The Way of Fate (Book 1)

22. The Threat of Marriage

Chapter 22: The Threat of Marriage

Mika

The doorbell rang just as I finished changing Sam's diaper. I was confused. It was the middle of the afternoon. Who was here and what did they want from me?

Picking Sammy up, I shifted him to my hip before heading for the door. Just before I got there, though, Eliza opened it.

"Well hello, sweetheart," she said to someone I couldn't see. "Are you lost?"

There was no answer and I started realizing who it might be. I came up behind Eliza and smiled down at Amy, who was standing there, wide-eyed and frozen.

"She's not lost," I said, making Amy's eyes snap to mine.

She smiled widely. "Meeky!"

Eliza stepped back to let Amy in, then left us alone, thankfully. One of the few things I liked about her was that she (sometimes) knew when to not hover. This was definitely a good time to make herself go away.

"You didn't replace me, did you?" Amy asked, pointed at Sam.

I laughed, closing the door as she walked in. "No. This is Allen's son. He was the man I was having dinner with the other night."

"Is this his house too?" She was looking around the place in awe. I was pretty sure this was the biggest house she's ever been in. "How'd you do it?"

I had been leading her upstairs, to where I know Edwin and Eliza wouldn't interrupt us, but stopped at the bottom of the steps when she asked that. "What do you mean?"

Amy shrugged. "I thought you said you stopped with the sex for money thing? Unless now you're just using him for this house."

I couldn't believe I let her know what I did back then. She was only a little kid, but a little kid who asked a lot of questions. And I could never lie to her.

"I did stop that," I said. "And I would never do that to someone, especially not him.  Allen..." I sighed, then nodded towards the stairs. "Come on."

We headed upstairs and I went towards the bedroom, because I didn't know where else we could go to talk. I placed Sammy in the middle of the bed and he immediately started crawling around, exploring the way he always does. I sat down next to him, patting the mattress for Amy to also sit. She did.

"Allen is different than any other guy," I said, watching Sam instead of looking at my sister. "I, um, I love him."

Amy shifted so she was sitting on her knees. "Really? Like you really love him?"

I looked at her to see a huge grin on her face. "Yeah, I do." I shook my head. "Enough about me. How are you doing? Are you okay? You're happy?"

"I was in the hospital for about a year," she started, looking less excited than she did a moment ago. "I was really sick, but they fixed me. But then they put me in a foster home. Those people didn't like me very much, so they sent me to another family. Those are the people I live with now. They're not that nice, but better than the other ones."

"Are you happy, though?" I repeated, needing to know. I needed to know that she was better off without me trying to take care of her.

She shrugged. "Yeah."

I wanted to believe her, to make myself feel better, but I knew her better than that. She wasn't all that happy there, but at least she was alive.

I didn't get a chance to say anything else when there was a quiet knock on the door before it opened. Looking up, I saw Allen standing in the doorway.