Chapter 9
Angela’s POV
It was finally Friday, Derrick had picked us up. I had been surprised when I saw a booster seat in his truck.
‘It’s good right?! Is it the right one?’ he asked me.
‘How would I know?’ I answered back
‘Oh, right. Well the girl from the store said it should be good, and safe.’ He said.
‘Okay, let me figure it out. It might take a few minutes.’ I said to him.
Once Amanda was safely in the booster seat, I sat in the back beside her and Derrick driving we were good to go.
After about 20 minutes, Derrick, Amanda and I were in front of Derrick’s new apartment. Amanda was behind me, she was always so scared but with the way Jesse had treated her I couldn’t blame her.
The front door opened and Derrick stepped away letting Amanda and I pass. I walked to the doorway with Amanda almost being my shadow.
I could see a little of the kitchen and living room. The living room looked big. I stepped into his apartment and started to look around. It was nice, I knew he had cleaned or this Carly chick had trained him since I always had to clean up after him which drove me nuts
‘Amanda, look around. It’s nice and big.’ I said, trying to turn my head as much as I could to see her, she was pressed against the back of my legs
I moved out of the way to let Derrick in, he smiled and then closed the door.
‘You girls thirsty or hungry?’ he asked us.
I looked at Amanda who she shook her head no, ‘We’re good, thanks.’ I said.
‘Do you want me to show you both around or…check it out on your own?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think we’ll get lost but do you mind if…on our own?’ I asked him, feeling bad. Here we were, staying with him and…
‘Of course not. Check it out. I’ll be in the kitchen fixing some food since I am hungry and I’ll probably still be there when you come back. If not, kitchen table.’ He said to me.
I nodded and brought my arm behind me and Amanda took my hand. I went into the hall and started to look.
I found his room, it was simple, very him. The walls were white his bed was black, and had very little bedroom furniture.
He hadn’t closed his door so I knew it was ok for me to look. I let Amanda look, both staying in the door way.
When she was done we moved to the next one.
I looked from the doorway, this room was huge, maybe twice the size of his bedroom. It had a big bed, maybe a king size bed. The covers were full of colors. There was a desk with paper and crayons, pencils, pens…different colors and the paper different sizes. I felt Amanda squeeze my fingers, and I knew she loved it.
I slowly started to walk forward, to see if she would follow and when I didn’t feel her pull back I continued to walk.
We got to the last bedroom and when my eyes started to look around, I had trouble to breath. I had never seen so many toys in probably my whole life. Amanda was squeezing my fingers so tight, I knew she wanted to go and see but wouldn’t take the chance of letting go my hand. I could feel the tears wanted to be freed but I was pretty good at holding my tears in check.
Our bedroom was huge and this play room was big…Derrick had the smallest bedroom. I had trouble understanding why he would do that. I disliked him, extremely, and now, this was amazing and I didn’t expect it so…what did he want?
We both looked at the bathroom. In the past, I remembered our bathroom, it was big, and this one was the same. For the past five years, the bathroom wasn’t much, a shower, a sink and a toilet. Even when Amanda was a baby, I couldn’t give her a bath, she always had a shower. It would take forever to bathe her but we got it done. I took the time to let her look at everything. We went in and I showed her the bathtub. It could be used for both but at least it had a tub. I could give my girl her first bath…I could take a bath.
‘Wow.’ I whispered, smiling looking around the bathroom.
When we had enough of looking around, we walked back towards the living room. I looked around it was nice and comfortable.
We went and sat down at the kitchen table and when Derrick was done with the food he brought it to the table and joined us.
‘So…you like?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, it’s amazing. Question, why did you give us the big bedroom?’ I asked him.
‘Well, I couldn’t fit everything in the other two.’ He answered.
‘You didn’t need to do that. Any of it…the big room, big bed, the desk and the toys. Again, why did you do that?’ I asked him.
‘Because…you both need things to keep you busy, and you both need to smile.’ He answered.
‘But…’ I started.
‘Just say thanks and leave it at that.’ He said.
I rolled my eyes and smiled, ‘Thanks, we appreciate it.’ I said.
He smiled, ‘So are you hungry now?’ he asked us.
I felt Amanda squeeze my fingers again and I nodded my head to Derrick. He got up to get some plates and put them on the table and sat back down. He had made Mac & Cheese and had already put juice and water on the table for everyone.
‘Mac & Cheese?’ I asked smiling.
‘Yeah, my favorite and I’m not very good at making other stuff plus I wanted to impress.’ He said smirking.
‘We’re impressed.’ I said to him, smiling.
‘Nice!’ he said, all proud of himself.
‘Who did the shopping?’ I asked him, worried he had asked my parents, or worse…his ex.
‘Me.’ He said.
‘Ha, yeah right.’ I said.
‘That hurts my heart.’ He started.
‘You have a heart?’ I asked irritated.
He broke eye contact and looked at the table. ‘I got everything, by myself. No one helped, well beside the sales man or woman, other than that, just me. I did it on my own.’ He answered.
I felt bad, he was being nice, being Derrick but, I couldn’t let go of my anger. I still hated him…well a part of me did and I wasn’t going to let go of it just because he was being nice.
I took a deep breath, ‘Thanks Derrick. It’s great, thank you.’ I said.
He gave me a little smile.
‘Let’s eat before it get’s cold.’ He said and I nodded.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
It was getting late and we were all in the play room sitting on the floor. Amanda was playing with a doll, always close to me. Derrick was sitting across the room, looking at her play and talking to me.
I could tell he was mesmerized with her. I didn’t blame him, she had a little of both of us, my hair color, my cheeks, his eyes, his lips. When I found out I was pregnant, Jesse already had me locked up in one of his rooms. I had never seen the house before, also, I knew no one knew of it. I was both so excited to be pregnant but so terrified at the same time.
When Jesse figured it out, he thought it was his and I never told him the truth. I was scarred he was going to hurt the baby once it was born.
When he delivered my baby and told me I had a girl, I could tell he was different. He never asked me if she was Derrick’s and I never answered his un-asked questions. He didn’t take care of her nor did he hurt her, thank God. She never wanted to leave my side, but when he wanted something, anything from me, he would take her away, make her leave the room and locking me in with him or putting her in the closet with the doors shut, putting a chair in front to make sure she couldn’t open the doors. Except she did see and hear a lot of things a child should never have to.
The way Derrick looked at her now, I could see he loved her. She never said a word to him but he loved her none the less, and I couldn’t believe how amazing that felt.
‘Honey, we should go to bed.’ I said to Amanda who looked sad.
‘If it’s okay with Derrick, maybe you can bring the doll with you to bed.’ I said to her.
We both looked at Derrick who had a big smile on his face, ‘Yeah, of course you can.’
‘Thanks.’ I said to him, and he nodded.
‘There’s toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom. Oh and I bought a toothbrush and toothpaste good for kids.’ He said.
‘Wow. Did you think of everything?’ I asked.
‘I’m sure I forgot a lot, but I tried to think of everything.’ He said with a little smile.
‘Thank you.’ I said to him. I got up and waited for Amanda to get up.
‘I remember what you said about the room, don’t worry. Are you both going to be ok?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, we’ll be fine.’ I answered.
‘Do you still drink coffee?’ he asked me, making me smile.
‘Yeah, he wasn’t nice but somehow managed to bring me a cup of coffee each morning.’ I answered.
‘Then I’ll make sure to make enough.’ He said making me smile again.
‘I know you’re not asking questions, unlike my mother would, thanks.’ I said to him, while Amanda was finally getting up.
‘Yeah, I got millions.’ He said chuckling.
‘Okay, starting tomorrow, depends what it is, one question per day…maybe.’ I said to him.
‘Okay, I’m good with that’ He said smiling, then added, ‘and yes, I noticed your mother didn’t change, she asks question after question none stop.’ He finished.
‘Great, can’t wait to see her.’ I said sarcastically.
‘No rush.’ He said.
‘Night.’ I said to him.
‘Hope you have sweet dreams tonight ladies.’ He said.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
‘I still hate you.’ I said while passing him to leave the play room.
‘I know.’ I heard him say.
We went to the bathroom and brushed our teeth then headed to bed. I knew it was going to be a long night, with a new place and with Amanda, coffee in the morning will be very much needed.
Closing the door to our bedroom, I looked around and saw that Derrick had even bought clothes. I had no idea how he had pulled that off but I found us both something to sleep in. After changing, we got on the bed, Amanda holding on to her doll.
I hoped that the night would be peaceful. That Amanda wouldn’t freak out, I decided to leave the bedside light on in case and tried to relax to fall asleep. For the first time, we could both sleep at the same time.
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