A Different Life: Football Wife by Melody DuPree (short novels to read .txt) 📖

climbed the steps and stopped when he saw me staring out the window just opposite the kitchen table.

“Mom can I speak with you for a second,” he asked and my grandmother nodded.

They walked upstairs and then it sounded like the man exploded.

“THE BASTARD DID WHAT AND SHE’S KEEPING HIS WHAT,” he screamed and I shook my head happy to know that I had just given my dad a mini heartattack.

He stormed back down the stairs and stopped behind me but I just continued to stare out the kitchen window at the house I hadn’t seen since I was six years old. I smiled at the memory of a mixed breed dog and got up and walked around my dad like he wasn’t even there. I walked back up the stairs and put the ointment the hospital had given me on the cut and sat on the bed to look out the window. My dad had followed me up to the second floor and was now staring at me expecting me to look at him.

“You are staring at me for what reason,” I asked without looking away from the window.

“I want you to look at me so I can give you a piece of my mind at what I think you are going to do if you get pregnant before three months are up,” he said and I let out a sigh.

“I am not a killer and I won’t start now. I am going to love this child with all of my heart, mind, and soul. He will have whatever he needs and wants because I will be there for him, unlike the people I used to know that I once called family,” the last part was whispered and he came over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

I turned around in his arms and wrapped my arms around him and let the tears stream down my face as I silently cried. He sat down next to me and held me a little closer to calm me down and ran his hands through my hair. I cried myself to sleep and when I woke up it was dark outside. I sat up and looked around before I realized I wasn’t alone in the room. I scrambled out of the bed and to the door before I got knocked to the ground. I lashed out and managed to connect with the man’s equipment and I sent him to his knees. I got up and turned on the light to find Junior and his brother Raleigh in the RV with me.

“I hope you know I can have you both arrested for breaking and entering and attempted assault and battery, right,” I said and Raleigh looked at me wide-eyed.

“Actually no you can’t,” Junior rasped out while clutching at his equipment.

“Where did you hear that Junior,” I asked just as my dad arrived with a frying pan.

He took in the fact that the man in front of me was on his knees clutching his equipment and looked at me wide-eyed. I nodded and he tossed the frying pan on the bed and moved to sit down on the bed when Raleigh spoke.

“Our father is in the bathroom downstairs. We are protected because we had permission to come in here from someone who was half asleep downstairs on that nice and soft sofa. If we had not gotten that person’s permission we would have left. Junior is just being a dick and wants to land himself in a nice, cozy jail cell,” Raleigh said and I raised an eyebrow.

“Okay why isn’t your dad not up here with you because I know my daughter has a restraining order against one of you boys,” my dad said and I nodded in agreement.

“I do have a restraining order against the one on his knees so he really shouldn’t be here,” I said and my dad looked at me and Junior.

My dad noticed the cut on his head and swore as he noticed it was the same cut I had just on the opposite side of his face from mine. I heard footsteps on the stairs and moved out of the way so Senior could come into the room and take stock of the damage done to his son. I sat down on the bed next to my dad and laid my head on his shoulder. Then I noticed the package on the bedside table. I picked it up and shook it and when nothing bad happened I tore off the paper and stared at the intricate and antique jewel encrusted box. I opened it and found a beautiful diamond ring that also had to be antique. The ring was set with diamond’s and turquoise stones and when I put it on it fit my finger perfectly.

“The ring was my great-great-grandmother’s and since you are eighteen in three minutes I thought now would be as good a time as any to give you the ring,” Senior said and I smiled.

“So let me guess it’s also an engagement ring isn’t it,” I asked and he nodded sheepishly.

“Whoa, wait a minute! My daughter is too young to be getting married. She hasn’t even gone to college yet,” my dad said sending me into a fit of giggles.

“According to laws in her home state she is old enough to make decisions for herself and if she wants to take me up on the offer she can. I am more than willing to pay for her to go to college and take care of the child that she has with my idiot of a son. I will also pay for her expenses such as bills and food. She will not have to ask for anything because she will have the best of everything,” Senior said and I stared at him wide-eyed.  

“I wouldn’t have to ask for anything,” I asked in disbelief.

“Not a single thing,” he said and I smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind marriage,” I said and Raleigh smiled.

“Oh I should warn you that my youngest three are the resident pranksters. If you’re missing anything like makeup the girls are most likely using it on the boys,” Senior said, and I laughed.

I got up and placed the jewel encrusted box in a small box that I kept locked and I turned to Senior with a small smile playing at my lips. I looked towards Junior and an even bigger smile came to life on my face. Senior looked at the smile on my face and his eyes went wide.

“No you cannot treat him like a slave. You can do that only when he comes home and says that he is on the Patriots or even worse the Cowboys. Only when I disown him can you treat him like that,” Senior said and I sighed.

“That’s not why I was smiling,” I said and he looked at me confused.

“I was smiling because I found a problem in the family dynamic,” I said and cracked up.

“Uh-oh,” my dad said and busted out laughing as well.

“What is the problem in the family dynamic,” Junior asked.

“Stepmom/ Junior’s baby momma,” I said and Junior looked at his dad in horror before looking at me and he busted out laughing.

“You’re going to be my new mom,” Junior asked between laughs.

“It seems like it and I am a year younger than you so it is a lot easier for me to get along with teenagers,” I said.

“Does that mean I could get away with whatever I do wrong,” Raleigh asked me with a hopeful smile on his face.

I shook my head and his lower lip slipped into a pout as his father turned to stare at him with an incredulous look on his face. I turned to my father and gestured at my things clearly at a loss for how I was going to transport them with me back to Senior’s house. He shrugged and got up and left the room and I sighed and sat down on the bed in frustration.

“What’s wrong,” Senior asked me and I shook my head.

“I have so much crap that I would have to take the RV back to your house and unload it and bring it back here without a scratch on it,” I said and my dad came back inside the room.

“My parent’s said the RV is hers and if she wants to leave she can leave. She is eighteen now after all,” my dad said.

I hugged my dad and left the RV for a few minutes to say goodbye to my grandparents as well as a quick thank you for them coming in with the military. I hugged them both and patted the dog’s head and turned to leave the house when there was a soft yapping sound coming from the kitchen area. I walked over to the kitchen and my heart broke at the sight of the little white puppy that was standing behind the doggy gate. I picked him up and rubbed behind his ears and he quieted down.

“You can have him if you want. He was the runt of the litter and no one wanted him because he has yet to gain his spots like the rest of the litter,” my grandmother said and I smiled.

“Thanks Mimi. I will take good care of him,” I said and she nodded.

I turned around and my grandfather followed me out with some soft dog food and a bag of hard dog food and a bowl. I held the RV door open for him and he set the supplies down on the table and my new fiancé came down the stairs to see what was going on. I held out the puppy for him to see and he smiled at me with an encouraging smile. After my grandfather left the RV I went upstairs and laid down on my bed with the puppy in my arms. My dad came upstairs one last time and gave me an address book. I opened it and found the phone number for my family and the address so I would never have to do an internet search to get the address. I hugged my dad one last time and I watched from the window as my dad went inside the house. After that Senior pulled away from the curb and I went downstairs to see if the boys were following in a car. But they were sitting on the sofa looking depressed until they saw the puppy in my arms and they started to smile. I couldn’t wait until we got to Senior’s house in Florida and I became the new Mrs. Johnson.

The Fight

At a quarter to midnight I went back upstairs and went to sleep as we crossed the New Mexico border into Texas. I had just fallen asleep when the RV made a sharp turn and I fell off of the bed with a thud. I laid there for a few seconds assessing the damage and the RV came to a stop and the motor was turned off. I heard footsteps on the stairs and Raleigh poked his head into the room. He took in the fact that I wasn’t moving and hollered for his dad who came running up the stairs in a rush.

“I think you killed her, dad,” Raleigh said and