Page 57 of Baby Me

“I hope tho,” June hissed in her lispy way.

“Mmm, well you’d be disappointed to know that the blow to her head killed her almost instantly and the fire never touched her while she was alive.”

“Noo!” June yelled.

“That probably means that you weren’t the one who killed her after all.”

“Fuck you!” June screamed at me. “I burned her. It was me who did it.”

“Nah, you were just the cleanup crew. She was already dead. Your little buddy took that kill from you.”

“Noooo! The crazy bitch screamed again.

“Yes!” I informed her gleefully as I stuck the knife into her gut and twisted before bringing it back out. I glanced down and watched her blood and other nastiness fall to the floor. “Oops, looks like I might have perforated your bowels. Guess it won’t be long now, but you will suffer before you go, bitch. While you suffer, you’re going to watch this little movie Scout made up for you.”

When I nodded toward Scout, she used the same projection device we had used in our meeting. This time, she projected some of the home movies and pictures that I still had of my time with Kim and the kids. June screamed and cried through the whole thing and when we ran out of material to play for her, Scout was kind enough to play it all again.

It took five hours for June to die a slow, agonizing death. I stayed for the whole thing. During that time, we got word that Angel Girl and her crew were able to secure Anton Oslav. Since they had been on the lookout for him as well, we sent a member of the club to go oversee his death and disposal.

“I need to get back to my girls,” I finally told Mack who stood there staring at what was left of June. He nodded to me and then clapped a hand on my back.

“Hold them tight tonight, Tripp. Don’t let this shit drag you into someplace dark.”

I shook my head. It was a little too late for that, but I’d never let the dark shit touch my girls. They were my life now, along with Kip and Knox.

Epilogue

Tripp - Six months later

“Are you ready, sweetheart?”

“No, my feet are swollen. Do we have to go somewhere?”

I turned to see my gorgeous wife with her pale blonde hair spun up into a bun on top of her head. Her tiny mini me also had a little sprig of hair put up in a cute little bow because she wanted to be so much like her mommy, but she hadn’t grown enough hair in yet to make it happen.

Still, they made me smile in their matching dresses. Those were a gift from my oldest daughter, Star, just for this occasion. Not that my girls knew today was a special day.

“Are you sure? I have a special surprise for you both.”

Coral started to clap as Vina rolled her eyes. “You spoil us, but seriously, only if it’s a short ride because my hips hurt, and my feet really are swollen.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I promise, it will be well worth the trip, and I will even massage your feet for you later.”

“Massage my feet, you say?”

“Yep. Does that mean you’ll get in the truck now?”

“Fine,” she sighed. Our daughter mocked her mother and also sighed deeply, as if she knew what was going on. We both chuckled at our little drama queen.

She had been in remission for four months now and had managed to get every bit of sass back she possibly could. It was like she stored it all up with all the napping she had done when sick.

It took less than five minutes to drive to the location we’d picked for our house. We both wanted it to be close to the club, but not too close to town. As soon as we rolled up to the house, Vina looked around. “What are we doing here?”

“Well, that’s part of the surprise. I got the boys on the ball and had the house finished ahead of schedule, so we could move in before you pop.” I glanced sideways at Vina’s growing belly. She was seven months pregnant. Apparently, the first time I was inside her (that’s what I tell myself) again, I managed to knock her up. The two of us combined were apparently very fertile stock and now, we were two months away from meeting our son. Onyx Perrish Martin. Our boy had also become our daughter’s savior, if it was ever necessary. We were having the umbilical cord saved in cryostorage, because those cells could be used to help Coral if she ever got sick again. Her brother was a very close match to his sister.

“Tripp, we can’t just move in. We have to buy furniture and get everything set up. It will probably take me another month to do that. Actually, longer because I can’t be on my feet much, since your boy is wearing me out.”

“Our boy, and that’s okay, sweetheart. Star and Kip managed to get everything set up. They got all the stuff you marked in the catalogs I gave you.”

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