Page 125 of Fierce-Dane

“Nope,” Diane said. “We’ve been name dropping for months. Months prior to them getting together. We can take some credit.”

“Though I don’t think we are the ones that deserve the credit,” she said.

“What does that mean?” her husband asked.

“We’ll know more at the end of the day. Maybe,” Diane said, laughing. “Now if you two men will excuse us, we’ve got some mingling to do.”

36

LEARNING TO LIVE

“Mom, Dad, this is Sloane Redding. Sloane, my mother, Doreen, and my father, Mark.”

Sloane wasn’t sure why Dane was more nervous than her. She was trying not to take offense to it, but maybe he just wasn’t used to dealing with women like she was.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, shaking Mark’s hand. “And to see you again, Doreen.”

“You too,” Doreen said. “Tiffani keeps asking me to bring her back for a pedicure, but I know that Chloe did weeks ago. She said you did her nails not that long ago with Shiloh’s?”

“I did,” she said. “Shiloh isn’t into the girl things just yet. She likes to play and have fun and worries she’ll chip the polish.”

Her sister had said more than once that she didn’t want to get in trouble. She’d thought Shiloh was joking but found out it wasn’t the case.

It seemed her sister got in trouble for a lot of things with their mother. Guess some things hadn’t changed. All thoserules she and Sabrina had in the cult, her mother still enforced or parented that way.

She’d assured her sister that there would be no more standing in the corner or other humiliating acts. That Shiloh was going to get in trouble and make mistakes because that was all part of life, but she didn’t want her sister to not experience life because of that fear.

One of the things the counselor had urged her to talk about.

As much as she wasn’t a fan of going to counseling, she did find it helpful. Not just with raising and dealing with her baby sister but with her past as well.

She didn’t expect to find any closure there and wasn’t sure she was looking for it. There would or could be no closure for what she experienced and what was most likely still occurring there.

For her it was learning to live with what happened and she felt she had a good handle on that.

“Kids should just be kids,” Doreen said. “Sometimes Tiffani tries to be a little doll to be looked at and placed just right for attention, but it doesn’t feel as if she wants to be.”

“It’s not the time,” Dane said to his mother. “I’ll talk to her more.”

“Tiffani said her mother wanted her to wear a dress today, but she wanted to be like you and wear jeans,” Doreen said to Dane.

He laughed. “I’m good at convincing her to think it’s her idea.”

Sloane hadn’t known what went on upstairs between Tiffani and Dane. There wasn’t a time to ask since it’d happened and if Dane wanted her to know, he’d tell her.

She was assuming this had to do with Mel putting ideasin Tiffani’s head and that was something Dane was going to have to deal with.

The fact that Tiffani complimented Shiloh on her clothing and then asked her to spend the night went a long way with her in that her baby sister was starting to feel some acceptance that she hadn’t had in her short life.

“You might have your work cut out for you,” his father said. “In the future.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Dane said. Sloane wasn’t sure what this was about, but the look her boyfriend was sending his parents said it was a private matter.

“How is Shiloh doing?” Doreen said. “I’ve got to imagine it wasn’t just a huge change in your life but in hers also.”

“She’s doing well,” she said. “I think better than maybe everyone expected.”

“Some children can thrive with change. Others not,” Dane said. “I think moving to a better life and situation has made it somewhat easier.”

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