Family Affairs

Prologue

"Girls, your father and I have something we'd like to tell you." Ally called her four daughters into the kitchen softly.

Three of Ally and Marcus's daughters, Dinah, Normani, and Camila came into the room and sat down on the barstools in front of their parents.

"Where's Lauren?" Marcus asked, looking in the direction his daughters had come from.

"I don't think she heard you." Normani responded. "She has her earphones in."

Marcus sighed and glanced at his wife before leaving the room to get his youngest daughter. He knew all the fighting between him and Ally was affecting his daughters severely, so much that Lauren wore her earphones all the time to block out the noise.

Marcus found his fourteen-year-old daughter sitting in the living room on the soft cream carpet drawing in her sketchbook. Lauren was the only one of their girls that was left handed and the only one who wore glasses. She was a very quiet and shy girl but she was probably the most well-behaved out of their four daughters. She was wiggling her bare toes in time to the music she could hear through her headphones.

Lillie, their two-year-old golden Labrador, was sitting beside Lauren protectively. The two of them had a very close bond and the dog followed Lauren everywhere, even slept on Lauren's bed beside her.

Marcus smiled softly. He knelt down beside her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hi, pumpkin."

Lauren flinched away from his hand and looked up. "Dad?" She whispered.

Marcus motioned for Lauren to pull out her earphones which she did. "Come to the kitchen, your mom and I have something we want to tell you." He said softly.

Lauren nodded. She dropped her sketchbook and pencil onto the carpet before standing up and following her father to the kitchen. The tiled floor was cold on her bare feet and her feet made a strange padding noise as she crossed it. She slid onto the empty barstool beside Camila.

Lillie had followed them into the kitchen and sat down on the floor beside Lauren's barstool.

Marcus moved over to his wife and stood beside her, looking at his daughters.

"Girls, we have some news." Ally began, looking at each of her daughters, oldest to youngest: Dinah, her only biological daughter, Normani, Camila, and then Lauren. She took a deep breath.

"Wait, are we getting a little brother? Are you pregnant?" Dinah asked, growing excited about the idea of having a biological brother.

Ally shook her head. "No nothing like that, sweetheart." She said softly.

"Oh." Dinah said. "What is it then?"

Ally took a deep breath and looked up at Marcus before returning her gaze to her daughter. "We are getting a divorce." She said softly. "And you girls will be staying with me."

The girls were silent, staring at their parents in disbelief. Even Dinah, the loudest of the four girls, was silent. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to react. Was this a joke? Were their parents playing a trick on them? Their minds ran wild with questions.

"Why?" Normani was the first of the four girls to speak. "What about us? Will we have to go back to where you got us from?"

Camila immediately shook her head. "No! I won't go back there. Please don't send me back there."

"No, girls you will still be with me." Ally promises softly, her heart breaking as she remembers what Camila went through.

Lauren lifted her head. She looked between her parents. "Dad?" Her voice came out as barely a whisper but her eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing her father.