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Mabel’s heart was broken. Her sister’s husband was drinking again. Her Daddy was mad at her. And now she had lost her job. This couldn’t get any worse.
“It’s lucky I was passing,” said yet another male voice. The voice of the man who owned the entire town: Haze. “So I could witness this depravity with my own eyes.”
“Haze,” said Rip. “I’m sorry man. “Anything I can do—”
“You can stop punching people on my land,” said Haze. “And you can stop fucking people at work.”
Rip nodded. “Of course.”
“And finally, you can pack your bags,” said Haze, looking at all of them. “I don’t know how this man found his way onto my property, but I won’t have angry drunks turning up out of the blue. I’ll give you all until morning, and then I want you gone.”
Mabel looked at Rip, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking so mad he might never look at her ever again.
“You’re better off without him anyway,” said Fabian, following her back to her shack.
“Why are you still here?” she hissed.
“Got business with you,” said Fabian.
“No, you don’t.”
“I’ll pay you,” said Fabian. “Fifty thousand dollars.”
Mabel stopped in her tracks. Was he offering her money to carry his baby? Last time, she’d carried her sister’s baby for free. She wouldn’t have dreamed of charging for it. Now, she needed money more than ever, but there was no way she was going to go through all that again. Besides, Fabian was in no fit state to be a father for a second time. He was in no fit state to be her sister’s husband, by the looks of it, either.
“Why do you want another baby so much?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you tell your boyfriend that you were a mother?” he countered back.
“I’m not a mother,” Mabel replied. “I gave birth to my sister’s child. It’s different.”
Fabian began breathing heavily, then grabbed hold of a tree. “Think I’m gonna puke…” he groaned. But he didn’t puke. Instead, he started to cry. “Please,” he sobbed. “I want my wife back. I want to stop drinking. I want to sort myself out.”
“Your problems won’t be solved with another child,” said Mabel. “Change comes from within. You need help, Fabian.”
Fabian nodded. “I know. You’re right. I do. I just thought… I hoped… When little Ada was born, we were so happy. If we could just keep doing that, keep building our family…”
“You need to talk to Rochelle,” said Mabel. “And then you need to check yourself into rehab.”
“My life is falling apart,” Fabian said, crying. “I need you to come with me. Maybe you can talk to her. Put in a good word.”
Mabel shook her head. “Nope. Not gonna happen. But I am going to call her.”
She went into her shack and got her cell phone, which she only had so that she could keep in touch with her sister and niece. If Rochelle ever let her talk to her niece again.
“What are you going to say?”
“I’m going to tell her what I’ve just told you. That the two of you need to talk. That you’ll be in rehab for a while. And then, when the call is done, I’m taking you straight to Dr. Cassius.”
“Who’s that?”
“He’s the head doctor around here. And believe me, you need one.”
All her life, Mabel had avoided people because they were too complicated, too messy, too disruptive. Because in the end, they always let you down. Abandoned you. Turned up drunk on your doorstep, thinking that they owned you.
But now, she was seeing a new side of herself. She wasn’t a lone wolf; she was a leader. A Little who was also a submissive who was also a strong, strong human being.
It’s just a shame that she had to realize it by losing everything she’d ever known all over again.
