Strong Enough (An Older Brother Story)

Repairs

Amelia's POV:

Clay and Sophia have been in her room for a long time. I am just sitting in the living room waiting on them. It makes me feel really guilty, but sometimes I wish that I was just starting my own family with Clay, not trying to pry my way into one of the tightest little families that I have ever known. I love Sophia though. And I love Clayton, family baggage and all. And I know that things happen for a reason. I just feel on the outside of their family and sometimes I doubt that I will ever feel completely included. Maybe that is okay though. I bow my head to pray about it all, and a few moments later I am interrupted by someone tapping me on the shoulder. I open my eyes to see Sophia. She is standing with her arms crossed and says, attitude just dripping from ever word, "Clayton told me that I have to ask you what my punishment is since you are the one that I was rude to." I am pretty surprised by this, but after composing myself quickly I say "Okay Soph, go stand in the corner while I pray about it." She rolls her eyes and stomps over to the corner. At least she didn't talk back I guess. I give myself a few minutes to reflect on what to do, even thought in my gut I know what I need to do. Somebody has to put this child back in her place, and I need her to respect me and know that I am serious about disciplining her when needed. I'm just worried, because this will either repair some of the things that are broken with our relationship, or it will do permanent damage, and I am not confident which one it will be.

Clayton's POV:

I leave Sophia and Amelia alone in the living room for a bit to deal with the things they need to work through. After about 15 minutes I go out and check on them, Sophia is crying, but they are hugging, so it looks like whatever happened helped, because they have not hugged in a while. After that everything returns to normal. We eat dinner, watch tv, and then Sophia heads to bed.

I decide to go tuck her in, or at least attempt to, she has been fighting it more lately, but I also haven't tried in a while. Maybe she is right that I am getting caught up in all this wedding stuff. I knock on the door and ask "Hey Soph, can I come in?" She mumbles "yeah, sure". And I walk in to see her still on her phone. I roll my eyes, she really is becoming a teenager. Sometimes I worry that I got her a phone too early and that I should have waited, but everyone else in her class had one and I didn't want her to be left out. She puts her phone down when I come in and rolls her eyes saying "Clay, I told you that you don't have to tuck me in anymore." I just smile and respond "I know I don't have to kiddo, but I am still going to." She mumbles "you haven't been lately..." Ouch. I respond seriously, but in a gentle voice and not a reprimanding one, "I know Soph, and I am sorry. I promise I will be better about not getting distracted from the most important thing in my life, okay?" She says "Amelia?" sarcastically. I respond "You. And you know that, I don't need the attitude." She looks like she is about to reply back with something sassy, but she takes a deep breathe and says "I'm sorry." I nod, unspoken understanding, knowing I don't need to say anything else on the subject. Then I continue "Anyways, I just wanted to come tell you goodnight." She says "Goodnight Clay." I give her a look and say expectantly "And?" She rolls her eyes and says "And I love you." I kiss the top of her head and say "Love you too kiddo, sweet dreams." And then I get up to turn the lights off. As I am doing so, her phone buzzes. I say jokingly "Who is texting you at this hour?" and pick it up to turn it off. She almost shouts "No! Clay, wait, don't!" After that reaction I feel like I need to see what this message is. I look down to see a message that has a bunch of egg plant emojis and then WARNING in all caps. I feel red hot rage fill my body, but I try my best to stay calm. I go to unlock the phone and read the rest of the messages, but I realize it is password protected. I say, as calmly as I can muster, "Sophia, unlock your phone right now." She starts freaking out and says "No, Clay, pleeeeaaaasssseeee." The calm that I was trying to maintain is gone. I give her one of the best death stares of my life and whisper yell "Now." When she hesitates I say, with more anger than I am proud to admit, "Sophia Grace, if you do not unlock this phone this instant, I will bend you over my knee, do you understand me?!" She just starts crying. I am unsure what I am going to do now, I expected that to work, but I guess I need to decide quickly.