Part II: Taylor Who?
“Honey!” Yelled Abby as she placed her keys and bags on the hall table. “We’re up here!” Came Avie’s voice gently down the stairwell. Abigail sifted through her bag and produced the book before grabbing the rest of the bag up in her arm and starting upstairs. “Hi, you guys.” Isaac smiled at her and came over. Hugging her, he planted a kiss on her forehead. “How was Christmas shopping?” He asked, straining his eye to see inside her bag. Zoë bounded over, her blonde curls bouncing. “Yeah, Abby! Did you see Santa?” Abby laughed and put her bags down so she could scoop Zoë up. “Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t.” The little girl pouted. “Well, why not? I wrote him my letter last week, and he can only get my silver moon light saber at the stand in the mall!” Abby rocked her a little and rubbed her back soothingly while frantically mouthing to Isaac. He, however, could not grasp what she was saying. She rolled her eyes and gave up. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure Santa will have your silver moon light saber by Christmas.” She said pointedly, gesturing at Isaac. He finally got it. She placed Zoë gently back on her feet and smacked her tush lightly. Zoë giggled and scurried away. “Zo, you wanna help me make lunch?” Offered Avie. Zoë nodded enthusiastically and the two pounded down the stairs. Abby glared at Isaac. “Somebody’s in trouble, somebody’s in trouble...” Sang Mac softly under his breath. Isaac glared at him. “Butt out.” Mac shrugged. “Just trying to help,” “Isaac!” Whined Abigail. “I told you last week that you had to get her light saber! Now what if they’re all sold out, what are we going to do?” Isaac held her by the shoulders. “Don’t worry, Ab, I promise I’ll get Zoë’s sword by then. Don’t worry.” “It’s a light saber!” Abby cried. “Alright alright.” Isaac clucked. She pointed to the door. “Go, now. Get the light saber so I don’t have to hurt you.” Mac chuckled. “I’ll go with you.” Isaac sighed. “Okay, come on, let’s go.” Mac bounded off the couch and in the process tripped over the heap that was Abby’s purchases. He picked a thick book out from underneath himself. “What’s this?” He asked, his eyes quickly scanned it. “Oh,” He mumbled. Isaac took it from him, muttering obscenities under his breath. “Abby, where did this come from?” He asked through gritted teeth. She was dumbfounded by their reactions. “Well, I saw it in the book store while I was shopping. I figured I should show it to you.” “Dammit!” Isaac threw the book against the wall where it landed and dropped to the ground with a loud bang. A few seconds later, Avery ran up the stairs, with Zoë hot on her heels. “What’s the matter? What’s happened?” She demanded. “Look at this!” Isaac roared, snatching the book from the floor. He thrust it at Avery. She took it and stared in disbelief. “Who the fuck does she think she is?” Avery demanded. Zoë tugged at Avery’s arm, taking the book from her. Avery and Isaac were trading nasty words about Wilson Shimell now. Zoë carefully read the book cover to herself. When she was finished, it was unceremoniously dropped to the floor. “Mac,” she asked, loudly, “Who’s Taylor?” Mac’s mouth moved but no sound came out. Isaac and Avery ceased their Wilson bashing. Abby watched in disbelief as Avery’s face slowly crumbled and she slid to the floor, holding her face in her hands. Isaac and Mac stared at her for a second before Mac crawled over to her. “It’s okay, Avie.” She shook her head and sobbed. Isaac finally dropped to his knees before her and pulled her tightly to his sweatered chest. She sank against him limply. Zoë started crying and tug at Isaac’s arm. “Ikey, what’s wrong? Why is Avie crying? What’s wrong, who’s Taylor?” Isaac didn’t say a word to her but instead pulled his fourteen year old sister into his lap and started rocking her. She clutched desperately at his shirt and buried her face in it. The longer Isaac ignored her, the more frantic Zoë became. “Avie, oh, Avie, please don’t cry.” Isaac begged. Mac crawled over and placed his arms around the two. Abby finally snapped out of her state of temporary shock and picked up the hysterical Zoë. “Come here, baby, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Zoë wrapped her pudgy arms around Abigail’s neck and hugged. “A-Abby, what’s wrong? W-What’s w-wrong?” Abby glanced at the hysterical trio on the floor. Elsewhere in the house, wails were erupting very loudly. Looking into Zoë’s scared little eyes, Abby tried to smile reassuringly and headed down the stairs.
After placing Zoë gently down on her bed, Abby hurried toward the crib and picked up her son. Zoë was still whimpering softly to herself so Abby took the baby and walked over to the rocking chair. “Come here, sweetie,” She offered and patted her lap. Zoë sniffed and padded over, climbing onto Abby’s legs. “Can I hold Christian?” She asked, holding her arms out. Abby gently placed Christian into Zoë’s hands and pulled Zoë back against her so she could hold them both. Zoë was still sniffling as Christian’s eyes began to flutter closed. Abby gently rocked until the baby was fully asleep and Zoë was starting to doze off herself. Then she gently positioned Christian in the crook of her arm and gathered the little girl she loved like a daughter to her with her other arm. She stood up carefully and walked to Zoë’s bed. Placing the little girl down, she cuddled her own baby for a minute before kissing his head and putting him back in his crib, where he had been napping. Thinking Zoë could do for a nap too, she tucked the comforter around the little girl and wiped the tear streaked tendrils of hair from her cheeks. She bent low to kiss Zoë’s forehead and turned toward the door. She was suprised to see Isaac standing there. “My mom used to do that too,” He whispered to her in a ragged voice. She felt a sudden pain for her husband and walked near to him. She turned him away from the room and gently closed the door behind her.
Leading her husband up the stairs and into the living room, Abby gently sat him down on the couch. They stared at each other for a second before he spoke. “Abby... I’m sorry about how I acted upstairs. It’s just... we miss Taylor enough without that Shimell bitch causing more trouble.” Abby nodded sympathetically. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I even brought it home, I just thought you deserved to know.” Now Isaac nodded. “Where’s Ave and Mac?” Abby wondered aloud, looking around. Isaac looked down. “Avery is in her room and Mac’s in the den.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to ask Jess and Zac to come over tomorrow. It’s time we all faced Taylor. We’ve ignored him long enough.” Abby tried to cut in but he kept going. “It’s just that we’ve been trying to forget Taylor, and now it seems like his baby sister may have succeeded. It hurts, Abby, right here.” He took her hand and placed her palm across his heart. She choked back her tears and covered his hand with her other one. He looked at her for a long moment before he released her hand. “Abby...” He murmured hesitantly. “Yeah?” “Do you, umm... What I mean is... does it ever bother you to have my brother and sisters here? I know you’re so young to be a mom to them... I know you said you didn’t mind but I-I just don’t want you to hate me for this in the long run.” She moved closer to him to hug him. “Oh, God. Isaac, I love your brothers and sisters, like they’re my brothers and sisters, and Zoë is like my daughter. I would never mind that. But I don’t want them to think I’m replacing their mother either.” Isaac nodded and released her from the embrace. He stroked her cheek gently before getting up and going to call Zac.
Ring! Ring! Ring! “Hello?” Jessica hurriedly picked up the phone. “Hey.” Came Isaac’s voice to her ear. She smiled unconsciously. “Hey! What’s up?” She covered the microphone for a second. “Zac!” She screamed. “Yeah?” He replied from the kitchen, where he was rummaging through the refrigerator. “Pick up the phone, Isaac’s on it!” He yelled back an affirmative answer and she heard the click of him picking up the phone. “Sup?” He asked through a mouthful of cheesy doodles. Isaac sighed. He had known it was a bad idea for these two to get an apartment together. Cheese Doodles were most likely the only food they had over there. “Yeah,” Said Jess. “To what do we owe the honor, big brother?” Isaac sighed. “Well, I hate to call for bad news and all...” Began Isaac. “But?” interrupted Zac who had swallowed. “But, did you guys see the new biography Wilson wrote?” Jess gulped hard. “No, it’s not on Taylor is it?” Isaac sighed. “Yeah, it is. And Ave had sort of an extreme shall we say, reaction to it. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea if you two came over tomorrow for dinner.” Jess cursed. “Why, Isaac, it’s not going to do any good-” Isaac cut in. “Because Taylor is our brother. And we need to face it.” Zac’s angry voice cut him off. “Taylor is not our brother. He gave up any claim to this family the day he walked out on us for that, that...” At this there came an angry growl from Zac and a click as he slammed down his receiver. Jessica sighed. “We’ll be there.”
Abby climbed into bed later that night, beside her slumbering husband. She gazed at him for a moment, smiling, before she reached to her night-stand and picked up the troublesome book. Might as well see what old Wilson has to say. She thought, and with that she opened the book.
Chapter One
July, 2001
“Isn’t he adorable, Wilson?” My friend Tara
squealed next to me. I agreed. Taylor Hanson, the boy before me was beautiful. It was an instant
crush. “You wanna meet him?” Giggled Tara devilishly, and not knowing where this would
ultimately lead, I naively agreed. She called to him and he tossed the basketball he’d been playing
with to one of his friends. He jogged over, wiping the sweat from his brow. Tara smiled in a ditzy
sort of way and giggled. I rolled my eyes; I hated it when she did that. Taylor smiled politely. Tara
introduced me only after I nudged her, and I could feel my heart beat out of my chest when he
smiled at me. He touched my arm slightly when he said hi and I almost fainted. Of course I knew
who he was but by then their stardom had begun to settle down to a point where I’m not quite
sure if he knew I knew. When I went home that night I did nothing but think about him. The way
his eyes sparkled when he smiled, the way my skin went all tingly when he touched my arm. But
forgive me, I’m getting back into my teen stages here and I realize I must sound ridiculous. But
those who know Taylor intimately, I’m sure, could back me up on his charm. I knew, somehow
that he must have felt the same way about me. I felt as if, at the age of 15, I had finally begun to
live. Yes, I was fifteen at the time. Taylor was eighteen, but everyone knows opposites attract,
and I believe this applies to age too...
Abby was alarmed already at the path this book appeared to be taking. It sounded as if this Wilson believed herself to be in love with Taylor at first sight. No wonder she was so pissed when Orianna came along. “Baby, what are you doing? It’s late.” Isaac mumbled beside her while draping an arm across her stomach. She smiled and marking her page, placed the book in her night-stand drawer. After flipping off her bedside light, she snuggled down under the comforter and Isaac pulled her close. She smiled slightly as he wrapped a leg around her and began to softly mumble into her neck. She closed her eyes for sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day.