Wasting Time

"If that is all true and Chris is so innocent, why didn't she call me afterwards and tell me herself? Seems to me that it's all a bunch of bunk or else I don't matter to her one way or the other." Ethan chided.

"Look lunkhead, don't be a complete dumbass, she's young, she's worried, she's hurt, she's loaded with responsibilities, and she is embarrassed as hell that she has hurt the only man she loves. Unlike you, she doesn't know how to undo or correct the harm she thinks she has inflicted on you." Helen gave him a disgusted look.

Just then the order bell dinged. Helen said, "Excuse me, I think your food is ready. Be right back."

Going to the pick-up window, Helen grabbed the plate of food and returned to the booth, sliding it in front of Ethan. After returning to the counter, she came back a minute later with his large orange juice before slipping back into the booth.

"By the way, around here we've nicknamed you 'super-daddy,' Helen joked with him.

"Super-daddy... where in the hell did you come up with that?" he asked.

"Christie said you have been her kid's daddy since the first night she met you and she didn't know you could fly until the last day she saw you. She said you looked like some kind of 'superhero' when you came flying over that car hood to protect her baby. The rest of us had always suspected that you had hidden talents, we just didn't know you were that good," Helen continued to tease him.

Ethan sat there dumbfounded, shaking his head, then he asked, "Where are my... the babies?"

Helen chuckled, "Your babies are at my parents' house, my little sister is babysitting for Christie until she gets on her feet and her life straightened out. Ohhh, I lied... here they are now."

Ethan looked out the big plate glass window to see Helen's younger sister helping the two little ones out of her car. One in each hand, they trotted up to the door.

It was a surreal scene, Helen burst into tears and her little sister was just plain lost as the two little ones jerked loose from her grasp before bounding down the diner screaming, "Daddy, daddy, daddy."

Ethan was out of the booth and on his knees by the time they reached him. No one could ever recall seeing him cry, but he was sobbing as the two little ones jumped into his arms, hugging and kissing him still crying, "Daddy, daddy, daddy," then pleading, "please don't cry daddy, please don't cry."

After a moment of unadulterated love and joy only a parent or child could know and understand, Ethan picked them up, one in each arm. He held them close but didn't have to, they had a grip around his neck so tight, if their little arms had been stronger he would have chocked.

Looking down at his plate of two eggs over easy, two slices of buttered whole wheat toast, two sausage patties, coffee, and large orange juice, he wondered. 'Is this what having a loving family means? You never get to finish your breakfast? Oh hell, all that fat isn't good for me anyway, I really should skip a few.'

While still holding on to a pair of tiny legs, he slipped his fingers into his pocket and fished out a few bills, tossed them onto the table. "That should be more than enough to cover the meal and tip. See you later Helen, we're outta here."

Clamoring out of the booth half panicked, Helen chased him to the door. "What the hell do you mean you are outta here, where are you going with Christie's babies?"

Ethan paused, half turned, "I'm taking them to Wetap."

Confused, Helen asked, "Wetap? Why are you taking them there?"

He grinned at her, "Simple, use your common sense woman, it's where they belong."

"What in the hell makes you think they belong there?" she asked.

With a big smile, Ethan replied, "Because that's where their home is."

"Well what am I to tell their mother?" she queried.

Ethan's eyes lit up as he replied, "Tell her to quit wasting time and get her butt home when she's finished here, she knows the way."

"Oh... ohhh... in that case, see you later. Drive carefully," Helen responded with a smile.

As Helen and her sister watched the laughing trio pull out and head towards Wetap, Helen's totally confused but smiling sister looked up at her. All Helen said was, "Don't ask, I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, it's not over, there's still one to go."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Chris walked out from the back. She spotted Helen's sister and immediately looked around for her babies, they were usually the first ones to spot her. Their cries of, "Mommy, mommy, mommy," were blatantly missing.

Thinking they were playing a game of hide and seek, she teasingly but loudly asked, "Where are my babies, did they run off?"

Helen looked at her and smiled, "You can drop the game play, they are really not here, they just left."

A confused and concerned Chris asked, "Left? Left where and with whom?"

Helen replied with a smile, "Simple, use your common sense woman, they went home with their Daddy."

Although the words had a very familiar ring to them and caused a half second of slight confusion, her biggest fear came rushing back. Now it wasn't funny, a semi-panicked Chris implored, "Not with Greg, you didn't let Greg take my babies. Please tell me you are joking."

"No way, I'd shoot that son-of-a-bitch before I'd let him get near your kids," Helen informed her.

"Alright Helen enough, where are my babies?" Chris demanded.

"They are on their way home, super-daddy said to tell you to quit wasting time and get your butt home when you're finished here. You know the way," Helen grinned.

"Oh God," Chris said, as she noticed for the first time the unfinished breakfast sitting on the table. She hustled behind the counter and grabbed her purse. Just as she got to the door, Helen asked, "Where are you going in such a hurry."

"Home..." Chris said as she stopped with tears in her eyes, "I've been wasting time all my life... not any more... going home to take care of my babies... and their super-daddy... I'm going home where I belong... to take care of my family."

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