Chapter 28
Royal looked to Famke who had voiced the concerns he had been considering himself. He took a breath, “when she mentioned the smoking thing upstairs it struck me,” he shook his head. “Mom had complained to me about two weeks before they passed away, she’d smelled nicotine or cigarette smoke on Mindy. Mindy had explained it away as she’d had lunch with a coworker from her office who smoked. When Mom had picked up Precious from daycare, when she hugged her, she could smell it in her hair. Mom was convinced she was smoking with her in the car. She said if she noticed it again, she would talk to Prince.”
“Do you think maybe she told Prince?”
“Mom tells me everything. Trust me, there are things I know about family members I wish I didn’t because Mom turned me into her confidante when dad had a health scare about ten years ago and she has only gotten worse. My mom overshares so much, I can tell you if Aunt Jennine’s bowels are causing her problems or if my uncle’s prostate is acting up. If Mom talked to Prince, she would have told me the outcome.” He took a breath, “based on the way she spoke, I’m guessing, Precious told Prince and it caused a fight.”
“Which is why she’s on a kick about tattling?”
“It’s possible.”
“She’s just a baby.”
His heart broke at the way Famke’s voice cracked when she spoke. It didn’t matter how much she said she was never meant to be Precious’ mother. She was born for the role, and she was taking the child’s pain on as if it were her own. His brother and his wife had caused this kind soul in front of him irreparable damages. The more he got to know her, the more he realized he’d misjudged her from day one.
“She is just a baby and I want to think when my brother wrote in his letters to you Mindy was a good mother, he wasn’t lying. Perhaps she had a misstep or two. Parenting is hard and maybe she made a couple of mistakes.”
“Royal, he took Precious away every time her mother was angry or sad. How bad did it get near the end?”
He felt guilt as they discussed his dead sister-in-law as if she were a monster and he shook his head. “I don’t know but I won’t pass judgement on Mindy because I don’t have all the facts. I don’t know what was happening. If Precious tells us more and it becomes more prevalent there was more to the story than we know, then we will deal with it.”
“We?”
He knew she’d caught his word, “yes, Famke. We. I meant what I said earlier. I want you to be here to take the role you should have had from day one. I know you don’t want to replace Mindy and I’m not going to ask you to. What I want from you is to be her aunt.” He watched her eyes widen in disbelief at his comment. “I want you to live here with us as her aunt. When she’s older, much older, if you feel compelled
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to tell her the story of her birth, it will be your decision, however, for now, I need help in raising her. My parents are older. My sister is starting out her career. You have a connection with her. I know at first, I thought they stole her from you, but I saw the connection within seconds. If you can’t be her mom, be her
aunt.”
“I have a job.”
“You have two,” he said bluntly, “but if you want to continue working during the day when Precious is at school, I won’t argue. If you want to go back to school yourself, I’ll pay for it.”
“Royal,” she protested his words.
He liked the way his name sounded from her lips, and he rounded the counter and took her hand. “Bram can finish high school here, can’t he?”
“I can’t ask him to give up his school.”
“He hates his school. He told me straight out he hates it when we were talking over pizza. The bullies haven’t stopped, Famke, he’s simply gotten better at dealing with them.”
“I know,” she groaned and rubbed her head frustratedly.
He smiled when she didn’t protest the way he held her hand. He played with her fingers and held her gaze. “Couldn’t he use a fresh start as well? Starting over in a bigger city with far more opportunities for him than there would be in Pittsburgh? Especially if we remove the barrier of financial instability from him?”
“Don’t throw money at us, Royal.”
“Can’t help it,” he teased, “I have billions to throw.”
