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She snuggled into my side and laid her head on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Mom greeted Daisy. AJ frowned at her when she chose to ignore him and said hello to me and Disa. When she walked by us, AJ informed us, “I wonder if Mr. Perfect would like to know that Daisy warmed my bed the night of Disa and Ben’s party.”
“AJ,” Mom snapped at him. “You are not too old for me whoop. Keep trying my patience.”
He chuckled beneath his breath but managed to shut up for a while. I glanced at him and his eyes met mine. “What?” He asked.
“Seriously?” I whispered.
“Yep, she did.” He nodded like he was proud of himself.
“You need help,” I told him.
Then Pastor Canfield got in the pulpit and I was reminded why I never went to church. Danni and I both had to elbow AJ to keep him from snoring. Disa sniggered. Mom glared at him once again. Then outside the church where Pastor Canfield greeted everyone and shook hands, I realized that his sense of humor was not lost.
“AJ glad to see nothing has changed. My sermons still put you to sleep.” He pumped my brother’s hand. His much smaller one looked funny in AJ’s hand.
His thin wiry body was so much smaller in comparison to my large brother. His thinning hair was blowing around in the breeze on this cool day. He shoved his glasses up his nose and AJ had the grace to appear embarrassed.
“Sorry, Pastor. Didn’t sleep well last night,” he mumbled.
“Then get a good night’s rest next Saturday and join us again.”
He watched Daisy slip past us and he nodded. “I think I will, Pastor.”
Chapter 21
When we arrived at Mom’s house I thought we had entered an alternative reality where Dad did the cooking which never happened. Then Merci ran to Disa and held her close. I glanced at Heath.
“Do you think this is a good idea?”
Heath handed me Asia. I was distracted for a moment by my daughter. I had missed her. I kissed her cheek and snuggled her into my chest. I held her tight, loving her scent and her warmth. “I love you, baby girl.”
“Ben, they can’t stay locked up forever and I do know a few things. I drove around back, Dad opened the cellar doors and the girls entered there where no one could see them.”
That didn’t make me feel better but Disa was happy, so I was happy for her but scared at the same time. This is what Ron wanted. Heath was crazy enough to enjoy this game of cat and mouse with him. Not me.
Dad leaned over and kissed our mother. “How was church, love?” He asked her.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Which part do you want to know first? The part where Matt and AJ had guns drawn on Ron when I arrived at the church? Or the part where AJ took the Lord’s name in vain in church?” She was in a mood. The only thing was that Dad couldn’t take his belt to us now.
He tried not to laugh. “Why was AJ in church?”
She frowned at him. “That is your only question?”
He shrugged. “First Elijah starts going with Jenny.”
“Actually, Walker started going with me,” Danni interrupted Dad. Walker took India and headed to the living room.
“I’m going to watch television with Matt and Justin before I lose my man card for trying to save my soul,” he declared. Then he disappeared with his daughter.
“Now Ben is going with Disa soon you’ll be expecting me to go,” Dad said.
“It wouldn’t hurt.” She breezed by him and headed to the kitchen. Her domain where she controlled everything.
Our father looked at us, his sons. “You have betrayed me, boys. One by one, you bastards.” Then he turned and headed up the stairs, stomping his feet on every tread until he reached the top.
When he disappeared at the top of the stairs, we burst out laughing. Soon, Rachel would have Dad at Sunday services and the walls would come crumbling down.
