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Roan Rallar was in his late forties. In his arms he held a female infant, which was his only granddaughter of the newborn triplets. A toothless smile lit her little round face as she smiled up at him—her bright eyes fluttering open and closed. The little girl and her triplet brothers were the children of Roan’s nineteen year old son, Rei. Rei’s wife, Rachel, held the other two boys in her arms.
The Rallar family had gathered together for a discussion concerning these newest family additions, and what to do with them.
Rei stared out the living room window. He thought for a moment and then said, “Rachel and I are putting the triplets up for adoption, unless you are willing to take care of them.”
“My son, what do you mean?” Roan looked up, “You can’t be serious? You are joking?”
“I meant every word in that statement,” Rei turned around and looked at Roan, his eyes glittered with cold sternness, “Rachel and I don’t even have a house for ourselves, and I don’t want to be a father yet.”
“You are heartless, Rei, and definitely not thinking right,” Said Lynx, the younger of Roan’s two sons. His bright voice and input did nothing to help the situation, “Leave them here. You can have them back when you’re thinking straight.”
Rei had always seemed cold. He never really liked children, and never thought that he and Rachel would ever have their own.
“Surely, you don’t want this too, Rachel?” Lynx looked at his sister-in-law.
Sitting near Rei, Rachel held her two hushed newborn sons in her arms. Weakness and stress covered her triangular face, and her black hair—which was pulled into a tight bun—began to give her a headache.
She looked down at the boys in her arms. Innocent, lovable, perfect reflections of their father in appearance. Tears trickled down her face as she looked into their eyes, and they cooed and smiled up at her.
“Rachel,” Rei looked towards her, “We already discussed this, remember? And you agreed.”
Rachel furrowed her brows and sighed. It was not that she didn’t want the triplets, but the stress on her marriage, her want for Rei to be happy, and all it took to care for the babies without help was too much. She also didn’t want to be known as the ‘parent that abandoned her children’. She and Rei had gotten married right out of high school, and the immediate pregnancy thrust the young couple into a world they barely understood. If only it had been one child—just one, instead of three.
Rachel looked up at her brother-in-law with tear filled eyes, but she said nothing.
“Young idiots,” Lynx muttered angrily and kicked the table base, “You can’t care for them because you don’t have the heart to.”
“That’s enough—they will stay here,” Roan said authoritatively, “And when you come to your senses, let’s hope they’ll have the heart to forgive you.”