Chapter 18 #2
When I peek up at Daddy, however, he’s smiling encouragingly, holding the first snowglobe out to me. Surely he would have told me if they weren’t good presents, right?
Clinging to that knowledge—or maybe it’s just a rationalization, I don’t know—I take the globe and turn toward Lanie. “This one’s for you.”
Eyes wide, Lanie takes the glittering glass ball from my hand with a surprising gentleness, as if she’s afraid moving too quickly might shatter it. “Oh. Oh, Tabby, it’s perfect. I love it so much!”
Happiness warms me from the inside out, creeping up my cheeks as I shrug like I wasn’t about to pass out from the stress of giving it to her just five seconds ago. “Daddy was telling me all about you and Josie, and this one made me think of you.”
Giggling, she holds the globe up for Uncle Axel to see. “Look, Daddy, I’m a princess! Fighting a dragon!”
“I see, little runaway. Why don’t you give that to Daddy so I can take it upstairs to your nursery? We don’t want it to get broken.”
Lanie’s bottom lip puffs out in a pout, but she doesn’t argue. “Okay, Daddy, but you have to be really careful.”
“I promise.”
Turning to my own Daddy, I accept the next gift before passing it off to Josie. “Daddy said you were an author, and this one made me think of like, fairytales and stuff. I hope that’s not too cheesy.”
“It’s perfect,” Josie says, flashing me a warm smile. “Thank you, Tabby. I love it.”
I feel like I could burst with happiness. Part of me worries they might be lying to spare my feelings, but I don’t care. I made my friends happy, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.
“There’s one more in here, little firecracker.”
Frowning, I turn back toward Daddy. “But we only bought two.”
Daddy grins as he reaches back into the box. “No, you only saw two. Your Daddy is very sneaky.”
When he pulls the third snowglobe free, a shocked gasp bursts out of me. Inside the globe are two dinosaurs, the kinds with the really long necks. They’re wrapped around each other so that their necks form a heart.
“Is this for me?” I whisper, slowly reaching for the globe.
“Yes, baby. This is your wedding present from Daddy.”
“You already bought me so many things! You didn’t have to buy me anything else.”
Daddy pretends to glower at me. “Daddy can buy his babygirl whatever he wants. Understood?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” Sitting back on his haunches, he scans the rest of the boxes. “All right. We should get these unpacked so you have some real clothes to wear.”
Excitement bubbles up inside me and I bounce on my knees. “I wanna wear one of my new dresses!”
“Oh, I was hoping we could go outside and play today,” Lanie says, her expression falling. “It’s really nice out and it rained all weekend and Daddy wouldn’t let me go outside for even one second.”
I’ve never really been an “outside” kinda girl, but I don’t want my friend to be sad, either. Nibbling at my bottom lip, I glance over at Daddy. “Can we play outside?”
He nods, his expression turning stern. “You can, but you’ll have to wear your play clothes. Your dresses are for inside and for trips to town, not for getting dirty.”
“I don’t like those clothes. I like my dresses.”
I’m being stubborn. And borderline bratty. But I can’t seem to help myself. At this moment, I don’t feel like an adult reluctantly pretending to be a Little girl, I actually feel like a child being denied something she desperately wants.
Daddy frowns, clearly unhappy with my reaction, and my heart trips at the sight. I don’t want him to be angry with me, and I really, really don’t want another spanking.
But I do want to wear one of the pretty princess dresses tucked away in these boxes.
“Tabitha, you can either wear your play clothes and go outside with your cousins, or you can spend the morning in your nursery with nobody to play with. What’s it going to be?”
“No! That’s not fair!”
“I bet Uncle Colt bought you the best play clothes,” Josie says, dropping to her knees beside me. Leaning in, she drops her voice to a loud whisper. “He always did have the best fashion sense of the bunch, even when we were younger.”
“Hey!” Her Daddy tries to look stern, but his eyes are sparkling with mischief, letting me know he’s not really angry. “I have great fashion sense, little girl.”
Twisting around, Josie pats his knee. “Of course you do, Daddy.”
Considering pretty much every one of the “adults” surrounding us is dressed in the same uniform of jeans and flannel shirts, I’m not sure any of them have any fashion sense at all.
But I can tell an olive branch when I see one. Josie clearly wants me to come play with her and Lanie, and she’s trying to get me to give into Daddy’s rules.
I should. I know I should. But something has shifted inside me. That desperate need I’ve always had to be good, to never make trouble is still there but it’s… quieter. Now there’s a very different Tabby taking the reins.
And that Tabby isn’t ready to surrender.
Crossing my arms, I sit back and glare up at Daddy. “I wanna wear a dress.”
“Then you can’t go outside and play.”
I don’t usually use naughty words. I especially don’t call other people naughty words. But I can feel something welling inside me, desperate to be let free.
So I let it go.
“Why are you being such an–an–” The word sticks on my tongue for a moment, but then it bursts out of me with a force I didn’t know existed inside me. “An asshole!”
As soon as I say it, I wish I could take it back. Fear grabs me by the throat as I watch my Daddy’s eyes narrow dangerously before he bends down to scoop me up into his arms.
“Lanie, Josie, you two should go ahead and go play. I don’t think Tabby will be joining you for a while.”