The Love He Craves (The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan Book 2) (28 page)

She pushed the button to open the garage door, so nothing would impede Kiki’s departure.
Good riddance, bitch.

Nyxie could feel the tension in the house the moment she came back in. There was always that moment of odd silence that came with the gnawing fear in the pit of her stomach.

“Ten minutes!” she yelled up the stairs as she reentered the kitchen. Reina was sitting on a stool at the bar, her hair dripping wet and uncombed, dressed in mismatched shorts and t-shirt, and Bear-Bear in her arms. In the kitchen, Lotus was trying to remove four burnt pancakes from the pan. “I’ve got it, Lotus.”

They were too burnt for even Nyxie to eat so she threw them in the disposal-side of the sink and plopped more batter on the griddle.

Her phone rang. It was Declan again.

“Hello?”

“WTF?” he said, his annoyance evident. “Are you leaving me?”

“What? No. Why would you…?”

“You just sent me a picture saying, ‘Say goodbye to Onyx.’”

“Onyx, the shy girl who won’t stick up for herself. Not Nyxie.”

“Is that Papa?” Lotus asked. “Can I talk to him?”

Nyxie paused. The child had the worst timing. Declan wasn’t in the mood to deal with kid drama.

“Lotus, this isn’t a good time. Declan’s at work.”

“Pleeeeeease. It’s my birthday.”

With a sigh of frustration, Nyxie’s shoulders dropped. “Declan, do you have a sec to talk to Lotus?”

“Put her on,” he said curtly.

“Sorry,” she whispered into the phone, cupping her hand over her mouth. “Here she is.”

“Hi, Papa.”

“Hey, Princess.”

“Papa, can you come over for birthday cake and ice cream, after you get off work tonight?”

“Birthday—” he cut himself off. “Of course, Sweet Pea, I might be late, so don’t wait for me, but I’ll be there as quick as I can. Give the phone back to Nyxie.”

“Hello,” she said, stepping into the entryway between the garage and the kitchen.

“Today is Lotus’s birthday?” It sounded like an accusation.

“Yeah, but….” If he could have seen her at that moment, he would’ve found her eyes on the ground. “You know my kids don’t….”

“I know they don’t have any expectations, but I guarantee, they still hope they will receive gifts. Because you didn’t tell me, I look like a first-class jerk for not getting a ten-year-old a birthday present.”

“Eleven,” she corrected and wished she hadn’t.

“Did you give her anything?”

“I made her Elvis pancakes and I was going to walk to the store and get a cake mix and ice cream.”

“For God’s sake, you have got to get out of this, I-don’t-have-money mentality. Take both girls on a little shopping spree. Buy them some new clothes. Take them to a toy store and tell Reina to pick out a gift for Lotus and let Lotus pick out something for herself from you.”

A beat went by before Nyxie spoke. “Sir, I’m trying to make the money you gave me last. Until I go back to work….”

“You aren’t going back to work—not any time soon, anyway. You have three jobs right now. Your kids, your education, and me,” he said impatiently. “When your account gets down to $1,000, let me know and I’ll put more in it. I can’t afford to buy you a new Lexus every week, Onyx, unless you want to blow through my money, but I can certainly afford everyday expenses and a few splurges now and then. If you’re going to blow a big chunk of it—say you want to buy a Jacuzzi for Cody’s therapy—I’d like a heads up, but….”

“Why would I buy a spa when you’ve got a bathtub that does the same thing?”

“Stop being so literal. Jeez. Look, I’ve got to go. That woman has another four minutes. And stop sending me text messages unless it’s an emergency.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll see you tonight.”

Sonia made a series of trips down the stairs carrying suitcases, totes and a couple of trash bags filled with odds and ends, and soon the woman in question marched down the steps, barely giving Nyxie a glance as she took the last of her belongings to her car and left.

The day was looking brighter already.

Chapter 26

Nyxie arrived at the hospital wearing a black and white bold zigzag print pair of palazzo pants, black shirt and an infinity scarf in a matching but smaller print. Lotus and Reina both wore Easter dresses they had found on the clearance racks at JCPenney’s.

Sonia volunteered to bake Lotus’s birthday cake. She would have been happy to cook dinner for them also, but Lotus had specifically asked for pizza for dinner since it was her birthday.

Nyxie wasn’t thrilled. The last two times she had eaten pizza, she’d practically had to force it down because she had been upset, the first time after Cody’s accident, the second after the big argument with Declan, which had landed her squarely back in sub camp.

In her hand, Nyxie carried a bag containing shorts, shirts, and underwear for Cody. He had persistently asked for a pair of shorts like pro basketball players wore, but they’d never found any at garage sales, so she’d never been able to get him any. But the baggy legged shorts would be perfect to go over his cast. And she was pretty certain, the nurses could be persuaded to disconnect the IV from his PICC line long enough for them to pull the T-shirt over his head. Apparently, they’d gotten enough info after his second seizure to remove the electrodes from his skull because they were gone the next day and Nyxie had spent much of her day picking glue out of his hair.

“Hey, bro. What shakin’ bacon?” Nyxie said, entering the room. “Elvis showed up at our house this morning for Lotus’s birthday. Do you want some pancakes?”

“Lotus’s birthday is not until—” he stopped as he tried to remember the word.

“July,” Nyxie supplied. “It is July. You’ve been here a long time. What month do you think it is?”

He thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said looking upset. “I can’t remember their names.”

“It’s okay, Cody. You had a good bump on your head. If it doesn’t come back, I’ll teach them to you again, just like when you were little.”

Nyxie made a mental note to tell his neuropsychologist of the deficit next time she saw her.

“Anyway, we brought you some pancakes if you want them.”

His lopsided smile was his answer.

“Look,” he said pulling the covers back from the left side of the bed. While they were gone, the orthopedist had come, removed his casts, and replaced them with braces.

“Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic, Cody. Did they say when they’re going to start letting you walk?”

“N-no.”

“Hey, Cody,” Reina said twirling around in a circle. “Look, Nyxie got us new dresses from the store. Who do you think has a prettier dress?”

“Don’t answer that, Cody,” Nyxie cut in. “You’ll only succeed in hurting someone’s feelings.”

“Me,” he said, holding out the hospital gown and making a face.

Nyxie placed the plastic container with the pancakes in front of Cody, and within a few minutes, he had polished them off.

Nyxie smiled when her phone began ringing inside her purse, assuming it was Declan calling her. The grin faded away as she looked at the display. It wasn’t a number programmed into her phone so she assumed it was a wrong number.

“Hello?” she said.

“Is this Onyx?” a heavily accented voice asked.

So, not a wrong number. “Yes, this is Onyx.”

“My name is Esmerelda Hinojosa, I’m Lotus and Reina’s grandmother. Mr. Vaughn gave me your phone number.”

Nyxie's gut churned. “I-I didn’t know Lotus…. I mean, I only thought Reina….”

Somehow, the woman knew what she was trying to say. “Technically, Lotus isn’t our grandchild, but Melinda was living with us when she was born. Our son, Isaac, accepted her as his own, and so did we,” the woman said. “Please, may we see them?”

By the time the woman finished speaking, Nyxie’s heart was beating so hard and fast, that she could hear the sound in her ears. It nearly covered up what she was saying.

Nyxie bit her lip as she realized Lotus and Reina were not as unloved as she always imagined. She tried to remember if she had asked them if they had any family when Melinda did not return for them, but she didn’t think she had. She just believed her sister was the slut the kids at school said she was, and assumed Melinda did not know who fathered either girl.

“Of course. We’re at the hospital visiting my brother right now, but maybe later….”

“No, that’s fine. We’ll come to you. UMC?”

“Y-yes.”

“Can you text me the room number? I’m sure I’ll forget it otherwise.”

“Sure.”

As soon as they hung up, she saved Esmerelda’s phone number and sent the text with Cody’s room number.

Lotus and Reina sat down on the floor and began pulling out coloring books and crayons. She knew she should prepare the girls for the visitors, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Cody, look what I bought for you.” Nyxie pulled out two pairs of basketball shorts from the shopping bag. “I didn’t know if there was a team you and your friends liked, so I bought the Mavericks and the Spurs since they’re both Texas teams.”

Nyxie helped Cody to sit on the edge of the bed and worked a pair of boxer briefs, like Declan wore, over his brace, making sure the hospital gown didn’t ride up and embarrass him—or her. She pulled out a matching T-shirt and tank top, and with the help of a nurse’s aide, managed to get Cody dressed in clothing that made him look like he was no longer an invalid.

He sat back in the bed and grinned at his new clothing.

“Do I get to keep it when I leave the hospital?”

“It’s yours to keep. After you get out, I’ll take you shopping at the mall. Declan doesn’t mind if I spend the extra money on
new
clothes. You should see the bed he bought for you. I’ll try to remember to take a picture so you can see it. You get your own room and it’s really big, and the girls are in the room next to yours.”

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door and Nyxie felt a bit sick. Lotus scrambled to the door and opened it.

“
Mija
,” the woman said, seeing Lotus.

She was well into her sixties, and about Nyxie’s height, dressed casually in light blue polyester capris and a matching floral print T-shirt. Behind her, a gray-haired man entered, wearing jeans and an old-fashioned, plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“Nana?” Lotus said, obviously unsure. She looked at the man and rushed into the woman’s arms. “Nana!”

The woman was weeping as she hugged the girl. “Where is Reina?” The woman looked over Lotus’s shoulder to the younger child. “
Mija
, don’t you remember your
abuela
?”

Reina withdrew, and put her teddy bear under her arm.

“Is that Bear-Bear? You were living with us when Santa brought him. I think you were two years old and you were dragging him all over the house saying bear, bear, so we thought that must be his name.”

“Nana?”

Reina looked like she was also going to cry as she rushed into the woman’s arms.

As the girls ended embracing the woman, they moved on to their grandfather. Esmerelda moved further into the room and Nyxie realized they had not come alone. One by one, other family members entered, including three children. Reina stayed close to her grandmother, who had squatted down in front of her.

“What happened to Bear-Bear?” she asked reaching for the arm that Declan had repaired.

“He suffered a near complete amputation of the right arm, just below the glenohumeral joint,” Reina said, making everyone laugh. Nixie assumed Reina had heard one of the doctor’s say that but for all she knew she could have made it up.

The adults all took turns asking the girls if they remembered them and reintroducing themselves. Reina only remembered a few, but Lotus knew nearly everyone, except the two smallest children.

Cody took hold of Nyxie’s hand. She looked down at him and gave him her best reassuring smile.

“Where’s Melinda?” one of the strangers asked her. “She’s not… She didn’t overdose, did she?”

“No, she’s in the county lockup, DUI, I think.”

The man nodded. “How much is her bond?”

“I-I don’t know,” Nyxie said, and felt as if the whole family was judging her for not getting Melinda out of jail.

“Have the girls been down to see her?”

“I’m afraid with Cody’s accident, Melinda has been a low priority. Just as her children have been a low priority to her for the last year.”

A younger woman joined the man. She had obviously been listening to their conversation. “Maybe she had the girls’ best interest at heart when she gave them to you. Maybe she knew she couldn’t care for them the way they needed to be taken care of. My brother got her involved in drugs, but don’t make the same mistake we made. We kicked Isaac out of the house—tough love we called it. We told Melinda, she could stay—we begged her not to take Lotus and Reina. We haven’t seen the girls since. My mother prays for them every day. She prays for Isaac to watch out for them from heaven.”

Nyxie didn’t know what to say. In retrospect, Nyxie was only just becoming aware of how poorly she had cared for her kids. She was too proud to seek out help when she needed it. How difficult would it have been to ask one of her coworkers for a lift into Lubbock to apply for benefits?

If she had food stamps, she might have been able to cut back her hours—not leave them alone for so long every day. Maybe she would have had time to work on her GED and get a better job.

But as in all things, Nyxie was afraid—afraid the state might take the kids away when they realized she hadn’t given birth to any of them.

Cody’s hand fell away and she realized he had fallen asleep, even with all the commotion.

Nyxie instinctively looked for a way to press the nurse’s call button surreptitiously, hoping the woman would come into the room and send the hordes of people away, so Cody could rest. That was what Onyx would do. But remembering Declan’s edict that she not let people take advantage of her or treat her like a doormat, Nyxie gathered her strength. It helped that she was standing up for Cody and not herself. It was always easier to be strong for the kids.

“I’m sorry,” Nyxie said haltingly. “My brother needs his rest. I need everyone to leave. Maybe there’s a waiting room where you can—where we can go so you can continue your visit with the girls.”

“Can we take the girls over to our house?” Esmerelda asked. “This isn’t exactly the proper place for this.”

Nyxie couldn’t agree more. But she was also nervous that they wouldn’t bring the girls back.

“We’ve missed them so much, please.”

“Please, Aunt Nyxie,” Lotus added.

“Do you girls have your phones in your backpack?”

“Yeah,” Lotus said.

“I think that’ll be all right then. We are having a birthday party for Lotus tonight at 8:00. Everyone is welcome to come for pizza and cake.”

She gave the girls kisses and hugs, and reluctantly let them leave with the people. Even as she tried to reassure herself that it was obvious these people loved the two girls and they would be well cared for, she pulled out her phone to make sure she could track the girls before they had gone too far to stop them.