Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“This is serious, Ava. Out of everyone here, you need to heed this message the most.”
“What happened today is likely to occur again. I want you prepared,” Dash started from his seat beside me.
“What happened today?” Livie asked, her natural curiosity shining through.
“Hold your questions to the end, sweetheart,” I said. “Otherwise, we’ll never get through what your dad needs to say.” Another tough request, Livie questioned everything in an effort to get to that higher plane of knowledge. “Remember, your dad’s case has been tough, but he’s standin’ up for people who’ve been harassed badly and can’t stand up for themselves. It’s important that he follows through to the end.”
West’s hand shot in the air. A small smile tugged at my lips despite the seriousness of the moment. “Can it wait, West?”
“I don’t know. What’s harass mean?” he asked innocently. West was a good guy. Not sweet like Fisher or tough like Hunter. He’d wanted to get it right and needed to know more.
Dash’s hands quietly slapped on the table, drawing attention to him. “In this case, harass means treating women badly.” The ripple effect was immediate. Four additional hands shot in the air, followed by Hunter’s hand, who looked more like he was mimicking the others than truly needing any clarification.
“My girls and boys, hold the questions to the end,” Amelia said. The hands slowly lowered.
“I feel strongly that you’re going to hear bad, crazy, untrue things about your paw and me. They’ll be mean and hurtful words that will upset you because you know it’s not true. I want you to ignore the bad words. If you can’t ignore it, then absolutely don’t show any emotion. Make your face look blank and never respond. Come home and talk to me or Paw. They’re saying these things to discredit me.”
West’s hand shot up in the air again.
“Discredit is a complicated word. In this case it means, the bad side is trying to make me look bad instead of them. If you act out, or respond, they will make you look like the bad one too, not them. Do you understand?”
West’s face looked uncertain.
“Daddy, I’m not going to do well with anyone talking bad about my family,” Ava said, her shoulders slumping, seeing the task as insurmountable.
“Ava, sweetheart, I need you to let your dad handle this. I’m like you. I don’t like seein’ your dad made to look bad. It’s incredibly hard on me, because I see him in the opposite way. He’s a great man. He’s my best friend, but in this case, we have to do what he asks of us. If we have an outburst, it makes his job harder,” I explained.
Dash took the pivot, never breaking in our explanation. “If you hear anything about your paw and me, or about the way our family lives, keep your head down and your mouth closed and absolutely no more stomping on crayons, got it?”
“For forever?” Ava blurted in outrage. “Because it’s not fair that they can say whatever they want and we can’t.”
“It’s called taking the high road,” Livie said reasonably. “We’ve been taught to do that for our whole lives.”
“It’s gonna be hard,” Mia said and reached for Fisher’s shoulder to give an encouraging squeeze, just like Dash and I did. Somehow, we’d gotten a lot of his outbursts down to fidget spinners and leg bouncing. He was trying his best, beautifully. I’d say he was the most sensitive of all with his newfound love of flamingos and sweet nature.
“Paw can beat ’em up,” Fisher said. His expression lifted from the gadget in his hand, morphing from concentration to lightbulb moments of brilliance.
“Yeah, that’s what I think,” West added.
“He’s stronger than all the dads,” Fisher continued. “And those people who keep following us.”
“Yeah. Paw got a hook caught in his hand and pushed it all the way through,” Hunter added, his jaw clenching, maybe making my pained expression.
“Daddy,” Livie said. “Do we only go silent if they say it in person to us?” Her big blue eyes were a telltale sign of something that might already have happened.
“What did you do?” Dash asked gently, but perceptively.
“The story about you was on the news station I follow, and they said it was you against your father, and then they talked about our lives, and the facts were all wrong,” she said and paused, looking worried as she added, “I sent an email to them correcting the wrong parts.”
“Livie,” I started, my heart sinking, but Dash raised a hand to stop me.
“Those are the things we can’t do, sweetheart,” he explained. “If they reach out to you, forward their message to me. Do not reply. I know you all want to stand up for each other, that makes me incredibly proud.” Dash placed a hand on his heart, tapping there. “But the people causing grief are trying to distract from the truth.”