Page 2 of After Midnight

“We both know she’ll never be my mother, not that I’ve ever needed one. My dads were both amazing people, and I was so lucky to have grown up with them. But, I did inherit a mom after they died.” Miss Rita smiled and looked away. “You know you’re the only person who has ever been like a mom to me, right?”

“Oh, get on with you. I’m the hired help.”

“You’re more than that, and you know it. Besides, I know that witch doesn’t pay you enough to put up with everything. Thank you, Miss Rita.”

She slapped me playfully on the arm, kissed my cheek, and said, “I love you, too, little man.”

The endearment always amused me. When we first met, I was short and scrawny. Since then, I’d hit my growth spurt and filled out. I was definitely not alittle mananymore.

I turned just as Margarette came back down the stairs.

“You two talking about me again?” she asked.

“You know,Margarette,” I said, emphasizing her name because I knew it annoyed her, “you aren’t the onlythingwe talk about.”

Margarette looked at Miss Rita through narrowed eyes and approached her. Dammit, I’d put the poor woman in the path of the witch’s wrath, again! She’d been threatening to fire Miss Rita for years, and I was surprised she hadn’t once I’d turned eighteen. Maybe Margarette was afraid I’d leave if she did. I had no plans to move out, since I felt a need to stay for the girls, but she didn’t need to know that. Still, I needed to smooth things over and fast.

“Miss Rita here thinks I’m too hard on you,” I said with disdain. “She says I need to be more respectful to my elders, but I don’t think you’re elderly enough to count. What do you think?” I’d become very good at thinking on my feet, thanks to having to deal with Margarette on a daily basis. I could only hope she remained vain enough to take the bait this time.

I could tell she was vacillating between anger at me for challenging her and what she thought was a compliment in the form of Miss Rita standing up for her. She would never find out from me that Miss Rita wholeheartedly disliked her. I’d learned long ago that if I wanted to keep Miss Rita around, I needed to make her look like Margarette’s biggest ally at every opportunity.

“She’s right, of course,” Margarette finally said. Relief washed over me as I realized my lie had worked. “You need to be respectful to your elders. And, you idiot, anyone older thanyouisan elder, regardless of their actual age. So, show some respect.”

She shot a condescending smile at Miss Rita, then turned to leave. “Rita, I’m going to need the girls dressed by six. We’re going to dinner at The Repertoire. I’m determined to secure an invitation to the Pearson’s Valentine’s Day Gala this year, and I can’t get one if the right people don’t see me. Luckily, this year, they are donating the proceeds to orphaned children. The girls should be dressed in proper clothes so the world can see how generous I am as their stepmother.”

I bit my tongue so hard, I nearly swallowed blood. Using the girls to her advantage, let alone to get invited to some frivolous event just to rub shoulders with rich people, pissed me off. But, as usual, I let it go. I knew better than to stir the hornet’s nest.

I had bigger fish to fry with Margarette anyway. The only influence she had on the girls was a bad one and that worried me. Lately, Olivia had begun talking down to Miss Rita, mimicking things I’d heard Margarette say. I’d nip that in the bud as soon as Margarette left for another one of her month long trips without us. Thankfully, at eleven years old, Olivia still listened to her older brother, though I needed to be mindful of exactly what I said, in case she blabbed about it to our stepmother.

Once Margarette disappeared back to her room, I helped Miss Rita straighten out the house. Her arthritis had begun to get worse and she struggled with the pain, especially when the weather turned.

Seeing her holding her hands like she did when they hurt, I could tell today was a bad one for her. She never complained, but I always made a point to pitch in to help however I could.

“I’ll take care of the girls’ rooms if you rinse off the breakfast dishes,” I said as I climbed the stairs. Miss Rita demanded allthree of us help with chores, but Margarette would get mad if she saw the girls were being made to do anything.

“Stop trying to turn my girls into servants,” she’d said to Miss Rita early on. Margarette never included me in her objections, only the girls. In her mind—most likely because of the color of my skin, given she was a thinly veiled bigot—I was never going to amount to anything other than a servant. Another mentality I’d been doing my damnedest to prevent the girls from developing.

With that in mind, I’d stepped in a while back and began tasking the girls with chores. Both had been annoyed by it and taken to calling me Dominella whenever having to do any work. Sometimes their words hurt but I hoped it was just them pushing back like kids do and not Margarette’s influence rubbing off on them. Either way, I balked at being compared to Cinderella, though I wouldn’t exactly turn down a carriage ride if a handsome Prince Charming arrived at my door.

Chapter two

Dillon

“Listen, if they gave awards for being the absolute worst at men, I’d win hands down!” I caught the attention of several people in the crowd and smiled to myself. This line caught them every time.

“My dads have a game they play when I bring a guy over to meet them, it’s called, ‘how long will this one last?’”

The crowd chuckled, and I slipped off this topic and onto growing up with two dads for a bit before coming back to dating.

“Oh… shit… let me tell you, there was a guy I dated my sophomore year. Y’all he was Drop. Dead. Gorgeous! I am not joking you! Oooh, baby he stood tall, dark, handsome… and you could drive nails with his head. I swear he was dumb as a box of rocks…

“Oh my god, I tried to overlook it, I honestly did cause you know you got someone that looks as hot as all that, but damn…

“Maybe the worst part was he never laughed at my jokes.”

I waited for the usual heckler then and bam like clockwork, “Cause you ain’t funny…”

“Well at leastI’mpretty!” I said immediately, causing the crowd to laugh.

---