by Gabrielle G.
“I never said I was moving to Montana. What are you talking about?”
“Oh God,” I hear Bella say behind me. Dex and I swing our heads in her direction to see her cover her mouth in shame.
“What did you do, Bella?” Dex snarls in her direction.
“It’s not me. I mean it was part of our plan, but I didn’t do anything.” She raises her hand as if she was swearing on the Bible.
“Mom,” Aaron grunts, clearly losing patience. Standing next to him is Hailey, his daughter who barely is around anymore now that she plays basketball on a varsity team.
“I’m not saying anything in front of strangers,” Bella nods toward the guests who are looking at us like we are the latest episode of the Avery show. Hailey and Aaron roll their eyes in a very similar manner while Bella walks away, mumbling that she needs to make a call.
“Is that why you lawyered up?” I ask Noah. He nods. “And Debra?”
“I was hoping Barnabas would dump you or you would dump him. You would have been alone again, and my chance to get you back would have been better. Seeing you with him, I realized how much I love you, and I…” He never gets the chance to finish his sentence when he gets slapped by Paulette, who I guess was his plus one for the wedding. Right away, Chloé comes forward and slaps him too. She’s holding her belly—the one she claimed was impregnated by Barnabas—and I understand the extent of the bullshit Noah tried to spread to get me back.
I suddenly feel an urge to sit down, a wave of cold spreading all over me, and my legs are barely able to carry my weight.
“Easy there, Avery,” Aaron says while steadying me by the arm. My tunnel vision is focused on Noah, and I close my eyes to stop the images of me torturing him.
“Go home, Ave. I’ll take care of this,” Dex whispers for only me to hear. Unable to walk, I try turning my heels but wobble. Hailey takes me by the waist and helps me walk away from the clusterfuck of the situation behind me.
“I’ve got you, Ave.” She was a nice kid when she was living here, and she became a beautiful woman while being away. Holding onto her, I’m glad I’m part of the Gritt family and can rely on them to take care of this. I have no patience and no energy left to deal with people.
“Avery, wait!” I hear Paulette running after me.
“Want me to stop?” Hailey asks. Sighing, I nod and turn around to face my ex’s wife. She looks fifty shades of shameful, and I almost feel pity for her. Why does she stay in a marriage with such an asshole?
“I want to apologize.” She surprises me. “I’m the one who pushed him to take a paternity test and to ask you for him to be on the birth certificate. I thought I was helping Alexis. If one day, anything happened to you, it would be easier. Then he said you wanted to move away, and I pushed him to talk to you, and I tried to get him involved in her life. I’m sorry. I never thought he would make your life a living hell. If you don’t want him in Alexis’ life, I understand, and I know I will lose any right to see her, but I like her, and I wish I could see her again,” she pleads, with teary eyes.
“Why?” I mutter. I feel Hailey holding me tighter as if to give me the strength she knows I need.
“We tried for so many years, and I’m finally pregnant. I would like our kids to be siblings…” I blow my cheeks out and release the air slowly, not sure what to do with this new information. A headache and a sinking feeling in my stomach takes over everything else I feel.
“Let me think about it. Okay?” I won’t be making any decision today. What I need right now are the arms of Barnabas and Lex’s giggle. I need to be with the two most important people in my life and forget anybody else. Hailey helps me home, but we find the barn empty.
“Want me to call Uncle Barn?” Hailey smiles, reassuring me.
“No, I’m just going to head to bed.”
“Aright, holler if you need anything.” I nod while dragging myself to our bedroom and falling onto the bed, exhausted.
I don’t hear them come in. I don’t feel them getting into bed with me. I don’t see them plotting in the dark, but when I wake up, crushed by their love and suffocated by their heat, there is a ring in the shape of a feather on my finger. I smile, thinking that in all of yesterday’s chaos, Barnabas, oblivious to what happened, decided it was the best day to take the bull by the horns and put a ring on me. Like he could feel that’s what I needed. And I wouldn’t have expected any less of him.
30
Barnabas
Same day as the wedding from hell.
“Sit,” Lex tells me in all seriousness.
I’m glad to be spending some one-on-one time with my little bundle of cuteness. Between Avery being around and the days she spends with Dickwad, I haven’t had much time alone with her, and I miss watching mermaid shows and discussing the probability of Elsa losing her temper and freezing our winter. Thankfully today, Marybeth is busy, and my mother is helping with the wedding, so I’m the babysitter in chief. In fact, I’m not even sure Ave asked our mothers to babysit before telling me I was in charge. And she only reminded me once not to feed her candies for lunch.
“Yes, my lady.” I sit on the sofa next to her.
“We need to discuss something special, Barnabas.” I freeze at the way she doesn’t mispronounce my name. How did this happen and when? I grunt in displeasure.
“What do you want to discuss? How it’s not possible for a beast to learn how to read?” I slouch on the sofa to get comfortable.
“No, I want to discuss you marrying Mommy and becoming my daddy.” Feels like someone is four going on twenty all of a sudden.
“Lex, we discussed this. As much as I would prefer being your father, you have one.”
“He’s a dickwad,” Lex states. I hold my breath and look around to be sure Avery isn’t behind us and heard Lex saying that.
“Lex, you can’t say something like that. Where did you learn that word?”
“Grandma Bella uses it all the time.” As much as I want to wash my mother’s mouth with soap, I melt hearing Lex calling my mom Grandma.
“So, as I was saying, he’s a dickwad, and he doesn’t want me to call him daddy.” I clench my fist.
“Fucking dickwad.”
“Yes.” She nods, her locks bobbing around her face.
“So, are you going to marry Mommy?” She’s not shy asking me, and I’m a little suspicious my mother put her up to it and promised something in return.
“What did Bella promise you in exchange for this interrogation, Lex?”
“Nothing!” she denies too rapidly.
“Uh-huh…” I smirk. “She used to manipulate me to do things to my brothers and asked questions, you know. I can smell her way of doing things from afar.”
“Well, that’s not true. So don’t get mad at me, Barnabas. I just want to know.” She crosses her arms, showing me she means business, like Avery does when she gets mad at me. She would be terrifying if she weren’t so cute.
“I would like to marry your mom, baby girl, but she doesn’t want to.”
Lex rolls her eyes. “If you have to wait for Mommy to want something for it to happen, you’re going to wait a long time.” She rolls her eyes big and makes big movements with her hands. I chuckle at her theatrics. “You think I waited for her to want me to exist? No. I came when I came, even if it means I have a dickwad as a father.”
“Lex, who paid you to talk to me?” Because there is no way my little rascal has this all-new vocabulary and style of talking all by herself. She smiles at me but shakes her head, refusing to say anything.
“So, let’s go buy a ring.”
I widen my eyes. “A ring? For her to refuse again.”
“Banarbas!” I smile, she butchered my name again, and it makes me happy. “Uncle Aaron said you weren’t bright, but really…” She gasps and puts her hand on her mouth. Aaron… Of course… Always quiet and seems like he doesn’t care, but always prying in the shadow. You should always be suspicious of the quiet ones.
“Your
secret is safe with me. So, what’s the plan Uncle Aaron drafted up for us?” I ask her, pinching her side. She giggles.
“We’re going to buy a ring and put it on her finger while she’s asleep. Then ask her every day to marry you until she says yes. That’s what I do when I really want something, and at some point, she wants me to stop asking, so she says yes,” she explains with a glint of excitement in her eyes.
“You think it’s going to work?”
She bobs her head again, bouncing all her hair around.
“But you know, Lex, I mean, if it’s okay with Mommy, of course, I won’t be against you calling me Daddy if you really want to. Even before I marry her,” I tell her shyly.
“I already called you Daddy,” she whispers. “Only with Grandma Bella and Grandma Marybeth. They told me it was okay to do so if my heart told me to call you that.” She pulls at her hair like her mother does. I scoop her up and hug her tight, tears misting my eyes.
“It’s always okay, baby girl. I’ll always be yours,” I whisper in her ear while she gives me one of her wet kisses.
“Let’s go buy a ring.” I carry her away.
“Okay, but can we go for ice cream also?”
“Of course,” I tell her, fishing my keys and phone from my pocket and then send a quick text to Ave just to say how I miss her. For fun, I attach one of our homemade videos, so she knows what is waiting for her tonight.
When we get home, people are screaming in the main house. Lex and I look at each other, not sure we should go close when we hear Avery’s name being shouted. Without hesitation, we both walk the few steps separating us from the door.
“You did what?” Luke screams at my mother. She’s sitting on a chair at the dinner table, relaxed, a glass of wine in her hand, while my brother towers over her, his huge stature shadowing her little body.
“Well, we thought it would help them get together, and look, we were right. As soon as they were in a confined space, they found each other.” My ears perk up, and my heart beats a little faster.
Dex brings his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Bella, do you realize she almost lost her daughter in a stupid custody battle because you and Marybeth decided to intervene?”
“Pfft,” my mother slaps the air nonchalantly, “we would have come clean then.” She shrugs.
“And it wouldn’t have mattered,” Dex bites back. “You’re going to have to stop interfering. I really thought after what happened with Luke’s parlor you would have learned your lesson…”
“I didn’t meddle with Luke, I overshared… Now, planting a worm in Chris’ mom’s ear so Alane would come back, or helping with Chris and Salomé’s situation, well…”
“Don’t tell me you have anything to do with Jordan’s…” I interrupt Dex by clearing my throat.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” I ask, putting my hands on Lex’s ears to be sure she doesn’t hear whatever news is coming.
“Oh boy,” Dex mutters. “How much did you hear?” I tilt my head and roll my eyes.
“Right, Mom, you want to tell him, or should I?” Luke asks our mother, so unamused by the situation that he looks a lot like our father all of a sudden.
“I have nothing to say. It was a good idea.”
Seeing the conversation might take more time than I planned, I crouch to Lex and point at her craft corner. “Baby girl, do you want to go draw a picture for Mommy over there.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she says with a skip in her step as if what she just said was the most natural thing in the world. I swallow the tears threatening to overflow onto my cheeks and focus on my family and their shenanigans.
“So happy for you, Son.” My dad appears with the scotch in his hand and pours me a glass to cheers. I don’t wait for Dex to have his glass in his hand to gulp a long sip, so I keep my emotions at bay. Lex calling me Daddy is a big step in the right direction. Once the scotch is done burning my insides and gives me a sense of control again, I look at Luke, waiting for an explanation.
“To make a very long story short,” he starts, reaching for Dex’s glass and takes a sip, “when you sent the video to your… whatever Avery is to you, the bride ran away. The groom attacked Avery, Andrew punched the groom, Noah, who was a groomsman, said he wanted custody of Lex, and Dex proved Noah was the one who drove Debra to the bar. Why? Because he’s still in love with Avery and wanted you to lose your shit or her to dump you. The custody thing? He asked for it because he thought she was leaving for Montana. Why? Because Bella and Marybeth interfered and told him she was leaving so that they could tell her she was being evicted and push you two to live together and you could finally fall in love with each other, which you did so… drink up?” He winces while my dad pours me another glass.
“Can we do anything about the Noah and Deb thing?” I ask, taking another swig of my drink.
“It’s a grey area,” Dex says. “She’s an adult, not bound by doctors to live at the facility she’s in. So, there is no jurisdiction to hold her against her will, and legally, she’s over eighteen. We can’t prove she went with Noah against her will because she doesn’t remember and proving she can’t make decisions alone is binding her to be admitted somewhere, let’s say, harder on meds than where she is.” I take in all the information, and I’m surprised that I don’t feel any pain in my back at all. Talking about Deb and what happened doesn’t anger me or guilt me. In fact, I feel free, as if this isn’t my problem anymore, and, in a way, it isn’t. It hasn’t been in a long time. Avery is the one I need to care for now. I push my glass away and stand without saying a word to any of them.
“Lex, let’s go home. Mommy needs us,” I yell for her to come. She rushes toward me and jumps into my arms. We cross the few feet separating where we live from the main house and go inside the barn without a noise.
“Mommy might be sleeping, baby girl. From what I just heard, she had quite a difficult day.”
“Perfect then. She snores so much when she’s too tired, she won’t wake up when you put the ring on her finger.”
“First, supper. What do you want to eat?”
“Ice cream and Fruit Roll-Ups?” she says, her eyes amber-hope.
“What about chicken and carrots? There are leftovers from yesterday’s supper I made for you.”
“Okay, but can we eat in front of the TV?” she whispers.
“Yes, let me slide the ring on your mommy’s finger in case she wakes up. Then bed after we eat. Can you sleep alone tonight?” She pouts, her lower lip already trembling. “Come on, Lex…” I insist, trying to set the boundaries Ave told me about.
“No…”
“Baby girl, please…” I know I should be firm but the scowl on her face, the tears in her eyes, and the rapid breathing are too much for me to handle.
“No.” She crosses her arms, a big fat drop falling from her eyes. And because I don’t want to ruin the wonderful day Lex and I had with tears, I fold.
“Okay. But first a movie,” I say, hoping she’ll fall asleep in front of the TV so I can take her to her bed and sleep alone with Avery in case she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to scratch my eyeballs out for having put a ring on her, or suck my dick. I really would prefer her to choose the second option. “Get the movie ready while I go upstairs. I’ll be back in a second.” I tell Lex while I try to run upstairs silently. Looking at her over my shoulder, I can see she has already gotten over her tears and sadness. She’s humming the song of the Little Mermaid, her feet happily jittering on the sofa.
When I enter the bedroom, Avery is dead to the world, sexy as fuck in her pink blouse and grey knee-length skirt, her hair spread on the pillow. If Lex weren’t waiting for me downstairs, I would totally wake her up and fuck her in her sleep. I sigh, pulling on my jeans to readjust my balls and getting out the ring I bought her at the only jewelry shop in town. It’s not as sparkly as Alane’s, as permanent as Dex’s tattoos, or as eloquent as Salomé’s family heirloom, but it’s the most meaningful ring I will ever
get her. It’s a symbol of what she’s for me. She’s the answer to a prayer I made years ago to Debra while I was walking to the waterfall. Avery is the one who finally allowed me to move on because she brought me truth and lightness, wisdom and love, and the promise of a family I could have never imagined.
She moves slightly when I slide the ring on her finger and murmurs my name. I smile before kissing her forehead and going back downstairs to Lex.
Retrieving the other piece of jewelry from my pocket, I walk behind my lovely daughter and attach a mermaid necklace around her neck.
“What’s that?” she asks, touching the pendant.
“It’s a little thing for you to have around your neck while we wait for you to have your first tattoo,” I tell her, getting my phone out and snapping a picture to show her what I got her.
“Thank you!” she squeals, jumping at my neck.
“No, thank you, baby girl. And tomorrow, we’ll ask Luke when we can go to the shop and tattoo the same mermaid on my skin with your name underneath. Deal?”
“Deal! When I grow up, I want to draw on people’s skin like Uncle Luke or become a mermaid,” she says, sliding down my body and getting settled on the sofa.
“Don’t grow up too fast, little rascal,” I tell her, ruffling her hair.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always be your little girl, and you’ll always be my daddy.”
31
Bella
Three months earlier.
“It’s our window, Marybeth, I tell you,” I state, handing my friend what she thinks is the non-alcoholic beer she drinks since her husband died.
