A Lie Unraveled (11 page)

“Destiny Bridges, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” He grinned. “I’m really sorry that I don’t have a ring, but I promise by next weekend you will have the engagement ring and the wedding ring.”

“Oh, my God, Justin, really?” Destiny covered her mouth with one hand while she brushed away tears with the other. “Of course I will.”

* * *

“We’re sitting back at the table with no food again,” Sophia said. “I’m guessing that means you’re going to talk about rules again huh?” she asked.

“Yes, we are,” Justin said. “None of it is hard, honey, and it’s nothing that I wouldn’t expect of Lils.”

“Okay,” Sophia said.

Justin placed the posters on the table he'd made from the hastily written up lists they’d worked on the night before. “Have a read through those and tell me if you have any questions,” he said

“Nah, it’s fine,” she said, but her face looked anything but like things were fine.

“I know you’re not used to all this but you will get used to it, Soph, this is the way that things will be from now on.”

“I know,” Sophia said. “Is that the only thing you wanted to talk to me about?”

Destiny looked at her daughter’s face. Something wasn’t right. “So you’re good with all these changes then?” she asked.

“Yes, Mom, I’m fine, I told you that.” Sophia was getting irritated. “Can I go to my room now? I won’t turn my TV on, I can’t anyway, I have no cable. I just want to read my book.”

“I want to talk to you about your stuff too, Sophia,” Justin said.

“Can I have it back soon?”

“You can have it back tomorrow afternoon after homework, provided I don’t hear that you’ve been rude to your mom,” Justin said.

“Okay,” the little girl said quietly. “Can I go to my room?”

“Yes, you can.” Justin said.

Destiny waited until she was sure that Sophia would be in her room and then she pounced on Justin. “Something’s really
wrong
with her. I’ve never seen her so quiet. What if we’ve broken her spirit or something?” she asked.

“Seriously, Desi? You think we’ve broken our daughter by imposing a few rules? She didn’t even complain.”

“That’s what makes me think that something is really wrong. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is but I know my daughter and something is
not right
with her. I’m going to go and talk to her and see if I can figure out what the problem is.”

“I’ll go,” Justin said.

“Be nice to her,” Destiny said.

“Do you really think I’m some kind of tyrant?” he asked.

“Of course not,” she said. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried that’s all. She went away last night happy and came back miserable.”

“Actually, her change of mood didn’t see to come around until the talk about the rules,” Justin said. “It’s more than likely got something to do with that.”

“We’ve done it now, I told you these rules were too harsh. We’ve gone and broken her.” Destiny was working herself up into a lather.

Justin ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Stop,” he said. “You are being over dramatic. Soph
was
a little quiet, I’ll give you that and I’m going to go and talk to her in a bit. She said she wanted to read her book, maybe that’s all it is. She could be tired and want a bit of alone time.”

“It’s not any of those things, she’s hurting, Justin. Just because you work with kids, doesn’t mean you know
everything
about kids. This little girl and I have been together from the moment I gave birth to her and I know when she wants something and when she is really hurting. That is a hurt kid and I don’t want to wait. Either you go up there or I will.”

Justin held his hands up in mock defense. “Okay, I’m listening. I’ll go, not because I think I can handle it better but because I’m probably the cause. If she is upset about the rules, I will explain to her again why I think they’re important.”

“Is that your way of saying you’re not adjusting them?” she asked.

“No, it isn’t, but I’m
not
adjusting them. They’re not unreasonable. We haven’t even added a chores list yet. I thought we’d do that once we all live here together.”

“Chores now? What’s next a summer job and paper route? She’s nine years old for God’s sake. If you’re going to say to me that Lily-Grace does chores, well she shouldn’t, she should be allowed to be a kid.”

“You need to stop or you and I are going to have words.”

“
You need to stop or you and I are going to have words
,” Destiny mimicked. “That’s your answer to just about everything isn’t it?”

“That’s enough, Desi,” he said. “You have crossed the line.”

“What line? The invisible line of bossiness that exists only in your own mind? Maybe I don’t want to stop. Maybe you can’t make me stop.” Okay, that was possibly the most stupid thing she could have said. What was she trying to do by baiting him? Was she seeing how far she could push him? Apparently, she had pushed him far enough on this occasion.

He grabbed her hand and towed her through house, past the kitchen and into the garage through the internal door. He kicked the door shut behind him, sat on an old desk chair and yanked her over one knee. “
You are unbelievable
,” he said. “I
heard
you; I heard that you really believed that Sophia was upset and I wanted to go and talk to her.” He brought his hand down with a sharp smack.

“I thought you didn't care,” she said.

“You were wrong!” he said. He raised her skirt and pulled her panties up tight, baring a good portion of her generous cheeks. “I care just as much about that little girl as you do. Just because my methods are different to yours, doesn’t make them wrong.”

Destiny felt a hard thud and a fire ignited. “Stop!” she yelled.

He didn’t stop. Justin’s hard hand bounced off the already blushing cheeks that were framed by her hiked-up underwear. “I was trying to go and talk to
our
daughter, but instead you continued to bait me, you
wanted
an argument,” He pummeled her pink cheeks with hefty whacks. “Well, you got one.”

“I’m sorry! I was worried!” Destiny yelled. She tried to put her hand back to protect her assaulted rear end but her wrist was caught in Justin’s large paw.

“When I tell you to stop, you better take that as a warning,” he said, continuing to turn her bottom a deep shade of pink. “Do you understand?”

Every one of his words was punctuated with a hard spank and Destiny would have been completely stupid if she didn’t understand. “Yes, I’m
sorry
,” she wailed.

“Good,” Justin said. He pulled her up to sit on his knee and kissed her forehead.

“That hurt,” Destiny said with a sniffle. She wiped her face with his t-shirt.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You’re
very
welcome.” Destiny wanted to poke out her tongue or actually blow her nose but she held back because she valued sitting more than revenge and she really didn’t think it was the time to push her luck.

“Your attitude could do with some improvement,” he said rubbing her back gently.

“That hurt, Justin,” she said. She felt justified in having a small amount of attitude.

“And it could have been avoided. If you keep pushing, you have to expect to get what you're looking for.” Justin gave her another quick kiss. “Now, if you don’t have anything else to say, I will go and talk to Sophia.”

“No,” she said. “I’m all good.” There was a time to cut your losses and shut up and this was that time.

* * *

Justin knocked on Sophia’s door and waited for her to tell him to come in. He wanted to open up the lines of communication, not close them by barging his way in. It could be that it would take a while though. “Sophia?”

“I’m reading,” she said.

“I want to talk to you for a minute,” he said.

“Come in then, I guess.”

As he walked through the door, he saw Sophia open the book that was on her bedside table and started reading. “Hi,” he said. “I’m glad you like the book.”

“I did, I mean I do,” Sophia said. She continued to pretend that she was reading.

Justin took the book and placed it on the bed. “Sophia, I want you to tell me what’s wrong,” he said. He held up his hand to stop her protests. “I know you're going to say there
is
nothing wrong but your mother and I know there is something very wrong. We just want to help you but we can’t do that if you don’t say what the problem is.”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Sophia asked.

Justin’s forehead crinkled with worry. Maybe the way she had gone around it was wrong but Desi had been right to worry, something was wrong here. “Is it the rules, Sophia?” he asked. “Is that was has you so upset?”

“No, Lily-Grace has rules, I don’t mind having rules.”

So she wanted to be like Lily-Grace, that was a clue. “Honey, we could play these guessing games or you could tell me what was bothering you,” he said. “You can tell me anything.”

“There isn't anything I want to tell you I swear,” Sophia said.

“Hmm,” Justin said. “Nothing you
want
to tell me?” He smiled and kissed her cheek.

“If it’s what you want, I’ll leave you for a bit but I want you to know that I’m your daddy and I love you. When you’re ready, come and talk to me. I’m a good listener.” He hoped she would confide in him when she’d had the chance to think things through. He stood and opened the door.

“If you love me, why don’t you want me to call you Daddy?” Sophia asked, her eyes filled with tears.

Oh damn, is that what she thought? How would the child have come to that conclusion? He closed the door and sat back down on the bed, gathering Sophia in his lap. He had to take a big breath to be able to choke out the words. “Why would you think that I wouldn’t want you to call me Daddy?” he asked.

“You said that,” she said. “When I was in your office that time, you said I had to call you sir when I was at school and Justin at home.”

“Oh, Soph, that wasn’t what I meant at all. I didn’t want to push you for anything that you weren’t ready to give. I figured you were more comfortable calling me by my name. I just couldn’t have you calling me that at school in front of the other kids.
Nothing
would make me happier or prouder than to have you call me Daddy,” Justin said. He watched his daughter’s face, eager to see a light go on, a realization that he was telling the truth and that she was loved. He wasn’t disappointed; her face immediately lit up.

“Really?” she asked. “I can call you Daddy? You
want
me to call you Daddy?”

“Oh yes, honey please call me Daddy, I would love that but what about me? Have I gone up a peg yet? Can I call you Soph?”

Sophia giggled. “Yes, you can call me Soph,” she said. “Can I tell you something else, Daddy?” Her face was colored with pleasure and embarrassment of using the word for the first time.

“You can tell me anything at all.”

“I finished that book yesterday and I don’t want to pretend to read it anymore.”

“Oh really?” he chuckled. “Why did you pretend to read it? You should have just told me.” He would have gladly gone to buy her more books.

“I don't know. I guess I wanted to make you proud but I also didn’t want you to think I was trying to get more stuff.”

“A book is not stuff; you can have as many books as you can read.”

“Can I get the next one?”

“In the series? Sure you can,” he said. “One more thing; stop worrying. You don’t have to earn my love. I love you no matter what just because
you
are
you
. The rules are to benefit you, not me. Are we all clear now?”

“Yes, Daddy, we’re all clear.”

* * *

“Why can’t we go to the wedding?” Sophia asked.

“Because Mommy and I want to go by ourselves. It will be a mini wedding on the beach with a mini honey moon right after; just the two of us.” Justin gave Destiny’s had a squeeze and then kissed her. “We would like just a little time on our own.”

“Eww,” Sophia said. “Do you two know what TMI is?”

“Yes,” Justin said with a grin. “Do you know what a ILMABIWASA means?”

“No one knows what that is,” Sophia said. “I think you made it up.”

Lily-Grace giggled. “I do,” she said. “I lost my allowance because I was a smart Alec.”

Sophia gasped at the horror of losing her new found allowance for joking. “No one can take a joke anymore. So where are we going to go while you’re getting married on the beach?”

“You are going to go to Grandma’s house,” Destiny said. “You’ll have a lot of fun over there.”

“We sure will. Grandma lets us stay up late and eat as much ice cream and cookies as we like,” Sophia said happily.

“Really,” Justin said.

“What happens at Grandma’s stays at Grandma’s,” Destiny whispered.