Those Weirdos
Dash’s POV
I moved forward as fast as I could before our families could get too far into Zinnie’s house. They were in a small entryway, with a half wall on one side and a full wall on the other, so they were trapped between the front door and me. I was preventing them from coming any further into the
room.
“Oh, there’s my grandbaby,” Zinnie’s mom said.
She’d spotted Melitta on the floor on the quilt I’d had made for her. Juniper sat beside our little bee, her eyes wide, watching this family drama unfold, as Zinnie leaned down and whispered something in Juniper’s ear.
“Back off and get out of here,” I said, hoping Zinnie wouldn’t tell me to let them in because no fucking way was that happening. “Get the hell out of here.”
Now I was not only preventing them from coming in, I was forcing them back with my body, my
arms outstretched so the couldn’t get past me.
“Stuart!” my mother said sharply. “We came to see the baby.”
“You weren’t invited, so you’re unwanted guests, and another name for those are trespassers,” I told them all, then I looked at my parents. “How the hell did you even get here?”
“We waited outside the gate and followed an animal hauler in,” my mother admitted. “Then we asked two young boys with fishing poles where you and Zinnie lived.”
“If I’d wanted you to know where we lived, I would have told you.”
No way did I want them to know Zinnie and Melitta lived here alone four nights of the week, so we lived here.
“But I didn’t tell you, and there was a reason for that, which you’re well aware of. I warned you what would happen if you ever pushed things, and now you’ve pushed things.”
My mother’s eyes grew wide before she rallied.
“We want to see your daughter, Stuart. She’s our grandchild. It’s time to let bygones be bygones.”
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“Biologically, sure. But that’s as far as it’s going to go because the bygones are staying put. Now get out. We’ve already called the police. Again.”
“This is bullshit,” Zinnie’s father said. “We have every right to see our granddaughter.”
“No, you don’t,” Zinnie said, coming up beside me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Juniper carefully pick up Melitta and carry her into the hallway leading to the nursery.
“Bring back that baby!” Zinnie’s mother shouted at Juniper, but the teen ignored her, and I wanted to applaud the young girl.
“Shut up,” Zinnie spoke sharply to her mother. “That glimpse is as much as you’ll ever see of my daughter. Now get out of our house.”
——
“You can’t keep us from her. This has gone on long enough. You’re our daughter which I finally convinced your father of after your husband tried to cause trouble — and that’s our granddaughter.”
“I’m not your daughter,” Zin said icily. “I was your unwanted, unexpected burden who followed your golden child. I was the nobody who was criticized, belittled and made to feel as if something was wrong with me. I was the one who grew up thinking that if I just tried harder, you might like me, which would have satisfied me because I knew your love was out of the question. I was the ten–year–old girl who overheard my parents talking about why they never wanted me and why they would never throw me a birthday party. What kind of evil, soulless people treat a child like
that?”
“Zinnia,” Iris jumped in, “this is the behavior that’s going to get you committed. Keeping your child from your family for no good reasons is insane.”
“Letting her near any of you would be insane,” Zinnie countered calmly. “You’re horrible people and I’m finished with you. The number of reasons to keep her away from you would take days to enumerate, so I’ll skip that since I don’t want to be around you any longer than it takes you to turn around and get out.”
“You forget yourself, Zinnia,” her father threatened.
“No, I used to forget myself, but I’m done with that. This is the last time I’m telling you to get
out.”
Her father stepped forward, obviously ready to push past her, clearing a path for everyone to follow him, and that was it. I was done. I reached forward, grabbing the smaller man by the shirt
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with two hands and lifting him up off the floor so he could look me right in my eyes.
“You were asked to leave.”
He paled as I walked to the still–open front door and threw him onto the porch where he stumbled back a few steps before falling on his ass. As an added benefit, my action had shifted everyone’s focus away from the house and toward the porch.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.