Fostering Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 1) (30 page)

“Well, my oh my, a visit from the beautiful Dolly, you are positively glowing, how are you feeling?” he says giving me a once over.  What a weirdo, there is no other way to put it.

“I’m doing good thank you for asking.”

“I’ll say, you’re looking radiant and I know I shouldn’t say it, but I can’t help but notice how you’ve filled out.”  His eyebrow wiggle leaves me under no illusion that he is not referring to my baby bump, sometimes he is just plain inappropriate.

“You’re right you shouldn’t fuckin’ say it, so do yourself a favor un-notice my woman now and walk away.”  My guy has finally got the timing thing right when it counts and managed to interrupt just as Steven got started.

“Jonas, good to see you home.  How are you?”  He’s trying to be tough, stand his ground and look unaffected by Jonas’s statement.

“Yeah well, it ain’t good to see you at this precise moment, so I’ll be feeling better when you get out of my woman’s space and stay out of it.”  Jonas warns him again and this time he takes it seriously.

“My hero!” jokes Neely but Jonas looks unimpressed by her humor and signals it’s time to go, his temper has been tested enough for this little visit and that’s never a good sign.  I quickly sister kiss Neely and move to put my hand in Jonas’s out stretched palm and we leave.

“That ass best leave you alone and forget you fuckin’ exist,” he says and then looks at me “What?  No comments or protests that you can handle it yourself?  I am surprised.”

“Oh no lover, you go for it, he can be an odd one, I have no idea how Neely puts up with that, but I imagine she puts him in his place and she says he’s not that bad to work for. I, however, am more than happy with your approach.”  He lets go of my hand, tucks me into his side and grins at me.  As we reach Mudjoes I realize we’ve walked down Main Street and no one has stared or done anything remotely ugly with the affection that we are currently displaying. 

We’re doing couple things and it feels great.  He understands this and knows it’s why I’m happy, as he opens the door for me to enter before him,he whispers “Told you so” in my ear.

Jo comes over and fusses over me, she’s clearly pleased that I have recovered from my tripping incident which was the last time I was here.  I sit at the table and Jonas waits at the counter for our drinks.  My phone beeps again and I’m a bit apprehensive about looking at it.  I get my phone out and check it, it’s another text that just says:

Unknown Number:
brother fucker

My phone bangs as I drop it on the table, but the noise also draws Jonas’s attention.  I wave him away and make out it’s just me and my clumsy ways, but the frown he sends at me, tells me I haven’t pulled it off.  In an effort to cover it up, I put the phone in my purse and hope he doesn’t remember I was looking at it a few minutes ago.  Fortunately for me, lots of people pop by the table when he returns with the drinks and he never gets the chance to bring it up.  After a while he forgets and all is good until we come to leave and bump into Tits outside the coffee shop.

“Walk away Letitia,” Jonas warns her straight away.

“So it’s true, you have been fucking her and here I thought it was all just a nasty rumor,” she sneers at him ignoring his words.

“I said walk the fuck away and you’ve got no room to talk about morals right now.”

“Well Dolly, hats off to you, it’s taken you some time to get round to the last brother.  Jonas, I still have those details of the clinic you wanted me to visit for a paternity test, just in case you’ve any doubts.”

I’ve had enough now.

“Oh my God, are you still going with this shit, even after I dumped your ass in a pile of condoms you’re still pretending that you’re holy than thou.  Take a look at this bump bitch, this is what you call a real pregnancy not some cooked up fucking dream to hook a guy who never wanted you.”  It feels good to get this shit out.

“Letitia, I’m not going to ask you again to leave me and my family alone, or have you forgotten the last conversation we had in the club?” What conversation is she talking about? I don’t know about any conversation.

“I told you, you don’t have any evidence of that, there were a number of other people all working the same day that money went missing.”

“And I told you, don’t push me after all the shit you’ve pulled.   You’re lucky I just provided the evidence
in case
they decide to press charges.  So this means I do have evidence.  Very fuckin’ firm evidence.”

“Jonas! You let her walk away from stealing! For fucking real, after she had me arrested for giving her a bumpy landing in the condoms?” I can’t fucking believe this.  She’s smiling smugly at me; I can’t let her have the last laugh.  “Oh wipe that smile off your ugly face bitch, who’s the dried up prune now?  You couldn’t even manage to get knocked up by accident.  Did you take me up on my word and head for the surgical condoms or is it too late for that?  I pity the child that finally does pop out of your saggy ass cunt.”

At that she screams and flies at me, fortunately Jonas is closer to her than she is to me. “Letitia I wont ask you again. You will walk away from my woman, if you can’t do that of your own accord I will fuckin’ make you by any means available to me.  I do not want to ever see you in her or my eye line again.  If I do calling the law will be the least of your worries,” and he pushes her into the road where she falls off the curb and flat onto her ass.

“You fucking bitch, this is not over.  You’d best be looking over your fucking shoulder from now on BROTHER FUCKER!” she screams, but then realizes her mistake; she’s screamed the same words I received in the last text message.  I was about to tell Jonas, but I look at him and he’s boiling with rage, the last words she has shouted have put his temper on red alert.  Telling him now will only mean he ends up with a common assault charge.  I do the best thing I can and drag him away whilst scowling at her.  I feel pleased that she’s dropped herself in it because she’s no real threat to me.

A simple family dinner at Barbara and Harrison’s was going to be a totally different experience from now on.  In the future we’d have the kids to include but for now I’d gone from being a single to be mom straight into a committed relationship overnight.  Hell, it wasn’t just dinner at this point that would be a new experience, everything would be!   We’d missed out on the traditional ‘getting to know you’ phase and it didn’t feel odd in the slightest, it felt right.  It felt like I was home or exactly where I was supposed to be.

When we arrived it was how it always was, Barbara was cooking, Harrison was opening beer and the twins were loitering with the intent to steal food before it hit the table.  However, as soon as we walked through the door Barbara dumped food preparation and came to say hi to me and the babies, whilst offering a smug smile to Jonas.  Harrison gave Jonas a bottle of beer and a congratulatory slap on the shoulders and the twins proceeded to take advantage of the food being left unattended... until Barbara realized.

“Boys, step away from that roast before I am forced to get handy with a spatula around each of your heads.”  They do as they’re told straight away, fear and respect of Barbara in this house is real.  Jonas laughs and mumbles “pussies” under his breath and the twins hear this and pass a look between them that indicates revenge later on.  We’re all then instructed to take our seats at the table and when I go to sit between Jack and Jake I’m told to move and ‘Sit by my man’, as Barbara puts it, who would have thought they’d be this accepting of everything?  The usual passing of food pots starts and we tuck in.

“So, you’ve still got time to get married at the town hall before the babies come,” and that gem is Barbara’s opening line for dinner conversation.  I literally spit a load of food out of my mouth on to my plate because it was either that or choke on it.  Jack and Jake smile smugly between themselves, they knew this was coming and Harrison is shaking his head as he starts to speak “For the love of God Barbara, I thought we were clear about all things dinner ambush wise, yet here we are again.”

“I’m just saying it’s not right for the babies to be born out of wedlock if there is no need, she doesn’t want to be talked about.”  Her justification angers me, but reminds of me my own earlier misgivings and the argument with that whore outside Mudjoes, still, I am completely blindsided.  We’ve only been together for a pissing day officially, well in my official mind anyway. 

I can’t look up, I don’t want to see the horror that is bound to be on Jonas’s face by this suggestion, who up to now still hasn’t said anything and is carrying on with his food, ignoring her and pretending this bull shit conversation isn’t happening.

“Well whaddya know,” says Jake, “big brother and big sister do the business, but he doesn’t want to do
all
the business.”

I gasp in shock and run from the table as Jonas leans across all the food and punches him square in the face.  All hell is breaking loose and Harrison and Jack are persistent in their effort to pull a raging Jonas off him.

“You stupid little fucker,” I hear Jonas hiss at him, “you’ll go and apologize to Dalton.  Now.”  I don’t want that, he’s only speaking the truth, we are big brother and sister and he doesn’t want to marry me, I said all along that people would think this.  I just didn’t expect if from my family, Barbara thinks we need to get married and Jack and Jake are probably suffering from being associated to this scandal. 

I’m not listening to this, I was right. 

I am out of here.  I need space. 

So whilst the arguing continues I leave the downstairs bathroom as quietly as I can and head out the front door.

I only get about fifty yards down the street before Harrison catches up to me, this surprises me because I thought it would be Jonas.

“Dolly, where are you going?” he asks.

“Home.  And I mean my place.”  I keep walking.

“Come back you have to ignore the twins and what they said, they’re immature and they don’t know the history.  God knows those little bastards haven’t got the brains they were born with.”

“Well that doesn’t excuse Barbara, she thinks the same too!” I shout.

“No.  She doesn’t. However, she is from a different generation where babies were born into families, she also has no idea about tact and delivering serious information, I’m beginning to wonder where she’s left it.”

“But it’s what they’re all thinking, I knew this was how it would be, I don’t want my babies growing up being a town conversation topic.  I need to move,” and the more that brainwave takes seed the more I like it.  “That’s it, that’s the answer, I’m out of here,” and I carry on walking.

“Dolly stop!” he shouts but doesn’t follow me.  I get another twenty yards and a pain hits my middle.  I end up bent over taking deep breaths leaning against a random yard fence.  I try to get upright but the babies protest again and I hear a truck approaching me slowly.

“FUCKING HELL, what have I told you about random hiking expeditions with my babies!”  He sounds absolutely furious as he rushes out of the truck to help me. I start crying immediately, whilst he lifts me into the passenger seat and we head back to the Griggs.

“I knew people would talk, I told you they would, didn’t I?” I sob.

“Only those fuckin idiots that don’t know us and have fuck all else in their life, people will get over it.”

“But...”

“But nothing Dolly, this is the last time we discuss this shit.  Ever.  I’m not going to be happy if I think you’re dwelling on this and making yourself ill and why the fuck were you bent over in pain? Are you OK? Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“No, I think I was just going too fast for us all.”

“See.  I told you.  My babies are on my team and they know you were being fuckin stupid and needed to slow down,” he says once we’re sitting in the drive.  “Now we are going back in there and having a family dinner.  Those two cheeky fuckers will behave otherwise they’ll have matching busted noses.”   He helps me out of the truck and kisses me whilst taking me in his arms for a reassuring hug. “Better?” he asks.

“No, but you’re not going to let me leave and move across state so it looks like I have no choice.”

“My girl is learning.”

We go back inside and take our places at the table.  Jake has tissue sticking out the bottom of his nostrils and looks ridiculous, the bruising to his face is already beginning to appear.  “Dolly, sorry for my crap attempt at humor, I promise I didn’t mean what I said.  I’m happy for both of you, we both are, aren’t we Uncle Jack?”  Jack bobs his head in agreement with him.

I nod and smile in return; his apology is heartfelt but hilarious with tissue on his face and I set about moving the food that I spat out into some tissue paper.

“Shit apology Jake.  You’d best not say anything like that again, because making another apology after I’ve knocked out your teeth is going to be tough.” Jonas is seriously not amused.

“Sure.  Sorry man.”

“OK,” Barbara starts, “can we get back to a drama free dinner?”

“Yeah, like you’ve not had any part of making that drama.  Last warning Barbara, quit these ambushes or we are gonna fall out.” It seems that Harrison is as un-amused as Jonas is by the whole thing and Barbara just nods her acceptance at him in return.