Raising My Niece

Raising My Niece

Chapter One... Little Miss Addison

Being a nineteen year old who decided to forego college was great. I had a full time job, I worked hard, and I was engaged to the sweetest man I knew.

Yes. Marcus Bennet and I were meant to be together. That I was sure about.

But of course, when you get engaged at eighteen right out of high school, people think it's because you're pregnant. But I wasn't pregnant. It just so happened that after two years of dating, Marcus and I were madly in love and knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Why was it that when you get married young, people frown at you?

I guess that I had surprised everyone a lot lately.

I was an honour student. Top of my class, and I was accepted into Ivy League schools. So why didn't I go to college? Quite simple. I didn't want to. I had the brains to be anything I wanted to be, but I didn't need a college degree to be happy. And people were startled by my decision. For a long time, the only people who supported my decision were Marcus, and my older sister Jodie.

My mom spent a few months trying to get me to change my mind. But once she realised that I was happy, she came to support me.

My life hadn't always been full of easy decisions like that one.

When I was ten, my dad was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. To make matters worse, he wasn't wearing a helmet. After being declared brain dead, mom and Jodie were determined to make sure he made it through. But I knew that brain dead meant he would never wake up, as much as we wanted him to. Mom seemed in shock, and it took me ages to convince her that he was better off. In fact, I had to convince Jodie first, but I was seen as naive, and that I didn't know what I was talking about.

Even back then, I was still intelligent.

Not a day goes by where I don't think about how much that affected my mom...

Now, she's married to my stepdad Tom. He's great, but he's nothing like my dad. And sometimes, that's actually a good thing. I loved my dad to bits, but he could be quite dangerous. But usually only to himself. Although he did take Jodie on his motorbike once, when I was only three. I remember my mom being so mad... Jodie's only four years older than I am!

It's only ever been the two of us. My mom only wanted two kids, and once we were both girls, she put her foot down. Of course, now she's contemplating having a baby with Tom...

Jodie and I were as close as sisters come. The four year age gap was nothing to us, because we got along great. Probably because it was just the two of us, who knows. But I was her maid of honour at her wedding to her husband Luke, and as well as being Aunty Phoebe to my niece Addison, I was also her Godmother.

That is how close we were.

"Pheebs? Pheebs? PHOEBE?!"

Jodie was attempting to catch my attention. I turned to her, feeling a tad dazed.

"Huh?" I mumbled.

"Is mom coming home to watch Addison when you go to work?" she asked, sighing.

"No, I'm not working tonight," I replied softly. "And mom's working. Next week mom's looking after her after I go off to work."

"Oh, right," Jodie rolled her eyes.

"I saw that," I chuckled.

"Are we doing more wedding plans for your wedding tomorrow?" she questioned.