TURNED OUT 2

TWENTY-ONE(21)

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"A, B, C D, E, G, G..." Kirsten sang as she held her iPad Mini on her lap.

"Juicy, it's E, F, G." Moonie stated, correcting her daughter.

"Eeee, F, Geeee." Kirsten corrected herself as she bobbed her head to her own rhythm. She sat on Moonie's old bed wearing a graphic shirt with some leggings. Her hair was braided neatly.

Moonie smiled at her baby while trying to gather her things. Earlier, she called up her mom and asked if she could stay at her house for a while with the kids (and Chise). Surprisingly, Nia said yes. So, Moonie was busy packing their stuff.

Kai was sitting in his blue, infant chair, next to his big sister. He was busy trying to lean over and touch her iPad, but she kept pulling back from him.

"Stop it Kai." Kirsten whined as she leaned over. Her words ran together but she was improving in the vocabulary department. Kai continued to reach out and that caused Kirsten to whine even louder.

"Kirsten, be quiet." Moonie ordered as she swapped Kai's favorite toy from the nightstand and handed it over to him. He wasted no time chewing on his teething toy.

Suddenly, her door opened and that caused her to turn around. A wave of relief hit her when she noticed that it was only her grandmother walking in with her dog, Chise.

"Do you have to leave so soon?" Her grandmother questioned her as she walked inside and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I don't want you to leave, especially with my grand babies."

Moonie looked over at her and said, "We can't stay here."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Moonie trailed off, she sighed while tossing her shirt in her suitcase. She didn't know if she wanted to let her grandmother know about Duke and his perverted ways. Everything was cool and she didn't want to mess it up. She would rather leave than start confusion. "Our time is up-staying here."

Audrey waved her off and said, "Girl, you can stay here for as long as you like.You're going back home?"

"I'm actually going to stay by my mom's house."

"You need to go back home, to your own house." Audrey instructed her. "Nia doesn't like guests."

"I'm not just some guest, I'm her daughter." Moonie replied clearly. "It won't hurt her to let me and my kids stay at her house for a couple of weeks." She countered.

"Why won't you go back to your own house?" Audrey questioned her.

Moonie shrugged her shoulders stubbornly as she thought about her house. Yes, she missed being there, but she didn't want to be around Kain. Her grandma had no idea on why she wouldn't go back. Audrey didn't know about the bakery situation. Moonie figured that her family would soon find out about it on their own.

"You have a big beautiful house to go to, and yet you rather jump from house to house."

"It's a beautiful house, but that doesn't make it a home." Moonie replied in a low tone.

Audrey furrowed her eyebrows at her granddaughter. "Did Kain kick you out?"

"He can't kick me out of my own house, Nana." Moonie stated calmly.