Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 47419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 237(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 237(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
I let myself back into the house, and that’s when I remembered the bag she’d brought home. It was still sitting on the counter where she’d left it. I had no real interest in it, thinking it was just some groceries she’d bought to make another one of her tasteless meals.
Imagine my surprise when I opened it to see the bottles of whisky. I felt guilty for my thoughts and my treatment of her. Maybe she did care after all.
I opened one of the bottles and took it to the head as I made my way to the couch. I gave some thought to the food in the microwave, but food was the last thing on my mind. I have to find someone to take care of that bitch because it’s not going to be me.
RACHEL
“What do you mean this happened weeks ago?” I looked around the table at its occupants.
“Jacob wouldn’t let us tell you when it first happened because it happened on the day you went into labor.” I looked at Helen with nary a thought in my head. Had I become this selfish, or was I just desensitized?
How could all of this have been going on and I knew nothing about it? It’s true I hadn’t been on social media in a while, not since the kids were born, in fact. But how the heck had things come to this? And what kind of power or magic did my husband use to keep everyone in line?
“If you’re wondering how he got everyone to keep their yaps shut, that’ easy. He threatened to cut us off from seeing the kids until they were in college.”
“All of them?”
“All of them, including Kevin and Sara.”
Yeah, I can see how they would believe him. Jacob always follows through with his threats, and since the babies were born, he’s been even worse than usual. But this was big. Wendy was paralyzed?
I guess I’m as much to blame; I won’t lie. Since Doug never showed up for the last court hearing weeks ago, I pretty much put them both out of my mind. I’ve been so preoccupied with my husband and kids, and having three babies, even with all of the helping hands around here, has kept me pretty focused and homebound.
Jacob and I have been talking about him adopting the kids, which I was all for, but I wanted to make sure that Helen, who has always been there for me, would be on board with that. It seems like a no-brainer since their bio dad is a piece of work, but I can’t just ignore the relationships with the rest of his family, who have always been kind to me and the kids.
Jacob is all about all of his kids feeling like they belong; that’s why he refused to name one of our sons after him. Instead, the boys have K names, and the girl has an S name. Kaden and Kellan for the boys and Sienna for our daughter.
His thing now is last names. He, me, and the other kids all have his last name except for Kevin and Sara. That’s the reason I’d called Helen and her husband over to have a conversation about the adoption and name change.
Since Doug had never shown up, I see no reason why I wouldn’t get his rights revoked, but just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should. In the end, we decided to wait until the kids were older, though I was sure to explain that no matter if we went through with the adoption or not, they would always be a part of our kids’ lives.
Once that was out of the way, is when she hit me with the news. I guess Jacob had given her the go-ahead. I looked at him now because even though I knew how he was, I couldn’t believe that he’d kept this hidden so well for so long.
He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed, and I wasn’t sure if I was mad or impressed. “Why are you looking at me like that? What were you going to do if you knew?” For some reason, everyone else at the table seemed to find that funny.
They, the parents, his, mine, and Doug’s, had come to terms with the fact that he was nuts. You know how normal people would sometimes question their choices and second guess their decisions, especially life altering ones? Not Jacob. If ‘I don’t give a shit’ was a person, it would be him.
“So, what are we doing? Are we grilling? Ordering in or going out to dinner?”
“Jacob!”
“What?”
“We’re talking about someone being paralyzed.”
“And? Oh, you want me to pretend to care. Gimme a sec. Nope, I’ve got nothing.” I rolled my eyes and looked at the others, who you would think, because of their ages, would say something, but instead, it looked like they were holding back laughter.