*This chapter may be a trigger chapter please proceed with caution

Chapter 38

Melanie gripped her stomach, she felt like she was frozen in place but her mind raced a mile a minute. What in the world was going on? Why would Joelle think that she was being used? And by her no less. What had she done wrong for Joelle to think like this?

"Please t-t-t-teee-l-l-l-l me it's not t-t-true" she stuttered and hiccupped through her tears. It was that plea that brought Melanie back to her current twisted reality. She jumped into action and closed the small distance that was between her and Joelle, immediately wiping away the tears that were streaming down her little red cheeks.

Melanie shook her head vehemently from side to side "Jo, I promise you none of that is true. Why would you think that?"

Melanie saw Roman's body tense and she quickly darted her gaze up to his face and noticed guilt and regret flicker across his features. It clicked instantly…he knew what was going on. Her lips set into a straight line she would deal with him later; right now she needed to focus solely on Jo.

Roman held his breath it wasn't lost on him the daggers that Melanie just tossed at him when she looked up at him a split second ago, he knew he was in trouble but if she and Jo were able to get back to normal he would gladly face her wrath.

"Mommy said that you didn't like me at all. She said that you would throw me away as soon as you didn't need me anymore" she said as she began to sob.

Roman watched as anger flashed through Melanie's eyes but as quickly as it appeared it was replaced by a look of horror, hurt and concern.

"Joelle I know you are really upset at me right now, and probably very confused but can I hold you for a second so we can talk?"

Joelle looked at Melanie and hesitated, she glanced up at Roman who gave her an encouraging head nod. Joelle nodded her head yes, and before she could change her mind Melanie quickly and gently took Joelle from Romans arms holding her close to her chest as she walked to the bench that was along the wall. The Anoai siblings were following close behind and formed a semi-circle around the bench shielding them from prying eyes.

Melanie put Joelle on her lap so that Joelle was facing her with one leg on either side of Melanie's legs. In the place of the jovial, funny, spirited little girl she had met was a sad, confused and utterly broken replacement. She placed a hand on either side of her perfectly round little face.

"Joelle listen to me, I know that you are hurting alot right now" she said thickly her own eyes welling with tears "And that a lot of things that maybe weren't confusing before may be right now but I want you to really listen to what I am going to say okay?" Joelle's bottom lip quivered as she stared at Melanie, she didn't know what to think. Why would Melly be on the verge of tears if she really didn't like her, wouldn't she be happy that she didn't have to pretend anymore? This was all so confusing to her. She closed her eyes and felt the tears again. She had been doing that a lot lately, but she couldn't help it. She had thought Melanie was her friend, she thought she was going to be a good girlfriend for her daddy, she thought she was different from her mom, she thought Melanie wanted her but it turned out she was wrong, her mom didn't want her, Melanie didn't want her, no one wanted her.

Melanie slowly wiped away the tears that were falling down Joelle's cheeks with her thumbs. "I genuinely love spending time with you." She said as she swallowed the lump in her throat realizing the absolute sincerity and truth behind that statement. "I could never hurt you or your daddy that's just not me princess, I mean you had me hook line and sinker the minute you jete leaped across the computer screen. I have been crazy about you since day one Jo."

"You don't mean that" Joelle cried as she put her smaller hands on the outside of Melanie's hands grabbing onto her fingers as she did so, seemingly fighting with herself as to if she should push her hands away or hold on to them.

Melanie struggled to keep it together "Oh princess yes I do!" She sniffled no longer trying to hold anything back "Why wouldn't I? You are smart, funny, adventurous, talented, pretty, and always willing to lend a hand to help."

Joelle still shook her head no but this time it wasn't with as much conviction as it had been before. Melanie could see her icy façade was beginning to melt as she felt Joelle grip her fingers in her little hands holding on to her for dear life.

"Jo when I asked you over to my house on Friday it was because I felt bad that I couldn't come to dinner with you like you wanted me to on Thursday; especially because I really wanted to spend time with you and get to know you better. But I would never get to know you just to get to your dad. I would never use and then discard you or your feelings by doing that."

Joelle looked confused "I don't know what that means."

"What, what means Jo?" Melanie asked

"dis…discard, what does that mean?" she asked softly

"It means to get rid of, to put aside."

Melanie felt Jo shiver beneath her hands

She shook her head "I would never get rid of you, why would I want to do that?"

"Because you don't like me, and why would you? I'm not any of those things you said before I'm not smart, I'm not funny I'm not pretty, I can't dance I can't do anything right, why would you want a little girl who can't do anything right, of course you would want to put me away." Joelle said as she lowered her head in defeat.

Melanie felt two strong emotions running through her veins, hurt and anger and both of them were just as strong as the other. She knew without a shadow of a doubt if she were face to face with Evelyn right now she would rip her head off of her shoulders.

"Jo baby that's not true." Melanie said her voice coming out more as a plea as she begged her to listen to her. "You are all of those things; anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that! You make me laugh all the time! and you are an amazing dancer! You won't be perfect but I don't expect you to be, you are only six, but you are amazing at it Jo! So what if you struggle on a few moves so did I when I was your age and now I can do them with my eyes closed, but that was after a lot of time and practice. No one is perfect and if anyone tells you otherwise they are full of sh- butt nuggets! Everyone struggles at something Jo, everyone has imperfections but it's those beautiful imperfections that makes all of us different and special in our own way. You understand?" she said softly as she stroked her cheek.

"And you are smart! Actually you are one of the most brilliant kids I have ever met, you think on your toes, you outwit your Uncle Seth AND your dad all the time! I have seen you do it. You asked me why would I want to be bothered with a little girl who can't do anything right, but I don't know that little girl that you described." She stated as she tucked Joelle's hair behind her ear.

Joelle opened her mouth but Melanie wasn't leaving any room for discussion.

"No I don't see you like that, no one who loves you does. You see the Joelle I know, the Joelle I see, my Lady bug" she said as she removed one hand from her cheek to point at herself before placing it back on Jo's little face "Is smart, she is funny, she is pretty, she is talented, she is a thinker, she is a doer, she is a helper, and she is fearless!" Melanie said as she narrowed her eyes and shook her head vehemently to get her point across "You are all of those things Joelle and I will be damned if I let anyone tell you otherwise, I don't care if I have to tell you every day I will tell you until I am blue in the face. Until you understand and believe in how amazing you are, and how much more amazing my life is because you are in it, because I get to hear your voice, I get to hug you, I get to kiss you" she said as she placed a kiss to her forehead pulling away to look Jo in the eye "And tell you how much I love having you around, you're not a burden, you're not in the way, you make everything better, make him better" she said pointing at Roman "You make me better, you make me want to do better for you." Melanie said as she placed her hand on her chest. Her vision was blurry and her voice cracked barely holding on at the end but she didn't care. She had lost the battle she was waging with her emotions but she needed Joelle to know how much she mattered to her. Melanie quickly wiped away the tears with her fingers thankful that she had applied waterproof eye make up this morning and cleared her throat.

She was so wrapped up in Joelle that she hadn't noticed that Vanessa, Summer, Matt and Roman had closed in the semi-circle so that no one could see what was going in, but in doing so they were all towering over Melanie and Joelle and just as emotional as Melanie was, all of them wiping their own tears as they listened to the heartfelt words that Melanie spoke to Jo.

"And not for nothing but you are my Princess partner pal and I refuse to have to look for another one when you and I are already so compatible!" Melanie said as Joelle let out an inadvertent giggle.

"Wait, what's compatible?" Joelle asked

"It means can work together well"

Joelle looked thoughtfully "You think we work together well?" she asked

"Absolutely! I mean you know like I know that finding someone who truly understands the inner dealings of the Disney princesses is very hard to come by, and if I don't have you who am I supposed to be able to express my love of all things concerning the Disney Princesses? I mean there is your dad and Seth but seriously have you tried to have a conversation with them about the princesses?"

Joelle gave a small scoff "They are pretty useless when it comes to stuff like that." she said softly still hiccuping from her left over stray tears.

"Heeeeyyyy" Roman said slightly offended by the turn the conversation was taking.

Melanie and Joelle both rolled their eyes at him but other than that they ignored his protest.

"Here is another example what movie is better, The little mermaid or Cinderella?" Melanie asked as she listed off each option with her fingers.

Joelle answered without a second thought "The little mermaid is way better than Cinderella!"

Summer scoffed "Blasphemy" she muttered as Melanie and Joelle both turned and shot her a glare that Summer quickly reciprocated.

Melanie held her hand up and pointed as Summer "See what I mean."

"Amateurs" Joelle mumbled making her Aunt suck her teeth as Roman, Matt and Nessa snickered. Joelle slowly turned back around to look at Melanie, who interlaced her fingers on Joelle's lower back.

"Here is another one, you have to sneak one snack into the movie theater what do you take Cheez its or Cheese Nips?"

"Ya'll are strange" Matt muttered

"Cheez its are trash! You take the Nips! Cheese Nips!"

Summer looked distraught "I feel like I am in an alternate universe right now, seriously who the hell picks Cheese Nips over Cheez its"

Melanie and Joelle snapped their heads to look at Summer and said in unison

"We do!" Before looking at each other and breaking out into a fit of giggles.

"See, this is what I'm talking about Jo, how can I not like someone who loves so many of the things that I do? Or someone who makes me laugh as much as you do? Even the things we don't have in common it can still be an adventure because all that means is that we can teach each other about new things and new experiences."

"I really make you laugh?"

"Absolutely! You remember when your Uncle Seth was being bad?"

"Which time? Uncle Seth is always bad" she said earning a laugh from all of the adults.

"That's true, but this time in particular he had my car keys and didn't want to give them back…..do you remember how you got him to return them to me?"

Joelle thought about it before smiling at the memory

"Uncle Seth got played" Joelle said with a laugh as all of the adults joined in.

"Yeah he did by a super smart and funny 6 year old" Melanie said as she winked at her. Joelle finally smiled and leaned in wrapping her arms around Melanie's waist and leaning her head on Melanie's chest. Melanie exhaled her nervous breath wrapping one arm around Joelle's waist, and putting her other hand into Joelle's hair moving her fingers in a soothing massaging motion. She closed her eyes and kissed the top of her head. When she opened them she locked eyes with Vanessa whose eyes were watering but were bright with admiration, and respect. They nodded to each other a silent agreement passing between the two as Melanie laid her cheek on top of Joelle's head.

"Is it okay if I ask you a question Lady bug."

"Yea"

"Can we be friends again?"

Joelle sniffled a few times then tilted her head up to look at Melanie "Do you promise that you really really like me and daddy?"

"Baby I promise I really really like you and daddy"

Joelle bit her bottom lip "Will you watch the Little mermaid with me this week?"

"She does know this is blackmail right?" Matt chuckled

Melanie's lips turned up into a smile at the little girls bargaining tactics "You drive a hard bargain little lady, but yes I will watch the little mermaid and whatever other movie that you want to watch this week" she said as she held out her pinky and waited for Jo to latch on with her own substantially smaller pinky both kissing their thumbs as Joelle threw her arms around her neck latching onto her for dear life.

"I missed you" she whispered into her ear.

"I missed you too Lady bug, if there is ever anything that is bothering you, or anything that you just want to ask me about I want you to know you can come talk to me anytime, anywhere okay?"

"Okay Melly" Joelle said as she kept her arms wrapped around her neck.

"Do you feel better?"

Joelle nodded into her neck "Much better, thanks Melly Belly."

The Anoai siblings all breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Joelle had gotten it all off her chest and even happier that Melanie had taken the time to reassure and explain things to her the way that she did.

Vanessa held out her hand to Joelle "Come on princess we need to go check in, plus Melly has to go to her interview" she said as she handed Melanie the purse that she dropped on the concrete earlier.

Roman looked at his siblings and motioned for them to go on without him.

"Good luck Melly!" Joelle screamed over her shoulder giving her a thumbs up and a big toothy grin.

Melanie winked at her and blew her a kiss "Thank you lady bug!"

She and Roman walked the remaining steps in silence. He could tell from her body language that she was upset with him. Right before they made it to the waiting town car she turned on her heel and looked Roman in the face.

"You want to tell me what the hell that was about and how long you've known about it?" she asked the hurt heavy in her voice. He took a step towards her but she held her hand up stopping him from coming any closer to her.

He sighed "She said it Saturday morning, that was the last thing she said to Jo and I before she walked out of our house and slammed the door. I tried to tell Jo that none of it was true but the seed was planted and was eating away at her, and there wasn't anything that I was able to say to her to make her see that it wasn't true. My daughter would barely talk to me Mel and it was because her mother broke her heart then ripped it clean out of her chest."

He watched as Melanie shut her eyes squeezing them closed in an effort to hold back the tears that threatened to fall

"Why?" she said barely above a whisper.

Roman knew exactly what she meant. He had already screwed up by not telling her about Jo being upset with her, he would be damned if he made the same mistake twice.

"Evelyn doesn't want to actually behave like her mother so she took aim at the only other person in Mine and Joelle's life that she sees as a viable threat and that is you. I didn't want to intentionally keep it from you I just wanted to fix it before it got to this point." He said as he roughly ran a hand through his hair. "Baby I'm sorry, I made the wrong choice by not telling you what she said, please don't be pissed at me." he said as he cautiously stepped closer to her. This time she didn't put her hand up to stop him so he wrapped his arms around her.

"Mel, please talk to me."

Melanie looked up at him so that he could look into her eyes as she spoke "I'm not pissed, correction I'm not pissed at you but I am pissed as fuck at that bitch Evelyn! She can come for me whenever she wants but not at Jo's expense! As far as you are concerned I'm hurt that you didn't trust me to be able to handle this with you. Not even an hour ago you said that I was your Kismet, how am I supposed to believe you when you kept something like this from me? Did you mean it or did you just say it because it sounded good?"

"Mel I swear to you I meant every single word of it."

"Then act like it, I would never tell you how to raise your daughter but this entire situation doesn't just affect you Leati. If you believe in Kismet and believe me to be yours then that means I am also Jo's by default. Now I know I am still extremely new and I don't want to sound pushy or overbearing but I won't stand by and watch her drive a wedge in between me and Jo. She systematically tried to rip Jo and I apart in the most painful way possible for Jo, playing on all of the fears and insecurities that she has planted and I won't stand for it." she said as she clapped her hands together angrily.

Roman tilted her face with his fingers and wiped the tears that flowed from her shimmering green eyes. "You're right, and I want you to know your opinion does matter, my custody situation does affect you and Evelyn did try to ruin you and Jo's relationship, and if we are going to be honest this may have been the first time but it probably won't be the last time. I just want to be honest and up front with you, because I realize I was wrong to keep it from you, and wrong to try and fix it without you knowing there was even something wrong to begin with. I never want you to feel like you can't voice your opinion about what's going on with Jo and yes please say something if you don't agree with something that I said or am doing with her, because the fact of the matter is yet again you are right it is going to be you, me and Jo. I'm just afraid I am going to scare you off by pressuring you into feeling like you have to step into a role for Jo that you may not be ready to take on just yet."

"Stop it you're not pressuring me, I have no problem stepping up to the plate and being there for Jo, that's not the problem, Jo isn't the problem, you being a single dad isn't the problem, but you hiding things from me is a problem. If you mean what you said and you really want me involved, and my opinions really do matter, then no more secrets okay? Regardless of how bad you think I might take it, you have to tell me."

Roman nodded "I understand and you are completely right no more secrets" he said as he looked her in the eye. She held his gaze searching to make sure he was telling her the truth. Once satisfied with what she saw she nodded and leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"Do you forgive me." he asked before she even had a chance to lower herself back to her feet.

She reached her hand up and cupped his face. Speaking earnestly she said "Sì Amore ti perdono" (Yes love, I forgive you)

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her neck; she reciprocated his affection by wrapping her arms gently around his waist.

She sighed into his chest "Le"

"I know you gotta go" he groaned reaching for the car door holding it open for her as she gracefully entered the town car. "Knock em dead baby." He said closing the door softly behind her once she was completely inside. She rolled the window down and stuck her head out as the car began to pull away, throwing an air kiss his way before rolling the window back up and heading on her way.

He shoved his hands into the pocket of his shorts and headed back inside the hotel spotting his family right away just as they finished checking into the hotel. He saw Joelle animatedly talking with her hands to their cousins Jimmy and Trinity. They usually didn't get a chance to see them this early in the week but Smack down and Raw superstars were staying in the same hotel since they were both filming in Charlotte for their respective Brands before heading off to their separate house shows for the week. This meant he was going to get to see many of his friends he wasn't able to normally see since their travel schedules often conflicted.

He smiled to himself taking Joelle by surprise when he picked her up and tossed her in the air. His smile spread wider when she laughed happily as he caught her and kissed her on the forehead before setting her back down on her feet. Finally things were starting to look up.

A/N

Guys...I cried when I wrote some of this. I broke my own heart thinking about how Jo felt and how Melanie would have responded to her and the different emotions they would have gone through. I only hope I was able to convey it the way I felt and imagined it would go.

I hope you guys have a great weekend! and I will talk to you all next week

XOXO

Really241