21
Three weeks later…
Well, in the past three weeks it has been one crazy whirlwind of craziness. Destiny got out of the hospital two days after she was taken in. She was borderline overdosed to the point of no return. She seemed to smarten up for a few days, but then it seemed like she slipped right back at it. Last night she was supposed to pick Jackson up and she never came to get him. Viper texts her but he hasn’t heard anything back.
“I’m going to head over to Destiny’s place with Jackson to drop him off. Hopefully, she’s just sleeping,” he says.
“Alright, I’m going to stay home with Mia. Alison’s supposed to be heading over later with Geri-Ann.” It’s adorable to see, Geri-Ann so protective of Mia. Every time Mia whines Geri-Ann checks on her.
“I love you,” Dalton says. He leans in and kisses my lips and heads out the door with Jackson in his arms.
“I love you too,” I say chuckling, shaking my head. He’s supposed to head over to Ace’s after he drops Jackson off. I guess, he needs some guy time.
Destiny is probably at home all fucked up from all the drinking and what not she did yesterday. I feel sorry for Jackson, to have a mother like that. No one should have to have a parent who cares more for the drink or drugs, then their child. It saddens me deeply that he must go through that growing up.
About 20 minutes later…
“Knock, knock,” Alison’s voice sounds through the front door.
I place Mia in her baby seat and turn on the mobile, her hands wave in the air as she coos at it. I open the front door and a healthier and happier Alison greets me. Well, seems like she’s gotten a good night sleep last night. “Well, don’t you look better than you did three weeks ago,” I mention and she grins at me.
“Yeah, Geri-Ann finally started sleeping her nights two days ago,” Alison replies.
“That’s great. Come in,” I say grabbing the diaper bag off her shoulder. She comes in with Geri-Ann in her arms, she giggles when she sees me.
“Hi Geri-Ann, did you miss auntie?” I ask and she giggles again. “Mia’s in the living room in her chair,” as soon as the name Mia left my lips you hear Geri-Ann hum a Mia softly and Alison and I stare at each other in wonder. Wow, I’ve never heard Geri-Ann say Mia’s name before.
“Oh, my God, Tammy she just said ‘Mia’,” Alison says trying to keep a hold on her daughter but she was not having it. Alison leans down and puts Geri-Ann on the floor. Geri-Ann crawls off towards the living room where Mia is. I chuckle seeing her go. It’s cute.
“You want a coffee or something?” I ask my sister and she nods.
“Can I have a water,” she replies and I raise a brow.
She looks at me and shrugs. “What?” she asks.
“You sick, you don’t want coffee?” she shakes her head.
“It’s too hot outside for coffee.”
Okay, yeah, it is hot outside but it could be boiling hot, and if I need coffee. Well, I make some. Oh well, her loss. I’m hooked on the stuff, but not as bad as I was before getting pregnant because it’s not good to have too much caffeine when I was pregnant. So, I did cut down on it.
“Well, go take a seat in the living room. I’ll bring you a water bottle.” Alison nods and heads towards the living room, I hear Mia and cooing still and Geri-Ann giggling.
I head to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water for Alison and make my way to the living room. Alison’s sitting on the couch in front of Mia and Geri-Ann. I make my way to the couch and take a seat beside Alison, handing her the bottle of water. She mutters a ‘thank you’ and opens it taking a sip from it.
I look at Geri-Ann who is standing beside Mia in the seat, she’s holding onto the chair balancing herself. “Alison, she’s going to be walking in no time. Look at how she’s holding herself,” I murmur and Alison whips her head my way and glares at me.
“Don’t say that. I can’t handle her growing up so fast.” She whines and I can’t help but laugh at her. But truth be told, I’m sure I’ll be the same way.
My phone pings, reaching over for it on the coffee table. I see there’s new text message. It can’t Alison because she’s with me. It’s either my mother or Dalton.
That’s all he gives me. I text him back and he just tells me that we need to talk about some stuff when he gets home after from Ace’s. He said he should be home in about two hours or so. He’s helping Ace with something on his bike that he’s having troubles with.
I have a feeling this has something to do with Destiny.
Two hours later…
I hear Viper’s car come in the driveway. Mia is sleeping but I’m going to have to wake her up soon for supper. The front door opens and I get up from the couch and walk into the hall but I stop short when I see Dalton has Jackson in his arms. What?
“What happened? Destiny wasn’t home?” I ask and Dalton grunts.
“She was home, but she was drunk out of her mind. I called her parents to let them know but there was no fucking way, I was going to leave Jackson there,” he hisses.
“Of course, I wouldn’t expect you too.”
“Can you watch Jackson, while I go for a shower?” he asks.
“Yes, go. You stink,” I say making a face and Dalton glares at me playfully.
“You’ll pay for that,” he murmurs. He hands Jackson to me and kisses my lips softly.
“We’ll talk once I’m done,” he says and heads upstairs.
I look at Jackson who is staring at me. “Well, Bud, it’s just you and me,” I say and he giggles. “Mia’s sleeping right now, I’ll get you some carrots warmed up for supper, how does that sound?” he coos at me. Mia wakes up two minutes later. So, I warm up some food for them both.
I’m feeding them both in their high chair, when Dalton comes downstairs.
“Feel better?” I ask, teasingly.
“Yes,” he grunts.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” I ask. I have a feeling I know what he wants to talk about.
“Well, as you know. I went to Destiny’s and she was drunk. So, I had enough of this. She’ll never change. I called the club’s lawyer and he’s working on the adoption papers now and a complaint against Destiny for being an unfit mother. I took photos of the apartment with all the beer bottles around and Destiny on the couch passed out. Her parents said they’ll testify against her as well, if it’s needed.”
Once he’s done my mouth is open to the floor. I can’t believe it. She said she would try harder not to go back down that road. She was doing well for a few days and then ‘boom’ her boyfriend comes over and now look what happened.
“Okay, so what happens now?” I ask timidly.
“We have an appointment in two days with the lawyer to sign some documents and then we’ll see what the judge decides.”
I nod my head. “Okay,” I say looking at Jackson then Mia then back to Jackson. Will he truly be mine?
“I want full custody of Jackson. She can’t even look after herself,” he sighs. “Then we’ll go ahead with you adopting Jackson,” he adds.
“Okay, hopefully, everything goes good with the judge and he grants it,” I mutter.
Dalton grins at me. “Of course, he’ll grant us full custody. He would be an idiot not too.”
He holds me from behind and kisses the top of my head lightly. I lean my head back to look up at him, he captures my lips with a soft kiss.
“I’m going to start a bath for Mia and Jackson, then we’ll put them to bed.”
He exits the kitchen and heads upstairs to the bathroom and I hear the water running. I look at Mia and Jackson. I was so focused on the conversation that I didn’t realize that they got a hold of their food and it is now, all over them. I can’t help but giggle. Carrots and peas all over them and plastered in their hair. Oh, my God. The bath water is going to be disgusting.
Viper comes back downstairs and chuckles at me staring at them both, the amount of food everywhere. All over the tray and on the floor, too bad we don’t have a dog because he would be in heaven right now.
“Let’s get these two washed up,” Dalton says and I couldn’t agree with him more.
An hour in a half later…
They are both washed and ready for bed. When we get them both in the crib they are sound asleep and at that point, I’m ready for bed myself. After putting the baby monitor on, Viper and I leave the room. Dalton heads downstairs to lock up, while I get ready for bed.
I’m in bed before Dalton gets back upstairs. I feel the bed dip when Dalton gets in and he kisses the back of my neck. “I love you, baby,” he hums into my hair and I fall asleep with a smile on my face.