Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Your mom is nice,” Daisy said, turning toward Anthony. Once again, he was staring at her. He was a strange boy, always staring, observing.
“You’ll be safe now. Mom won’t let anything happen.” He squeezed her hand a little tighter.
She rested her head against his shoulder. It would be nice to be safe. Her parents were always shouting and screaming, and hurting each other. For once, she’d just like to know what it was like to be wanted, to have a mommy who hugged her, kissed her goodnight, and read her a bedtime story.
Her father started to shout, and Twisted moved away from the car.
Closing her eyes, Anthony wrapped his arms around her, and Tabitha hugged her back. She didn’t have much, but she had friends.
****
Late that night Angel paced up and down the length of her bedroom. They were not at the clubhouse, and Daisy was sleeping with Anthony in his room as the spare room didn’t have a bed yet. Lash sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her.
“You want us to adopt her?”
“Yes. This is not the first time they’ve left her, Lash. They don’t deserve their daughter. They were drunk, and I couldn’t leave her there.”
After bringing her home, Angel had done homework with Anthony and Daisy, made dinner while waiting for Lash to come home.
“Look, babe, I know you want to adopt her, and I don’t want to see her go back to those fuckers, but you’re carrying, and Anthony, he can be a handful.” He got to his feet, pulling her into his arms, and stopping her from pacing. “You can’t hide the fact that you’re struggling with this pregnancy. You’re sick, tired, and exhausted. If I’d known that Daisy was still at school before you, I’d have gone to get her myself.”
The pregnancy was exhausting her, and she’d even noticed that she was sleeping a lot more, and the simplest thing made her tired.
“I can’t send her back. Don’t make me.”
“Lacey and Whizz,” Lash said.
“Huh?”
“They adopted Sally. Lacey loves kids, and I recall seeing her around Daisy. She’d happily have her as a daughter.”
Tears filled Angel’s eyes. “Don’t you want a daughter either?”
“Angel, babe, I love you, and I’d love to have Daisy as my daughter. I’d take care of her, and Anthony would be her brother, but I told you before, you’re my main concern. It kills me to give Daisy to Lacey when I know you’d love her like your own. But you can’t handle another child right now, and I’m going to be taking care of you. You come first.”
“I could handle it.”
“Daisy will be loved, and she won’t go far.”
“What about her parents?” Angel asked, crying. Her emotions were all over the place. She couldn’t stop crying, and she hated it. Even as she was crying, she was hating herself, wondering why the hell she was crying.
“I’ll pay a visit to the family, and they won’t have a problem. I’ll get our lawyer to do the paperwork, and we’ll go there together.”
Resting her head against Lash’s wide chest, she let out a sigh. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Chapter Seven
“How did you burn pasta?” Charlotte asked, staring at the burnt strands of linguine.
Lacey sighed. “I put the pasta into the water, and I forgot about it. I went to sit with Whizz.”
Charlotte stared at the other woman’s face, seeing that she was blushing. “I see.”
“What?”
“You were doing more than sitting around.” Staring into the pot, she saw the water had boiled away, and the pasta was just wrong. “You might want to throw the pot out.”
“That will be your fifth pot this week,” Sally said.
“I’m trying, okay? I can’t cook.” Lacey took the pot out of the kitchen, and Charlotte stared at the stew.
“Do you have bread?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes. Dad makes sure we have bread in case Mom ruins dinner, or won’t let us call for takeout.” Sally moved to the far side of the kitchen, and opened a large cupboard. “Tada.”
Chuckling, Charlotte gave the stew a final stir. “It’s ready.”
“I’ll go and get everyone.”
Carrying the large pot into the dining room, she placed it on the center mat and made her way back into the kitchen. Gash was entering the kitchen, and wrinkling his nose. “What could she have possibly burned now?” he asked.
“Pasta. I didn’t think it was possible, but it is.” Charlotte didn’t know how Lacey had lived her life with the way she burnt things.
She grabbed several bags of buns and paused in the kitchen. Gash was still there, and now that he knew the truth, she didn’t know what to say to him. Opening her mouth, she closed it once again. What was there to say?
Heading back toward the dining room, Gash stopped her. He held onto her arm. “Were you going to live the rest of your life waiting for me to come to you?”