Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“What do I do? The money I made from my shows can’t even cover the lawyers’ fees.”
“Get. Married. Like your younger sister wisely did. You don’t have to be in love with him. You at least like him. That is more than you have had with anyone in a long while,” she directed. I wanted to bring up what Yvonne had brought up to me before.
I wanted to ask her about my father. But I couldn’t. How could I? What right did I have to know?
“Do not overthink everything, Odette. You like him, obviously. Don’t make it so hard on yourself,” she said to me, getting off her chair and walking away.
Ugh.
I just kissed him. How was I going to go off and marry him?
“I shouldn’t have opened these,” I muttered to myself, tossing the bills onto the table and going upstairs.
Augusta’s rant came to mind. She was right. With everything we had to manage and take care of, just getting a job wouldn’t cover it. Singing and songwriting gave me more money than most average jobs did, and I still couldn’t take care of it all.
“What an empire you built,” I said gently, looking at the picture frame beside my bed. Kicking off my shoes, I pulled my curls into a French braid and tied up my hair in a silk scarf. And after that, I was too tired to change. I just lay on my bed.
“Dad. I kissed a prince today. It’s all part of Mom’s master plan. Can you believe it?” I spoke out, wishing he was still here to laugh with me, yell at me, advise me. “Should I do it, Dad? Should I just marry him? He swore to me... he said, ‘I, Prince Galahad Fitzhugh Cornelius Edgar of the House of Monterey, will not hurt you, Odette.’ Can I trust him?”
Like always, I couldn’t hear his voice, and I got no answers. Instead, my eyes started to drift shut.
AGE FOUR
“Baby, hear me out! It was a mistake!”
“I don’t care! Get out!”
Smash.
I jumped, seeing the glass fly into the hall.
“For years, they called me a homewrecker! The press was in my goddamn face every time I stepped outside, and you do this? How the hell could you do this to me?”
“It was a mistake!”
“How do you make this mistake, Marvin? How? Did you just fall into bed with her?”
“Baby, breathe.”
“I am not your baby! I am not your anything, you son of a bitch!”
Smash.
I gripped on tighter.
“You are going to wake up Odette!”
“Let her wake up! Let her see what kind of useless—”
Smash
“Piece of shit you are.”
Smash
“Let her know her father destroyed our lives because he couldn’t keep it in his pants!”
“Wilhelmina, I can’t talk to you like this!”
“I don’t want to talk to you! I don’t want to see you! I don’t want to hear you lie to my face again! Get out!”
“I’m not going to leave you like this with Odette.”
“Oh, don’t pretend you care about us now! Go to your new family or your old family. I don’t care anymore!”
“That is not fair! You—”
“Not fair? Not fucking fair? That is my line! You are not fair! You ruined us! You ruined everything! Get out! I swear I will call the police if you don’t get out!”
Smash
“Enough! Stop! You want me to fucking leave, then I will!”
I ran down the stairs as he walked toward the door.
“Daddy, no!” I called out to him.
He looked up to me. His brown eyes looked puffy and red. “Odette, go back to your room.”
“Don’t go, Daddy. Please,” I begged, rushing down the stairs, holding his sleeve. I tried to pull, but he wouldn’t come with me.
“I’ll see you later, okay, sweetheart?” he said to me, petting my head. “Go back to bed.”
“Daddy—”
He yanked his arm away and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
“No, Daddy.” I yanked on the door over and over again before it opened, and I jumped out.
“Odette?” Mommy called, but I saw him getting into his car.
“Daddy!” I screamed, trying to get to his car.
“Odette, stop!” My mommy was wrapped around me, holding me to her.
“Mommy, no.” I struggled and wiggled, but she held me tighter. She lifted me from the ground, and I watched as my dad pulled out of the driveway.
“Mommy, Daddy’s going! Bring him back!”
She didn’t listen. She carried me back into the house, and I watched the red lights behind his car as they went down the street. My eyes started to water, and when I couldn’t see him anymore, I began to cry. My whole face and body hurt—my nose, my eyes, my stomach, and my throat—but I kept crying.
“Odette,” Mommy whispered, setting me back down. “Sweetheart, stop crying, please. Mommy’s heart hurts, seeing you crying.”
I tried, but it wouldn’t stop. So she hugged me tightly, sitting on the floor with me and rocking, too. When I felt her tears, hot on my back, mine stopped. Coming out of her arms, I reached up and brushed her face. “It’s okay, Mommy. Daddy will come back.”