PART 2: ONE LAST FAMILY TRIP
The drive to the fairgrounds felt endless.
Elliot sighed repeatedly and gripped the steering wheel as if spending time with grieving children were a punishment. In the back seat, the twins whispered excitedly about roller coasters and cotton candy.
“Are we almost there?” one asked.
“Almost, buddy.”
Elliot frowned.
“Can you make them be quiet? I have a headache.”
I ignored him and smiled at my brothers.
When we arrived, the boys raced toward the colorful rides. Music filled the air, popcorn scented the warm afternoon, and flashing lights stretched across the fairground.
Elliot followed several steps behind us, staring at his phone.
“The boys want to try that ride,” I said.
“You deal with it. That’s the point of today, isn’t it? One final day before you fix this mess.”
The word “mess” settled heavily inside me.
“You’re right. Today is about fixing things.”
For the next hour, I rode the carousel with the twins, bought them matching light-up toys, and watched them share a funnel cake. Every time they laughed, Elliot checked his watch.
“How much longer? I have plans tonight.”
“Not much longer.”
We eventually reached a photography booth decorated with painted sunflowers.
A cheerful woman waved at us.
“Come take a family picture! The first one is free.”
The twins immediately pulled at my sleeves.
“Picture! Picture!”
Elliot dismissed the woman.
“No, thanks.”
I smiled at her.
“We’d love one.”
Elliot spun around.
“I already said no.”
“I heard you. But you don’t have to be in the photograph because you won’t be part of our family after today.”
The photographer froze.
Elliot’s mouth dropped open.
“What did you say?”
“This was our final family trip, but not in the way you expected. It is your last day with us.”
His face turned red.
“Is this a joke?”
“No. You demanded that I choose between you and my brothers. I chose them the moment you suggested foster care.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“You dragged me across town just to humiliate me?”
Several people nearby stopped to watch.
I placed one hand on each twin’s shoulder.
“Everything is okay. We’re taking a special picture, just the three of us.”
Elliot laughed bitterly.
“You’ll regret this. No man will want you with two children attached.”
“Then it’s fortunate that I want myself, and I want them. That is enough.”
Someone nearby laughed.
A teenager whispered,
“She destroyed him.”
A man raised his phone and began recording.
Elliot suddenly shouted,
“You are ending our engagement because of someone else’s children?”
“They are my brothers!”
“All I asked was for you to put them in foster care. You’re really choosing them over me?”
The crowd reacted immediately.
A woman gasped.
“Did he just suggest foster care for those little boys?”
An older man stepped forward.
“You should be ashamed. Their parents are gone, and you’re screaming because their sister refuses to abandon them.”
Another woman called out,
“You escaped a terrible marriage, honey!”
Elliot turned desperately toward the crowd.
“You don’t understand! She tricked me!”
“Sounds like she needed to,” a young mother replied.
He searched for sympathy but found none.
Humiliated, he stormed away through the crowd.
