The family's baby

Chapter 14

*Grace's P.O.V*

Taking my shower cap off, I try to fix my hair for a moment before I give up and just let it do whatever it wants. Why can't hair ever just do what it's told? Giving up on that, I then decide to brush my teeth and just forget about my hair. I sigh realizing I don't half my toothbrush either. Luckily, there's always a spare toothbrush in here so I grab that, opening the package and taking the toothbrush out.

I throw the package away before I wet the toothbrush and put toothpaste on it. I brush my teeth for a solid minute before spitting out the toothpaste. I hate how minty it tastes, it always makes my eyes water! It felt like my parents purposefully got the mintiest toothpaste to ever exist sometimes.

I rinse the toothbrush off before putting it in the toothbrush holder thingy. I wonder what that is actually called. Toothbrush holder sounded right so I was just going to keep saying that. With that done, I run through my mental checklist and realize I'm now done here. Being done with everything, I decide it's time to leave the bathroom and go find my pajamas. I make sure to flick off the light switch as I leave and head down the hall to my room.

When I'm about to walk through my door, I nearly fall backwards with a yelp of fright as my mom exits my room. I can tell I surprised and scared her too but she is still able to catch me by the arm and keep me from falling.

"What are you doing here, Grace?" Mom asks me, letting me go to cover her racing heart. I know because I'm doing the same.

"Me? What are you doing in MY room, mom? You nearly made me drop my towel in fright!" I protest, earning an eye roll from her. She turns to the side and gestures for me to look at her entire body which is just mean of her. Even in her... older years... she hasn't lost the figure all her daughters dream of having so we are all very jealous of her and wish she was our actual mother so we had a chance for her body. She knows it too which is why flaunting it like that is very mean of her.

"1. You have nothing special that I haven't seen a million and one times on my own body, Grace. That doesn't even count my 2 other daughters and Jazmin. It would be a different story if your father was here though. He has no business seeing you naked or desire." She tells me, making me blush. I know she has the same stuff as me but that doesn't mean I want my mom seeing me naked!

"2. Your bedroom was clean but it wasn't ready for you so I had to get it ready. Not that it really matters since I cleaned it after you left so I already know everything that's in there, including what you were trying to hide, little girl, so I don't understand what the big deal is about me being in there." She continues, making me blush even more.

"And the last thing is you were supposed to yell for me once done so I repeat, what are you doing here?" Mom asks and I promise I tried but I couldn't help myself with my reply.

"Don't you remember? I took a bus to surprise you and you are punishing me for it. And my room was already ready! I looked before I got in the shower so you are the one lying to me this time!" I tell her with a smile, thinking I finally caught her but earning a quick, painful flick to the forehead from her instead.

"You know why you are being punished and that's not the reason. You also know that wasn't what I was asking. Why... are you out of the bathroom?" She says, clearly annoyed now. Good... she deserves to be annoyed after treating me like this!

"Because I'm not ready to get in bed yet." I state, rubbing the spot she flicked before continuing.

"I need my clothes first, mom! You told me to yell when I was done. How is me being in a bath towel considered done?" I tell her, finding it hard to meet her glaring eyes as they inspect my face to find if I am telling the truth or not. I'm not lying... I really was going to call her after I got dressed but it's still so hard to meet her eyes when she is like this. Maybe annoying her wasn't the best plan in the world today.

When I try to look away from her, she quickly grabs my chin and forces me to look her in the eyes before I can't take it anymore and look away. Still holding my chin and seeming to be satisfied that I was telling the truth, she starts to move my head side to side, up and down with an inspecting eye. I can tell by the way she is looking at me, she isn't happy with what she sees but lets my chin go anyway.

"To answer your other complaint, yes, your room was cleaned... for presentation. It was not set up for you to live in because I wasn't expecting you for another week. It was set up for people to look through the open door and go wow, this room is well organized and move on, just like I assume you did. I can't tell you the last time I even changed those sheets before today because no one sleeps in there since we have a guest room. Are you satisfied now with why I was in your room?" Mom asks me and I just nod my head yes.

"Good... now, did you wash your face, young lady?" She asks with scrounged brows and narrowed eyes.

"No..." I answer honestly, looking anywhere but directly at her. Like that family photo! It's a very interesting photo of us just standing there, doing nothing!

"And why not?" Mom asks, sounding very annoyed and unhappy with my actions. I shrug at her before realizing what I'm doing and quickly answer her with words.

"I just didn't. No real reason... just didn't. I splashed my face while under the shower, if that... counts for anything" I try to plead but the look she gives me before I even finish makes me lose my courage and drop my head. Why can't anything go the way I want today! I feel something brush my hair and when I look up to see what it is, I see some strands of my hair fall from my moms hands.

"I was wondering why you didn't have your hair wrapped... it's dry... and oily. You didn't wash it either, did you?" She states more than asks.

"No... it's not my wash day." I tell her honestly.

"Wash day?" She asks with a confused look.

"Yeah, wash day. The day of the week I wash my hair isn't today so I put a shower cap on. Plus, I hate sleeping with wet hair so I would have waited until later anyway." I tell her with a shrug. I watch as my mother pinches the bridge of her nose in response to my answer, clearly frustrated at me.

"Child... I know what wash day means. My confusion is how it's not today. Just let me make sure I have this correct... you have been on a bus for 36 hours getting absolutely filthy because you have no real way to follow proper hygiene and now that you can finally properly shower, you decided all you needed to do was wash your body because it wasn't the correct day of the week? So instead of getting clean, you want to sleep on your dirty hair and spread your oil all over your freshly changed pillowcase?" Mom asks, looking clearly perplexed from my choices.

"Well when you put it like that..." I try to tell her but am cut off.

"Grace! How else am I supposed to put it!? That's literally what you chose to do!" Mom yells at me.

"I'm telling you I didn't choose that. I chose to wait til wash day, that's all. I didn't realize my hair needed to be washed." I tell my mom. She seems to just stare at me in disbelief for a moment before just giving up.

"Grace, baby... that... that is not okay." My mom eventually says with her eyes closed while she massages her temples.

"You realize this means you will have to be given baths from now on, right?" My mom continues and I stare at her open mouth in shock. She can't be serious, can she? Little did I know how serious she was...