“Oh! Are they now?! Well, wish I could see that; shame that I can’t,” Rhonda pouted over the phone.
“But we can come back to the park, and we can have so much fun!”
“Can I?! I just might! I haven’t seen your brother playing in years and years!” Rhonda was smiling as she sat on the sofa, breastfeeding Ben, listening to how sweet her daughter’s giggle was. “Let me talk to your sister, sweetheart.”
“Mommy wants to talk to you, Krissy,” Suzie said, gazing up at her sister. “Jamie, come push me on the swing,” she said, pulling her brother towards the other side of the playground.
“Now you go on; I’ll watch from here,” Krissy said, waving Jamie on as she brought her phone up to her ear. “Yes, Rhoda?”
“How’s Jamie with Suzie?”
“Oh, they’re just having a ball; Jamie even held Suzie up, letting her think she was crossing the monkey bars on her own just so she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself,” Krissy explained low, smiling was Suzie’s laughter filled the air as Jamie pushed her on the swing.
“So his attitude isn’t affecting her?”
“No, he hasn’t been grumpy since we left the house.”
“So it’s me then?”
“Well… Dad, too, I don’t think he’s ever going to get over it, but I don’t know, but we’ll see how the years go by. He might soften a bit, but I don’t think he’s going to like either of you much more than he does now.” Krissy did feel for Rhonda as she heard her stepmother sigh over the line.
“Yeah, I thought as much. So how are the two of you doing?”
“Oh, we’re doing just fine, had a few fights, minor ones, but we got past them. He took me out for a romantic dinner a few nights ago; oh, my, god, I was so in heaven?!”
“Were you? You’ll have to tell me about it when we’re alone.”
“Mmmhmm,” Krissy hummed as she swayed a little.
“Don’t let Suzie stay out in the sun for too long.”
“We won’t, thinking we’ll be back in, say, thirty minutes; I know how you like to keep her naps on schedule.”
“I do; you don’t know how hard it is to get her to sleep if her naps are late.”
“I can imagine; we’ll see you then.”
“You three be safe; I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Shh, you’ll wake her,” Krissy said as she peered around her seat when they pulled to a stop in front of their childhood home. Seeing how her little sister had dozed off in her car seat on the ride home. Watching how Jamie slid his key out of the ignition before he opened his driver’s door. “I’ll put the car seat back in the van,” she whispered as Suzie instinctively wrapped her arms around Jamie’s neck as he gently picked her up out of it. She saw how Rhonda stood in the doorway and how her lip was trembling as Jamie carried Suzie towards the house.
“Go put her in her bed, honey; I bet she had so much fun with you,” Rhonda said in a loving voice as she lightly rubbed her son’s back. Noting how he pressed his lips together, keeping the retort he would usually spout to himself due to who he held in his arms. “You should come and see Ben; he’s awake; he’ll love his sister,” she spoke, smiling at Krissy as she approached the porch. “Oh, your Aunt called. She said they were thinking of coming over sometime in the afternoon to see Ben.”
“Then I know when to leave,” Jamie said, walking into the kitchen as Rhonda shut the door.
“Jamie, she’s not like she was during Thanksgiving,” Krissy huffed.
“Sure, she isn’t; once a she-bat, always a she-bat,” Jamie said from the depths of the kitchen. “I’ll give her five seconds before she reverts back to her normal self once she sees me,” he stated as he walked out with a drink in his hand.
“Don’t you want to see Ben?” Krissy asked as Jamie began to turn towards the hallway.
“Nope, have fun though,” Jamie said, walking towards his former room, now turned guest room.
“Jamie?!” Krissy spoke, putting her displeasure into the tone of her voice, causing Jamie to stop in his tracks when he knew he was about to be cussed out. “Get in here and see our brother, now,” she said through clenched teeth.
Rhonda just stared in awe at her stepdaughter when Jamie didn’t say a word and walked into the living room. Grinning at Krissy, who blushed beneath her silent praise before Rhonda slid her arm along Krissy’s shoulders and led her into the living room. Ben stared at his mother as she and Krissy walked around the couch.
“How’s my baby boy!” Rhonda cooed down to him, who gave her a gummy smile as she tickled Ben’s stomach. Glancing up, noting how Jamie was just sipping on his drink, unclipping Ben from the baby rocker she had placed him in. Humming as she swayed as she held Ben to her chest like she had done with all her children. As she sat down beside her son, noticing how Jamie glanced out the corner of his eye at her when she did. Flashing Krissy a smile as she took Jamie’s drink from him, over his silent protest, before Rhonda turned towards him. “Hold your brother, Jamie,” she ordered, not giving Jamie a chance to object before she laid Ben into his arms. “Support his head, honey, like this,” Rhonda instructed, moving his arm to support Ben’s head as Jamie cradled Ben. “See, you’re a natural,” she uttered in a loving voice as her hand brushed along the back of Jamie’s head.
“That isn’t so bad, now is it?” Krissy asked as she stood to the left of him. Given the look on his face, she knew he was not happy with her at the moment. She, on the other hand, thought he was just being stubborn; it wasn’t Ben’s fault for being born, and Jamie shouldn’t take his frustrations out on him when he disliked who his parents were.
“Okay, I held him,” Jamie said, handing off his brother to his mother, and quickly got to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Krissy asked; her annoyance was plain as day as Jamie opened the front door.
“Out.” Was all Jamie said as he walked out the door.
******
“Well, look who it is,” Casandra said; while her sneer wasn’t on her face, it wasn’t hard to miss as Jamie walked into the house a little around three that afternoon.
“I see you’re still a she-bat as I expected you would be,” Jamie said, not bothering to be nice.
“Casandra, I warned you,” Casandra’s husband spoke as he, Casandra, Rhonda, and Krissy all got caught up.
“But Trace…”
“No buts Casandra, if you can’t keep that attitude of yours under wraps, then don’t open your mouth,” Trace said sternly; after what happened over the Thanksgiving holiday last year, they had it out once they were home. Seeing how his wife’s mouth just snapped closed. “Afternoon, Jamie,” he greeted, getting a nod out of Jamie.
“Well, since I’m not welcomed in this little family of yours, I’ll just mosey on,” Jamie said, looking down when Krissy held out her hand to him as she reached over the couch.
“We’re okay, aren’t we?” Krissy asked, her thumb brushed along Jamie’s knuckles affectionately as she held his hand.
“Yeah, why would you think otherwise?” Jamie muttered, confused.
“Just you haven’t been all that happy since coming back,” Krissy said, ignoring the snort of disgust from her aunt.
“Yeah, did you expect I would be?”
“No, but I’m happy you’re not upset with me,” Krissy said, bringing his hand to her lips and placing a kiss upon it. Casting him a smile before Jamie disappeared down the hall.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Jamie’s shout caused everyone in the living room to quickly get to their feet. Krissy was the first one to crest the threshold of the hallway, only to see her cousins rushing out of Suzie’s room. Who stopped in their tracks and had a look that told her they had done something very wrong. That was when she heard the faint, muffled crying coming from Suzie’s room. That was when Rhonda flew past her when she heard those same cries.
“Mark, Theodore, what have you done?!” Trace growled as he glared at his two sons.
“We were only playing,” Mark muttered, thinking they did nothing wrong. When in truth, they had if you don’t consider shoving a three-year-old into her closet and running amok in her room as doing something wrong.
“Then why is your cousin crying if you were just playing?” Trace asked, his hands resting on his hips, waiting for an answer.
“Mommy! They broke it!” Suzie cried out as she ran sobbing into her mother’s arms once she was free from the hug Jamie gave her when she buried her face in his chest.
“Broke what, baby?” Rhonda asked, looking into the room and seeing her son standing there with his back to her as he stared down at his feet.
“The mermaid Jamie got for me,” Suzie said through her sobs. “When I got mad because I loved it, they were mean to me and pushed me into the closet.”
“You did what!” Casandra roared, seeing the fear in their eyes as she glared angrily at her two boys.
“No, we didn’t,” Theodore said defiantly.
“Yeah, you did; you were snickering as you were tearing up her room while one of you, you both look alike to me, so I never really cared to know your names, where the other one kept Suzie from getting out while the other had his fun,” Jamie said, stepping out into the hallway.
“No one believes you since no one likes you!” Mark stated with a snide attitude he picked up from his mother.
“And? You seem to think your family is the best there is; news flash, you little dweeb, you aren’t; all you and your so-called relatives are nothing but self-centered, ego…”
“That’s enough, Jamie; I think they get the idea,” Krissy said, stopping him when she knew he was only getting started.
“Do they? Seems they haven’t changed much since the last time I saw them,” Jamie stated, looking down when Suzie latched onto his left leg.
“Told you, you care about her,” Krissy whispered low, casting him a knowing smile as she rested her hand on his right shoulder.
“Mark, Theodore, get your buts back in there and clean that damn room!” Trace hollered, pointing at Suzie’s room. “I can’t believe the embarrassment you’ve caused your mother and me; I thought we raised you better than that. Then again,” turning to peer at his wife who stood behind him, “I can see where you get that attitude from. And if that room isn’t straightened out in half an hour, I will tan your hides, now get!” he barked. Watching his son’s scurrying back into Suzie’s room. “Don’t worry, Rhonda, I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again, and they will pay for another one of those mermaids. Be silent! It will come out of your allowance; keep up your bellyaching, and you won’t have that for much longer. When we get home, you both are grounded for a month for what you did to your cousin. I’ll keep watch…”
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