Speechless: REWRITTEN

4. Dahlia

Roscoe

Macie Creed is a force to be reckoned with.

I could only explain myself with examples from history. The Creed name comes from a long history of wealthy business owners and shareholders who amassed large sums of money that they retire with, and then pass down to their children, along with the knowledge to double their sums throughout their lives. The goal of the family is making it to the millions ranks, marry someone of equal ranking, have many children who can carry on the family name, and then repeat down the lineage.

With that backstory in mind, Macie Creed took this to heart. My father, Spencer, handpicked this woman from her own wealthy family to be his ideal trophy wife. I've seen pictures of my mom when she was around my age, which coincidentally was around the time my parents married. She had Rapunzel-like dark hair and warm eyes and a playfulness to her demeanor. My father was five years her senior, so I could only image they had a very energizing relationship before she subjected herself to the family name.

Shortly after they married, they had my older brother, Damien, me—the middle child—and my younger sister, Louisa. Damien has gone on to open his own winery in Maryland and Louisa is finishing up college to pursue acting and modeling. Oddly enough, when Louisa told our parents that was her plan, they didn't bat an eyelash, but the moment 'music' came out of my mouth, you could see the disappointment all over their face. But since Damien and Louisa have the capabilities to make the millions the Creed family needs to continue the lineage, they just don't care about my life progress anymore.

Unless, of course, it involves me getting married and having kids that will pick up where I didn't leave off.

The last I heard, Damien is in a committed relationship with his high school sweetheart and Louisa isn't looking for anyone. Me, being a hopeless romantic, always finds the good in every girl that glances at me. Yes, it's a problem, and yes, I do need to deal with it, but seeing as I'm still young-ish, there's no rush. Damien is thirty and still unwedded, so I don't feel all that bad.

If I had to describe Macie as a mother, I would say...she has the family goal in mind, and that very much conflicts with the moral roads in which society has invented.

Let me give you an example.

In high school, I went to junior prom with a senior girl I had been dating for a couple of weeks. When I told Macie about her, she did a thorough background check on the poor girl, including asking around my school to get every single gruesome detail about her past and future plans. My girlfriend at the time found out about it and proceeded to dump me. Another instance, my mother took the liberty of signing me up for every possible college for music in the country that had a rating of four and a half or more stars. She claimed she was supporting my 'decision'—with air quotes and everything—and I should be thankful.

It wasn't fun receiving six rejection letters in the same week. To this day, I still feel like Juilliard only accepted me because they're terrified of my mother.

I just can't deal with her, so I worked my ass off during college to get my own place once I left. And no, it's not the best apartment and it's not in the safest part of Manhattan, but I haven't gotten robbed or shot yet, so that's a good thing.

So, imagine my God damn surprise when there's a knock on my door and on the other side is Macie Creed, shoving her way into the room.

"This street is terrifying!" she chastises me, glaring. "Every time I come here, I feel like I need to bring pepper spray."

"Hello, mom. I'm fine, thanks. To what do I owe the pleasure of this pleasant visit?" I deadpan. She smiles at me, relieved that she's out of harm's way now. Her once-Rapunzel hair is now shoulder length and she wears slacks and a white blouse.