CHAPTER SEVEN

"I don't understand why she doesn't want me to be there too, am I not her friend?" Jade asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her chair.

"No," the group said in unison.

"You're mean to her," Cat said as she pulled a bottle out of a diaper bag and handed it to Shelby as she laid down in her arms.

"Well, she's irritating."

"She's not that bad."

"I like Tia Trina," Zoey said.

"Yeah well, you're your mother and father's child, so that explains a lot," Jade said.

"Hey! What's what supposed to mean?"

"That right there."

"Aunt Jade's just salty because Trina asked me to be in the delivery room and not her," Cat said.

"Cat," Tori said from the doorway. "It's go time, she's ready to push."

"I'm almost as excited as I was when I had Zoey," she said, standing up and handing Shelby to Jade.

"What about Shelby?" Zoey asked.

"That was a different situation. Don't think too much on it," Cat said, kissing Zoey's head before following Tori out of the waiting room.

"Does that mean she doesn't love her?" Zoey asked, looking at Jade.

"No," Jade said. "She loves Shelby. But she wasn't made out of love. When she was made, it was a violent ordeal. She didn't have the option to make her, someone forced that on her. Shelby is a daily reminder of Mom being raped. Giving her up was hard and painful for her."

"How come she gave her up?"

"She was worried she wouldn't love her. She wanted her to go to someone that would."

"But she got her back. That means she loves her."

"She does love her. She got a second chance to have Shelby. That doesn't happen very often."

"Do you think Shelby will remember her parents when she's older?"

"Probably not."

"Sometimes I wish I didn't know mine. They're so embarrassing."

"Hey," Robbie laughed.

"Not you. You're the cool one."

"Who knew Puppet Boy would be considered cool by teenagers?" Jade asked.

"I haven't done the puppet thing since high school," Robbie said.

"What puppet thing?" Zoey asked.

"I used to do ventriloquy."

"Like when you put your arm up a doll's ass and make it talk?"

"Exactly."

"Gross."

"Nonna, Gramps, we're here!" Zoey called out as she dropped Shelby's diaper bag on the floor before disappearing.

Cat scoffed, picking the diaper bag up. "That silly Sissy, huh?" she asked, kissing Shelby's cheek.

Shelby giggled and laid her head down on Cat's shoulder.

"Nonna's probably in the kitchen. You hungry?"

Cat smiled when the baby signed 'eat'.

"Yeah? Let's go see what she has," she said, walking into the kitchen. "Say 'hi, Nonna'."

"There's my precious, come here Shelby Doo," Tara said as she took her granddaughter from Cat. "What brings you guys here?"

"Well, Trina had her baby. Named him Truxtun... so I needed someone to vent to because it's a stupid name."

"Where did she hear that monstrosity?"

"Remember when me and Trina went to Bakersfield for that solvent for Tori's ugly monster face?"

"The one you caused, yes."

"We aren't putting blame on anyone for that, could've happened to anybody. There's a road in Bakersfield called Truxtun Avenue. Apparently, she liked the name so much it had to be the baby's name. Low key wanna smack her."

"Ew Mom, you're too old to say 'low key'," Zoey said as she walked into the kitchen.

"My generation started low key. Go away," Cat said, putting the diaper bag on the kitchen table before walking to the fridge.

"We have some hot dogs in the lunch meat drawer," Tara said.

"You want a hot dog? That's easy for you to eat."

"She eats them cold, that's disgusting," Zoey said.

"She's a baby, she'll eat whatever she's given," Cat said as she broke a hot dog in half and handed the two halves to Shelby, one for each hand.

"Where are her shoes? Why are her feet filthy?" Tara asked.

"Her shoes are at home and her feet are dirty because she fell asleep last night before bath time. She'll get a bath today."

"Her feet shouldn't be that dirty."

Cat sighed and sat Shelby on the table before taking a wipe out of the diaper bag and wiping Shelby's feet clean. "Happy now? They're just gonna get nasty again."

"You could put socks on her if she's not gonna wear shoes."

"She won't wear socks, she throws a fit and takes them off."

"Then make her keep them on."

"It might be a sensory thing, Mom. If something bothers your kid, you don't torture them with it. She could grow out of it."

"That's just letting her get away with it."

"Actually, sensory issues could mean she's autistic like me," Zoey said. "I have sensory issues with certain things."

"Okay, let's not get into this. I just wanted to come visit, I'm not up to hearing how my kid has Autism because she got vaccinated."

"It can't be a coincidence," Tara said.

"It actually is a coincidence," Zoey said. "Most kids happen to be diagnosed around the time they get their first official vaccines. Vaccines don't cause brain disorders. You're born with Autism."

"Jade, don't even try, she's gonna believe what she wants, not information from actual scientists," Cat said. "Drop it. We've been through this before, I'm sick of it. I didn't come over here to argue."

"You should do some research, Nonna... You can't have a grandchild with Autism and be ignorant about it. I'm gonna go find Gramps. He loves me and my 'tisms'," Zoey said, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and leaving the kitchen.

Cat sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Just to remind you, this argument started over fucking socks."

"Fine. Whatever," Tara said. "How's everyone adjusting to Shelby?"

"Good. Robbie's not used to being woken up in the middle of the night, but he's getting used to it."

"Robbie's not her father, why is he getting up with her?"

Cat's brows furrowed. "Because after we get married, he's adopting her. He is her dad as far as we're concerned. He didn't have to make her for him to love her."

"I'm sure he didn't sign up for a baby to be sprung on him."

"We've already talked about that and none of it is your business. Hey, hey!" Cat said as Shelby took a large bite of her hot dog. "Take little bites honey, you're gonna choke."

"Did she eat breakfast?"

"No."

"Well, she's probably starving."

"It doesn't happen every day. She had a bottle at bedtime. She woke up an hour ago. She's not starving, she just likes food. She's my fat girl," Cat said, pushing Shelby's bangs out of her face. "Robbie's moving in with us today. Would you be able to keep Shelby?"

"I wish I could, but Dad and I have a company party to go to later today."

"It's no big deal, I'll just keep her in the pack-n-play to keep her out of the way."

"I can take her tomorrow if you need me to."

"I might. When we're done for the day, I'll call you to let you know if I need you to or not. I don't know how much he's bringing over yet. Hopefully he leaves that damn puppet behind..."

"Nuh uh, absolutely not," Cat said. "I draw the line at Rex, he stays here."

"I can't just leave him. I don't use him anymore, he's just a keepsake," Robbie said.

"He's creepy."

"He is not."

"He is. Besides, you pulled him out of a drawer. He's not sleeping in my dresser."

"He can sleep in mine!" Zoey said. "Please, please, please Mommy, I'll take care of him and everything."

Cat glared at Zoey for a few seconds. "Fine... but he doesn't leave your room. I don't wanna see him."

"I promise. I'll keep him with me."

"Get him to the truck."

Zoey took Rex from RObbie and ran off.

Robbie smiled and wrapped his arms around Cat's waist. "Sooo... I win?"

"Shut up," Cat muttered.

"Mom! Shelby found your toy box!" Zoey called out.

"Shit," Cat said, quickly getting off the couch and running upstairs to her room. "Well, why is she in my room?"

"I was going through old pictures. I needed entertainment. Will you take this now? I need to wash my hands. That's gross."

"They're clean, honey," Cat said with a small laugh as she took the vibrator from her daughter.

"Doesn't matter, it was in your vagina, it's gross," Zoey said.

"You were in my vagina at one point too and it wasn't very pleasant for me."

"No!" The teen said as she quickly ran to her en-suite bathroom.

Cat let out a small laugh and tossed the toy in a box before picking Shelby up and putting her on the bed. "You can't play with those kinds of toys. These are Mommy toys, not Shelby toys," she said, picking the box up and putting it on a shelf in her closet.

"Mama," Shelby said.

Cat whipped her head around, looking at the one-year-old. "What? Who am I?"

"Mama," Shelby said, holding her arms out.

"Oh my gosh," Cat's voice cracked as she walked to the bed and picked the baby up, kissing her cheek. "You don't even know how long I've waited to hear that," she said, kissing Shelby all over her face and causing her to let out a screaming giggle.

"Is someone being murdered?" Zoey asked as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Shelby said her first word."

"What's all the commotion?" Robbie asked, standing in the doorway.

"Shelby said 'Mama' for the first time," Cat said.

"Way to go, Shelby," he said, kissing Shelby's head. "That's exciting. Now she needs to learn all the other words."

"I'm happy with Mama for now," she said, kissing the toddler's cheek and she signed 'eat'. "Are you hungry? We'll go get something."

"I ordered pizza."

"You want pizza? Let's go get you a little snack until it gets here. You want some grapes?"

"I do, I froze some," Zoey said, scurrying out of the room.

"She's a nut," Robbie said.

"She's my nut," Cat said as she started downstairs. "Zoey! If you're not already in a process, come get these damn shoes out of the walkway," she said, entering the kitchen.

"That's just where they landed," Zoey said, pulling a cup from the freezer.

"I don't understand how everything has to be perfect for you, but you can just kick your shoes off willy nilly."

"I dunno, it's just my brain."

"Go pick them up out of the way and then finish what you were doing," Cat said, pulling a bag of grapes out of the fridge.

"Kay kay," Zoey said, leaving the room.

The doorbell rang and Shelby gasped in surprise, looking at Cat who laughed.

"Was that the doorbell? It said 'ding dong'," she said, putting the grapes and Shelby on the counter. "Zo, do you wanna get the door?"

"Nope, stranger danger," Zoey said as she came back into the kitchen.

"Robbie, can you get the door!" Cat called out.

"I got it," Robbie said.

"It's probably the pizza," Cat said as she bit into a grape and gave a small piece to Shelby.

"You're supposed to cut them long ways in fours, so they don't get stuck in her throat," Zoey said.

"I would if I was giving them to her for a snack, but I gave her a piece small enough that won't choke her."

"Pizza's here," Robbie said, placing a few boxes of pizza on the table. "Zo, yours is on the top."

"Can I put it in my fridge when I'm done?" Zoey asked, taking the top box and moving to the end of the table.

"It's yours, you can do what you want with it," Cat said, putting Shelby in her highchair."

"I'm eating out of the box."

"That's fine, it's yours," Cat said as she took two slices from another box and walked to the counter, cutting them in bite sized pieces.

"That should be illegal," Robbie said. "Such a sad thing to do to a pizza."

"Do you want our daughter to choke?" Cat asked with a laugh. "She can't eat it like we do, she'll shove the whole thing in the mouth."

"That's the only way to eat a pizza."

"Mom eats hers crust first. That's what's illegal," Zoey said.

"You eat your hamburgers in a circle," Cat said.

"Yeah, cause that's what makes the most sense. Then I don't get my face all messy by biting the middle part. Common sense, duh."

"Where do you get these things?"

"Maybe I was born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."