girl, always in a hurry, never takes the time to slow down. I take a minute and straighten up her room to give her and Rogue some alone time. She has a bond with him that is much different than the one she has with me and I respect that and encourage it. Every girl needs her daddy’s love and affection, and I’m their biggest supporter.
“Momma! Daddy wants to talk to you now,” I hear hollered from the other end of the house.
“Coming!” I call out, hurrying that way so I can hear the verdict and brace myself for possible impact. However, Harmony didn’t sound as upset as I thought she would. I grab the phone, a bit surprised, as I watch my girl head back toward her room. I assume to finish styling the clown look she’s rocking.
“Hey,” I say, as I put the phone between my ear and shoulder and begin to place the noodles into a pan of water I’ve now brought to a boil.
“I’ll try to be home as early as I can in the morning. I’m sorry for ditching on y’all, but this can’t wait.”
“I understand,” I reply through a pout. “We’ll be here waiting for you. Do what needs to be done and come home whenever you can. But if you could make that tomorrow at the very latest, that’d be great. No pressure, though.”
“I will,” he replies through a chuckle. “Hey, Rora? I love you.”
My heart begins to race inside my chest. The way he just asked me by name before declaring his feelings for me has me missing him already. Thank goodness these types of nights are few and far between, because they sure leave me feeling alone and in an empty bed. “Love you back,” I say, wishing I could wrap my arms around him and help soothe whatever has him so off balance.
Once we hang up I finish dinner and spend the rest of the night letting Harmony practice. I give her a bath, washing away all of the hard work she so diligently took her time on. I finish off by reading her favorite book to her as she snuggles down into bed. When I finally make my way to my own bed after my shower, I can’t help but worry about what is possibly going on that has taken Rogue away from us at nighttime. He never spends a full night away from us, unless he’s on a run, in which case he tells me that he has one, so I know this is something monumental.
I fall into a fitful sleep. One that’s plagued with nightmares pertaining to death, destruction and mayhem. My restlessness has this night dragging, and I decide to get up and grab myself a glass of water. As I make my way to the kitchen, I cross through our living area only to see the figure of a shadow outside our window. A thousand thoughts now run a marathon in my mind and I’ve got to get to my gun. The only problem is that it’s back in my bedroom, so I lean up against the wall and peek back out the window and notice the shadow’s now approaching. Fuck! Harmony! She’s clear across the house too. Frantically, I search my immediate surroundings and am left with only one choice. I glance again, my heart picks up more and more in speed and now I’m running full speed on adrenaline. I quickly retrieve the umbrella lying up against the wall by our front door. The end is pointed and this will have to work until I can get to the gun tucked into my nightstand drawer. The figure is now standing on my front porch and as I peek through the window again, I see the flicker of a lighter as this soon-to-be dead bastard lights his last smoke. My doorknob begins to twist and I decide I’m not waiting for this sonofabitch to catch me off-guard. In two swift motions, I unlock and open my front door and jab the end of the umbrella with all the force I can muster toward the torso of the shadowed man. As soon as I feel resistance, I know I’ve made contact, so I turn around and begin to run to grab my gun. I never look back as I have one mission to complete and that’s to see this motherfucker dead.
“Aurora!” My name is called out behind me from a familiar voice, a very familiar