Auntie Gray’s hands, which have been busy pulling my braids apart, go still. “After one drink?”
“I must have had way more than one and just don’t remember.”
“Hmm.” Her hands begin moving again, the gentle tug and pull threatening to lull me to sleep. “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing all the alcohol in this house is kept locked up where Little girls can’t get to it.”
There’s a hint of disapproval in her tone that has the heat in my face growing hotter. “I don’t really drink anyway. Last night was a special occasion.”
“Oh!” Josie’s expression lights up. “What kind of occasion? Is it your birthday? Auntie Gray, can we throw Tabby a birthday party?”
“Why don’t you give Tabby a chance to actually answer you before you start party planning, Josephine.”
Bottom lip puffed out in an impressive pout, Josie sighs. “Fine.”
“Keep giving me attitude, little girl, and see where it gets you.”
Red floods Josie’s cheeks until she looks as embarrassed as I feel. “Sorry, Auntie.”
“Good girl. Continue your story, Tabby.”
“Oh. Um. Well that’s really all I remember before waking up this morning in Daddy’s bed with him telling me we’re married now and he’s going to bring me home to his family whether Ilike it or not. I kept insisting we were absolutelynotmarried but, well...”
I hold up my left hand and both Josie and Lanie’s mouths drop open.
“Holy shit, that thing ishuge!”
“Josephine Elise!” Auntie Gray’s voice takes on a hardness I’ve become all too familiar with and my bottom clenches in sympathy. “When your Daddy comes back downstairs, he is going to hear about your naughty language. You know better, little girl.”
“No, Auntie Gray, don’t tell on me!” Josie whines, clasping her hands together in front of her. “Please, Daddy will be so mad!”
“If you didn’t want to get in trouble, then you shouldn’t have used that word. But if you want to keep arguing with me about it, my brush is ready and waiting for another naughty little bottom to warm.”
Crossing her arms, Josie glares up at her. “This house is a prison.”
“Yes.” Auntie Gray’s tone is dry, bordering on sarcastic. “A prison full of people who love you and spoil you rotten ninety percent of the time. The life of a Little girl issovery hard.”
Shoulders hunching forward, Josie scowls but doesn’t say anything more. Apparently satisfied, Auntie Gray gives my hair a gentle tug. “It’s a very pretty ring, Tabby. You’re a very lucky girl.”
Lanie huffs out an impatient-sounding breath. “Yes, very lucky. You still haven’t told us why you were celebrating last night, though!”
It takes me a moment to realize we’re back to talking about me. “Oh, I wasn’t celebrating. I was… Well, I guess I was having a bit of a nervous breakdown if we’re being honest.”
Eyes wide, Lanie brings her hands up to her cheeks with a shocked gasp. Even Josie leans in a bit, her scowl giving way to curiosity. “What happened? Are you okay?”
A sharp, bitter laugh escapes me. “Everything happened. I lost my job out of nowhere, my boyfriend told me he was in love with my best friend and then kicked me out of our apartment. I was looking for a hotel to stay in for a couple days while I figured things out and I got an ad for these super-cheap flights to Vegas bundled with hotels that were way less expensive than the ones near me. So I hopped on a plane and went to Vegas for a few days. My plan was to drown my sorrows and maybe try to win some extra cash at the casino, but then I met Daddy and like I said… the rest of the night is a blur.”
“You poor thing.” Throwing herself forward, Lanie wraps her arms around my neck. “It’s okay. You’re with us now and you never have to worry about any of that yucky stuff ever again.”
“I wish it was really that easy.”
When Lanie pulls away again, her expression is earnest. “It gets easier along the way. But Josie and I both know how hard it is, at least at first.”
Now it’s my curiosity being piqued. “You do?”
My “cousins” both nod. “Daddy found me in the middle of a snowstorm. I’d just run away from a marriage my parents had arranged for me and the van I stole ran out of gas. The last thing I thought I wanted was to be thrown into another marriage I didn’t choose, but honestly it turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to me.”
Apparently finished with her story, she glances over at Josie, gesturing for her to share. “Daddy drugged me and kidnapped right from the cabin I was renting.”
“Josephine,” Auntie Gray says over my shocked gasp. “There is more to that story, little girl, and you are testing my patience.”
