Page 59 of The One


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“In case you’re wondering why I was calling you all yesterday, I wanted you to know that I agree with you. I’m not sure I could’ve gone as far as cutting Roz off had I been the one in the situation, but if someone said those things about my wife, I’d feel the same way. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with our sister. You think maybe we spoiled her?”

“Is that your roundabout way of saying I spoiled her, and this is my reward?” It’s not like I haven’t thought the same myself in the last day and a half. If that’s the case, then pulling the rug out from under her wouldn’t be fair, not if I had a hand in making her into what she’d become, which I’m pretty sure I did. But I just can’t let it go.

So, what if I spoiled her? So what I took pride in giving her all the things the rest of us never had? Where in there does it say she has the liberty to be such a little shit to someone else, someone she knew was mine? I can’t forgive her, especially since she didn’t ask for forgiveness in the first damn place.

If she’d shown even an ounce of remorse or seemed ashamed of her actions, I may have been able to let it go since it was her first offense, but none of that had happened. From what I can see, she, along with our parents, expects me to just forget about it and go on with life as usual.

But if I do that, she’d just think she can get away with anything, which in the past has been true, but not when it comes to Stephanie. Somehow, she’d come to mean more, and I guess that was the point my parents were finding hard to accept, that I’d put someone else ahead of family.

They were going to be sorely disappointed going forward because the way things were shaping up; she was going to be my main concern from now on. This means she comes first, something they’ve never had to deal with, or me either, come to think of it. I’ve always thought that they were my first priority; that’s the way I was raised.

I never imagined that anyone or anything could come between us, never thought I would be that person. But I’ve never loved anyone except family before, not like this. I can’t say that I’m not surprised, though, that she’d come to mean so much in such a short period of time that I was willing to fight my family for her to make sure she got her due respect and acceptance from them.

I turned back to my brother, who was waiting for an answer. “I spoil you too; you wanna take a shot at my girl?”

“Of course not; I’m not a complete moron. I’m just saying that maybe there’s more going on here than just your issue. If she acted like that here, can you imagine how she is at that school of hers?”

“Yeah, I have a pretty good idea; that’s why I’m so repulsed. I don’t know if it’s the company she keeps or not, but I’ve never seen this side of her before.” Roz has always been respectful and kind. It’s one of the reasons it’s so easy to do things for her, to go the extra mile and never turn her down when she comes to me for something or the other. Maybe that’s why I’m having such a hard time accepting what she’d done. Had it all been an act? Or had my overindulgence done this to her?

“The parents are really upset about this whole thing. I don’t think they know who to side with. Just so you know, they lit into Roz after you left that day, we all did, but she doesn’t seem to think she did anything wrong because she wasn’t expecting you to hear her. At least that’s the argument she gave.”

“Oh, I see, so it would’ve been fine for her to go on thinking that way, making fun of my woman with her friends in my place as long as I didn’t find out about it.” Does he realize that his words only made shit worst?

“What the hell kind of thinking is that?” He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip from his cup.

“Beats me, but you know our parents; they won’t stay mad at her for long, and pretty soon, they’ll be hounding you about making amends. That’s the reason I’m here.” He held up his hand when I started to speak, “I know, I know, you won’t forgive her that easy this time. I saw that already, but it’s hard for the parents to accept a rift in the family, especially over someone they haven’t met.”

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