“Babe, you stay with the girls while I take Laura to the ER to get checked out. They’ll probably call the police so we may be there for a while.” Cindy was now in take-charge mode. I nodded. There wasn’t much I was going to be able to do at the hospital, anyway. Before the shit hit the fan, the two of them had been really close. There was still some unfinished business to be discussed but for right now, this took priority.
I fell asleep on the couch at some point. I woke up to three year old Ronnie nose to nose with me. “Where is Mommy?” Six thirty in the morning. They still weren’t back.
Bobbi was right behind her, “Sorry, Daddy, she’s fast. I’m trying to make breakfast but I need help, please.”
I stood up and stretched as best I could. Fuck, that couch sucks for sleeping. “Okay, ladies. Let’s get you some breakfast.” I herded the girls back out to the kitchen and got them settled in. Two bowls of cereal were delivered and devoured while I made a pot of coffee. I checked my phone, the last text was Cindy letting me know they were being seen, about eleven last night. I figured no news was good news.
Cindy and Laura got home a little before seven thirty. Laura did have a bruised right kidney but no other internal damage. They gave her a mild painkiller and some anti-inflammatories. The police were called by the staff and they verified that a report had been filed. At a little after eight, Laura called the lawyer handling the divorce to let him know where she was and what had happened. He would try to get the judge to waive her appearance in court for hearings for her own safety, but he couldn’t guarantee he could get it. He would call her back when he knew something.
My sisters looked dead on their feet. I pointed Laura towards the main bathroom so she could take a shower. Cindy dug out some clothes she could wear until we could take her shopping for some new ones. We prepped the guest bedroom and I think Laura was out before her head hit the pillow. I sent Cindy to bed right afterwards. I had slept on the couch a little, so I could watch the girls for a few more hours.
I called into work, citing a family emergency. Jeannie was a capable assistant manager and she knew to call me if anything came up that she couldn’t handle. I then got the girls dressed and parked on the couch watching animated movies. It would keep them relatively quiet for a few hours. I leaned back on the couch and napped while my daughters cuddled with me and watched their movies.
I was awakened by Cindy lifting a sleeping Ronnie up and sliding into the spot my daughter had just been evicted from. The clock on the wall read about two thirty. She held Ronnie in her lap as she leaned against me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes and no.”
“Yeah, me, too. I don’t know who to be mad at right now.” She shook her head. “That’s just fu– messed up.” Ronnie may have been asleep, but Bobbie wasn’t.
She looked up at us, worried. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, Queen Bee, you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re good.” I ruffled her hair with my hand. “Adults can be confusing.” I didn’t know how else to explain it right now.
As she turned her attention back to the TV, I swear to God I heard that kid mutter “No shit.” I don’t think Cindy heard it. Maybe I was just hallucinating it, too. We were definitely going to have to be more careful about our language around these kids.
The sounds of stomachs rumbling reminded me that absolutely nobody had eaten lunch yet. We woke up Ronnie and got the kids settled in at the table. Cindy made sandwiches for everybody and we ate in relative silence. Laura was still asleep and she’s the one who really needed it the most. After we cleaned up, the kids went out back and blew off steam for an hour, chasing each other around, under the supervision of Cindy. They were just coming back into the house when Laura came out from the guest bedroom, wearing an oversized t-shirt. Like her sister, she liked sleeping without a bra.
“Sorry, I slept longer than I meant to.” She still looked tired.
“Nah, it’s good. You needed to sleep. You want to eat something now or wait until dinner?” Cindy asked her. “We’re good either way.”
“Dinner’s fine. I could use some water, though. I need to take a painkiller, my side is killing me.” She winced as she applied a little pressure to her right side. She sat down gingerly on the opposite end of the couch while Cindy brought her a glass of water. She swallowed the painkiller and a couple of anti-inflammatories while emptying the glass.
Cindy went out into the kitchen and I could hear her start taking things out to make dinner. Laura looked at me, silently asking permission to go help. I just shrugged my shoulders. They needed to figure that out themselves. The relationship I had with my younger sister was far and away nothing like the relationship the two of them had shared growing up. What Laura had done affected Cindy far worse than it had me. Where I was just angry, Cindy was heartbroken. She cried herself to sleep too many nights for me to count.
When there wasn’t an explosion from the kitchen, I figured it was safe to go take a shower. The girls were playing quietly in their room, it appeared that Ronnie was hosting a tea party under Bobbi’s supervision. I showered quickly and was on my way back to the living room when I passed Laura in the hall.
She stopped me and gave me a quick hug. “Thank you, Stevie. Thank you so much.” She had used Cindy’s hair stuff, which I liked. I tried to avoid full body contact during the hug. I wasn’t comfortable with that kind of closeness with her right now.
I wanted to be mad, I really did. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it right now. “You’re more than welcome to stay as long as you need. We have our problems but what happened to you isn’t right. We’ll take care of that first and then deal with everything else.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and headed into the bathroom. I tried not to flinch.
I stuck my head into the kitchen. Cindy was staring out the window, potato peeler in hand. I guess I made a noise and surprised her, as she suddenly jumped and dropped the peeler into the sink. “Shit, you scared me. I told Laura she could stay as long as she needed, was that all right?”
“Yeah, I told her the same thing just now in the hall. I guess we’ll sort everything out later. Are you going to be okay with that?” I wasn’t concerned about me, I was concerned about Cindy.
“I’m good, I think.” She looked like she was going to say something else, but we could hear the hall bathroom door open. Cindy went back to peeling potatoes as Laura sat down at the table to slice vegetables. She seemed a little happier now, a little more upbeat than she had earlier. The hem of the t-shirt slid up as she sat down, revealing that she at least wore panties. She somehow managed to pull the shirt tight across her front, highlighting her erect nipples.
Dinner went into the oven and on the stove. Laura went in search of Bobbi and Ronnie. When dinner was ready, I was tasked with finding and returning with the other three. I found them on the floor, still holding the tea party. Laura had both girls giggling as they chatted.
“All right, ladies, dinner is served.” I stuck my hand out to help Laura up. She gave me another hug and kiss on the cheek as she got to her feet. I flinched involuntarily. I couldn’t tell if she noticed or not. It wasn’t hard to see that her nipples were still poking out through the t-shirt. She also made no attempt to cover her crotch as she stood up.
“Thank you, kind sir. Let’s get this show on the road, girls,” she aimed the girls toward the dining room. They scrambled out of the room, squealing. “Your daughters are amazing, Stevie. You’re a really good dad.”
I wanted to say something else but managed to grunt out, “Yeah, I try.” She held onto my hand for a few extra seconds, squeezing it before letting go.
Dinner was…different. It seemed like Bobbi was determined to get Cindy and Laura to talk to each other. Ronnie just chatted away about anything and everything, whether somebody was listening or not.
Usually, when I worked on Saturday night, the girls would order pizza and have a girls night. Since I had called in and wasn’t going to work, we got out the boardgames and Bobbi insisted all four girls sit at the dining room table and play games. I found a game on ESPN and had a beer while they played.
It felt like there was a little bit of thawing between Cindy and Laura. I wasn’t sure how far it would go or how long it would last, but I certainly couldn’t throw her out on the street and didn’t think Cindy could either.
Neither of my daughters really wanted to go to bed, since Aunt Laura was here and a captive audience. We let them stay up until nine, when it was obvious they were done for the evening. I put Ronnie down first as Bobbi tried valiantly to argue with Cindy about staying up. Yawning in the middle of your argument never works, kid. Laura carried her in as I was kissing Ronnie’s forehead after getting her settled.
“G’night, Cricket. Love you and we’ll see you in the morning.” She’s so damn cute, even if she won’t stop talking. Cindy was the one who started calling her Cricket, because of the constant chirping from the back seat.
She smiled back, “G’night, Daddy.”
Bobbi looked at me, “Can Aunt Laura tuck me in, Daddy? Please?” She had really taken to Laura.
I kissed her forehead, “Sure, Queen Bee. Don’t give her any trouble, you hear? Love you and we’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, Daddy. G’night.”
Laura came back out to the living room about ten minutes later. As she sat down in the recliner, she told Cindy, “Your girls are incredible, Cindy. They are so damn cute.”
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