Chapter 27
I was honestly speechless and Ivan clearly was too. I mean, what can you say really? I can imagine how Ivan feels right now. Not only are we both getting the same step sister, but Ivan's mom can't leave, she's not willing too.
Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why she wouldn't want too, you don't want to break a home up; the kid would suffer, I've been through it and hundreds of others have and it completely sucks, but if it's really bad, then you know what's best for you and it's getting away in this case, but wouldn't you think it would be better to get away from what's hurting you?
Linda is so determined to have the baby raised with my father, it would be nice I suppose; if he was a good person, but I know this child will appreciate what we have done if we get Linda away from him. We are here for her, she doesn't need him whatsoever.
"Uh." Ivan scratches the back of his neck. "I don't know what to say mother." He confesses.
We're still currently sitting at the table, it's been about an hour or so, the food is definitely cold and no one hasn't bothered eating any. So I pick up a pancake and start nibbling on it, still focusing on the two bickering.
"Don't say anything, just understand why I need to do this."
Ivan shook his head. "I get it mother, but you need to think about it. Not everything that seems right, is the better choice." He reasoned.
She nodded her head slowly. "I just don't want to break up a family. Your father and I have already split, I don't want this baby to experience it."
"But Linda, this situation is not okay. He has been abusing you, what if he had hurt the baby in the process?" I declared.
"No. he's never harmed the baby, he'd never do that." She protested.
"Linda, he's not a good father, look at what he did to me? And the fact that I'm trying to get away from him? You should take that into consideration."
She sighed and rested her head on the table. She looked up at me with sad eyes. "I just don't know what to do." Her voice quivered.
I rubbed her shoulder. "We're here for you. We will help you, you don't have to worry Linda." I smiled at her.
She nodded her head. "Okay. I guess we're leaving."
I nearly celebrated the victory, but it's not the time. I thought it would have been a lot easier to persuade her, but I guess she had her mind set on raising the baby with my terrible excuse of a father.
"Great." Ivan smiled between us. "Well just need to pack your stuff and decide on where we're moving too." He announced.
"Can I at least go see him before we move? I need to tell him."
Ivan shook his head. "Absolutely not. We're trying to keep under the radar and that'll blow our cover. We don't need him to know we're moving."
"But my clothes are still at his place." She whined.
"I guess we're going shopping. Ivory care to take my mother on one of your shopping trips?" He asked.
I nodded my head excitedly. "Absolutely."
I love shopping. I just don't do it much, because I don't have the money to willingly spend on things I want and things that happen to be not essential.
"Great. You hit two birds with one stone, we get my mother clothes, without being caught and you two can bond."
"I think we've already bonded enough, we're in the same situation so there's plenty of time." I chuckle.
He rolls his eyes with a smile. "Oh well. You guys can go shopping."
"Right now?" I questioned.
He nodded. "Yeah and I'll do some research to find places."
"Alright." I turn to Linda. "I'll go get the keys, meet you in the car."
We turned out separate ways and I grabbed the keys off the counter and headed straight for the car.
***
After what seemed like many minutes. The minutes dragging, second by second, Linda had finally opened the passenger seat door and entered the vehicle
I let out a sigh content and opened my eyes. I decided to nap a little because it took so long.
"What were you doing in there?" I interrogate her.
She shrugged. "A girls gotta look good."
"To just go buy clothes?"
She nods. "Of course, do you know how many people go to the mall?"
"A couple hundred maybe? Depends on the mall and day."
"Exactly. There's going to be so many people here, it's a Saturday afternoon."
I wasn't quite sure where she was going with this. "So do you want to go later?"
She shook her head. "No. what I'm getting at is, a lot of people are going to be there." I got that. "And you need to look good always." Oh there it is. Only took way too long.
"Alright, lets just get going."
She sighs. "I've always wanted a daughter." She says as I turn the key into the slot and the car revs into life.
"Oh yeah?" I ask pulling out of the driveway.
She nods happily. "Think about all the things we can do, just like we're now! We can go shopping, go out for lunch, and if only I knew you when you turned 18, we could've gone to get you an ID for a club and we could've went together, but we can still go together! But since I had a male, he and his father got along more than us.
I laugh. "I didn't think parents condoned their kids going to the club."
"I've always wanted to do fun things with my daughter! But I happened to pop out the wrong gender."
I laughed. I wonder how Ivan would feel if he heard all this, I'm sure he'd have a few words to share, like he always does.
"Well I'm not going anywhere soon, or at least I don't think so." I made a sharp turn to the right and we jerked to the side almost bashing heads.
She laughed. "Do you think you guys are going to get married?"
"Oh definitely not now." I defended.
She chuckled. "I mean in the future silly."
I contemplated for a minute. "I think so, yeah I could definitely see Ivan and I being together in the future. He's a great guy."
She smiles. "Even though he was not the daughter I had expected, I still taught him manners and how to treat a girl, I needed him to find a lovely girl so I could hang out with them and it worked!" She exclaimed cheerfully, gesturing to us together.
We blasted the radio and sang to songs all the way there. It was what I've always wanted with my real mother, but I knew to never wish for unrealistic things.
***
We arrived at the parking lot and I found a spot close to the opening, I didn't feeling walking far and I knew we were going to be carrying multiple bags.
The mall we are currently at is absolutely massive, so she'll have quite a lot of selection.
"Where do you want to go first?" I ask while walking into the doors.
"Uh. Probably Victoria secret." She answered seriously.
I started laughing. "If that's what you want, then lets go."
She chuckled. "I was just kidding. But I do what to find a place where you can buy that thing were you wear it and it allows you to carry your baby on your back of stomach."
"Yeah I know what you're talking about, but I have no clue where to find that."
She waved it off. "Oh well, it's not that important, let's just go shopping." She grabs my hand and starts running.
Here is where it begins, she's dragging me to every store possible. I can already feel the shopping burn, if you know what I mean.
***
We have been to just about every store in the top level of the mall and theirs plenty of more downstairs. My legs are starting to ache from all the running, she barely ever tries things on, so I never get to rest and sit on the comfy waiting couches.
My arms are burning, I'm unhappily carrying all her bags, but I get it; since it's hard to shop with your arms being occupied and all.
But she had blessed me when she said she was hungry and asked for lunch. The gods must be looking down on me right now, seeing my pain and allowing me some closure and relaxation.
"Alright, I'm feeling Chinese food, are you okay with that?" She asks.
I nod my head. Any food sounds good to me right now; lets feed the beast that grows inside of me. Seriously, he gets extremely annoying when you don't.
Linda went to order our and I grabbed us a seat. It was a raised metal table with two high chairs.
I impatiently tapped my finger nails against the metal and it resulting it a cool sound.
The line happens to be very long for all the food places, but ours is the shortest. Linda's still not at the front yet, so I knew I had a while.
A little girl rushed up to me. Her pig tails tied neatly on either side. Her cheeks a slight Rosie pink and her eyes a magnificent shade of blue, she was absolutely stunning; I wish I looked like her when I was younger, but I had braces and sloppy hair.
"You're so pretty!" She exclaimed.
I smiled. She was not shy to talk to people, a trait we all wish for. "Thank you. What's your name?"
"I'm Tope." She replied cheerfully. Her eyes shining bright and she wore a toothy smile.
"I'm Ivory. You have a beautiful name." I complimented.
Her smile widened even further. "You have a beautiful name." She repeated.
"Tope come over here." A voice interrupted us.
I looked up to see a boy my age, maybe a couple years younger coming over to us. He looked like tope, he had matching eyes and nose, but different coloured hair; it was a dark brown.
She smiled and ran over to her, what I believe is her brother and clung to his legs. She grabbed his hands and walked back over to me.
"I made a new friend!" She cheered.
"Oh yeah, who is it?" He grinned at the sweet girl.
"Ivory! She's so pretty."
He smiled. "Alright, go back to Mother, our food is ready."
The child obliged with a big smile. He watched her dash off and then turned his attention to me.
"I'm Alex Duns." He said reaching out his hand. "You look so familiar."
I chuckle. "I get that a lot. I'm Ivory Carder." I say and grabbing his hand in my own.
"Ivory Carder, as in meaning your father is Richard Carder?" He asked.
I internally groaned, but nodded. "That would be the one."
"Oh! That's where I know you from. You're resonated with the Animatronic pizzeria franchises."
How we he know me from there? I haven't really associated myself with the business much, except when I was younger.
I nod my head with a smile.
"They're seriously everywhere I go to, my friends always want to go there to check it out. Anyway, I've got to go eat. It was nice talking to you." He hands me a card and stalks off.
I look at the card and it's a business card for a modelling company, he owns one? But I think he gave it to me for the number written boldly on the bottom.
I chuckle and tuck it into the pocket of my jeans, not completely sure if I'm going to use it at all.. Linda arrives seconds later with two platters of food.
"Sorry it too so long, the line was massive." She groans.
I chuckle. "No worries, I'm just glad we got some good."
She nodded and began eating as I did the same. I would finish this in a matter of seconds, it was blatantly obvious.
***
We finished eating and it was great. Alex and Tope had left and they were no where in sight, but it didn't matter. They were nice people is all.
We began making our way to the escalator and traveled down it. I prepared myself for another couple hours here. I had some granola bars in my bag and some Advil; I think I was good. There was also water fountains around any corner, I think I'm set for the next few hours.
We continued and my feet were starting to hurt once again. I'm carrying multiple bags currently; while she's basically running to every store. I never knew she was this enthusiastic about shopping.
I was trying to keep up with her and failing miserably, I look absolutely crazy. The weight on one side is heavier and while running after her, I nearly toppled over.
We searched a couple more stores and we were getting to the end of our mission which is supposedly 'explore every store in this frickin' massive building.' She had slowed down, much to my liking.
We began walking and talking like I had expected to be doing all this time.
"How much longer?" I groaned.
She chuckled. "Just a couple more stores that I want to look at Ivory, we're almost done."
I sighed and we fell in sync. We turned around the corner and I gasped. I had not been expecting this.
There laid a neatly built Pizzeria my dad owns. It is definitely new. Construction was still occurring to the front of the building.
"Did you know this was here?" I interrogated Linda.
She nodded. "He's building them everywhere."
"Everywhere? In other countries too?"
"Yeah. He's making lots of money from this. He's teaming up with just about everyone. This company is starting to knock other pizza companies to the ground, especially since all the kids come here."
I groaned. "It's like haunting me, everywhere I look his company happens To be there."
She chuckled. "Once we move you aren't going to be seeing this anymore."
I sighed contently. "I hope so."
We walked closer to the building, making sure to keep a distance from it. Wouldn't want to catch and diseases or anything; it's literally owned by a living and walking disease himself.
A guy came out of the store and I instantly recognized it as my father. He started talking to some men. He looked over to our way.
"Duck!" I whisper yelled and we hid behind a plant, because there wasn't much here to hide behind.
He continued looking over here for a few seconds and then kept talking to the construction workers.
I let out the breath I was holding until he turned around and started walking back our way and I sucked that breath right in. His eyes were completely trained on me and I felt paralyzed and couldn't move my legs to run.
***
Have a great day! xoxox