4. Roses

*Thomas POV*

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck,"

I cursed out loud as I ran the third red light on my way to the hospital in the fastest car we had, Matty's Lambo. I could feel my phone going off like crazy, but without looking I knew it was my husbands considering I grabbed the keys and ran out of the house without saying a word.

I just didn't have the time.

I was trying to hold in my tears as I remembered the last time I saw my mother.

.

.

.

"NO SON OF MINE WILL DISOBEY GODS COMMAND AND LIE WITH MEN, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE FAGGOT!"

My father's words pierced into my ears as he shredded through my room in the tiny apartment on the border of downtown LA.

"No Dad, please! I can't help it! It's just who I am!" I tried to call out to him but it was of no use. He slammed me against the wall holding me by the collar of my shirt and punched me in the face as I was still so skinny back then that I couldn't defend myself.

"I DIDN'T RAISE YOU TO BE LIKE THIS! YOU WERE NEVER LIKE THIS BEFORE,"

Another hit.

"IT'S FROM HANGING OUT IN THAT STUPID BAND WITH THOSE FUCKIN TRANY'S AND THAT RETARDED FAGGOT MATTHIAS,"

Two more and I could feel a wet sticky substance sliding down my face.

"ROBERT STOP IT!"

My mother screamed in my defense and I turned to see her standing in the doorway to the kitchen with tears streaming down her beautiful face and her hands covering her mouth.

"LET OUR BOY GO!" She called out and my father laughed in my face, getting in one last punch before dropping me.

"He's not our boy anymore Rue. Get the fuck out of here and I never want to see your face around here again ya' hear?" My father shouted down to me as I could barely stand. My sister wasn't home from school yet but my brother was, watching from the top of the staircase.

"You see this Adrian? This is what happens to you when you become a special snowflake. It looks like I only raised one real man in this household now," He said and kicks me as I finally get up, taking one last glance at my mama before hobbling out the door and never coming back.

I remember when the homelessness sank in.

But I was one of the lucky ones.

I only lived on the streets for a week before the NTB Dorm was bought and I made my home.

.

.

.

I always hoped my father would die first so I could see my mother again, but it was starting to look like that wasn't the case.

I reached the hospital at around nine and rushed into the LAC+USC medical center in the center of Los Angeles and rushed to the front desk.

"What can I help you with sir, oh! Aren't you Thomas Jackson?" The nurse at the front desk recognizes me and I shook my head.

"No, but I'm looking for my mom. Her name is Rumi Isadora Jackson," She quickly searched the name and handed me a small slip of paper with her room number on it.

"She's in the cardio unit, Take this elevator and go to the right. You can't miss it," She tells me with a fake smile and I nod, taking the paper and rush to the elevator to the fourth floor. Getting off, my own heart started pounding with every footstep as I rushed into the cardio unit, hitting my first brick wall.

My father and brother were arguing outside what I presumed to be my mother's hospital room going back and forth until they saw me coming.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Adrian asked as he tried to block my entrance but I easily pushed him aside.

"Hey! I'm talking to you faggot!" He yelled and I just smirked as he tried to lay his hands on me but I easily blocked him, being both faster and stronger than his alcoholic drug abusing ass.

"And I'm not listening," I grunt and he tried to hit me but I caught his fist and pushed him to the side. My father saying nothing as I entered my mother's room and closed the door behind me, clicking the lock in place.

"You made it," Sophia cried out as she rushed up to hug me and I hugged her back. Looking behind her at the hospital bed where my mother was lying, barely awake her eyes met mine and it's like the whole world stopped.

"She's been asking for you nonstop Thomas," Sophia informed me as she let me go and I slowly approached my mother's side. It had been seven years since I last saw her face and she held her hand out to me.

"Thomas? Is that you baby?" She asked and I could already feel the burning tears sitting in my lower eyelids.

"Yes Mama, it's me," I confirmed her suspicions and took her small hand in mine, letting her fingers curl around my palm.

"Oh Thomas you look so grown now, look at you. You're so handsome," Mama says as she touched my cheek and I knew somehow that this might be the last time I get to look into her beautiful violet eyes which had been passed down to my little Mika-Ji.

"You're still so beautiful Mama," I told her and she smiled.

"Thomas, how have you been baby? I heard you got married. Are you taking good care of your husband?" She asked and I couldn't help but laugh a little at her question. I wasn't going to send her into shock by saying I have two husbands.

"Yes Mama, he's doing just fine and I love him with everything I have," I tell her honestly and she pats my cheek.

"Good boy and you better share that love with your second husband too, got it? And tell them Mama Rue says she wishes she could have met them. I feel like you would have only married the finest gentlemen." Mama says and my throat runs dry from the shock of her knowing. I gently kiss her hand giving it a small squeeze.

"I will," I said, my voice growing hoarse and she smiled, warming my heart in an instant.

"And how is my grandbaby Jaydean? I bet you, you're an amazin father. I hope you learned from your own father's mistakes," She said and let out a small cough, scaring me.

"Jaydean is really good Mama, she's in first grade now and she's a really funny little character. But she's not your only grandchild. You have four more," I told her and she gasped.

"Four more? How is that possible?" She asked with a pout and I pulled out my phone.

"I had quadruplets Mama and they're beautiful look," I showed her our family photo that we took when the Quad Squad turned a year old. All eight of us were sitting on the front porch of the farm with Cooper and Houston in front of us and a miracle happened because all the babies were smiling, even Novalee.

"Oh Thomas, is this your family? They're so beautiful...oh baby I don't have the words," Mama whispered as she looked at the photo.

"The quads are a little over a year now and they're all running all over the place, driving us crazy but we love them. We have one girl and three boys. This is Novalee over here, then there's Nakoa and Mika-Ji on their big sister's lap, and lastly, there's our little Rumi trying to get away," I pointed each of them out, saving Rumi's name for last because I named him after her and she started to cry.

"Mama, please don't cry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset," I quickly put my phone away and apologizes as I wiped her tears with the pads of my thumbs.

"Thomas, I should be the one apologizing. I'm so sorry that I failed you as a mother. I'm sorry that I let you down. I never should have let you go. I'm sorry, I wish I could have met the little ones but I guess God didn't want me to be a grandma," She cried and I felt my own tears finally starting to slip.

"No, that's not true. Hang on mama, just hang on and I can bring the little ones to you tomorrow. You can meet them and play with them. They're all so sweet Mama, please." I begged but it was too late as she took her last breath and the monitors started to ring.

"Mama, please. You have to meet them and I'll even bring Matty and Luca and you can ask them about what it's like to be married to me. You would love them so much," I cried but I knew she wasn't coming back and she never did.

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*Author wipes tears on his sleeve*

Four chapters in, already balling my eyes out.