Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Looking back now, considering everything Gabrielle had been through, that woman had a great deal of strength. She’d been an excellent mother, putting her daughter first. She knew that hadn’t always been the case. Rosalie told her that when her mother first gave birth, Gabrielle hadn’t wanted her, and Rosalie accepted that.
“Doesn’t that make you sad?” Petal asked.
“No, it doesn’t. Let’s face it, my mom had just given birth to her rapist’s baby, she wanted me as far away from her as possible. I get it. I don’t have to like it, but I do get it. She had no one, even after giving birth. Besides, she grew to love me when it mattered most.”
Pulling out of the memory, Petal piled all the dishes into the sink and then moved around the house, picking up soiled clothes, even used diapers. She did not miss anything about this. At the sound of a baby crying, Petal took a deep breath and moved toward the sound. It wasn’t in the sitting room or the dining room. She made her way upstairs, toward one of the bedrooms, and there in the boys’ bedroom was the crib.
The crib moved from room to room depending on what sex the baby was. Most of the time, Petal and her siblings had to be the ones to take care of the new brother or sister.
Entering the boys’ bedroom, she was not surprised to see the room clean. She had no doubt the same could be said for the girls’ room as well.
“Hello there,” Petal said.
Petal hadn’t visited her parents in a few weeks. According to Rosalie, they had heard about her being in the hospital, but Petal knew they wouldn’t visit for fear of being landed with the debt. Warden and the club had taken care of her hospital bill. She didn’t have to worry about paying it off.
Picking up the little guy, she smelled his diaper and knew he needed a clean one. She walked downstairs with him, where she saw the rather battered child’s bag. As she changed the diaper, her father appeared. He was buttoning up his shirt as he came downstairs, and smiled when he saw her.
“Pumpkin,” he said.
Her father’s name was George, like her older brothers.
“Hey, Dad,” she said. This man was clueless and utterly besotted with his wife. He walked up to her and kissed her on the forehead.
“It has been too long, honey. I would love to stay and chat, but I’ve got to head out to work.”
He was a good worker. A hard worker.
“It’s fine. Uh, you do know there’s no food in the fridge, right?” Petal asked.
“Shit, again? Fuck, I thought I got Daisy and Randy to get some stuff.” He pulled out his wallet and handed her several bills. “Be a doll, would you, and fill the fridge?”
Just like so many times before, she took the bills and nodded her head. There was no point in arguing or fighting him. “You got it.”
He kissed her head. “Don’t be a stranger. Also, do you mind taking little David with you? Your mother has been so tired of late, and I don’t want to wake her to take care of him.”
And there was the problem. Did he even realize his wife rarely took care of their kids?
Petal nodded.
David, her baby brother, had snuggled up against her, and she didn’t even want to think about why. He was a new baby seeking comfort, and already she had a feeling he didn’t get enough of it.
Her dad left, and Petal wanted to go upstairs and berate her mother, but that would only make an enemy out of their father. That was what George, her brother, did, and in the end he left. She hadn’t seen him in several years now. Petal hoped that wherever he was, he was enjoying a good life.
“It looks like it’s just you and me, buddy. Come on. Let’s go shopping.” She kissed his cheek, and then decided to clean him up before she left.
She tried not to think about the baby she had lost. This was her little brother. She had done this countless times over the years, taking care of a brother or sister. Imparting the wisdom Gabrielle had given to her, to her sisters.
Petal wondered if this would be her parents’ last child. They needed to stop, because they were getting a lot older, but she also knew her brothers and sisters were getting tired of raising their siblings.
There had been no one in the house, which was good, as it was a school day, but when she lived home, sometimes she missed school to take care of the new addition. She did that with Francine, and she knew her sister had graduated high school and skipped town.
Her parents in total had ten children. Little David would be number eleven. Six boys and five girls.