Chloe looked at Dorothea, and Dorothea gave her a sign to go, "You should check on them, I'll keep the boys here for now."
"Okay," Chloe nodded. She told the other boys to stay with Granny as she went to the other room through the connecting door.
Chloe saw Mackie and Aaron hugging while crying together, though she didn't know what had happened yet. Looking at them hugging so tightly, she already guessed in her mind.
Chloe took a deep breath and approached Mackie and Aaron.
She stood right before them and patted their heads, "Can you two tell me what happened? Why are you crying?"
Mackie and Aaron sobbed, but they stopped hugging each other and faced Chloe in front of them. Mackie wiped her tears and replied between her sobs, "Mommy, why didn't you tell me that Aunt Chelsea hurt Gran?"
Chloe glanced at Aaron, and Aaron lowered his head ashamedly, "I'm sorry, Aunty. I can't help it. Boss Mackie asked about my mom, and I just… I'm too sad to lie…"
Chloe sighed. She couldn't blame Aaron either. He was just a child with a traumatic experience. Instead of scolding him, she should've comforted him instead.
She looked at Mackie, who continued sobbing. Her heart got heavy as she knew that Mackie went through a lot today, from one bad news to another. It was surprising that Mackie still had the energy to meet with her cousins.
Chloe opened her arms and wrapped her hands behind Mackie and Aaron's heads. She pushed their heads to her chest to comfort them and said in her gentlest voice possible.
"We can't reverse time, and we can't stop her from hurting Gran. But you two should know that I will never abandon you. You might lose Aunt Chelsea and Gran, but you still have me, Granny Dorothea, and also Uncle Vernon," Chloe said. She knew that, at this point, there was no use in keeping secrets anymore. Mackie already knew everything, and Aaron was too damaged to hide things for his age. All they needed was comfort and safety, and those were the only things Chloe could give them.
"You don't need to remember about bad dreams. You have me, just lean on me and everything will be just fine," Chloe said.
Aaron was the first one to react. He began to sob again. He gritted his teeth, trying to endure the pain in his heart.
The nightmare after that night never disappeared. Every time he closed his eyes, he'd be haunted by the image of Gran telling him to go as she tried to hold their crazed mother was forever engraved in his mind.
He didn't know if Aunt Chloe truly understood his pain or not, but one thing was for sure, he didn't want to remember that bad dream.
He'd rather dream of Aunt Chloe hugging him like this or dreaming of playing with his brothers and Boss Mackie. He wanted to dream of good things.
Mackie was no better. She was actually scared when that evil woman attacked them. She wanted to protect her mother but was too scared to even look. She couldn't erase the image of those big men coming out of the body bags.
But both of them were in the comfort of Chloe right now, wishing they had dreamed nothing but good dreams.
Chloe patted their heads lovingly. She knew it'd be hard for them to recover from this trauma. But she had decided to take care of them aside from sending them to a child psychologist.
"Don't worry about anything, as long as you're with me, Uncle, and Granny, everything will be just fine," Chloe comforted again. She repeatedly repeated that sentence to assure Aaron and Mackie of their safety.
It took a while until both of them stopped crying. They got sleepy after so many tears that they began to get drowsy and fall asleep not long after.
Chloe smiled and carefully lined them to sleep side by side on the bed so they could rest.
She kissed their foreheads and muttered, "Don't worry, Mommy will do everything to give all of you a good life. That's my promise."
Chloe tiptoed out of the room so she wouldn't make a noise. She closed the door carefully and then returned to the kitchen.
Dorothea had just finished baking two apple pies, so Mackie and Aaron must've cried for over an hour.
Dorothea served the hot pie on the kitchen countertop and let it cool down for a while before the boys could eat it.
She looked at Chloe, who had just come out, and asked, "Is everything alright?"
The boys quickly surrounded their Aunty and asked the same thing, to which Chloe replied with a nod, "Everything is alright. They are sleeping right now, so it's better not to disturb them, okay?"
"Yes, Aunty!"
"Yes!"
"Okay!"
Thus, Chloe spent her late afternoon eating apple pie with Dorothea and the three boys. Since Mackie was still sleeping, she decided to just cook the dinner with Dorothea and heated it once Vernon returned from whatever he was doing outside.
Dorothea checked on Chloe, who was busy dicing vegetables right next to her, and whispered, "Mackie and Aaron, did they cry because of Chelsea and Judith?"
"Yeah…" Chloe nodded. "Aaron accidentally told Mackie about the truth, and they are crying together because of it. I can't blame them though, they've been through a lot. So all I can do is to give them comfort and assurance of their safety. They finally fell asleep after crying for over an hour."
Dorothea stared at Chloe with sympathy. She knew that Chloe also went through a lot. She also suffered but still stayed strong for her daughter and nephews.
So Dorothea gently patted her palm and said, "You also suffered, Chloe. You're a strong woman on your own."
Chloe paused for a moment and smiled thin, "It's fine. My suffering will be all worth it once I get a good ending for all of us. I just want to be happy with everyone that I love."
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