REprisal - Kathy Coopmans Page 0,65
makes her way down the hallway.
“What?” I say to my dad, who now has a scowl on his face after I pick up Nolan.
“Nothing. Just remember what you just did by stealing my grandson from me when your daughter is older and I spoil her rotten. I’m sending her back home to you in a sugar coma bouncing off the walls.”
I poke my tongue at him and nuzzle into Nolan, who keeps repeating, ‘Papa. Papa.’ I pooh-pooh Papa and take him with me.
“What a way to spend your anniversary!” I say to the girls when I walk into Journey’s room.
Clothes are sprawled all over the floor and my kid is lying half-naked beside them.
“I appreciate everything you all have done, just in case I forgot to tell you,” I tell them both. I’ve only said it a few hundred times in the couple of hours they have been here.
“You seem to be holding up okay with the news about your mother and Caleb getting out,” Krista observes as I sit down next to them.
Nolan hops off my lap, going right for his mother.
“Not much I can do, really. I will say this, though. She isn’t going to go down completely without a fight, and she’ll find a way to come after me even if she is confined to her own home. I’m ready for her this time.”
The smile slips off of my face, replaced with outrage and hatred toward that bitch.
“You ladies want to come out and talk a minute?” Dad questions from the doorway.
“Be right there,” we say in unison, finally choosing the perfect outfit for Journey to wear.
“Turner will love this one,” I smile, pulling the simple pink t-shirt over her belly.
“Come on little one, let’s go show daddy this shirt grandma picked out.”
Melody snatches her right out of my arms. I’m not used to sharing her, so you would think I would be jealous, but I’m not. I’m enjoying how this small family is throwing themselves right back into the swing of things and acting as if nothing has happened. Whether it’s for my benefit and peace of mind or not, it still feels good.
“I missed you,” Krista says when we are left alone in the room.
I toss a dirty diaper in the little diaper disposal and turn around, meeting her sincere gaze.
“Me too,” I say.
“You know I’m here for you for anything, and I mean anything. Day, night, it doesn’t matter. You forget I know you too well. Even though I can never even begin to know what it’s like for you, I can see behind your eyes that you’re struggling with this news about your mother.”
Her words are spot on. I am scared to fucking death of her, of the inhuman things she has done.
“I’m extremely scared, but she can’t hurt me unless I let her, and I will be damned if I will let that fucking cunt rule my life. I may be nothing like my mother in the way she only thinks and cares about herself, but I am everything like her when it comes to getting what I want. And what I want is for that bitch to fucking die for what she has done to me.”
Chapter Twenty
Clove
Is a picture really worth a thousand words? If so, there isn’t even one I can think of now. The vision I am staring at right now as I enter the family room in my new house has left me with no words. Everything around is shut out, gone. All eyes are on me except for his; I can feel them, but nothing else matters right now. I am unable to move as I watch my husband’s head bent over, mere inches from our daughter’s face, his hand across her beating heart as he tells her how much he loves her.
What I feel in this house is love, the kind of love a family should have for one another, bonding, talking and making memories that last a lifetime. This is what I want for my child, and for the future children I hope to have. I owe it all to the two men who are now making their way toward me.
“You okay, sweetie?” Zack asks as he pulls me in for his big brother bear hug.
“I’m getting there, and you?”
“I’m fine. Worried about you, is all. We all are. You’ve been through so much and I know you. You will keep all of this bottled up inside until you break.”
My dad steps up and cups