*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you so much*
ROMAN's POINT OF VIEW:
"Thank-you for spending the day with me," I say to Sky as we are sitting down to have lunch together. I miss all the time I used to spend with her and the last couple weeks everything has been so hectic for our family that we haven't really gotten the chance to talk like we used to. Summer came home from the hospital the day after she went in with arsenic in her stomach and a couple days later Child Services showed up at our door to do an inspection of our home and to check on the kids to make sure everything was all right with them. Of course our house was spotless and the living conditions were immaculate for them and they saw the kids and saw that they were well taken care of and they closed the case. It is a load off our backs. After everything we have gone through in the last few weeks the last thing I wanted was to have a case with Child Services.
"No problem, Dad," she says with a smile as she looks over the menu. "I love to spend the day with you."
"I love spending the day with you," I say as I look over the menu. "I miss you, Sky. It seems like you are really busy with Charlie."
"I am but I will always find time for you, Dad," she says. "So how is Summer feeling?"
"She's much better. She has learned not to take cupcakes from strangers."
"I bet," she says, "but in her defense she got the cupcake from an innocent kid. Briana is the one that made it into something evil. I still can't believe she did that. Are you sure it was her?"
"Who else would want to get to me through Summer? Who else would want to hurt Summer? I don't get it because she is always talking about how Summer is her daughter Ava so why would she poison her?"
"To get your attention," she says.
"Well, she's got it and she should be careful what she wishes for. That is MY daughter I can't believe she tried to kill her. She's crazier than ever."
"A little too cuckoo for cocoa puffs if you ask me," she says with a smile as the waiter comes to take our orders.
"Tell me about it," I say after the waiter leaves. "Anyway, how is the pregnancy going?"
"Very good," she says with a smile. "Jennifer is so active and the best thing in the world when I play classical music for her if she is kicking and going wild she calms down instantly. She loves it already."
"There wouldn't be a doubt in my mind," I say with a smile. "She gets that from her Mama and Mammaw."
"Yes she does," she says with a smile. "Charlie and I are going to give her the world, Dad. We want her to have the best life ever."
"I bet you do. That's the best thing a parent can do is give their child the world."
"But," she says, "we aren't going to be raising her in Georgia."
"What?" I ask.
"For college I want to go to Ohio State or Pittsburgh."
"I thought you were going to Georgia Tech? You've wanted to go to Georgia Tech for as long as I can remember."
"I know," she says, "but that was before everything happened. I can't go there. I don't want to go there."
"Why?" I ask. I am beyond shocked at her new choice to leave Georgia to go to school in Ohio or Pittsburgh. I always thought she was going to follow in my footsteps and go to my alma mater and be a Yellow jacket.
"Because people talk too much," she says, "I can't go there. My reputation will always remain the same as it is now. Everyone is going to look at me as the school slut or the school whore. This is why I stopped going to school because learning wasn't fun anymore when I was getting made fun of and called names. I know I did some bad stuff in my life but they act like I was Hester Prynne they might as well strap a red A on my chest and let me wallow in my shame. That's exactly what it feels like and Hester's way to get away from it was to isolate herself. That's what I need to do. I need to isolate myself from Atlanta and Georgia Tech. I need to go somewhere that no one knows about what I've done or knows about my past. I need a new beginning. I can't get that unless I move away."
"So you're really going to move to Ohio or Pittsburgh?"
"Yes, Dad," she says. "I'm sorry but it's just something I have to do."
"And what did Charlie say?"
"He said he and Jennifer will go wherever I go. He's all right with moving to Ohio or Pittsburgh and now that his dad kicked him out of the family business he really doesn't have anything to hold him here."
"This is just shocking to me, Sky. Are you really sure you don't want to go to Georgia Tech?"
"I'm sure please don't take it personal. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for me dad. I don't want my college life to be a repeat of my high school life. I want to enjoy college the best that I can as a wife and a mother. I want to be able to go to class without some football player asking me how much I'll charge to give him a blowjob or asking me to meet him under the bleachers. I want to go to class without girls looking at me and whispering about how much of a slut I am. I can't do it again and I don't want to do it again. I want a new start in a new town and a new state please understand I'm not doing this to hurt you but I'm doing it to help me and to help my family. We will come back on holidays to visit you. Are you upset with me?"
"No," I say, "it's just I thought we always had this plan that you would stay home for school and wouldn't leave Georgia."
"I know what we planned but lately everything I planned in life hasn't really panned out the way I wanted it to. It has been nothing but something unexpected. And you know what you always say; it is the unexpected things in life that we turn out to love the most. I have to say I love where my life is going. I wouldn't do this if I didn't' think it was the best thing for us but it is. I told you I need to get out of Georgia."
"I just didn't know that everything was that hard. I thought you brushed the haters off," I say as the waiter brings our food.
"I do but sometimes words can really hurt a person. You taught me to not let the haters get to me and taught me that no one can change who I am but myself but when I am asked every day at school to give a blowjob or to have sex with someone or getting my bra snapped or getting smacked on the ass or getting a boob grabbed I have to draw the line. The guys acted like it was okay to violate me and the teachers and principal did nothing about it. I went to them numerous times and they did nothing. Their response was did they hurt you? They harassed me, they violated me and that hurts. The school did NOTHING about it," she says and I can hear the pain in her voice.
"I had no idea it was that bad. Why didn't you tell me? I would have been in there."
"You had your own things to worry about. You had your football team, your heart attack and yours and mom's baby. I didn't want to bother you with my problems."
"Sky, you're my daughter. If you were having those types of problems in school you should have come to me and I would have taken care of it. I would have made heads roll. NO girl deserves to be sexually harassed like that and the fact that they brushed it off pisses me off even more. You should have said something, Sky."
"It doesn't matter now," she says, "it's over with and I want to keep it that way."
"All right," I say, "you know I don't like to see you hurting."
"I know, Dad but I don't like to see you hurting either and lately you've been hurting a lot. I couldn't throw something else on your plate. It just isn't fair to you."
"I don't care how bad I am hurting if I need to take care of something you need to talk to me, Sky."
"I know, Dad," she says. "I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it and I did. I dropped out to be home schooled and I like it a lot better. I miss a couple friends but if they were really my friends they would be reaching out to me but they don't."
"Sky," I say shaking my head. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about," she says, "I'm all right. I'm fine. I have my family, I have Charlie and I have Jennifer. Nothing else matters.
"Okay," I say. "So are you still going to take up sports management when you go to college?" I ask changing the subject as we eat.
"Probably," she says, "I still want to own and manage a sports team."
"That's good," I say. "I'm glad that you still want to go to college."
"I do because I want my daughter to have a good life. I have to go to school and get an education. I might also do psychology because I just want to see why people are crazy like Briana. Why is she such a nutcase? How do people get that crazy?"
"That's a good question. You should get into psychology if you want to. If you think that's the best field for you then go for it."
"I might," she says, "I have a few months to decide but I am leaning toward psychology more and more every day because of Briana. I really want to know what happens inside the brain to make someone do all the things she has done and continues to do."
"She's sick," I say, "she's always been sick. Rachel thinks she is a sociopath and she is not wrong about that. She is a sociopath. She has no remorse for anything she does, she likes to hurt people, she lies she is a sociopath plain and simple."
"I'm not feeling bad for her or anything but why didn't they help her with her illness in jail? I thought they did that kind of thing for those with mental issues."
"Usually they do but Briana is so good at manipulating people it's possible that she could have just told them everything they wanted to hear. I wouldn't put it past her."
"Me either," she says. "It's just sad you know what I mean? I remember that day she was screaming because you broke up with her because she was lying about being pregnant. That was nuts."
"It was," I say, "how do you remember that?"
"I don't even know," she says with a laugh. "I remember a lot about her from when I was little. Every time she would grill me about you in class and then when she kidnapped Summer as well as when she tried to kill us in the car accident. She was crazy but it's just worse now."
"I know," I say. "Something has to be done about her."
"I know that's right," she says before we go on to finish eating our lunch together so that we can go to the movies to see a movie together like we used to do when Sky was little. I can't help but to notice how grown up she is and how much she has changed since then. She is growing up to be a great young woman and even though she has slipped up a little she still has a good head on her shoulders and trying to make the best for her life not only for her but for her daughter. I have to thank Charlie for that because he does help keep her on the right track.
RACHEL's POINT OF VIEW:
"Rain," I say as I am lying in bed with her. "You have to take a nap. I promise it won't be a long nap at least 2 hours what do you say?" I ask making deals with my daughter.
"Mama, No nap," she argues back.
"Please, Rainbow," I beg. "If you take a nap Mama will give you a bowl of ice-cream when you wake up."
"Ice-cream?" she asks.
"Yes ice-cream but only after you wake up from your nap."
"With sprinkles?" she asks as she looks at me with her blue eyes that match the skies of Georgia.
"Yes," I say with a smile. "With sprinkles."
"Okay," she says with a smile.
"So you're going to take a nap?"
"Yes, Mama," she says with a smile.
"All right," I say with a smile. "Have sweet dreams. I'll be right downstairs waiting for Summer and Storm to get home from school."
"Okay, Mama," she says with a big smile. "I love you."
"I love you too," I say with a smile before I get out of her Disney Princess bed and give her a kiss on the cheek.
"I Love you more," she says.
"I love you to the moon."
"I love you to Heaven," she says with a smile.
"And I love you times infinity."
"I love you times infinity times infinity."
"I love you times infinity times infinity times infinity," I say with a smile, "now go to sleep."
"Okay, Mama," she says as she closes her beautiful blue eyes before I walk out of the room to go downstairs to get some laundry out of the dryer and take it upstairs to fold it.
Sitting on the couch folding some laundry I hear some noise coming from the kitchen. Thinking that Rain woke up early from her nap I make my way to the kitchen since it is only us two. "Rain, Honey," I say as I make my into the kitchen. "Mama told you that you needed to take a nap for some ice-cream," I say as I walk into the kitchen. I stop in my tracks as I see her. She's standing 5 feet in front of me in MY house; the devil herself the same way I remember her with Raven black hair down to the middle of her back, her naturally tan skin, her dark brown eyes and her body of perfection. I'm frozen, my feet stuck like glue as I stare at her. The words I want to say can't come from my lips.
"Ah, Rachel," she says with a smile. "How are you doing? Surprised to see me?"
"Wh-wh-what are you doing here?" I ask
"I came to pay a little visit where is Roman?"
"He is out with Sky," I say. "What do you want you need to get out. I won't call security or call the police if you just walk out on your own."
"Do you think I'm stupid, Rachel? Do you think I am an idiot? Have you not learned how smart I truly am? I have been watching you all for a while. I've been watching every move that you make. I got tired of watching. I want what is mine, Rachel. Where's my daughter? Where is Ava?"
"Her name is Summer and she's not your daughter. She is MY daughter and she always has been. You've been delusional for years now. Get over yourself. If you truly cared about her you wouldn't have tried to kill her."
"You can't keep her, Rachel," she says, "I won't let you. She is MY daughter. I want her back."
"You're crazy," I say.
"I'm not crazy! I want my daughter," she says and I can hear it in her voice that she is on the verge of snapping. I feel my anger rising inside of me as I have put up with this shit for 8 years. It's getting old. Briana is getting old.
"Get out," I say with warning. "Get out now."
"Or what, Rachel? You're going to call security on me? You're going to call the police on me? Too bad that I cut the phone cords to your house. Oh and as for security," she says with a laugh, "they are a little detained right now."
"What did you do?" I ask.
"Don't' worry about it," she says taking a knife from the knife holder. She pulls out the sharpest one. "I needed to get you alone," she says looking at the knife. "I need to get you out of the picture," she says as she continues to look at the knife in her hand. "You know, Rachel," she says coming closer to me. "I tried to warn you. I tried but you just couldn't listen. You just couldn't handle the fact that Roman and I were meant to be together. You had to take my daughter to win him over now I need to take you out to get what I deserve," she says moving closer to me as I back into the wall. Fear comes over me as I am trapped between the psycho and the wall. I move out of the way as she hits the wall with the knife before she turns around and chases me around the kitchen before I pull my own knife out of the holder.
"I'm not scared of you, Briana," I say, "I will do what I need to do to protect my kids and protect MY husband. Roman was caught up in your sex. You tried to manipulate him with your sex then you lied about being pregnant. You were never pregnant. You were trying to trap him. He didn't want you he wanted me. I was pregnant with his daughter. You had nothing. You were jealous," I say as we stand across from each other, the island in the kitchen separating us. "You were jealous that I had everything you wanted. You could have had it but you screwed up. You kept lying and you were crazy. He didn't want you."
"He wanted me all those times I had him begging for me."
"Back then but now, Briana," I say, "he can't stand you. He couldn't stand you since you tried to kill us. You put my niece in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. You destroyed her life. She will never be normal again because of you. You almost killed Sky and you almost killed me as well as Summer. Then you took MY daughter from the hospital. You're a fucking nutcase."
"Don't call me a nutcase," she says with anger. "I am not a nutcase. I wanted to kill you. I wanted to get you out of the picture. I couldn't do that then but I'm going to do it now."
"Just put the knife down, Briana. I'll put mine down if you put yours down."
"Not a chance," she says as she charges at me. I can barely move before I feel the sharp jab of the knife into my side as I cry out in pain before I fall to the floor as I feel the wetness hit my shirt. I put my hand onto my side and pull it away to see all the blood on my hand. I'm in shock and something comes over me that I never experienced before. I just remember screaming and raising my own knife as Briana stands over me. I don't' remember much except multiple screaming from her and many curse words from my lips. I lose myself. I can't remember what is happening. I am lost. I am out of my body as I take care of Briana.
My body calms itself and I break down into tears as I see the blood all around me. The blood from my side, the blood from Briana, who is lying on my kitchen floor lifeless holding her own knife in her hand. I scream out loud before I hear a tiny voice from the stairwell. "Mama," says Rainbow.
"Don't come over here," I say from behind the island. "Call, Daddy," I say.
"Okay, Mama," she says. "Where is your cell phone?"
"It's in my room. Just call Daddy and tell him to come home right away," I say as I hold onto my side and look at Briana in front of me. I don't know what to do and I don't know what to say before I breakdown. I want to say that I'm distraught over what I did to Briana but it's been 8 years coming and I have no sympathy, no remorse it had to be done. I don't remember it but I know I did it. It's over; it's finally over.
*A/N: What do you think of Sky keeping everything that was going on a secret from her father? Do you think she even told Charlie about the harassment that she endured? Do you think Roman was hurt by the fact Sky wants to go somewhere else for college? What are your thoughts on Rachel and RAinbow? What about everything that happened with Briana? Is this finally the end? Please review and thank-you for reading.
