and his socks and underwear. He did not even take a change of clothes. He had vanished in a puff of smoke.

Life is strange and sometimes cruel. One day you could have it all and next have absolutely nothing and vice versa. The wife did not work but now she had to. She was well educated but lacked experience in her field of music production. She had three mouths to feed not including herself, so she had to move fast to secure employment. Luckily coming up she had made many contacts, so she put out feelers. Being 30 pregnant with triplets was not exactly the greatest of beginnings but it is what she had. She got work as an assistant to a local music mogul. It was not ideal, but she owed her a favor and was willing to overlook the growing baby belly and the possibility of losing her assistant to future maternity leave.

Still no call, no texts, no sightings, no husband. After several trips and calls to hospitals, police stations, county morgues there was no sign of him. His family was either complicit or they genuinely had no clue. They checked flight