Rose 2.56: Arlen

Warning! A couple of pictures starring Donovan's bare butt are in this chapter. You have been "warned."
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     "Abbie!" I exclaim in surprise. She holds a newborn in her arms, and when I see him, my stomach falls to my feet. I let her in.
      "Hello, Donovan," she states and looks at me like I'm a lower life form. "Meet your son."

      "Mine?" I question. I don't care how I sound if she's going to look at me like that. After all, it took almost nothing to get her to woohoo with me. Who is to say that she isn't like that with other men?

      "What do you take me for? I don't sleep around, unlike someone in this room. You think I go randomly jumping into photo booths with men I hardly know?"
      I prepare to get slapped. "Well, yes."
      As expected, she slaps me across the face.
      "You were glowing with your parents' reflected love! I'm a passion fairy; I couldn't resist. And now, look what you did to me," she snarls. The baby in her arms makes a gurbling noise while indigo sparkles fly around it in a random orbit. "He. Is. Yours. Look at him!"
      Honestly, I can't tell. Babies all look the same.

      Suddenly, I wonder about her motive. Sure, I didn't use protection; I'd not set out to do anything like that when I'd left the house after Papa died. She obviously didn't take any precautions either. "What do you want, Abbie?" I ask. I suspect it's money. We aren't the wealthiest family in the town, but we are very comfortable, especially since we can't buy anything thanks to Living Green.
      Her face curls up, insulted I imply she wants money from me. "I want you to take him."
      I feel my face get paler. "What?" Did she say 'take him'? As in, she doesn't want him?
      "It's always the woman that gets saddled with a child in these instances. I want you to take responsibility for what you did."

      "Then that would mean we'd get married, not you abandoning him with me," I argue.
      "I don't want to marry you," she says, again with a look of disgust. "You are an absolute disaster."
      "So you would leave your son with an absolute disaster?!" Why can't I slap her back? I never would, but she tempts me at this moment.
      "Somehow, you are a disaster, but your children are exceptionally well cared for and loved. Maybe you're not an absolute disaster, but I don't want to marry you," she sneers.
      "I wasn't asking," I say, giving her a look of furious anger.

     "I haven't bonded with him. I can't keep him. I'm going to start anew somewhere else, and he doesn't fit into my plan," she says in a dead voice, but I hear heartache begin to creep in.
      Before she can give it a second thought, she shoves the little boy in my arms. "Here."
      The baby screams, and I look at Abbie, horrified. "How can you do this?"
      "Goodbye, Donovan," she says and walks out the door, not answering my question and not looking back.
      I pull a bottle out of thin air and feed the baby boy.

     "You're not a passion fairy; you're a hateful fairy. Red with anger, that's what you are," I snarl to her back. She doesn't answer, and the door closes.
     You poor baby, abandoned by your mother into the arms of an almost-stranger. I cradle him to me, finish feeding him, and walk into the main house to find my mother.

      Mama takes the baby from me. I told her I'd already fed him, so she burps him and changes him. We pull out Lorenzo's old crib, and after making sure he's happily sleeping, Mama and I go downstairs, and she unleashes her anger: first at me, then at Abbie. She says she wants to go find this red fairy and light her on fire, and she wonders just how flammable she'd be.
      "Mama, let it go. If she is that hateful of a person, perhaps he's better here."
      And with that statement, we have an addition to our family. The children want to name him Arlen. I find it strange that they'd pick that as his name, but Mama and I both like it.

     I get another tattoo. Why not?

     In the tattoo parlor, I see a picture of a naughty looking fairy. I tell the artist to give her black hair and red wings.

     I have him put it on my ass because this way, I get to sit on her every time I sit down. That makes me vindictively smile each time for weeks...after the soreness wears off.
     When Karina sees it, she laughs hysterically for several minutes. She'd been almost as furious as Mama when I'd told her what Abbie did, and now, she likes to slap the fairy.
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Section of roll revealed: Half-siblings
So, yes. I can finally share somewhat the very interesting roll. Combine second chance with half-siblings, oh, and btw, you need FOUR half-siblings. Also, you can't buy anything (almost). Have fun! 

Uhhh...What?

I have Willow bouncing around in the neighborhood. Kinda funny to see what she gets up to.

I have to be careful when going out that she's not around. As far as I can tell, Abbie vanished when I just did the 'kick out of house' thing for the move.

For posterity:

Nurturing. Yeah. That doesn't work for me, but oh well, that's how she came.

-Even though above says differently, Giacomo gets engaged to someone named Latosha Pollard.

Click here to go to 2.57