28. Jamison
“Do you want strawberries or blueberries on your pancakes lamb?” I asked my favourite eight year old as she came tumbling into the kitchen wearing an ensemble that would rival Dame Edna Everidge and of course her best friend Optimus trailed dutifully behind her. It was what made Miracle wonderful amongst all her other quirky attributes.
It never failed to amaze me how much I had grown to love the beautiful mini clone of my fiancé. Still, I woke up every morning counting my stroke of luck that I came to this small town, then to get up and go to the kitchen to have my time with Miracle.
“Strawberries please JJ,” she said in her cute voice as she sat down at the table with more noise, I thought a child of her stature could make. I felt the familiar tug in my chest hearing her nickname for me, one she came up for me all by herself.
One day I hope she wants to call me dad. The thought popped into my mind and not for the first time. I’d already decided to adopt her as a wedding present to Gisele, so all I have to do was find the right way to ask Miracle if she would want to be my daughter legally. Her sperm donor wasn’t much but he held that title. The fact he blew it was all on him, but I wasn’t going to force my lamb into anything she didn’t want.
No matter how badly I wanted it.
“Strawberries it is,” I acquiesced, immediately grabbing a handful of the ripe fruit and went about cutting the green off then quartering them and plopping them all over the stack of freshly made pancakes.
Once upon a time breakfast was the first fast food joint, I passed on my way to work, now I made a point of making breakfast for my girls every morning. A task I have come to enjoy and look forward to immensely.
Placing the plate in front of Miracle, I added a bottle of maple syrup and a can of whipped cream. Gisele was not a fan of the cheat version, but I did not see the point of hand whipping just enough cream for one person.
“Dig in lamb, then I’m taking you to school today.” I told her and in return received a huge grin, she even did a little shimmy shake in her seat which made me feel like a fucking king.
Upstairs I could hear my fiancé shuffling around not doubt her feet stuffed into a pair of huge bunny slippers complete with a carrot hanging out of both fluffy slippers. A genuine smile split my face when I thought about my gorgeous but unique woman.
Like mother, like daughter.
One thing was for sure, my life would never be dull again with the Blessing family.
Checking that Miracle was eating and not feeding all her breakfast to my, sorry her dog, I went off in search of my woman. She was going back to work at the grocery store today now that Georgina was satisfied with the repairs it was finally ready for opening.
I was in two minds about Gisele going back too soon, but that was not an argument I was going to win, so sensibly I kept that to myself. I learned that it was better to pick my battles, tread carefully and make it appear that she won.
A piece of Jock’s wisdom flittered through my mind as I headed up the stairs.
Happy wife happy life.
Words to live by.
“Baby, I got school duty this morning so you can take your—” I stopped just inside of the bedroom my words stuck in my throat when I was faced with Gisele crying, my phone in her hand.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Nothing in the world phased me expect for two things.
Gisele’s tears.
Miracle’s safety.
Moving quickly towards my woman with the intention of fixing what caused her tears, I was stopped by Gisele holding her hands out in front of her. Tears were still streaming but her eyes were spitting fire.
She was … angry?
“Gisele?” I said slowly my spidy senses yelling at me this was a time to tread carefully.
“You have a girlfriend?” she spat, tossing my phone at me, it would have hit me in the face had my reflexes not been sharpened as they were.
It took me a second or ten to understand her accusation but once it computed denial was instantaneous.
“What the hell!” I growled, meeting her blue eyes, mine demanding contact.
“Sherry said she can’t wait to see you again; in fact, she is looking forward to doing that thing again with you asap.” Holding out a shaky hand, she pointed at the phone in my hand looking at it like it could turn into a bomb at any time.
Not breaking eye contact, I turned the phone holding it up to my face and looked at the messages on the screen. Unfortunately, I had to take my eyes off Gisele so I could read them and what I read made me cringe.
Hey sexy I’m in the mood for your tongue.
Wanna come around and do that thing you do?
Why aren’t you answering me Jami darling, have I done something wrong?
Your boss said you moved to some hick town!
Maybe I should come for a drive so we can pick up where we left off.
There were a couple more in the same vein, but I was done, pressing delete in disgust, I got rid of not only those messages but also the contact name.
To be honest I completely forgot about Sherry, there was never any relationship between us, just relief now and then. Nothing more.
“Gisele—”
Fuck she was gone. Spinning quickly, I rushed out the bedroom and headed for the stairs, taking three at a time reaching the foyer just as Gisele was about to flee out the door.
No fucking way.
“Gisele!” I shouted, forgetting that Miracle was in the kitchen and would be able to hear the way I was talking to her mother, but all common sense was gone seeing my woman leaving without letting me explain about Sherry. Suddenly that name tasted bitter on my tongue, I vowed then and there never to speak it aloud again.
Gisele stopped halfway out the door, “Please take Miracle to school, then go back to Gracefield to Sherry,” she said, her voice breaking at the same time as my heart started to.
“Gisele, you are blowing this out of proportion, if you would just let me explain who she?—”
“I don’t want to know who or what she is to you Jami, I just want you gone.”
I knew she didn’t mean that, not when her voice was breaking and the tears choking her, not even calling me by the shortened version of my name which she never did. She was hurt and felt betrayed but all of that was unnecessary and she would know that if she would only fucking listen ton me.
“You don’t mean that baby.”
Please don’t mean that.
Holding her hands to cover her face, Gisele shook her head her sobs filling the tense silence between us.
“I can’t talk to you right now Jamis— Jami,” she amended my name quickly and that only pissed me off. No way was she going to walk away from me without letting me fix this shit. And there was no way I was going back to Gracefield or let her call me anything but Jamison.
Gisele called me Jamison and that was the end of it.
Not fucking Jami.
“Mumma?” the cute small voice came from behind me, sounding scared worried.
Fuck.
“Mumma loves you chickee, see you after school,” Gisele called out through her sobs, then ran out to the front porch taking off down the stairs like a scolded cat.
Fuck.
“Gisele!” I yelled after her, my temper rising more than a few notches. Mad at Sherry for the messages and making it sound like we were still a thing. Fuck, I had not seen or touched her in a long time. I pretty much forgot all about her until now. The only woman on my mind was Gisele, and Gisele only. Her running off on me was maddening but at the same time I understood her reaction. I know if I saw a botty call message from some bloke on her phone I wouldn’t be accommodating to listening either. Gisele was wired differently than any woman I have met, she was sensitive, mistrusting at times and her emotions dictated how she reacted not her mind.
Her way was to run, overthink, breakdown then eventually common sense would kick in. That was all and good for her but for me not so much. I was not a patient man when it came to my woman, I wasn’t mad that she looked at my phone, I was an open book where Gisele was concerned, my business was her business. She just needed a gentle reminder of that and her being upset with me to go so far as to ask me to leave was not going to happen.
Bracing my fists the open frame, I dropped my head to take a second to calm down before facing Miracle. Fights between her mother and Liam were a common occurrence but I did not want to live that way, and I certainly did not want Gisele freaking out over a woman that was no longer in my life one that meant nothing to me personally.
“You stuffed up didn’t ya JJ?” Miracle asked me, making me chuckle despite the seriousness.
“Yes lamb, JJ stuffed up,” I replied with a shake of my head, “mum saw something on my phone that made her mad at me.”
Narrowing her eyes at me, Miracle nailed me with burning brown eyes. “She is going to tell her sisters and Gigi.” Miracle warned me like it was something I didn’t already know.
I knew it alright.
“Yep,” I sighed, walking back into the kitchen with the little girl, taking a seat at the table only so she would sit too and finish her breakfast. Miracle was a picky eater, sometimes taking an hour to eat her nightly meal. Breakfast was early for that reason, if she went to school on an empty stomach, you can be sure she will eat her lunch at recess time.
“Eat up lamb, feed Optimus and then I’ll walk you to school.”
“Then you’re gonna beg mumma to forgive you,” Miracle told me. Yes, she told me and I wasn’t about to get into another argument with another Blessing woman, not if I could help it.
“Exactly,” I assured her, wanting her smile back instead of the judgemental expression she was giving me.
God help the boy who turns her head when she’s older.
Letting the subject drop, I tried to concentrate on my coffee, but it was impossible to get the hurt look on Gisele’s face out of my mind or hearing her telling me to leave.
Getting up abruptly, I decided giving Gisele time alone to build up steam was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
“Grab your plate darlin, you can eat your brekkie while we walk.”
“Walk where?” Miracle asked me but did as I asked, sliding off her chair, grabbing her plate and fork in one hand then snagged the dog leash handing it to me.
“You want to take him for a morning walk?”
“I’m taking him to school with me,” she informed me, shaking the lead for me to take from her to obviously attach to Optimus’s collar. A bright purple collar.
“As in for the day?” I asked confused and stunned.
“Yep, he is my new service dog, and the principal can’t say shit about a service dog,” she replied sounding just like her mother and aunties not to mention her grandmother.
I remained silent for all of two seconds before shrugging my shoulders.
“Whatever you say lamb.”