Chapter Seven:

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by Stucky26

by Stucky26

Still Julian’s POV:

I eventually dozed off because suddenly I was being tickled. “Dinner is up,” Mary laughed and I got up. I sat beside Mary and we all dug in. “Before I forget, here. Jim and Barbara already signed it. As did I,” Ray said, sliding a document toward Mary. I watched her face as she read it, eyes widening in realization. “Ray? Is this real?” she asked.

“If you’ll have me, I’m happy to be your Dad. You deserve better than Jim,” he said, handing her a pen. She took it and signed it without hesitation. “Thank you,” she said getting up and hugging Ray. “You’re welcome, sweetie. Hey, don’t cry. It’s ok,” Ray said, soothing her when she started crying.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “It’s ok,” Ray said, soothingly. “Yeah, you’re officially my sister,” Ricky said and she hugged him. After a while, she pulled back and wiped her tears and sat beside me again. When we finished dinner, Mary drove us to my place. “I’m going to go feed all my kitties,” Bubbles said and Mary yawned. “You want to take a nap?” I asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

“Yeah,” Mary said tiredly. “We’ll watch a movie at nine,” I told Ricky. “I’ll tell Bubs,” he said and I followed Mary into my trailer. She put the envelope of ultrasound pictures on the kitchen table. I locked my trailer and followed Mary into our room. We curled up under the covers. Mary was instantly asleep, snoring softly with her ear over my heart. I hugged her close and cupped her belly with one hand. I stroked her hair with my other hand until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, Mary had her hands jammed up my shirt. She had one leg sprawled over mine and there was a wet patch on my chest where her face was. Bubbles and Ricky were snickering from the doorway. I made a shushing gesture with my hand and tried to ease out of her hold. But it was no use, she wouldn’t budge. “Give her a minute to wake up. We’ll be right out,” I whispered. “Hope you don’t mind but Lucy brought Trinity over,” Ricky whispered. “That’s fine,” I whispered and motioned them out.

When they left, I waited for Mary to wake up on her own. After a couple of minutes, Mary stretched out against me, humming sleepily. She jolted awake, looking around. “Hey, hey. I’m here,” I said, running a soothing hand down her back. “Sorry, nightmare about Cyrus,” she said, calming down. “I know. It’s ok,” I said, kissing her forehead. “We gonna watch a movie?” she asked.

“Yeah, let’s go. Trin is here too,” I said and we got out of bed. When we went out to the living room, Trinity ran up and hugged us. “Hey Trin. How are you?” Mary asked. “I’m good. Daddy said you have pictures of the babies,” she said and Mary pulled one from the envelope. “Here, this one is a boy and that’s a girl,” Mary said, squatting in front of Trinity and pointing at the ultrasound. “Cool. Can I put this on Mommy’s fridge?” Trin asked.

“Of course, you can,” Mary said and Trinity hugged her tightly. I loved how good she was with the kids in the park. Even the bottle kids listened to her. Something Mr. Lahey could never do. She picked Trinity up on her hip and plopped her on the couch beside Ricky. They both giggled. I sat in my armchair and Mary curled up in my lap.

“Can we watch Aladdin?” Trinity asked. “Yes,” Mary said as Ricky said no. It was Trinity’s favorite movie and had been watched way too often. “Maybe we can watch Mulan?” I said, knowing it was a favorite of Mary’s. “That I can get on,” Ricky said and Trinity got the movie. She pushed it into the dvd player and pressed play. She then snuggled between Ricky and Bubbles.

Halfway through, Mary got up to go to the bathroom. “Don’t pause it, I’ll be right back,” she said, dashing to the washroom. When she was done, she put on some popcorn and got out some chips. I got up and helped her, grabbing bowls from a high cupboard. We put the stuff into bowls and brought it out to the living room. “Thanks,” Bubbles said. “Yeah, guys,” Ricky said, grabbing some chips. Mary curled back up in my lap with a bowl of pickles and happily munched away.

An hour later…

We had started another movie and Mary had just dozed off when Mr. Lahey burst in. “You fucking slut! Having a fuc-fucking orgy!” he yelled and Mary jolted awake. “Dude, we are watching movies with Trinity!” Ricky said, advancing on him. Mary was cowering against me. “Ray tricked Mr. Lahey into signing a legal document,” Randy said and attempted to grab for Mary. I picked her up and carried her to our room. I closed and locked the door. Then I sat on the bed with her.

“Mr. Lahey, you’re no longer her father! You can’t just barge in here!” Bubbles yelled. “I still care for her!” Lahey yelled. “You have a funny way of showing it! You slut shame her every fucking time you see her! And don’t you think I have no idea of the cigarette burns on her back! Or the time she ended up in the hospital because you threw a rum bottle at her head!

“Ray might get fucked up drunk, but he is always there for Mary! Always! So fuck you, Lahey! And fuck you, Randy!” Ricky yelled and Mary sobbed into my shoulder. I just held her close, letting her cry. Whispering soothing words into her ear, rubbing circles on her back. Eventually she cried herself to sleep. There was a knock on the door and I carried Mary to the door. I unlocked it and Trinity greeted me. “They are gone,” she said and I carried Mary to our chair.

“Is she ok?” Ricky asked. “Yeah, just cried herself to sleep. Just play the movie. Let her wake up on her own,” I said. “Should we go?” Bubbles asked. “No, she’ll be alright,” I said. “You sure?” Ricky asked. “Yeah, she always asks where everyone goes after,” I said and they sat down. Trinity pressed play and The Artiocats resumed play.

Ricky’s POV:

I watched as Mary slept in Julian’s lap. “I’m taking her tomorrow to buy those knitting looms she’s been eyeing for a while. I have some money set aside from growing and selling dope,” I said. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Mary will love that,” Julian said, softly. He was running his fingers through Mary’s hair. “I’ll come too. She said I could pick out some yarn,” Bubbles said.