A Lie Unraveled

by Constance Masters

  “I can smell it too,” Destiny said. “We better go and see who’s having a party.” She smiled as the little girl slipped her hand inside her own. As they got closer she had to admit to being hungry despite the sandwiches and cakes they’d had with their high tea.

  Destiny was just about to slide the back door open when Justin did it for her with a giant grin. “Okay, don't be mad,” he said. “Sophia said it would be nice to barbecue and I thought it’s a nice night, it’s Saturday,” he grinned, “we could make it a family night, possibly.”

  She looked at his adorable apron; it said, I’m the Daddy. “Why would I be mad that you were going to cook me dinner?” Destiny asked. She didn’t mind at all but she was kind of confused.

  “Do you like the apron? I got some for the girls too. Theirs both say, Daddy’s Little Helper.”

  “You got one for me too, Daddy?” Lily-Grace asked.

  “I sure did,” he answered.

  “Thank you. Can I go and show Soph her pony?” Lily-Grace asked, the usual quiet child nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement.

  “Sure, honey, you run along and find her,” Destiny said.

  “Soph is just changing into some jeans. Sophia said you hadn’t used the barbecue since you’d moved back and I thought it might have been too hard for you, that’s why I was a little worried. Your parents always had the whole family night thing happening when you were young.”

  “That is so nice of you, honey but it’s just a grill. My dad would have wanted us to use it and to use it because we’re all back together would have made him especially happy. He always wanted me to come clean about Sophia. He liked you, he knew something didn't seem right with what I thought I’d seen.”

  Justin looked as though a load had been taken off his mind. “Whew,” he said. “I was worried that I might be pushing you too hard.”

  “So long as you’re only pushing me in the right direction we’re fine.” She stood on her tippy toes to kiss him. “I’m really liking all this family, couple stuff.”

  “You weren’t saying that the other night,” he said.

  “And look what happened the next day, everything turned around again.” Destiny leaned her head on his chest, lapping up the warmth of his embrace. She didn’t even care about the neighbors seeing. What did it matter as long as they were all happy?

  “So one other thing, Sophia wanted to invite my mom over for dinner, I hope that’s okay.”

  “It’s more than okay, I love your mom.” Destiny said. “Where is she?”

  “The bathroom maybe? She was in the kitchen putting some last minute touches on the dishes she brought just before. Mom also has a favor to ask you. I’ll let you in on the surprise so you don’t get stuck if you want to say no,” he said.

  “What’s the favor?” Destiny asked.

  “Mom would like to borrow Sophia so that the girls can have a sleepover at her house,” he said.

  “Oh really when?” Destiny asked.

  “Tonight?” he said.

  “Okay then, I guess, if I really have to let her go and have fun with her sister and her grandma.” Destiny giggled. “Are you crazy? Why would I knock back an offer like that? Does that mean that you and I actually get to spend the whole night alone?”

  “It does mean that. We will be able to sleep in the same bed, or not sleep.” He pulled her away from the glass door and towards the corner where they couldn’t be seen as easily and kissed her soundly.

  “That’s not the only reason though is it?” Destiny asked. She could sense that there was another agenda. His mom had probably wanted to have the kids but she would bet money that it had been his idea. She knew he wouldn’t let the rule thing go and he was probably right, they needed to talk about how things were going to work.

  “There will have to be a discussion about the rules,” he said, “and about where we go from here.”

  “Oh?” That sounded ominous; did Justin have doubts? She had expected the rules thing but the where did they go from there thing? Weren’t they on their way there already?

  “I’m not sure this can all work this way; the coming and the going. Anyway, let’s have dinner and then we’ll get a chance to talk later, when we’re alone.”

  “Okay,” she said. She tried to push away the down mood that settled on her. They had only been doing this a few days and he was sick of it already. It didn’t offer them much hope for the future did it? She didn’t want to ruin the night with the girls. They had all had such a lovely day. “What are we eating?”

  “We have a spread!” he said. “We have burgers, chicken wings and ribs and Mom has brought some salads.”

  “Do you need me to do anything?” she asked.

  “Nope, you can sit there and look pretty,” he said.

  “I won’t turn down that offer,” she said. She wanted to keep with the festive spirit but she was concerned now. What if Justin wanted to slow things down or something? If that was the case though he wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble he had would he? He certainly wouldn’t have just kissed her that way.

  It was a festive evening with the girls playing with their ponies, and Sophia reading portions of the book, out loud. Who would have thought that a child could be turned onto books in such a big way in a single afternoon? “Sophia, perhaps you should go and pack your pajamas and your tooth brush,” Destiny said when Justin went to make coffee.

  “Good idea, Sophia,” her grandma said. “If we go home soon, we might just have time for a movie before bed.”

  “Yay,” Sophia said, jumping up and going to do as she was told. The little girl seemed excited even if the sleepover was just with her younger sister.

  “The girls are getting along great,” Destiny said.

  “They’re sisters,” Dotty said. “I think they have a fair bit in common.”

  “How’s that?” Destiny asked. “Sophia seems so different to Lily-Grace. That child is just so calm and Soph is always so out there, you know?”

  “I know it seems that way,” Dotty said, “but they have both suffered losses. The difference is, or was at least that Lily-Grace has always been told that her mother loved her; that she got sick but she didn’t want to leave,”

  “And Sophia?”

  “Sophia suffered the loss of her father, she just has to learn now and accept that her father didn’t leave her by choice. I know she’ll be just fine once she figures it all out in her head.”

  “That was all my fault wasn't it?” Destiny said. “That Soph felt rejected by her father? I mean, I was the idiot who kept them apart. I hope she realizes that I only did what I thought best.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Desi. You made mistakes but you were only nine years older than Sophia is now. You were a baby. It was circumstances and accidents, that’s all,” Dotty said wisely. “What counts is how you move on from here.”

  “I guess,” Destiny said. “Sophia has been known to hold a grudge and she’s a little stubborn. I don’t know where she gets it from.”

  Dotty chuckled. “She’ll come around, she already has a lot, don’t you notice the difference?”

  “I do think she’s changed a little. She seems to like to read, that’s new and she certainly doesn’t seem to be angry today. I think spending the day with just Justin helped a lot.”

  “See? Even that. Baby steps, sweetie, baby steps.”

  “You make sure you behave yourself, Sophia,” she called as Dotty drove out of the driveway. She could hear them all laughing as they drove away.

  “She’ll be fine,” Justin said, wrapping his arms around her.

  “I hope so.”

  * * *

  “Do you have a pen and paper?” Justin asked.

  “What for? The rules? I can just commit them to memory; this mind is like a steel trap,” Destiny said with a grin.

  “Find a pad and pencil please. As much as I have faith in your steel trap, I’d like to have a little evidence,” he said with a chuckle, “just for the
sake of a little continuity.”

  “Oh, of course, I’m sure you don’t mean that you don’t think I can stick to rules,” she said poking out her tongue. “I can you know.”

  “Good, then we won’t have any issues.”

  “Hey wait, are you suggesting that the rules are for me?” Destiny was a little disturbed that he thought he would be able to decide what she would be doing.

  “Not exactly about you but they certainly concern you, in a big way.”

  “Now you’re confusing me,” she said. “I have a better idea than doing all this right now. You know we have all night and probably a little of tomorrow to take care of all these boring details. What about if we were to open a bottle of wine and leave all this decision making until tomorrow? How often do we get to spend time alone?”

  “Sometimes I can see exactly where Soph gets her procrastination from,” Justin said. “We said we were going to talk about the rules two days ago. Then we didn’t because of Sophia’s meltdown. Last night we decided on a night in and today here we are, all set to talk about this finally and you want to leave it until tomorrow.”

  “I just know that it’s going to end in some kind of argument,” Destiny said.

  “How do you know that?” he asked.

  “Because I think I could be psychic, okay?” she answered. “I can see a spanking in my future and I can think of better things I’d like to happen.”

  “We’re just going to get it over with and there shouldn’t be any arguments because there’s nothing to argue about. We both agree that there needs to be changes made don’t we?”

  “Yes, we do,” Destiny agreed.

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “There is no problem I guess.” Destiny knew he was right about the rule thing and about getting them over with but it just would have been nice to relax on their first evening together and not have to worry about being the damn principal.

  “Good.”

  She was actually very good, she managed to stop herself from saluting.

  “Okay,” he said, “why don’t we talk about why you think there needs to be more rules and what you think is the problem.” Justin smiled.

  “I don’t know,” Destiny said. “I mean, maybe there isn’t a problem anymore. Soph seemed truly happy after your day out but I don’t want to go back to where she’s really unhappy. She was really miserable the other night. She never used to be that way.”

  “That’s because she had no reason to be unhappy before. She’s always been able to do exactly what she wanted,” he said.

  “I just want her to be happy like Lily-Grace.” Destiny said. “That feels an awful lot like measuring though and I don’t want to do that. We can’t say for sure that your methods are what’s made Lily-Grace happy. Maybe she was just born that way.”

  “I know you don’t believe that. I think you want to make changes and you just don’t trust yourself to follow through with the revised way of doing things. You can be strong; I can help you be strong, if you’ll let me,” Justin said. “In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that I will make you strong whether you want me to or not, because I believe that all of our futures, not the least Soph’s, hangs in the balance.”

  “How do you expect to do that?”

  “It will be simple really,” he said. “Rule one; if you allow Soph to skate away from the rules then you will be punished.”

  “You’re going to punish me when Sophia misbehaves? That’s not fair, why would you want to punish me?” At this rate she was going to be facing down more than she was facing up. “I told you I saw a spanking in my future.”

  “That goes without saying, you don’t need to be a psychic to see that in your future,” he said with a chuckle. “But getting back to why you’re going to be held responsible; you’re the mother. It’s your job when you’re here with Soph to make sure that she follows the rules. This house needs a routine and a strict bedtime so she can start the day without looking like she has a hangover,” he said.

  “I don’t think you realize how hard it is with Soph sometimes. We have lived our lives a certain way, there was no reason for strict rules. Sophia doesn’t understand why she is being punished all of a sudden for living her life the way she always has.”

  “The fact that she thinks that you two are best friends, is a worry, Desi. We are not meant to be our children’s friends. Not when they’re little like this. It’s our jobs to steer kids in the right direction so that when they’re older and they have to make decisions they know how to make the right ones.”

  “My Soph is a good girl really, she’s just a little highly strung. Look, I know there has to be some changes. I’ll make sure she gets to school on time and I’ll see that the homework’s done but I’m not going to be on her for every little thing, I’m just not.” Destiny folded her arms, unable to see from her position how much she was like her daughter. “It’s nit-picking.”

  “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to write a list of rules that I think are fair. If there are any you don’t agree with, then you may attempt to convince me that they’re not necessary,” Justin said. He picked up the pad and pencil and started to jot down some notes.

  Rules of the House:

  Respect—Being respectful means to speak to others the way you would like to be spoken to yourself. Do not answer back when an adult speaks to you.

  Manners—Say please and thank you. Don’t talk when others are talking.

  Honesty—Tell the whole truth. Don’t leave things out.

  Kindness—Be kind to others. There will be no hitting, yelling, biting or throwing things allowed. Use nice words and explain yourself.

  Final Say—Adults have the final say about food, television, school and bedtime. There will be no arguing allowed.

  “Hmm, none of that seems too bad,” Destiny said. “I don’t think that Soph will be happy about this one.” She was referring to the television rule.

  “Most of the rules are just a matter of being civilized to each other, that’s all. The television rule is important. Most parents have a parental lock on cable channels.” Justin ripped off the piece of paper and started on a new one. “It’s hardly anything new.”

  “So as far as you’re concerned, the subject is closed?”

  “On the subject of protecting our little girl’s innocence, yes the subject is closed,” Justin said. “I don’t want Sophia or Lily-Grace watching shows that are meant for older teens and adults.”

  “It’s just television, Justin,” she argued. “That’s what set her off the other night. She loves her shows and she looks forward every week to watching to see what happens.”

  “She’s addicted,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t say she’s addicted. Imagine you were reading a book and someone ripped out the last few pages, would you enjoy that? Would you be mad?” Destiny had stood and put hands on her hips, just to show him that she wasn’t going to back down.

  “I don’t put television and books on the same level but I wouldn’t let the girls read whatever they wanted either even where books are concerned. They should read material that is age appropriate.”

  “That censorship, I think there’s a law against that,” Destiny said haughtily.

  “There isn’t,” Justin said.

  “Maybe there should be,” she said. “What if someone just willy nilly decided we weren't going to use, say pencils,” she said. Destiny knew she was being ridiculous but she just didn’t seem to be able to get her point across. These rules were going to make her life miserable, she just knew it. Every day was about to become a debate and she would be the one left here doling out rules and punishments that she didn’t necessarily even believe in. She snatched the pencil from his hand and jumped back with it. She held it up in the air. “I declare the use of pencils in our kingdom is now banned!”

  “Give me back the pencil, Desi,” he said, a hint of a smile turning the corners of his lips.

  “Nope, I told you it’s
banned.” Desi danced around holding the pencil up in the air.

  “Put the pencil back on the table or I’m going to give you a demonstration of what you're going to get when you condone Soph ignoring the rules.” Justin pushed his chair back a little and gave her the look.

  “You’ll have to catch me first.” Destiny felt playful and she wanted to get off the subject that was bringing down what had been a great day. When Justin stood, she ran.

  “Yikes,” she yelled as she ran around to the other side of the counter. But Justin was on her tail, literally. He dived, over the top, grabbing a wooden spoon as he landed.

  “No,” she squealed. It was too late.

  Justin snatched the pencil and put it in his pocket. “You want to play then?” he asked. He put his foot up on one of the rails of a kitchen stool and deftly flipped her over his knee.

  “No, no!” she squealed as the spoon cracked across her bottom. Her thin skirt offered no protection at all but her tormentor must have wanted to see his target because he flipped it over her head anyway, and a cool breeze wafted across her skin. Note to self, do not wear thongs around this man. “I changed my mind, Justin!” she yelled. “You can have the pencil back.”

  “I already took it, you crazy woman. You can’t bargain with something you don’t have.” He brought the spoon down a few more times, making oval splatter marks before he stood her on her feet. “Happy now?”

  Destiny rubbed her bottom. “I guess you win,” she said, daring to poke out her tongue.

  Chapter Nine

  “The only thing you’re angry about is the television thing?” Justin asked.

  “Yes, that is the rule that will have the most impact on Sophia,” Destiny said. “You know that and I’ve explained why.”

  “I’m sorry, Desi, I just think that that is one of the most important rules,” he said. “You want me to change it because Sophia won’t want it. That would mean that the child is the one setting the rules, not us. This isn’t about a nine-year-old giving us approval over what she does or doesn’t want to do. That’s what started the trouble in the first place.”