by Amy Muscat
“I didn’t intentionally take Ivy away so she didn’t get to know your dad, Keller. I’d thought you’d dumped me, for god’s sake, so don’t put this on me and make me feel guilty.” I said feeling defensive.
Brows furrowed he said, “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, Peyton. I’m just saying that it would have been nice to have my dad here at my daughter’s birthday party. Fuck Peyton, don’t make this into something it ain’t.” He said pushing his fingers through his hair. He’d always done that when he was agitated.
“I’m not trying to do, or say anything Keller. I’m just fucking saying that it wasn’t my fault. It’s not like I got pregnant and deliberately didn’t tell you or your dad. Actually after I had found out and had gotten a letter back from ‘you,’ I tried your house and got no answer, only to find out two days later that your dad and the step-bitch had moved away. So don’t Keller, just don’t...” I said, hearing my voice break and my heart constrict. I went to turn away from him, because I didn’t want him to see me crying or getting upset over what he’d said.
But before I could, he gripped my bicep and pulled me back to him and lifted my face up, wiping the few tears that had escaped. He let go of my arm and his hand joined the other and cupped my face.
“Don’t cry, baby. Please. I don’t like to see you cry, you know that. I’m not trying to accuse you of anything and I know you’ve done everything you possibly could for Ivy. It’s just that as I was sitting there today watching you with Ivy, watching your mom and dad with her, Lottie and my friends. Even myself with her and I thought about how my dad should have been here. Then I started thinking how if my mom were still alive, she would have absolutely doted on Ivy. I wasn’t being nasty Pie. I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you, you should know that,” he said quietly, leaning forward and gently kissed my lips.
“I know you wouldn’t, I’m sorry I went off on you. I’m just tired and when I’m tired I get irritable. I’m just saying that I did try and get in touch with him, even called his work phone, but at the time, he was in a meeting and the receptionist told me that he would call me back, but he never did. I just thought he’d told you and you had told him not to call me back or something. I don’t know, but I never tried again- I didn’t wanna start trouble or anything. So I just left it alone,” I told him, bending my head and resting it on his chest.
Keller’s arms wrapped around my back and he slowly stroked up and down, in a soothing motion.
“I don’t know what happened with him not calling you back, maybe he didn’t get the message or something. I’ll ask him why he never got back to you.”
“Okay,” I said nodding.
“So is it okay if we go to my dad’s tomorrow? I would really love for Ivy to meet him and vice versa.”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said sighing.
“Okay, thank you baby,” he said pressing a kiss on top of my head. “Now go get in the shower Peyton, or I’m gonna take you to your room and fuck you until you’re screaming my name... actually that sounds like a perfect plan,” he said tugging on my hand and pulling me in the direction of my bedroom.
Again, I was instantly turned on.
Fuck the shower, I had some orgasms to get to.
EIGHTEEN
Pulling up outside the big colonial style house, with its wrap around driveway and garage just off to the left, I felt a little nervous. The house was red brick with four white columns and stood two stories tall. It was a beautiful house, it really was, but it was just a touch ostentatious for me. Too rich. Too in your face sort of a house and it had Sandra’s name all over it. Robert James, Keller’s dad, was a simple kind of man. He was never one to throw his money around, or show off his achievements, through his car or a house. Humble that’s what he was.
Sandra, on the other hand, was a bitch. No two ways about it, she’s always been a nasty piece of work. She’d never been nice to Keller and me. Never. She’d always had a look of disgust and disdain on her face, like we were beneath her and weren’t good enough to even share the same air as her.
First class bitch.
“Calm down, Peyton.” Keller’s voice and his hand gripping mine snapped me out of my thoughts.
It was then that I realized that I was sweating and that I had been gnawing on my lips.
Taking a breath to slow my heart down, and removing my teeth from my bottom lip, “sorry. I’m just nervous,” I told him.
Brows pulled together he asked why.
“Because, I don’t want your dad to hate me, thinking I purposely didn’t tell him about Ivy. I love your dad, he was always so nice to me Keller and I don’t want him thinking badly of me,” I said and starting chewing on my lip again. That had always been my thing to do when I got nervous, whether consciously or sub-consciously.
Keller leaned forward, quickly looking in the back where Ivy was with her headphones on and playing on her iPad. Seeing that she was busy he kissed me in such a way that I forgot all my thoughts about the man I’d grown up thinking of as a second-dad and the evil step-bitch.
Didn’t think, just feel.
When he pulled away it was a good thing I was sitting, ‘cause my bones felt like Jell-O all over and I would’ve no doubt fallen over, had I been standing.
“Hmm... That’s better. I like this Peyton. All calm, stated, well kissed and looking all googly eyed at me,” Keller said, with a smirk in his voice.
I looked up- yep, definitely smirking. Smug bastard.
“Right, you ready baby?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” I said, giving him a quick kiss on those delicious lips of his.
“Just can’t resist can you?” He asked with a grin.
“Nope,” I said, popping on the ‘p.’
His grin widened.
He opened the door and stepped out of his big black Range Rover, before going to the back and opening it and gently he tapped Ivy on the cheek with his index finger.
“Come on, princess. Time to go meet granddad Rob. Are you excited to meet him?” Keller asked as he packed her gadgets away in her backpack, which, of course, had every princess on the front.
“Yeah, daddy, I am.” She smiled up at him- his smile.
“Good, ‘cause he’s gonna love you. Now let’s goooo,” Keller said picking her up from the seat and spinning her around.
“DADDY,” she squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing, her face alight with joy.
As I stepped down and shut the door, I felt the breeze kick up my hair blow behind me. I looked up and saw the mostly blue sky, clouds were scattered here and there and other than a slight breeze, it was a really nice day out.
I was wearing my black with red cherries patterned dress. My hair was pulled up in a ponytail with a big quiff, and I had a pair of black pep-toe 3inch heels on. I’d wanted to look nice, but not too over the top. I thought I looked good and going by Keller’s reaction, when I’d stepped out of the bedroom about an hour ago, I’d say he agreed too.
I’d left Keller to dress Ivy and he did a great job. He had even done her hair. She was wearing one of her frilly skirts; a pink one, with a white top that spelled out the word ‘NERD’ in silver glitter and she, had on her converse shoes that I’d gotten her. Her hair was in two high pigtails on either side of her head. She looked beautiful.
Keller had on his usual jeans, polo and heavy combat boots with the laces half way done up. His hair had grown a little and I could now run my fingers through it better and get a good grip on it, especially when we were in the heat of the moment.
“Let’s go momma,” Ivy told me, tugging my hand and pulling me in the direction of the house and to where Keller was waiting for us.
“I forgot to ask you, but do they know about Ivy? About us being back together?” I whispered in his ear.
“No baby, they don’t. I’d told my dad that I had a surprise for him,” he said back to me.
“Great.”
We’d gotten to the top of the stairs that lead to the door and
giving my hand one more squeeze that was already clutching his, he knocked on the massive black door.
My anticipation was at an all-time high and I honestly thought I was going to start sweating again, when the door opened and I saw the older version of Keller and what he would look like in twenty-five years. I had to say, if he was gonna take after his father and look like him in the future, I think I might keep him. Other than seeing a very handsome older man, I also saw a man that had been like a second father to me, I saw the man that gave both me and Keller the ‘birds and the bees’ talk- unbeknown to him my mom had given it to us two weeks prior- I saw a man who had, had his heart broken when his son and wife had died. I saw a man who was a great dad, who had absolutely loved his son, who had to pull his shit together and become the single parent that he was now.
“Hello... Peyton?” I saw the instant that he recognized me and heard the confusion in his voice.
“Hi, Rob.” I said back quietly.
“Peyton! By god I’ve missed you, sweethear... who is... what the hell?” I also saw the second he noticed Ivy and then the second he realized that she was Keller’s daughter. She was the spitting image of him.
“Dad, I’d like you to meet my daughter. Ivy Rose James. You wanna say hello to granddad Rob, Ivy?” Keller asked her, picking her up.
“Hi, Grandpa Rob, I’m Ivy,” she said waving her tiny little hand at him, smiling at him.
“H-hi Ivy.” He looked completely flabbergasted, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him and I was instantly assaulted with his smell and the memories that his scent enforced.
“Hey, I’ll explain it all to you, but Ivy doesn’t know anything, she just thinks Keller went off to war and was busy over there all the time,” I whispered to him.
“Okay, hun. Thank you for naming her after my Rosie, Peyton, that means the world to me,” he said pulling back. I saw a light sheen of tears in his eyes and the emotion on his face and I could hear it in his uneven voice.
“You’re welcome, Rob. Rose was one of the best women I’ve ever known and I’m proud my daughter has her name. She was the best-second mom anyone could ever ask for,” I said tearing up too and he wiped away a tear that fell down my cheek and leaned forward and kissed my head.
“I’ve missed you kid and so has he,” he said nodding where Keller was standing.
“I know, I’ll explain, I promise.”
“Okay, Pey.” He stepped back and said, “Okay, so you coming in or what?”
“Yeah, dad.”
****
Rob had sat us down in the family room, we were meant to be sitting in the ‘White room’ but then Rob stopped, turned and mumbled something about ‘Sandra having a fit if anyone went in there and made a mess.’ So here we were sitting in the family room drinking some lemonade and eating cookies.
“So, dad, where is Sandra?” Keller asked.
“At some luncheon with her friends, she should be back soon.”
“Who’s Sandra?” Ivy asked her small button nose scrunching up, sounding confused.
“She’s Grandpa Rob’s wife, princess,” Keller answered.
“She’s not my other nana?”
“No, Ivy. Your other nana, nana Rose, is in heaven,” I told her.
There was no way that my child was going to call Sandra ‘nana.’ Nope. Her only grandparents were my parents and Keller’s dad. Not the step-bitch.
“Peyton...” Rob said in exasperation.
“No, dad. Peyton’s right. Ivy will not be calling Sandra ‘nana’ or ‘grandma’ or anything of the sort. She will be calling her ‘Sandra,’ her given name. Ivy has her grandparents- Peyton’s parents and mine. You and mom. And whether she’s here or not, she will always be her ‘nana Rose,’ end of discussion.” Keller said sounding mad. His handsome face was contorted in anger.
I understood why- Rose was and would always be Keller’s mom and the step-bitch would never take her place- and that wasn’t for lack of trying.
Rob had got with Sandra about two years after Rose had passed and we’d all taken an instant disliking to her. Keller, Cameron (Keller’s brother) and I never liked her from the get-go. I remember the day that Rob told us he was seeing someone and if we’d like to meet her. I remember Cameron storming out of the house in a rage, while Keller and I just sat there stunned. After the initial shock, Keller told his dad that he wasn’t ready to yet. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house. We walked down to the park and sat on the swings for hours while the both of us tried to wrap our heads around it all.
We’d gone back to Keller’s house that night, so he could tell his dad that he was sorry for walking out like that, but he just needed some space to think. His dad had been upset- not with Keller or Cam- but with himself for dropping that on them like that.
Cameron had come back that night around midnight and said he was sorry too, but he wanted nothing to do with a woman that was not his mom.
Rob respected and accepted that. But then one day we’d all come home from school and found a woman that none of us knew in the kitchen, cooking- looking like a stuck-up Stepford wife. With her blonde hair pulled up in a stylish twist and wearing a dress that was fitted to her skinny, bony body, and wearing 4inch heels. She’d turned around and saw us standing there with our mouths hanging open.
Cameron was the first to speak and asked her ‘who the fuck she was, and what she was doing in his house.’
She’d smiled and told us in a sickly sweet voice that she was, ‘Sandra, a friend of Roberts.’ It had taken us less than a second to realize who she was and when we did, all hell had broken loose. Cameron had started shouting at her to get out and Keller had called his dad up and demanded that he get home. All the while, the stuck-up bitch, just sat down looking a picture of poise and calm. When Rob had finally gotten home, he’d run in shouting what was the matter and Cameron had stormed out to the foyer and started shouted in his face, telling him to get the ‘riffraff’ outta his mother’s house now!
Rob hadn’t had a clue what was going on and when I pointed out that a Sandra was sitting in the kitchen, his face had gone from confused to pale to shocked and then back to confused again. He walked into the kitchen and had asked her what she was doing here. She’d acted all blasé like it didn’t bother her and slowly told him that she thought it was about time she met his children.
Well... Cameron had blown up at that and told her to get her skinny ass out and not to come back. Needless to say she got up and went- sticking her nose up in the air as she walked past us, giving me the dirtiest look I’d ever received. I never understood why, I didn’t even know the woman.
After all the drama and Rob’s apologies, things got tense in the house.
Cameron would be out all the time, coming in past curfew, getting drunk. He was in a bad way. But then one night while Keller and I were watching a movie, Cam came in high and drunk- a bad combination- and started trashing the place. When Keller had tried to calm him down, Cameron accidently elbowed him in the face. I’d started shouting and screaming at them while they rolled around on the floor fighting. Keller had been bigger than the average fifteen-year-old and had more muscle. And with Cameron smoking weed, he’d lost a lot of weight. Add in the fact that he was also drunk and Keller overpowered him. When Keller gotten him on his back, he’d shouted at him to calm down. Finally, Cam started to calm down. Keller proceeded to tell him what a fuck-up he’d become lately. Cameron started crying and telling him he was sorry and he wasn’t the big brother he deserved. After their heart-to-heart, Cameron had gotten his shit together and sorted himself out. He started coming home at a decent time and having dinner with everyone again. Then, when he graduated, he went into the army. He did two tours, everyone was so proud of him and he became the old Cameron that everyone knew and loved. Then tragedy struck and we had received a phone call, telling us that there had been an explosion and they couldn’t find Cam.
The unit that he served with had looked for Cam for weeks. When they couldn’t find him, or any trace of him, they concluded that he was missing in action. We could only assume that he was killed by the force of the explosion and the fire. Lovely way to put it to a grieving family.
The funeral came and went in a blur. Both Keller and his dad were in a daze. They struggled to get through each day. Not long after losing a mom and wife, - they then had to bury a son and brother.
For weeks, they both walked through life like the living dead. It was horrible to watch and an experience I would not want to witness again. Cameron had been a part of my life since I could remember and was the big brother that I never had and always wanted.
But somehow we all found a way to grieve. I wouldn’t say that we moved on- ‘cause I don’t know how one could move on- but we carried on with our lives, as best as we could. We learned to deal with the fact that we didn’t live in a world where there was peace and yes- there were bad people out there in the world.
It was then that Keller had told me that he wanted to go into the army. To go do just one tour, at least, to honor his brother.
Needless to say, I didn’t want him to go. I had called him selfish and that I didn’t want what had happened to Cam to happen to him. But with Keller, once he puts his mind too something, there was no changing it.
So after my begging and pleading and his father’s doing much of the same, Keller still left. And the rest-as they say-was history. Which brings us to the present, where Keller was glaring at his dad, daring him to tell him that Ivy could call Sandra ‘nana.’
“Fine. I accept that, don’t know what Sandra’s going to say about it,” he mumbled the last words, but Keller heard.
“I don’t give a flying F, what she has to say about it, dad. Ivy is mine and Peyton’s child and only WE have a say as to what goes on in her life.”
