Page 7 of Jag

“Ally. I lived here before my daddy came and found my momma and me. Now we live with him. Aunt Carly was supposed to live here, but Uncle Crusher made her move in with him.” My lips twitched, she was too cute and talkative. “Is somebody gonna make yous live with them, too?”

“Umm... I don’t think so.”

“Gots any kids?”

“Sorry, no. I...” I cut myself off before I explained further. The little girl didn’t need to hear my troubles.

“Why? Don’t yous like kids?” Ally asked and frowned at me.

“I like them very much. It’s, well... I don’t have a husband,” I added at the end, it was the easiest way as an explanation.

“Yous don’t need one to get a kid. Uncle Dev broughts one home for Aunt Bailey. Neely’s not a baby, though, she’s three and my friend. Since Aunt Bailey didn’t have her like my momma had me, Neely’s their sister. My momma’s gonna have me a sister, ‘cause I don’t want a brother. And she don’t have a husband neither. She’s only gots my daddy. But my papa told him that she needs to have a husband before his next grandbaby gets here.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from chuckling. I imagined Ally kept her parents on their toes. Listening to her gave me some idea of what I would be faced with when I started teaching at the elementary school.

“Well, I’m sure your momma will do the best she can to give you a sister, but sometimes little boys show up in spite of it all.”

“I think my daddy wants a boy.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sure he will be happy no matter if it is a boy or a girl.”

“I don’t think so. I heard him tell my uncles our house needs more tetesron. What’s that mean?” Ally wrinkled her nose as she asked, and I had to work hard not to smile. No way did I want the little girl to think I was laughing at her.

“Well... Um... I think he meant that if your momma has a boy, then it would even the numbers in your home. You know, two boys and two girls?” I explained and watched her eyebrows scrunch together, making me wonder if she understood.

“‘K, but I think it’s ‘cause boys pee standing up.”

Out of the mouth of babes. Maybe I wasn’t going to be a good teacher because the chuckle escaped me at her words and, by the serious look on her face, she didn’t think it was humorous.

“Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean to laugh. But why would you think that?”

“‘Cause Benji says boys are better than girls ‘cause they gotsa penis and can pee standing up.”

I had no clue who Benji was, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. However, I hoped he wasn’t going to be in my class.

Before I could dig a deeper hole by asking who Benji was, I was saved by the sound of a vehicle coming up the street. Ally and I both turned and watched as the truck pulled into Sue’s driveway.

“Crap,” Ally muttered, and I looked down at her. When she looked up at me, she grinned sheepishly.

“Ally! Does Sue know you’re out here?” Ally’s dad asked as he slid out of the driver’s side of the truck and walked around to the other side, opened the door, and helped Sami out. I’d met Sami and Carly briefly when they came by the house because Sami wanted to apologize for not being the one to drop the house keys and paperwork off to me.

“Gotsta go!” Ally yelled and started across the yard, then stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. “If yous want a baby, I gotta lot of uncles who could give yous one!”

“Um... Well... I’ll have to think about that,” I said and smiled. Ally smiled back, then took off at a run.

“Am I gettin’ a sister?!” Ally yelled as she continued across the lawn toward her parents.

When she reached her dad, he swooped her up until she sat on his shoulders. Ally’s laughter filled the air as I watched the interaction with the family. Sami smiled at Ally, then glanced over to me and said something to Ally that I couldn’t hear.

Feeling like an interloper on their private moment, I stuck my key into the lock on my car door and pulled it open. Before I could get into the driver’s side, Sami’s voice stopped me.

“River, good to see you. How’s everything going? Are you finally settled in?” Sami asked as I glanced up.

“Good to see you, too. Yes, I finally have everything unpacked and put away,” I answered as Sami reached my car.

Sami rubbed a hand over her stomach, and I followed the motion. Sadness tried to push through, but I refused to let it. Not having a child with Thomas had only been one bleep in the issues of our marriage. I had wanted something to love that would love me back, and he needed an heir to forward his career. Neither of us got what we wanted, which was probably for the best since the reasons for wanting a child weren’t the right ones. But even that knowledge hadn’t helped as each month passed and I received the negative result. I felt more inadequate as a woman, and he grew more bitter, more hateful, and placed the blame on me. But his final betrayal and the knowledge of it left me empty and was the last straw to break a marriage that probably shouldn’t have taken place in the first place. Sami spoke, and it pulled me out of those spiraling thoughts.

“That’s great. I hope Ally wasn’t bothering you?” The way Sami’s eyes lit when she mentioned her daughter showed the love for the little girl. It was also sad that I couldn’t remember seeing anything remotely close to that look in my own mother’s eyes.

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