5.8: A Newer Addition

I probably should through up a warning, Alani and Parker have a little bit of a make out session. Yep, to keep this as not too bad as I can, I'm not using the other words.
   I lay in bed, Alani next to me. Today was a particularly rough day; Kayleigh turned three yesterday and we invited a lot of our relatives. She spent all day began held and played with and unfortunately we didn't have time to squeeze in nap time. She was cranky and sleepy today, so Alani kept her home from what was suppose to be her first day of preschool. Truthfully, I think Alani is having trouble with not being able to stay with Kayleigh from nine to two; the overprotective mother defiantly wanted to keep her baby girl as close to her as possible.
   "Honey." She groaned. "Hoooneey. Wake up." I felt myself being hit in the face with a pillow. Was Kayleigh okay? Was she crying? I didn't hear anything on the baby monitor. "Do you hear that?" I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
    "What, it's-" I stole a glance at the clock. "Eleven. P.M. At night."
    "You went to bed like an hour ago. We stayed up until one before the baby."
    "I'll go check on her." I rolled out of bed, stretching. "Are you-?" She had already left the room and was sprinting up the attic stairwell.
    "Kayleigh's fast asleep." She announced, after coming back to our room.
    "I was going to check on her."
    "I know, honey." She kissed me on the lips. "Since she's asleep, we could... you know."
     "We agreed not with her in the house. But, mayyybe. We could."
     "I'm tired of hiring a sitter and doing it in the backseat while parked on some hillside; it's like all those high school movies. Please. Break a rule. My rule. Break it." She posed incredibly sexy, and I knew I wanted her so badly. Alani and I have a tendency to get a little...rough. And incredibly loud. Like really, really loud. "I want you." Her voice was low.
     "I want you more." I lifted her by her waist, as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I began kissing her neck, as we moved towards a wall.
      "Oh...baby." She began moaning. I felt her tugging my shirt off, as I used one hand to work on her bra and the other to support her so she didn't fall.
      "You're-" KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! A loud rasping at our front door interrupted the steamy make out session- that was so close to being more. "Don't stop."
       "What if it's important? Like...oh. Yeah. Just like that." She moaned a little. "Wait..." I gently sat her down, so she was standing on the floor.
        "I can get it." I shrugged my shirt back on.
        "Honestly, I will. Then we can back to, you know." We used the words you know a lot. It's as if any mention of W-O-O-H-O-O would wake up the baby.
        "You're in a bra and short shorts. It's almost midnight. I am not letting my wife open the door to a stranger like that."
        "So, we'll both go." I couldn't protest with her; she was stubborn. her small town mentality didn't think of anything going wrong. We walked downstairs, I carefully opened the door, blocking Alani from anyone's direct line of sight.
      "Good, you answered. I was thinking I would have to leave. And that would, like, suck."
      "Um, hi..." I greeted the girl standing on my front porch. Her clothing was old, torn, and worn, but you could tell by her face she couldn't be older than eighteen.
      "Trevor, who's this...?" Alani looked concerned; a girl that young should be out alone at this time of night. "Honey, are you alright?"
       "She died." she glanced down, a tear trickling down her face. "She died...now...I..." Her voice cracked.
       "Come in." Alani took her hand, leading her to the living room. "Sit, sit. We can chat and call someone, okay?"
       "Alright." She sniffled. A stranger- who was probably a minor- was sitting in our living room. Neither of us were dressed properly. How could this not end well? I sarcastically thought. The poor girl needed help, but why us? Why the strangers who lived on the edge of town instead of a relative or something?
     "Who are you?" I asked. She was...was she familiar? She had...no. Small town; I probably saw her grocery shopping or something.  "Who died?"
      "I'm Connie. Connie Smith." Connie Smith. Con- oh fudge. Fudge. Fudge, fudge, fudge. I didn't swear- in or out of my head- but now was different. If this was what I thought. There was tension filling in the room quicker than a sinking boat fills with water. Alani's face showed her deep in thought. She recognized the name Smith, but couldn't remember where. She-
      "Holy sugar! Trevor, what the fudge? Smith? Is she-? Honey," She turned towards Connie. She knew what I was thinking. She knew whose last name was Smith. "How old are you?"
      "Sixteen." She took a deep breath. "I'm your daughter. I'm Trevor Janes' daughter."
      "Oh no." Alani looked like she was crumbling. Like I had took a knife and stabbed her through the heart and than said that that I loved Jane more than I loved her. She was the one crying; Connie had stopped. "God Trevor. God. I'm a step-mother. I-I...I can't take this. I-" She stood up, pacing the room. She looked like she wanted to jump out the nearest window and run, but she instead sat down back at me.
      "Wait. Did sh-he die?" If my long-lost daughter was suddenly in my living room with news of death... it had to mean one thing.
       "Yes."
       "No. I mean..." I didn't love her. I never did. I hadn't when we were... or when she left. But she was still a part of my life. She still was something that affected my relationship with Alani. "How?"
      "We have a little balcony. She took a dive off...I... it happened last week. The police took her away. She was buried without a funeral and without a fuss. She loved me, I think...but. She was addicted. She bought the stuff like it was oxygen. I saw her snorting it or injecting it... when I was little, she passed out on the floor one day. I screamed the whole time she was out of it. It was sixteen hours. Sixteen hours of me sitting in my crib with no food or changes or anything...I mean, she tried. But we didn't have money. She had jobs off and on. She never told me, but I think... I think she sold her body. She bought me stuff,  sometimes we'd get like a big TV, but then she would pawn it when the bills came. I think she couldn't take it. She didn't like living. I had a job, but I lost it once news got out...rumors, really. You're my only kin. I was going to be put in the foster system, but... but she left a not. I don't know if she was high, but the note read 'I love you, Connie. I'm sorry. I never told you who daddy was, but...' it was your name and address from when you were dating." My head was resting on my hands. Gods. This was horrible for someone as young as her to be going through all this... I didn't have the heart to tell her that we never dated. She was a gold digger who used me.. but she was her mother.
   "Trevor, no. It can't be true. I mean, it has to be a lie. Get a paternity test. this could be a scheme. Money or something."
   "Alani!" I gasped. She was a wonderful, caring mother and wife. This wasn't her.
   "I understand. Her reputation wasn't good. I have one." She pulled it out from her back pocket. A court order stating that Trevor Janes had custody of Connie Smith and that he needed to report to the court house, the date read tomorrow to sign the papers. The official Appaloosa Plains town was exactly like it was on my paycheck. The second paper showed a paternity test done with my drug test when I first began my job and the results showing that Connie was indeed my child. Damn.

   "No... no." Alani tore the papers from my hand, scanning them. "No. Not this. I-I..."
   "Look..."
   "Alani. My wife." I filled her in. "We also have a daughter, Kayleigh. She's three."
   "Look, Alani. Mrs. Janes. What ever. I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen. I was okay with it just being me and mom."
    "I can't take this."
    "Good, cause I can't either. Stop acting so damn high and mighty."
     "Don't talk to me like that. Please." Venom laced her sticky sweet voice.
     "Well, I suppose since you're my mom- oh wait, you're the leftovers. The second best. The thing my dad settled on after my mom. The housewife who's thinking her life is all white picket fences. I've been through worse than you could ever imagine. Don't treat me like crap. I'm tired of people acting like I am."
    "It's seven am. So, uh. I'm going to get myself to work, than court. Uh..." I nervously stood by the door.
     "Trevor, keep your butt in this room. Now." Alani glared at me.
     "Yes, honey, baby, sweetie, beautiful."
     "Oh, it's fine. I'm going to go to school. We can work this out when I get back." Connie stood up, sauntering out like she owned the place.
      "Alani, it'll be fine."
      "Trevor, I love you, you're adorable, but this is not fine. This is not fine. It's anything but." I stood there, shocked. She was cold. She was never like this. I had another daughter. I was shocked, but she was family... I screwed up and produced a life with..a now dead woman, but... Alani was expressionless. She was frozen.
     "I have to get to work...Don't murder anyone."  I joked, trying to lighten mood. She sat there, staring out the window. She didn't try to acknowledge the awful joke. She usually laughed at my jokes and said how bad I was. But...she changed in the little time it took us to talk to my daughter. Who was this lady sitting in my living room? My wife? I slowly walked to the door. Just as I was shutting it, I heard a whisper.
     "Don't count on it."


NOTE: Woah! What was that? D-R-A-M-A, that's what. You know that crappy short post about the wedding. Yeah, this super long post is my way of making up for it. In fact, I'm going to make this a part one/two chapter. SInce I'm so pumped, though I'll just post the slightly shorter part two after this side note. Yay, more reading. More drama, more Janes! The following part will be a few days later, in Connie's perspective ( her POV)....


   I can't believe Dad is making me take this bonding trip with Alani. She hates me, I know it. Even worse, Kayleigh has come along, since Dad worked until six. Of course, Alani doesn't. This really is a glorified makeover. I know that my clothes are ripped and dirty; but I'm not embarrassed. I worked hard to cloth myself and couldn't throw any of it out just because I tore it a tad. Maybe more than a tad.
    A new wardrobe will be nice; this doesn't cover up the fact that at the stylists, my step-mommy darling will be the one giving me a makeover. Yes, they're buying me clothes I could only own by illegal means when I was living with my Mom, but... it's being paid for my the guy I barely know and the wife who hates me. Kayleigh's adorable, though. I love playing with her. She giggles and is so cute. She's like a little ray of sunshine in my mess of a life. She's too young to know what's going on and just calls me 'Sisa.' Sisa! I'm smitten with her; honestly I can't believe I haven't realized how preciously cute a human could be.
   Dad bought me a loft and set it up in Kayleigh's nursery. Lucky me! Really, some teens would complain that a toddler is a bratty annoyance, but I love spending time with her. I guess seeing her so happy makes me wish I had her childhood... it causes my to spoil her with attention a bit, much to Alani's displeasure. She's the cutest little sister ever, even if we're only half-sisters.
    "So," My step-monster took a breath. "Let's get started."
    "Huh?" What was I suppose to do?
    "Step up onto the platform by the mirrors. I'll style your hair, maybe a trim. get you some new clothes and everything.  The works."
     "Yeah. Okay. You do that."
     "Hmm...you're a twig." Because my mother could barely affords to feed me. "So that may work to your advantage when picking out clothes." Really? Gee, thanks. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Sarcasm. She quickly picked an array of outfits in a rainbow of colors. With with hair cut into a cute bob and a swipe of a credit card, my makeover was complete.
    "Why do you hate me?" I asked, out of the blue. We where sitting in the car; I was in the back next to Kayleigh who was sleeping in her car seat.
    "What?!" Alani looked back at me, startled. She nearly swerved off the road! "WHy do you think I hate you?"
    "You're cold to me and everything and ignore me.. I just. Never mind."
    "I don't hate you. I'm... Connie, it took thirteen years for you dad to agree to have a baby. Thirteen years. Now... I'm too old. I can't. Kayleigh's going to be my only child."
    "I'm sorry." I said.
    "It's fine, I just... when I learned that you had come along, it made me think that he didn't trust me Or.. that he didn't love me enough to have a child with me."
    "I..." She thought she wasn't good enough, since I had shown up. "You are, you know. Good enough."
    "Thanks... I love you, Connie. I really do. I have trouble, though."
    "I love you, too. Mom." I glanced in the mirror. There was tears in the corner of her eyes; she was that happy. I guess maybe being the step-child isn't so bad...it sure as hell is better than my other life.