Confined Four Years

What to Do?

~~~~~Julia~~~~~

            Julia smiled at him before turning to leave the room, giving him privacy to take care of himself. Before she made it back to the living room, her mind went back to the muscular body she just saw before shaking her head again. He was six years younger than her; what was she thinking? She wondered as she let out a sigh. It was probably because she had not had s*x since she found out about her pregnancy with the twins. Maybe she needed to release, but a small cry broke her out of her thoughts and she continued on her way to the living room. How could the sight of a younger man set her heart to racing like this?

“Uncle went to get you some formula, so just be patient, okay, Little One?” Julia whispered soothingly when she leaned forward to look at her tiny face. “Come here.”

            She carefully lifted her from the bassinet and bounced her in her arms, hoping to keep her calm until Marcus came back. Her reaction had been instinctual, and she did her best to get both Zachariah and the baby satisfied, she thought, looking down at the cherubic face in her arms. She hoped he would not take her actions offensive. Julia sighed lightly before she started singing a soft lullaby to the baby while walking around the living room. A few minutes later, the shower turned off, and Zachariah walked out, still drying his hair with a towel. Though Marcus’s clothes were a little too big, they still fit where they needed to, and Julia was glad the brothers were similar in body types.

“You’re pretty amazing at that, ya know?” He said, looking at the girl in my arms. “Her name is Sophia Thomas. I didn’t even know my ex was pregnant when she showed up and dropped her off… then…”

“Sophia. Nice to meet you, sweetie. My name is Julia.” She cooed to her before turning to face him. “You’re still so young. If your mom and dad found out you got a girl pregnant before finishing school…”

“I know! It’s why I came here. I knew you and Marcus would not turn your backs on me…” Zachariah replied, clenching his fists in his hair before looking deep in Julia’s eyes. “My ex killed herself after dropping the baby off on me.”

            Julia froze before looking down at the tiny child in her arms. For a while, silence ensued before Marcus came back with several bags in his hands. He immediately brought them over to her, his eyes focused on the baby with his face screwed up in concern. Without a word, he dug a can of powdered formula out of the bag, sat it on the sofa, and made his way into the kitchen to prepare it. Julia and Zachariah followed him and she took a seat in one barstool close to the door. What were they going to do? She thought, looking down as the scent of baby powder drifted up from the baby’s sleeping form.

“Mom and dad would kill you if they found out about this…” Marcus’s voice was stern as he spoke, his back to us. “They already give me and Julia enough s**t… Are you trying to get on their nasty side as well?!”

“They love Julia though…” Zachariah started, but a glare from Marcus shut him up.

“They love Julia as a part of a business transaction. That, and this are two separate things, anyway.” He continued, passing Julia the bottle. “You’re still in college and you JUST graduated high school!”

“I know! What else am I supposed to do?! The girl killed herself after dropping this baby off on me!!” Zachariah yelled out, causing Marcus to freeze, an expression of shock and pain on his face. “If I take her to an adoption agency, I’m worried they’ll report it to mom and dad. I think they would forgive me, but…”

“No, they wouldn’t. Just look what they forced me and Julia into!!!” Marcus ran his fingers through his hair before he looked up with an annoyed expression. “Forget you heard that. Today has been far too stressful.”

“What… do you mean what they forced you two into?”

            Julia sighed lightly before standing and walking with the baby back into the living room. The two men followed as she began feeding Sophia while looking at the floor. It was our little secret for so long; it seemed almost pointless to talk about it now. But Julia could tell Zachariah did not plan to let that little slip of the tongue go. She held up the bottle to Sophia, watching as she latched onto it before looking over at Marcus, who was pacing again. If she had to guess, he felt nervous about letting the fact about their parents slip in front of Zachariah.

“Julia and I… do not love each other. We did not marry because of love. We married because of our parents, yours and hers, decided they wanted to retire.” Marcus started watching as Zachariah’s mouth dropped open in shock. “We don’t even sleep in the same bed. They blackmailed us into this situation almost five years ago by holding you guys over our heads and by threatening our future. This was also what led up to Julia getting pregnant with the twins.”

“Wait… no way… mom and dad.”

“They did. If I did not agree, they planned to stop paying for my college degree, and force one of my sisters or my brother to get married instead. When we went along with it, kids had not been part of the equation.” Julia countered when his gaze turned to her. “They forced us to have children together too; else they do something to you guys. My parents and yours, both, orchestrated the entire thing to their benefit and now they want to arrange marriages for the twins, too.”

“But… dad said you loved her…”

“I don’t. When we initially agreed to the marriage, we even agreed to our relationship being open. That way, we could love whoever we wanted. If I loved her, I would want her to myself.” Marcus said, taking a seat on the recliner in front of the television, expression serious. “Julia and I have nothing in common besides the twins. We don’t even have similar tastes in music. We were used so mom and dad could retire, safe in the knowledge our company had a future. That’s why we had the merger with her parents’ company four years ago.”

“But… Julia is so amazing! How can you not love her? I mean, she’s beautiful, and smart, is amazing with children, and…” Zachariah trailed off, looking away as a blush dusted his cheeks. “…”

            To hear him protest so strongly for her sake so sincerely made Julia feel embarrassed as well. He had grown up since she last saw him, too, and looked much less like a teenager and more like a man. Even his facial hair grew out and she could see the different shades of brown in his hair from where she sat. All the men of the Thomas family were good looking, even the youngest, and Julia felt this even more acutely than before. She returned her gaze to the feeding infant in her arms and tried to ignore the thoughts curling through her mind. It had been far too long since a man touched her; she decided with a light sigh.

“She is, and I appreciate all she does for our children. But that is not enough to make me love her. She’s just not the woman for me.” Marcus countered, standing, irritation rolling off him in waves. “Sorry to break the image of our parents you seemed to have. It’s not always rainbows and unicorns. Goodnight.”

“Wait but…”

“You can stay here tonight. After we’ve all had some sleep, we’ll talk about what to do next.” He walked away without another word.

            She looked at Zachariah, who looked crestfallen. Who could blame him considering all he learned in a day and having two people he idolized tell him the truth? Well, that, and having a baby dropped off on him out of nowhere. Julia looked down at the tiny baby in her arms with a sad smile. Part of her wondered just why his ex did that to herself after having the baby, but she felt it would be poor timing to bring that up now. So many things happened in less than a day for this child, and she felt pity form in the pit of her stomach, followed by concern. Would he… question his parents about this marriage?

“Why did you… marry him then? Why didn’t you just run away and let us take the fall?” Zachariah asked, turning to me with saddened eyes.

“That’s not what the eldest sibling does, Zachariah.” Julia said, reaching out to pat his shoulder while taking care not to squeeze the baby too tight. “Plus, we would have lost our futures as well. There was only one route for us to take.”

“I still don’t get how he didn’t grow to love you… I mean, I used to be so jealous of him. A gorgeous wife, twins, a job he didn’t have to work too hard for…” He pouted like a child before he locked eyes with her. “Can… can you teach me how to take care of her like you do?”

~~~~~Zachariah~~~~~

            Marcus was a lucky man, Zachariah thought, watching Julia the day after he showed up on their doorstep. Even after having twins, she still maintained her amazing hourglass shape and weight. He watched as she pulled her long, strawberry-blonde hair into a ponytail, revealing the soft curve of her neck before she leaned forward to lift Sophia from her bassinet. Since he first met Julia years ago, he continued to think about how lucky Marcus was, but seeing the woman in person caught him off guard. He honestly thought he got rid of the crush he had on her when he was fourteen. Apparently, it still filled his stomach with butterflies and made his heart race in his chest.

            At that moment, Marcus walked into the living room, completely ignoring the beautiful woman in favor of turning on the stocks channel on television. Last night, they both retired to different bedrooms, so they must be telling the truth about his parents, even if it seemed unlikely. Julia walked up to him with Sophia in her arms, and her beautiful green eyes locked with his. The soft, floral scent of her right in front of him made his thoughts go haywire, and he cleared his throat, hoping it would somehow clear his mind. She smiled softly before the gentle warmth of Sophia ended up in his arms.

            When they told him last night, they did not love each other, the first thought in his mind was they must be lying. They looked absolutely perfect together, and from where he stood, it did not look as though they fought a lot. He looked down at the baby in his arms and thought of the girl who dropped her off. Sophia’s mom looked similar to Julia, with strawberry-blonde hair and bright green eyes. The biggest difference between the two was their personalities. Clair, his ex-girlfriend, only wanted the money people knew his family for. He broke up with her months ago, not realizing she ended up pregnant until she brought the baby over.

“So, we need to figure out what we’re going to do about this…” Marcus said, interrupting the quiet of the room. “We could pass the baby off as mine and Julia’s and say we didn’t know she was pregnant again.”

“Would mom and dad believe that if they know you two don’t love each other?” Zachariah asked, turning his attention to his older brother. “And I don’t just want to drop my baby off on you two when you’ve already got problems with them.”

“That… is true… then again, our parents seem to have deluded themselves into believing Julia and I love each other.” Marcus returned, looking at the woman as she stared at her tablet. “As far as you’re concerned, if you really want to step up and take responsibility, then you should move in with us.”