25. Thunder

THUNDER

Ialmost felt like celebrating because of how well things were going. They were even better than I imagined. Who knew she’d go after him? Not only is she facing drug charges, but a murder attempt as well, and I just got Cecile to sign over her home, which will be promptly sold out from under her.

I know enough to know that the husband will be fine, but the fallout from this for her won’t be so great. For one, her in-laws are bound to cut her off when they learn that she’d sold the multi-million-dollar home that was meant to go into trust for their grandkids.

Her only family no longer speaks to her because of something in her past that I haven’t gotten a report on yet, but it’s probably the same reason her daughters hate her.

Now, her son, whom she’d put all her hopes in, was hanging onto life by a thread, and it wasn’t looking so good. Good for his dumb ass; at least he would escape spending the next thirty years in prison if he fucking croaks.

Because penitentiaries now had a rule that all inmates had to be DNA tested, it was easy to get the results from Deirdre’s ex in prison. All that was left now was getting DNA from the kid, which should be easy since Cecile had left the kid home with a teenage neighbor so she could go to the hospital, and one of my female employees was now this minute on the way there to get said DNA.

I found a sister of Deirdre’s, the only remaining relative and one who is the complete opposite of her. The local gossip was that she’d slept with the sister’s husband, and they parted ways. That was back when she was in high school.

The sister ditched the husband and moved on with her life a couple of hours away from her hometown, where she now works as a schoolteacher. The rumors say that the accident that took their family also took away her ability to have kids, so my hope is that she and her nephew were a good fit. It doesn’t matter if Dan’s the kid’s father. She’s still his aunt, and he should go to her and as far as I can tell, she’s the kid’s best bet.

Since Cecile won’t have a house and not much else in a few days, there would be no way any court would give her custody of the kid, whether she was the grandmother or not. But I want her to think she stands a chance; I want her to find out the hard way that she has nothing to fight with and, hopefully, nothing to fight for.

If Danny Boy dies, things would be a whole lot better because there would be no fight from his corner. The one thing that might stall things is the fact that his name is on the birth certificate, though that can be taken care of by having his rights removed if he’s not the father. Since they’re not married, that might be easier than if they had been.

All I had left to do for the rest of the day after masterminding the downfall of three people was twiddle my thumbs until it was time to pick Amanda up from the bakery.

She was only working half days starting today. Something she didn’t know until this morning. She’d lit into me for busting her grandmother outta elderly hell, so I guess she was back in her right spirits. She sure didn’t look sullen when she was trying to fuck my brains out this morning when she started taking advantage of my morning wood before I was even fully awake.

Her greedy ass woke up horny after an all-night fuck fest. She claims I owed her for the days I didn’t cum inside her or let her cum, and she seemed to think I have an unending supply of dick to keep her horny ass happy.

I escaped to the shower only to reap her fury when I finally made it downstairs to the kitchen. She wasn’t so much mad that I’d broken granny out as she was over the reason why I’d done it.

Since she kept stressing herself over people stealing her shit, I thought the best thing for all involved was to let her grandmother take over for a while. Her grandmother was only too happy to have someone treat her like she still had the sense she was born with, as she puts it, and not like the rest of her family, who started treating her like spun glass because she fell and hit her head when she was in her seventies. Like these young folks don’t fall and kill themselves every day, is the way she’d put it.

I never had a grandmother, not one that I liked anyway, and never had a family either, come to think of it. I’m not sure if it’s because of what she’d been through with the ex that her family has been so welcoming, but whatever the reason, I’m glad to have them in my life.

I know that if all else fails, at least Angel would tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. That’s my wingman. She reams me out each time her sister complains to her, so I know to get my shit together. All in all, I’d say I made out like a lark in the marriage stakes.

My wife was happy except for the grandma thing, my sister was finally losing that look that I sometimes see in her eyes and it’s all because of Amanda and her family. They treat Joy as well as they’ve been treating me, and for that alone, I’m their guy.

I’d almost forgotten about the debt guy who had her grabbed. I got so distracted with this latest mess that it had gone on the back burner. I had him checked out either way, and I’m glad that I did because the story isn’t as cut and dry as I thought.

Yes, my father owed him money, but he hadn’t snatched my sister off the streets because of that; in fact, it was my father’s idea to take her. He’d sold her to the guy who wanted nothing to do with it once he realized that she was a literal child, but by then, the word was out that she was missing, and he had to hide her, his brilliant idea, until things cooled down.

Since I couldn’t be there, I had Amanda’s old team pay him a visit, and that’s how we learned the truth. Now, dear old Dad is in a body cast and a coma. I hope he fucking dies. Her old team had done good. They’d gone out of their way to do an excellent job this time around but there’s no way I was putting them back on my woman.

* * *

AMANDA

* * *

I’mready for this baby to be out now, seriously. It’s been seven and a half months, but I don’t think I can make it the rest of the way. I have another checkup today, which promises to be a doozy. Why? Not because I’m in any pain or real discomfort but because I’m married to a certifiable nut job.

For the last month or so, all I’ve been able to do is eat, sleep, shower, and use the bathroom. If I take ten steps away from the bed, I get a half-hour lecture. No, the doctor didn’t put me on bed rest; he did. Why, you might ask?

Oh, because I stubbed my toe getting out of the shower and didn’t have the presence of mind to muffle the yelp. He came running; I explained what happened, and life as I know it has been over ever since then.

The doctor, who he rushed me to, confirmed that it was nothing life-shattering, and I was fine to go about my business. He, on the other hand, told her she knew nothing, and he would be taking over my care. She just laughed and waved him off while I begged and pleaded with my guys for her not to send me home with this crazy person because I knew what was coming.

I went shopping with Angel, snuck out of the house, and called her. What did I find when I got to the little shopping center in town? My husband leaning on his car outside the baby store with his arms folded and a mad look on his face.

I could tell from the look on my sister’s face, and not one of guilt, mind you, that she was the one who’d sold me out. I didn’t talk to her for a day. She claimed when I did answer her call the next day that she wasn’t about to lose her new best friend because I was being stupid. Translated, that means she likes pot, and he’s her new supplier.

If she wasn’t an upstanding businesswoman, I’d call her trash, but that won’t fly. She’s owned her own boutique for years where she sells her own designs and is doing very well. I think her new brother-in-law promised to help her open new branches in other places, and that’s why she’d been selling out her little sister.

Anyway, he’s got a list a mile long of things he needs to ask the doctor because we’re coming down to the nitty gritty. If he hasn’t embarrassed me enough in front of her, the top question on this list is about sex. According to him, I’ve become a sex-starved maniac, and he wants to make sure it’s safe for our son.

I tried hiding out in the bathroom, but he picked the lock and dragged me out. Now we’re on the way with a motorcade behind us, again because he’s nuts.

“I don’t see why you’re still sulking. She went to school for this shit; I didn’t. If she can’t answer a few normal questions, she should hang that shit up.” I rolled my eyes and kept pretending to read my phone.

I would text my sister to complain, but she’d only tell him what I said. It sounds exhausting, but I know why she does that. For the longest while, I didn’t realize that my family was also traumatized by what happened in my last marriage.

Not only what Dan did, but my own reaction. They were bothered by the fact that I didn’t come to them when it first started and even more upset at the fact that I had put up with the things I had.

I think that because of that, they were keeping an eye on me, so to speak, and by extension, Thunder. It’s not that they don’t trust him, they adore him. I think, especially with Angel, she thinks if she keeps him in the loop, my life will go smoothly, something I tried explaining to her is bonkers.

I found my strength even if no one else seemed to notice. When I get up in the morning, there’s no longer a golf-sized ball of worry lodged in my throat. I don’t worry that my husband is so weak that he’d cheat on me with another woman and break my heart.

It’s not something I can put into words, just a feeling deep down in my gut brought on by what he’s shown me of himself. He’s brash, opinionated, and stubborn as hell. But he’s also upright in nature, and he loves me more than I ever thought possible.

It might sound silly, but I’m sometimes grateful for the hell my ex put me through. As far as I’m concerned, if he hadn’t done those things, I never would’ve divorced him and never would have met my roaring Thunder.

The way I see it now, Dan taught me everything not to look for in a man and what to seek, and Thunder is all of those things, except for the crazy.

I sat through ten minutes of him grilling the doctor and was mortified. To give her her due, she answered all of his questions with a straight face and was very understanding of his concerns because he was serious as a judge.

“Oh, darn, I forgot my water bottle in the car.” I wasn’t the least bit thirsty; I just needed to ask the doctor some questions since I noticed an odd expression on her face when she examined me earlier. I figured she didn’t say anything in front of him because of his reactions to every new thing.

“I’ll get it. I don’t trust that water out there.” Like, I didn’t know that already. As soon as he was out of the room, I leaned forward.

“Okay, we can talk now. I saw your face earlier. Is there something I should be worried about?”

“No, but I think you might be having twins.”

Of all the things I expected her to say, that wasn’t even in the running. “Not only that, but I don’t think you’ll be pregnant for much longer; the babies seem to have shifted….”

“Babies, did you say babies?” Oh, hell, how did he get back here so fast?

“Yes, I think Amanda might be having twins.”

“How do you know, and why are you only saying this now?”

“I only saw it today, and the reason it took this long is because you are adamantly against ultrasounds or any form of medical; what was it you called it? Oh yes, torture devices.”

“They’re both boys thought right.”

“We wouldn’t know that without an ultrasound, Thunder.”

“Doc, lemme ask you a question: what the hell do you know? How did people know before you people come up with all this crap?”

“They didn’t.” Poor woman. She’s about to choke, trying not to laugh.

* * *

As you can imagine,the following weeks were hell. If I thought I was restricted before, nothing compared to this. As if his annoyance wasn’t enough, Joy had taken to teasing him that at least one of the twins had to be a girl, and then I had to endure his idiocy all day and night.

Right now, he’s not speaking to anyone in the house other than Grandma because she’s the only one who would put up with his nonsense. She caters to him, and he spoils her, and I’m about sick of both of them.

She’s played into his craziness, and now, every day, I’m bombarded with one of her concoctions that’s supposed to be good for me and the babies. He stands over me to make sure I drink every drop, and if I refuse, there’s hell to pay.

The funny thing is since the day we found out we were having twins, his morning sickness, which had faded by the beginning of my second trimester, was back, and it was much worse. Personally, I think it was his nerves that were making him sick, but at least I got some relief from his nagging.

With all that said, I can’t imagine going through this experience with anyone else. First, to be pregnant still seems like a miracle, and there are times, especially when the baby, no babies, kicks, I get tears in my eyes.

Grandma put it best, it happened at the right time with the right man and can only be fate. Speaking of fate, last I heard, Dan was not doing so well. Thunder had put some kind of moratorium on my family that didn’t allow them to share the news with me, so I’ve only been able to get snippets here and there, but it was all over the news these days, so there was no way for him to stop me.

He’s been in a coma for more than a month, Deidre was in jail for attempted murder, and they were both facing drug charges because there was marijuana found in their home, apparently enough to sell, so they were both looking at serious time if convicted; that’s if Dan survives.

I have no idea what else is going on, but I, for one, find it hard to believe that the man I used to know could’ve sunk this low in such a short space of time. Sometimes, I wonder if things might’ve been different had I stayed. But then I remind myself that I wasn’t happy and would never have been happy in that situation, not for long anyway.

The guilt I sometimes feel for being so happy and in love with someone else, someone who has taught me what real love feels like, is beginning to fade with time. Now, he is just a fading memory of something that wasn’t meant to be.