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“I’m hungry!” we hear Maddie say as she runs into the kitchen.
“Can I ask her?” I ask Lila. She nods and smiles.
“Hey, Maddie.”
“Hey, Hollis,” she mimics me as she giggles.
I tickle her and scoop her up, setting her on one of the chairs.
“I have a question for you. What would you say if I asked you and your mommy to come live with me?”
“You mean at your house?” she asks.
“Yes. At my house.”
“Like a sleepover?”
“No. Well kind of. You wouldn’t come back here. You and Mommy would stay with me forever.”
Maddie looks a little puzzled. “But we live here.”
“You do right now. But I want you to come live with me, if that’s okay.”
“Okay. Can we have pancakes now?”
I chuckle. “Yes, I think your mommy’s done cooking them.”
The three of us sit down and eat breakfast together. We talk about how Maddie wants to decorate her room and what new movies we should get. I think I’m going to like family life.
“You gotta get dressed for school. Do you need help picking something out?” Lila asks Maddie.
“No, I got it, Mommy.” She smiles as she hops down from her chair.
“Dishes first, please.”
I can’t stop smiling as I look at my two girls. I’m damn lucky. We watch Maddie put her dishes in the dishwasher then hop away to her room.
“I think she was kind of sticky from the syrup.” I chuckle.
“Wash your face and hands first!” Lila calls out. I laugh as we hear a little sigh, then the water running in the bathroom.
“So when should we start moving you in? Today?”
Lila laughs. “You want to start today? I haven’t even talked to my landlord yet.”
“Okay well…we can talk to your landlord after we take Maddie to school and then my brothers will come help us move. We can be done today.”
Her eyes get really wide. “Are you serious? I mean, are you really sure you’re ready for this? Like right now?”
“Cupcake, I’ve been sure since the night we met. I may have fought it a little at the start, but I knew you were the one.”
“But being with us twenty-four seven is different from what we’ve been doing. I need you to be absolutely sure, because of Maddie.”
“Baby, Maddie is mine too. That little girl will never feel unloved or unwanted by me or my club.”
I know that Lila is worried not just for Maddie, but for herself. After her ex left, she found out he’d been cheating. The other night she finally told me his full name and I have Salvatore Mancini looking into it. I want to know everything about the asshole who hurt my girls. So far, Sal has gotten enough information that if he ever bothers us, I know where to find him. He has a family—a wife and three kids. The oldest kid—a boy, is about a year younger than Maddie. Which means he was born while Travis was still with Lila. We’re trying to find out if the boy is his or not. If he is Travis’ kid, I have to tell Lila. That’s not going to be an easy conversation.
From what she’s told me, Travis has never paid a dime in child support. When they divorced, Travis never asked for custody or visitation. So he hasn’t seen Maddie since the day he left. I think that hurt Lila just as much as finding out he was cheating. She does have a court order for child support. He’s supposed to pay three hundred dollars every month. According to the court documents, when he left them, he was a mechanic and was making good money. So as of now, he owes them thousands. Lila hasn’t wanted to push it—I think she’s afraid that he’ll retaliate by trying to take Maddie. That’ll never happen. Iwillkill him if he touches either of them.
