Chapter Ten
R ouge
“Daddy?”
“Yes, sugar?”
“I’m really scared.”
Leland set his menu down and lifted me into his lap. “I know, baby, and I wish I could make it so that you’re weren’t scared, but sometimes growing as a person means doing the scary things.”
I rested my head on his chest and he rubbed my back.
I stayed that way even when Emily and Onyx walked into the small restaurant and sat at the table with us.
“Hi. Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for inviting us, Little one,” Onyx said.
“You look all better!” Emily exclaimed, setting a present on the table. I felt much better too. A week had passed since I’d been attacked and aside from an occasional twinge of pain in my ribs, I didn’t have any serious aftereffects.
“What’s this?” I asked, wanting so badly to touch the pretty, glittery gift bag.
“It’s for your Little. To welcome her to… um, the family?” she said, tapping her chin.“The friend group? Um, I don’t know. Just to welcome her.”
I giggled at her excitement. Emily had always been the joyful one.
“What do you say, sugar?” Leland reminded.
“Oh! Thank you!”
“Open it, silly!” she exclaimed, pushing it closer to me.
Guilt filled my tummy. “I need to tell you something first.”
“Okay,” she said, reaching across the table and holding my hand. “You can tell me anything.”
Leland patted my hip reassuringly.
“I was angry with you for a really long time. I-I have been working on my anger and my past with Daddy and my therapist, but I want to tell you about it. I love you so much and I don’t want you to be angry with me for telling you, but I need to get it off my chest.”
Emily nodded. “Okay, Rouge.” She didn’t sound very sure, though.
Hell, I wasn’t very sure.
“I feel like you always looked to me to know what to do. When we ran away, when Mom and Dad left, when you were going to have to marry Malichi. I was always there for you and sometimes I feel like I still need to be that strong person for you even though I’m the one still hurting. You have Onyx and a good life now. You’re safe and you have a great job, but you still call me to ask me what to do any time you have a problem and I can’t carry that weight right now. You have healed from most of the trauma and now I need to. That’s why I was angry when you were crying last week. It wasn’t kind of me and I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was really resentful and it just leaked out.”
“Oh, Rouge. I am so sorry. I never meant to make you feel overwhelmed or that I only called when I needed your advice. You’re… You’re just the only mom I ever had. We’re the same age, but you were always so brave. Fear never fazed you, or at least it seemed like it didn’t and I just got so used to you knowing what was best for us, that I still rely on it, but you’re right and I’m sorry. You can count on me now. I’ll shoulder the weight while you heal. Thank you for telling me what you were going through and how you’re feeling.”
I already felt so much lighter. “I’m like a mom to you?”
“Yeah, it’s silly because we're twins, but you raised me, Rouge. You were the one who knew what to do when I had a nightmare, or when my stomach hurt, or when we didn’t have enough money to eat for the week.”
“Pancakes.”
“Fucking pancakes,” she agreed. “I’m so grateful for you, Rouge. I wouldn’t have survived without you, but it’s your turn to be taken care of now.”
I squeezed her hand. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Onyx cleared his throat after a few moments of silence. “Emily felt like you needed some reassurance when we left you last week, so we did some digging and I think we have some happy news for you.”
Emily nodded. “I was so scared when Malachi came for me. I spent so much time looking over my shoulder waiting for him to find me and when he did, I didn’t think I’d ever be safe again. When you got attacked, I worried maybe if you felt the same.”
I nodded. “I thought it was David.” Tears rolled down my face with the admission.
“I wanted to be able to give you some peace, so Daddy helped me look online and we found this,” she said, reaching into her dress pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper.
My hands trembled as I took it from her. I unfolded it slowly.
David Lee, 74, of Pulaski, Tennessee passed away at his home in Jackson, Georgia on September twenty-third. David was a member of N…
I dropped the piece of paper and buried my head in my hands, sobbing. He was dead. He’d died last year and he could never hurt me again. It really was over.
***
Leland
I turned Rouge in my lap and let her sob into my chest. Picking up the piece of paper, I read over it and immediately understood her tears. My sweet baby probably felt free. I kissed her forehead gently as I rocked her back and forth.
“It’s over,” she sobbed.
“It’s always been over, baby, now it just feels real for you.”
“You’re safe, Rouge. He’s in Hell where he belongs,” Emily said, climbing into Onyx’s lap and seeking her own comfort.
“Can I take your…” The waitress trailed off when she saw the emotion at the table. I looked up to ask her for a minute when I recognized her as the waitress from The Baker’s Dozen . Poor girl. We’d traumatized her twice.
“How about we take this back to my place?” I asked Onyx.
“Definitely,” he agreed, standing with Emily in his arms.
***
“Do you want the pink one or the yellow one?” Rouge asked Emily. The Little girls sat playing with playdough at the large kitchen island. I’d dug out some old cookie cutters for them to use. Rouge seemed to be about six when in Little space so Barbies, Polly Pockets, and crafting kits had taken up part of my living room and I couldn’t have been happier.
“Yellow, please,” Emily answered.
“What are you Little girls making?” I asked, reaching into the fridge and grabbing another soda for Onyx.
“Unicorn poops.”
“Oh, wow. Is it super smelly?” I asked, playing along.
“So stinky!” they shrieked in unison.
“The pizza will be here in fifteen,” Onyx said, setting his phone down.
“I have pretty new princess plates,” Rouge told Emily. “Daddy got them for me from Target.”
“Ohhhhh. Fancy.”
“You can have the Belle one!”
“I love Belle!”
“I know, silly. It’s why I said you could have that one.”
My phone chimed and I checked my messages before smiling. Things were about to get more fun for my Little one.
Fifteen minutes later, someone knocked on the door and I asked Rouge to answer it.
I knew she was pleased with my surprise when Kay, Blade, Smoke, and Bash filled my house. “We heard there was a pizza party,” Bash said, grocery bags with cartons of ice cream inside on the counter.
“Is that ice cream?” Rouge asked, looking so damn hopeful.
“It is. I thought we could have some dessert after lunch.”
“That’s why you’re my favorite,” Rouge said, making me snort.
“I am her favorite,” Bash defended before booping her nose.
“Now that is one-hundred-percent not true. I am this sweet girl's favorite,” Kay teased, coming to give her a hug.
“Did you bring ice cream?” Rouge asked.
“I didn’t.”
“Bash is my favorite.”
“You little cuss!” Kay laughed.
“I brought you black jelly beans,” Smoke said, setting two bags of the abomination on the table in front of her.
“Ohhhhh, Smoke is my favorite,” she amended.
“I brought something better than two bags of jelly beans,” Blade said.
“Three bags of jelly beans?” Rouge asked.
She was on a roll today.
“No,” Blade said before setting a wooden paddle with a pink bow down on the table. “This was your favorite and I think it’s only fair your Daddy takes ownership of it now.”
Rouge studied it in silence before turning and hugging Blade. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.” He bent and kissed her cheek gently. “I’m so glad you’ve got him on your side, Rouge. He’s a good man.”
“Yeah,” Rouge agreed with a nod. “He’s my favorite, for eally.”
“No taksiebacksies, sugar.”
“No taksiebacksies, Daddy.”