Fighting for her (Novak series #1) {Completed}

9. Take your kid to work day

Hope’s POV

“I don’t understand why I can’t be home while you’re at work,” Jessie mumbles beside me with his arms crossed.

“You know exactly why I won’t allow it, and this is the last time I’m going to have to hear about it, right?” I ask with a smile.

    He sighs and nods. There’s nothing I value as highly as Jessie, and he’s well aware of it, which is also why he doesn’t continue to whine over my decision. I want him to be safe and feel good, which he doesn’t near Farris.

    We walk through the gate, and I take the opportunity to look at Mrs. Novak’s flowers. Her whole garden is full of flowers that I admired already as a child, and I’m pleased to see how they continue to grow strong without my care. I knock on the door, and Mrs. Novak opens it immediately.

“Hope!” she exclaims happily, hugging me like we haven’t seen each other for weeks before she looks at my brother. “And what a handsome little brother you have! Come in, come in!”

    Jessie’s cheeks are red, and I giggle at Mrs. Novak’s words that make my little brother feel embarrassed. We’re earlier than usual, and the rest of the Novak family is still home. A pair of twins hurries up to me and looks at me with big eyes. They can’t be older than seven years old.

“Hello, boys,” I say, smiling at them.

    They whisper to each other before running up to Mr. Novak to whisper something to him. He bends down to their height and chuckles as he listens to their words. The boys look at me with big eyes full of expectation, and I look questioningly at their dad.

“They think you’re very pretty and wonder if they’re allowed to keep you,” he laughs, and I giggle.

“Sorry, boys. You’re far too young for me,” I answer and smile. “In addition, you already have many who take care of you, but my brother Jessie here only has me.”

“Wow, you make me sound like the biggest loser ever,” Jessie snorts, and I flick him on the ear.

“Attitude,” I say in a low tone, and he smiles shamefully at me.

    Jessie tends to forget that it doesn’t matter if we’re alone or have company; I deserve to get respect in every way after all I’ve done and still do for him. However, it isn’t severe, but rather a friendly reminder of who’s deciding.

“Oh, she’s like a younger version of mom,” chuckles one of the guys who seems to be closer to my age, resulting in Mrs. Novak doing the same on him as I did on Jessie.

“Are you saying I’m old, boy?” she exclaims, and I make an effort not to laugh.

“Or are you saying it’s me who’s old?” I ask in the same tone, and the guy looks like he wants to die.

    Mrs. Novak laughs loudly, and I start shortly after that. Jessie sighs and shakes his head as if knowing that it won’t end well. I know Camilla’s dad’s name is Darby and that the oldest, Caleb, isn’t very talkative with people he doesn’t know, always suspicious that one. Which means it must be Noah who’s teasing his mother.

“That’s good, Hope. I’m glad you can handle my boys. The rude one is Noah, by the way. It’s him you’re supposed to babysit for today in addition to your own brother and Camilla,” Mrs. Novak giggles, and Noah looks at her with a sour grimace.

“Where is she anyway?” I ask and look around the room.

“The little queen is here,” Darby says, who comes down the stairs. “She has slept badly and is grumpy for some reason. It’s taken me forever to get her to stop crying.”

    He looks dead tired, and just as if Camilla wants to f**k a little extra with him today, she starts crying again. Darby sighs and starts rocking her in his arms, making me immediately step forward to help him. He smiles gratefully and hands her over in my arms. Strangely enough, she stops crying immediately.

“Why are you crying for, huh?” I ask softly, rocking her slowly. “We’ve talked about this, beautiful girl. You shouldn’t cry, but be happy and smile.”

    As if she understands me, her face shines up like the sun. I don’t know why I feel a strong bond with this little girl after just one day, but something inside me screams out that I have to protect her no matter what happens.

“You’re a natural!” Mrs. Novak exclaims happily while Darby groans and sits down at the table with his head in his hands.

“What am I doing wrong?” he mumbles and puts his head on the table. “I’m not fit to be a father.”

    The rest of us quiet down and look at him. Noah pours a cup of coffee and sets it down in front of his brother. Mrs. Novak caresses his son on his back, and he sits straighter with a loud sigh. Nobody says anything, and I know it’s not my place to talk, but I can’t help it.

“You’re a great dad,” I say, and he, along with the others, looks at me. “Believe me. I know what it’s like to have a worthless father who doesn’t care. You’re not like that. I don’t know about your backstory about how all this and your return came about. What I do know, however, is that you care enough about your daughter to bring your ass back home to your family even though it was hard for you to meet them. I would’ve done anything to have such a father when I was growing up. It’s terrible to feel that what you’re doing is not enough, and I know how it is. Many times I realize that what I do isn’t enough for my brother, even though I wish I could give him more.”

    Darby’s gaze softens, and I don’t understand why until Jessie comes up next to me. My little brother wipes away my tears and hugs me gently so as not to squeeze Camilla between us. He looks into my eyes with a sadness I’ve never seen before.

“You’ve given me everything, Hope. All your dreams of going to school and becoming something have you skipped, giving me a chance instead. From the beginning, you’ve done your best, and so have you,” Jessie says, looking at Darby before his gaze reverts to me. “You do much more than you think, and we who belong to your families appreciate everything you do. We’re grateful to have you in our lives, at least I am. Hope, you’ve been my mom, dad, sister, and best friend all along. And she’s right; our dad is useless. But you’re not. If you were, you wouldn’t have been carefully arranging a nanny who could take care of your daughter when you work to support her.”

    I smile and feel proud of my little brother. He’s right about what he says. I’m the one who raised him, and I have disregarded much of what I wanted since I want him to have the opportunity more. For me, he’s the most important, and I can bet Darby feels the same way about his daughter.

    Jessie is indeed my little brother; even so, I have, somewhere along the way, stopped being his sister and become the mother figure he never had. I’ll always be that person who helped shape him into that gorgeous little guy who’s about to grow up to be a man.

“You’re wiser beyond your years, young man,” I say, smiling before looking at Darby. “Despite Jessie’s young age, he’s right. We know what it’s like to have a deadbeat dad; you’re anything but that. If nothing else, I admire how much you changed. Especially since we were kids.”

    Darby laughs and looks at me. His eyes twinkle, and I find myself feel my heart pounding. He beckons Jessie to himself, and my brother walks up to him. I get a little teary-eyed when Darby puts his arms around Jessie in a hug.

“Thank you, kid,” he says, smiling. “Sometimes, it’s easy to lose hope of what’s important and what you can do. I’m glad your sister has such a nice person in her life who protects her.”

    After our little “moment,” Darby has to go to work and the others too. The children hurry to the school bus, and their parents drive away. In the end, it’s just me, Camilla, Jessie, and Noah left. The mood becomes a little embarrassing when no one says anything. Thankfully, Noah breaks the silence.

“I don’t understand how you might be interested in my brother; I mean, I’m so much better looking.”

“I don’t like him!” I exclaim way too fast, causing both him and Jessie to start laughing. “Besides, you guys are triplets and look the same.”

“Oh, dear sister,” Jessie giggles. “I may be young, but even I see that you get embarrassed as soon as he looks at you.”

“I’m not talking to you,” I mumble and walk out into the living room while they keep laughing.

❖❣❖❣❖

    The rest of the day continues in the same style, with the boys joking about my red cheeks and making kiss sounds as soon as I’m around. Despite being annoying, it pleases me that Jessie opens up to another human being in his life.

    After all, he doesn’t have many good male role models in his life and should take care of the few he has. Of course, they’re right that I’m interested in Darby. The only problem is that he’d never choose a girl like me. I am incredibly dull and unremarkable while he looks to be able to take on the world.

    No, popular and attractive men never choose girls like me. Such things only happen in movies, and if my life were a movie, it would be the most tragic movie ever created. I’m here to do a job and not dream of anything that’ll never happen.

    However, I accuse the storybooks of bearing the responsibility that I can’t help but do it anyway. We already learn when we’re young that life is magical and that everything you ever wanted will happen, even though it really isn’t that way. I’m stuck in a fairytale psychosis!

    Noah and Jessie play video games together while I build with blocks with Camilla on the floor, or rather, trying. She isn’t old enough and can’t do such things yet. However, I’ve discovered that she’s very fascinated by colors and shapes, hence the activity.

    Suddenly the door opens, and the rest of the Novak family enters the house. The calm is officially gone, and the chaos takes over. Do you know what the weird thing is? This is what I always dreamed of having. Because chaos isn’t the actual definition, it’s with pleasure that chaos arises.

“Hope!” Mrs. Novak exclaims with the same enthusiasm that she always has when she sees me as if we haven’t seen each other for centuries. “How has my wonderful granddaughter behaved today?”

“She’s been kind but is obviously tired. I fed her a little while ago and suspect she’ll fall asleep anytime now,” I reply, and despite it being Mrs. Novak I’m talking to, my gaze meets Darby’s all the time.

    My phone rings, and I hand over Camilla to Mrs. Novak, who, as usual, gratefully receives her. The number that is ringing is private, and my hands get cold sweaty at once. The only one who ever called me with a hidden number is Freddie, and I’m really not ready to talk to him again.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Miss Hope Hathaway?” the voice asks.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m calling from the New York City Police Department to inform you that we have your dad in one of our cells,” the person says, and I feel the breath disappear from me; what the hell has he done now?

“I’ll come and get him,” I answer and sigh soundly. “How much does it cost if I post bail?”

    The others look at me when they hear my words, and I’m ashamed of the thought that my own father can’t behave like a f*****g grown-up. Thankfully, it turns out that he didn’t do anything serious enough for a trial but just behaved badly among people in a public place.

“Jessie, come on. I have to pick up Farris,” I sigh and avoid the looks of the others.

“Where?” he asks and is immediately serious.

“NYPD,” I answer, rubbing my eyes. “I’m leaving you at home, and while I’m away, I’d appreciate it if you could go treasure hunting in the house.”

“Homemade rehab?” he asks even though he knows the answer, and I nod while sighing.

“Homemade rehab.”

“Let me help you with your father,” Darby says, and I smile sadly at him.

“You can’t always be my knight in shining armor, Darby.”

A / N:

Hello, everybody!

I’m sorry it’s taken time for me to update. It’s not that I don’t want to, but rather that I have had neither the motivation nor the strength to cope. A person who was one of the most important in my life betrayed me in a way that I didn’t know how to get over. Hence I had to focus on myself for a while. In addition, I’m still unemployed since my graduation, and the financial situation wears on me daily, then it’s not very easy to find motivation. But now I’m starting to feel that I’m on the right path again, gratefully enough!

~ Should Hope stop helping his dad?

~ Is it strange that she chooses to take care of him even though he never took care of her?

~ How do you think things will evolve?

Would you mind commenting and giving me your opinions? It doesn’t get any easier if I don’t get any feedback either; then it feels like I’m talking to a wall. Hugs and kisses!