Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“No, don’t say it. Don’t conjure her.” I whispered and looked at the door. My youngest daughter has a tendency to appear out of nowhere when least expected.
She’s also responsible for me not having to go through another pregnancy because her father was on the fence about what we might produce this time. At six, almost seven, she has broken the mold.
All of my kids are lovely. Eleven months after the triplets were born, we had twin boys, and a couple of years later, our daughter was born. There was nothing different or special about this pregnancy other than the fact that she was like my other three, a single.
But ever since she was born, Justice disappeared after cussing me up one side and down the other. “When are Monique and the kids getting here?”
“They should be here in about an hour.”
Monique and Carl got married to nobody’s surprise but their own and had two lovely kids, one of each. Her eldest is a favorite among all the kids and spoils them rotten, which leaves us parents to clean up his mess once he’s gone.
As a family, we all spent holidays together, and life had just been one happy occurrence after another. But then there’s Madelyn. Even thinking her name makes me shiver and look around as if expecting to find her lurking in a corner.
I had to get out of bed and head down to the garden to oversee the preparations for our little garden party. The kids had invited their friends over as usual and this place was going to be a madhouse before long.
“Mo, where did you disappear to?” The play date had been in full swing for about an hour, and I hadn’t seen the kids in about that long.
“Shh, come with me.”
“What happened now?”
“I don’t know, but these fucking kids are up to something.”
“What now?”
“I keep telling you people, between my two and your youngest, they’re all going to jail.” I followed her across the garden to the playhouse their father had had built for them so they could have their own space as if there weren’t enough rooms in the house already.
“What’s going on?” She always overreacts, and then she’s the head one crying for mercy when the rest of us want to bring down the hammer on them.
I heard loud music blasting from inside when we got near, but not the type of music their father and I allowed them to listen to because they were too young. Even Gracie, at twelve, wouldn’t dare. But I know who would.
“Open the door.” My hands were full because she caught me while I was bringing out a tray of cupcakes that the bakery had just sent over.
We opened the door, and my youngest daughter was blasting bitch, better have my money while her cousins sat around as some little girl looked like her life was about to end.
“Oh, hi Mom, hi Aunty Mo-Mo.”
“Madelyn, what in the world are you doing?” The child made a run for it, and my little girl yelled after her. “I’ma break my foot off in your ass if you don’t pay me back.”
“Oh, my goodness, I know what happened to Justice.”
MARCUS
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes, Daddy, I’m sure.”
“And you’re not just doing it because your siblings went along with it?” Gracie shook her head. At twelve, she was the only one of my kids who didn’t have my name and hadn’t been legally adopted until now.
I’d wanted it to be her choice when she was ready, and she let me know that she was. Her mother and I had the papers drawn up, and it was time to see the judge. She was a bit clingy lately, but I knew it was because of all the uproar in her life and prepubescence.
I always make sure to make time for her, and our father-daughter time is very special to both of us because I know she’s the only one who remembers her dad.
She’d held out this long because she felt tremendous guilt, and I respected that, even though it killed me inside because he didn’t care. The one time I had visited him in jail to give him a chance to be a part of their lives even though I didn’t want to, but was willing to do it for my kids, he couldn’t care less.
I wanted to kill him on the spot for the callous way he’d just disregarded them as if they were nothing but held it together for their sakes. It wasn’t long before rumors started getting around at her school, and that’s when she asked her mom and me for the truth.
We didn’t think she was old enough yet, but she wanted to know, so we told her in the safest way possible, which brings us to now. Now, she holds my hand when we walk anywhere together and has been calling me dad for the better part of a year now.