Something else that Daddy did was say please and thank you to the help.She’d never once done it and wouldn’t.They worked for them, and that should be payment enough for them.It wasn’t as if she were a snob or anything, but the very reason that you had servants in the first place was so that you could order them around.Sitting in her chair, the staff knew better than to ask her if she wanted tea as well.If she didn’t ask for it, then she didn’t want it.She had a little game that she played with them.As soon as she got her husband’s tea, then five minutes later she’d ask for one too.It would get her every time when they had to make two trips out of the kitchen to bring them tea.
She thought about going to see her daughter tonight, but she didn’t want to be up late getting home.The babies would be cranky in the evening hours, she remembered how bad her daughter was when she would be with the nanny so late in the evening.She didn’t want anything to do with her during those hours, and they made sure that she didn’t have to.
It didn’t bother her that Millie had been raised by nannies.She would have had more children had she been a better baby to them all.But alas, Millie had been a bad child, and it only stood to reason that she’d be a rotten person too.She was forever wanting a good and dutiful daughter, but she got Millie instead.So long as she could raise the twins like good people, then she didn’t really care if her daughter ever spoke to her again.Yoland knew she was a good mother, and she proved it by having Millie as a daughter.No matter how bad she’d been, she didn’t get rid of her when she could have.That had to say something about her character, didn’t it?
When Daddy didn’t come back from the office in a goodly time, she decided that she was going to show him and go up to bed without him.The two of them didn’t share a room anymore and had since become strangers to their nighttime habits.She liked her privacy, and he liked his quiet time.They both got what they wanted, and there was no one around to tell them they were doing it all wrong.
Going up to bed also allowed her to be able to get up early in the morning and surprise her daughter.That would be the perfect time to get all the good dirt on her about her mothering skills.Or the lack of it.The house would be a mess, and there wouldn’t be—she forgot they were staying with the Booths.She wondered how much of a mess they were having since her daughter was living with them.No doubt they’d be ready to get rid of the family, too.Perfect timing, she thought, to get in and get the kids before anyone was the wiser.The Booths would more than likely help her out with them just to get them out of their hair.
She’d be in and out, and no one would care but Millie.She might fuss for a bit, but once she got used to not having them around all the time, she’d come around, too.Yolanda thought it would be wonderful to have the children around all the time.It would be like she said, they’d make them younger.Tomorrow, before she left, she was going to have to call a service to have nannies brought to their home.There was no reason to wait until they were there before calling in help.And she wanted all the help she could get once they were in the house.Daddy wouldn’t even mind once he realized that this is what she wanted.He didn’t usually give in to her demands on things.However, this would be different.He’d benefit from it as well.
~*~
Millie hung up the phone and looked at her husband.Her dad had called her, and she couldn’t believe the things that he’d just told her.Having it on speaker phone so that Debra and Charlie could heardidn’t even make it seem more real.It was as if everything in her life had been pulled out from under her in a second.
“She’s not going to get your kids.”Millie nodded at Debra, but she was distracted.“Millie, listen to me.She’s not going to be able to get your kids from you.No court in the land will give a sixty-something-year-old woman three children who will be out of a house and money for any reason.She’s going to jail if she even tries to take them.You heard what your dad said, he was going to divorce her in the morning for her talk.”
“I don’t understand why she thinks she knows anything about me.I was raised by the nannies of the house.Then, when I turned thirteen, she sent me off to boarding school.I was nineteen years old when I came home once, and that was only to see my dad.She never visited me once, but Dad did all the time.”Millie didn’t know what to think about her mother’s plot to take her children away and raise them on her own.“What does she think she’s going to do?Have them raised by more nannies so that she can pretend to be their mother?I’m their mother, and I can raise them the way that I see fit.”
“Good for you.You got this.And your dad said that she’s going to be coming by soon and try to take them when you’re not looking.I don’t know how that’s possible, but I’ve dealt with people who think things like this all the time.They just don’t understand when they’re wrong.”Millie was glad that she’d gotten help when she did, or she might well have been able to call her an unfit mother.The first night home with Dani there to help her, she’d slept nearly fourteen hours straight through, and the kids were doing great.“They seem to like the formula and are more rested than they were before.I know that I am.”
“You’re on a good routine now, and they can feel that you’re less stressed.Isn’t that what Kahana said?They can feel when you’re stressed, and it stresses them out.I can understand that.When I had my heart attack, I was stressing out everyone around me.”Millie looked in the two cribs that held her infants.And Charles was on the bed with her, reading a book with his father, when her dad called.Things were much better than they were even five days ago.Then her dad called her to warn her about her mother.“Weren’t you going home tomorrow?”
“I was.Should I now?I’d rather be here than at home by myself with her coming around.”Her in-laws came into the room after Charlie had gone to get them.After telling them everything that was going on, they said she’d be better off staying here with them because there was no way she was going to get out of the house with the babies.“I don’t want to bring her madness down on you guys.And that’s all I can think that it is.Madness.Why would she want to take my babies away from me?I’m a great mom now that I have a routine going on.She can’t be serious about this is all I can think about.”
“There isn’t any point in taking any chances.We’ll keep an eye on her the entire time she’s around.She won’t get by us.”Dani took one of the babies when she started to fuss and rocked her as she continued.“She tries to take my grandbabies from this house, and there will be hell to pay.I’m not kidding either.I’ll have her arrested so fast that she’ll be in jail before she realizes that what she did was stupid.”
Millie had to laugh.They were all so good to her.Even when she needed to be down for a few days, everything catching up with her, Dani had treated her like her daughter rather than a daughter-in-law.It was a good feeling being loved by strangers more than she had been by her mom her entire life.But her dad was a good man.
“He said that he was going to talk to his attorney tomorrow to start the divorce proceedings.He knew it was going to come to this as soon as I told them that I was going to have another baby.”Her dad seemed to be resigned to the fact that she was going to try to take the children from her.He also told her that he had nothing to do with it and wouldn’t.He was too old to raise children again, and while he loved her to pieces, he didn’t want to raise her three kids when he had his golden years ahead of him.But he would hire an attorney for her if she needed to have one.“I told him that I had hired you, Debra.I hope that’s all right.I think before this is all finished, I’m going to need someone to be in my corner instead of my mother.Christ, I can’t believe that she’s doing this to us.It’s like something out of a nightmare.”
It took them the rest of the evening to get things worked out.She was going to stay with the Booths for a few more days until they could get the locks changed on her home so that she couldn’t just come in.She’d given her a key when they first bought the house, never thinking it would be a terrible idea.Now that the locks were going to be changed, she thought that she should do a few more things, like hire a nanny for nighttime.
Kahana said that she wasn’t a bad mother because she needed help.She was a smart woman and knew that she couldn’t do it on her own.And raising three children under the age of five was hard enough on the strongest of people.And unlike some people, they could afford it.
Also, she was going to make sure that, if nothing else, every day she was going to get herself up and cleaned up before starting her day.It was the least she could do for herself that made her feel good.Even if she only got to brush her teeth, she was going to do something for herself daily so she’d feel better than she did a few days ago.
At seven the next morning, her dad called to see if he could come by and have breakfast with her.Since she was just getting in the shower, she told him that it would be wonderful.As soon as he arrived at seven-thirty, not only was she dressed for the day, but she’d put on a bit of makeup and done her hair.She felt positively wonderful.Charlie commented on her beauty as they were sitting down to breakfast with the Booths.
“My goodness, child.You looked beautiful.Who would know you’ve just given birth two weeks ago?If your mother could see you now…well, she’d not have anything nice to say to you, that’s for sure.But that’s her loss.”After kissing her dad on the cheek, he joined them for their first meal of the day.She loved this time of the morning.The girls were fed and cleaned up, and Charles was playing with his blocks.It was quiet in the house as well.Something that she loved more than anything.“I think that she’s coming to see you today.She was up when I left, and that never bodes well for people.I don’t know what her plans are for the day, but I’d expect her soon.She’s on the warpath, and I’m going to avoid her for the rest of the week if I can.”
“I don’t blame you, Wilbur.I’d stay clear of her, too, if I could.”Charlie sat down next to her and kissed her on the cheek.“Doesn’t she look beautiful?I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a beautiful wife.”
They mostly talked about her mom and what she might be up to.At eight, not only did her mother show up, but she had the police with her.She said she was here to take her children back.All hell was about to break loose, and she wasn’t sure how to handle it right now.She did the only thing that she could and called the Hathaways.Debra was her lawyer, and Axel was going to help her with the trial.Because as surely as she was sitting here, she was going to press charges against her mother.
“What are you doing here?I thought you were going to the club or something.”Mom looked at Dad when he didn’t answer her.“Nothing to say?I told you I was going to do this, and you should have listened to me.I want to raise the children right, and there is no way that you’re going to keep me from doing so.”
“Isn’t there?I filed for divorce this morning before coming here to have breakfast with my family.”She called him a liar.“Believe what you wish, but it’s a done deal.I told you that if you went through with this, I was going to do it.Now that you have, the locks have been changed on the house, and your accounts have been closed as of seven-thirty.You’re broke.And homeless to boot.”
“You can’t leave me out in the cold.I have three of our grandbabies to raise.What will your friends say when they find out that you divorced me rather than seeing that your grandbabies are raised well?”He told her what he said he’d told her yesterday, they’d wonder why it took him so long.“I will not allow you to do this to me, Daddy.I’m going to go back to the house with my children, and you’re not going to do a thing about it.”
“My name is Wilbur.I have been telling you that for so long that I’m sure that the furniture knows my name.I haven’t ever been your daddy ever, and I don’t like you calling me that anymore.It’s Wilbur Stanford.”Her dad stood up and asked her mom to leave.“We were having a nice breakfast until you came here.Whatever are the police for?I’m sure they have things to do that are more importantthan an old woman trying to kidnap babies from their parents.”
“How dare you?”Mom turned and looked at her.“Where aremychildren?I want to show these people how you treat them like you did things when you were a child.”
She didn’t so much as look in the living room where they were sleeping in their cribs.Even Charles was playing quietly while in the same room with them.As soon as her mom turned on her heel and headed toward them, she grabbed Charles by the arm and jerked him up from the floor.Standing in front of the cribs, she told the police to get the babies as she was leaving with them right now.
“You’re hurting my arm.”The slap to Charles’ face was so sudden that she didn’t react at first.Before she could get to her son and comfort him, her mother was flipping over the back of the couch and onto the floor between the two cribs.No one said a word until Charles came to her.“Mommy, she hit me in the face.And she hurt my arm.”
