“She smells a lot like you did before you crawled into my bed for the first time,” I say quietly into the dark hole. Jocelyn doesn’t respond but I know she can hear me, so I continue. “I thought that she would taste like you too, but I think that maybe I waited too long to find out—or it could be that I took my taste before she was ripe enough.”
When I hear her shifting on the hay at the bottom of the oubliette, I smirk and keep going.
“I don’t know. A lot of this shit doesn’t seem to make sense anymore. It’s not the way it was when you were above ground—I won’t lie about that. I do miss you sometimes, Joce, but you’re too fucking willful to be up here with us. Hell, you’d probably try to grab my baby and make a run for it even though you know how that would end. And that’s why you’re down in the hole where you belong,” I say, crouching down and putting a hand on either side of the well.
A rock goes whizzing by my head and I move quickly enough to keep from getting cracked in the face with it, letting out a laugh.
“Still got some spirit, I see. Relax; I haven’t touched her. I just wanted to make sure I had your attention, and now that I do, I want to make a proposition.”
Jocelyn throws another rock, but this time I catch it, stand up, and start tossing it up in the air.
“If you keep throwing shit at me, I’ll just seal this fucking well up forever and you’ll starve to death. I think maybe you should listen to what I have to say,” I reply conversationally.
She shifts again down in the dark, but at least there aren’t any more rocks being hurled at me. I’ll have to get down there soon and find out how she got them. Can’t have her thinking she’s got some kind of upper-hand on me by sneaking shit around when she thinks no one is looking.
I catch the rock in my hand again and cast a thoughtful glance at the house. The only way she’s been getting these is if Darby’s been tossing them down to her, which means I’ll have to teach her a lesson in discipline sooner rather than later.
Fuck, I think with a sigh. I was hoping to avoid that shit until later, but I don’t want her to think she can give her Momma “presents” without me knowing about it.
Nothing a sound spanking can’t fix.
“What do you want?” Joce calls up weakly.
Huh. I had almost forgotten about her already. I guess knowing what I have waiting for me in the face of what I had, is a bit more distracting than I thought it would be.
“I want to bring you up for a day,” I say, crouching back down and grinning into the darkness. “I want us to have a proper day together—as a family. I think Darby deserves that, don’t you?”
She’s quiet now because she thinks there’s a trick somewhere in my offer. There’s not—I’m fresh out of ways to fool Joce and she should know that by now.
“What’s the catch?” she calls up quietly.
“No catch,” I reply immediately with a chuckle. “You know how important it is for a child to be with their mother and father. Well, maybe you don’t because Laura split, but Darby shouldn’t know what you felt like. I think she should know us both, even if for a day. Come on, kid. Don’t you want the chance to be a real mother this time?”
Jocelyn lets out a sigh that echoes off the stone walls surrounding her. I can tell she’s seriously contemplating my offer now. Either that or she’s already thinking of her escape plan, but she should know better.
“Okay,” she finally says softly. “I’ll do it.”
A grin instantly spreads across my face. Nothing is sexier than a woman that’s willing to comply with a simple request. I reach down, grabbing the rope and toss it into the hole.
“Come on up when you’re ready. We’ll be inside, baby girl,” I say before I walk away.
I have to find Darby and get her to take a nap or something because if Jocelyn looks anything like I think she might right now, she’s gonna need a hot shower and a change of clothes before she sees our daughter.