Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“No,” my father answered honestly.
On and on Todd went, destroying my father’s picture of ‘incapable of handling a child on his own’ right in front of all of our eyes.
The last question validated that.
“Mr. Beauregard,” Todd asked. “Do you feel like you were unfit to be a parent?”
My father frowned. “No.”
“I was informed that you share the same diagnosis as your son,” Todd said, shocking everyone.
All the things suddenly clicked into place.
Every last one of them.
My father’s desire to never touch. His inability to stay home, doing nothing, and remain idle.
Hell, so many goddamn things that started to make so much sense that it caused my heart to ache.
All this time I should’ve had an ally in the man, someone to help me through the tough and dark days, and he hadn’t been there.
Why?
“I suppose,” my father said. “But I’m not sure that’s relevant. I was more than capable of living my life and taking care of my children and family. He’s not.”
And Todd continued to destroy him until nothing but ashes lay around my father’s feet.
When I turned to look at Phoebe over my shoulder, I caught Ilsa’s expression, and it was no longer smug.
Phoebe’s was, though.
That smug expression only grew an hour later when the news that not only did I get full custody of Isa, but Ilsa also forfeited her rights to my baby.
Chapter 21
Alcohol- the lube that some use to slide through life.
-Coffee Cup
Phoebe
“You know,” Hoax teased. “We’re already in the courthouse. If you wanted to go ahead and get married while we were here, we could celebrate doubly.”
Bayou turned to me and grinned. “You want to?”
“No, she doesn’t want to,” Pru growled. “She wants to get married in a church while she’s wearing a white dress, and have me as her maid of honor.”
“I think not,” a new voice called from behind us. “I’m her maid of honor.”
That’s when I saw my other sister, Piper, standing there looking…odd.
“What the hell, Piper?” I asked. “When did you get home, and why did you not tell us you were coming?”
“And miss the surprise on your face right now?” she teased.
Bayou’s hand slipped from my shoulder as I ran toward Piper and threw my arms around her.
Piper hugged me back hard just as we heard Brielle start to lose her shit behind us.
“You’re marrying her?!” Brielle screeched. “You’re for real? I thought it was just a stunt to make the lawyers think that you have a stable life!”
“One crazy down, one crazy to go,” Pru muttered under her breath as she joined our huddle.
I winced.
Sadly, she was right.
Though, I had a feeling Brielle wouldn’t go down nearly as easily as Ilsa did.
“I’m down,” Bayou said.
I froze in my sister’s arms and turned only my head to look at him.
“You are?” I squeaked.
I mean, honestly, I was, too.
I just wouldn’t think that he would be.
He’d had quite a lot of excitement already today. Did he really want to add in marriage on top of that?
But when I looked into his eyes, I saw that he was more than serious. Deadly so.
And he let me see that sincerity in his eyes as I stared at him for what felt like forever before he said, “You want to?”
“I’m down, too,” my father said. “Then we can go to our Mexican food restaurant for the reception, and your mom and I’ll keep Isa for the night.”
“You just want to eat your cheat meal.” My mother slapped my father on the chest with the back of her hand.
Dad only got his ‘cheat meal’ once a week, and if we didn’t go with him, then Dad didn’t get to have it.
Today was two days early, meaning he’d go out to eat today, and again in two days because we never missed a standing Mexican dinner night at our favorite Mexican restaurant. No matter what.
“Plus, Piper is here. Bayou’s grandfather is here. I say do it,” Dad continued, looking hopeful.
I laughed full out then, squeezing my sister tight for a few seconds before I let her go and turned to Bayou. “Mexican food is my favorite.”
“That’s the worst idea that I’ve ever heard!” Brielle screeched again.
Everybody ignored her. Then we got married.
***
“We need to move you into here,” he muttered as he pressed kisses down my chest.
I squirmed as his mouth made a beeline for my lower half.
I was wriggling underneath of him, trying in vain to allow him to do what he wanted to do, but I was really worked up.
Before he could so much as get his mouth on me, I slithered out from under him and quickly reversed our positions, this time with me on top and him underneath of me between my thighs.
Then, when he would’ve rolled us back over, I took hold of his cock and placed it at my entrance.