My laughter couldn’t be contained any longer. My head fell back on a deep belly laugh that had Brett looking even more bewildered.
“I’m guessing you know something about Crazy and Crazier’s issues today?”
I gave him a wink and a smirk, saying, “Maybe, but I’m not gonna tell you. You know, girl code and all.”
“Uh, huh,” he mumbled, one side of his lips tipping up in a grin.
“But just know this, you should be very, very proud.”
With a laugh of his own, he leaned in to give me another kiss. “Yeah, you fit in just perfectly with those crazies.”
Being held in his arms and having spent a great day relaxing and hanging with friends, I took that as a compliment. I couldn’t think of any other group of people I’d want to fit in with more.
Past
“What the fuck is this?” Lance shouted, holding up a piece of paper in his hands. Unsure of what it was, I remained silent, knowing whatever I said would only make matters worse.
“Sixty dollars at Party fucking City? What the hell did you buy, Mackenzie?”
“Th-the kids’ Halloween costumes,” I stuttered, my eyes glued to the ground, too terrified to meet his hate-filled gaze. “I asked you if I could go buy them,” I whispered, knowing that the reminder wasn’t going to help any. “You said I could.”
Charging me, he gripped my chin in a brutal hold that I knew would leave bruises come the next day. He roared in my face, “I didn’t say you could spend sixty dollars, you stupid cow!” His yell was followed by a strong backhand across my cheek that sent me flying into the kitchen island, the corner of the counter jabbing hard into my side.
“Take those stupid fucking costumes back,” Lance hissed at me. His bright blue eyes sparked with so much hatred I thought his look alone would cut through my skin.
“Lance,” I pleaded, even though I knew it was pointless. But the thought of disappointing my children hurt more than anything he could ever do to me. “They’ve already seen them. They’re so excited. Please, don’t make me take them back.”
He grabbed a chunk of my hair and jerked my head back, pulling some of the strands from my scalp and making me cry out in pain. “Take. Them. Back. Or so help me, I’ll make you wish you were dead. Do you understand me, you stupid bitch?”
“Yes,” I whimpered as tears streamed down my face.
Without so much as another word, Lance hauled my head back by my hair and slammed my face into my island counter. Through my scream of pain I heard the startling sound of bone crunching, knowing good and well he’d just broken my nose.
“I’m so sorry, babies.” I tried my hardest not to cry as I dressed my kids in costumes I’d managed to make using clothes I found in my closet. The thick concealer I wore to hide the fading bruises on my face would run, but more than that, I didn’t want my babies to see me cry, not when they were putting on their own brave faces.
“I’s okay, Mommy,” Callie told me, but my poor little girl couldn’t even muster up a smile. They’d been so excited when I brought home their costumes. Callie was going to be a princess, Cameron a ninja. But now I had to find a way to make something out of nothing. I’d wrapped Callie in one of my white button down shirt, tying a belt around her waist to make it look like a dress. I still had my apron from when I waitressed. Pairing that over the shirt and tying her hair up in a high ponytail, her costume was complete.
I’d managed to scrounge up a few bucks and made a trips to the dollar store where I found a clip-on bowtie and toddler suit jacket only a size or two too big for Cameron. I put him in a pair of his black dress pants that were for special occasions and his black tennis shoes, slicked his hair to the side in a neat part and told him he was a fancy man in a tuxedo.
I hated it. I hated that my babies grew up in a home where, as only toddlers, they had already learned to put on a brave face and not to throw fits over what they couldn’t have. That was when I made my decision. I was done with it. I couldn’t live like that anymore. And I couldn’t put my children through it any longer. I was going to give my kids a better life. It was time to start planning.
He’d taken my kids’ Halloween. I wouldn’t let him take anything else from them. Starting right then, I’d put the wheels into motion.
Present
“Nuh uh, no fuckin’ way in hell, beauty. I love y’all, but I have to draw the line at this.”
The pouty expression on her face was almost enough to do me in. But when I glanced back at the costume that lay across the bed, my balls shriveled up and I practically felt myself growing a vagina.