Page 54 of Melt For Us, Daddy
“Nothing, baby. But Cards Against Humanity is not really an appropriate game for us to play right now.”
“Oh. But you love this game.”
“I do, but… maybe something else, at least for now.”
“Fine.”
Dammit. She hadn’t meant to, but clearly she’d hurt Ivy’s feelings. And she didn’t have the heart to call her out on her attitude. “What about UNO? You love UNO.”
The fact was, Ivy was a shark at UNO. So Jacob would learn from the best and it would give Ivy a bit of a boost.
Thankfully, the suggestion seemed to perk her babygirl up. “Okay!”
After digging up an old set of cards, Ivy shuffled the deck as she explained the game to Jacob, who looked more than a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. Leaning over, Cordelia patted his knee and winked. “Don’t worry. We’ll go through it nice and slow the first round. We won’t even keep score.”
“What’s even the point if you’re not keeping score?” Ivy asked with a roll of her eyes.
“To teach Jacob the rules, Ivy Mae.”
“I don’t mind if we keep score.” Jacob smiled for Ivy, clearly trying to ease the tension in the room.
Looking smug, Ivy smirked as she shuffled the deck. “See? He doesn’t care if we keep score.”
It was lucky for her babygirl Jacob hadn’t consented to hearing or seeing Ivy get spanked, or else she’d already be over Cordelia’s knee. Pinning her girl with a stern look, Cordelia kept her tone gentle but firm. “Would you keep score if you were playing a game with your students for the first time?”
Ivy’s cheeks turned pink at the rebuke and she shook her head as she passed out the cards. “No, Ma’am. You’re right.”
“Good girl. Why don’t you flip that top card over and walk Jacob through it slowly.”
If there was one thing in the world Ivy took very seriously, it was her role as a teacher. And this was no different. She even, to Cordelia’s surprise, showed Jacob her cards so she could explain why she was choosing one option over another, and Cordelia’s heart swelled with love for her sweet babygirl—and relief that whatever had been bugging Ivy earlier seemed to have worked itself out. She didn’t actually want to punish her, even though she had a sneaking suspicion it would help Ivy’s stress levels a good bit.
They played two rounds before they decided to keep score with Ivy unsurprisingly trouncing them all. But even though he lost, soundly and multiple times, Jacob seemed to enjoy the game. Merlin and Kestrel were in and out of the house all day, and they joined in for a couple of rounds, but they quickly found other things to do when they realized exactly how much of a shark her babygirl was.
She’d never been more proud.
After lunch, however, things started to go downhill. None of the games they played seemed to keep anyone’s interest for too long so they switched over to watching a movie. Which meant choosing from the stack of DVDs in the living room which hadn’t been updated in at least the last five years.
And most of which were clearly chosen without children in mind.
Not that Jacob was a child. She knew that. But still. Subjecting him to R-rated movies right out of the gate felt irresponsible, even though she’d never had anyone telling her what she should and shouldn’t watch when she’d first left the cult.
And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to approve any of Ivy’s picks. By the sixth one she rejected, Ivy threw her hands in the air and jumped to her feet. “You pick the fucking movie, then!”
Seated on the other end of the couch, Jacob froze, his eyes going wide as he looked from Cordelia to Ivy.
If they’d been at home, if they hadn’t been trapped in this house with so much uncertainty and danger hanging over their heads, if she didn’t have to worry about upsetting Jacob, she would have pulled Ivy over her lap for a stern reminder on speaking respectfully. Possibly washed her mouth out with soap considering this was the second time in less than a month they were having the same conversation.
But all of those things were true. And she was well aware her babygirl was struggling, so she tamped down her own annoyance as she rose from the couch. “All right. I’ll choose. And while I’m choosing, you are going to go sit at the kitchen table and think about how you speak to me. You can join us when you're ready to be my good girl again.”
Tears glittered in Ivy’s eyes. “Forget it. I don’t want to watch a stupid movie anyway.”
Spinning on her heel, Ivy stormed from the room, her footsteps heavy on the stairs. Which was intentional, because she was too tiny to make much noise unless she wanted to.
Anger sparked in Cordelia’s chest. No matter how out of sorts she was or how much things sucked, Ivy was completely out of line.
“Should you go check on her?” Jacob asked.
She was tempted to. But between her own temper and Ivy’s foul mood, they would likely just end up saying things they both regretted if she followed her upstairs now.
