The Single Mother

Chapter 8- Phoenix King- No Way!

Sensitive topic- read at your own risk!

I awoke suddenly due to the boisterous rattling of my front door. Scrambling to answer it, a thought dawned on me that it was most likely Talla and Sianna, waiting to move into their new home... that's when I remembered that I was half naked and my living room was a complete pigsty as I fell asleep on the couch last night because of the case I'm going over. 

Taking a glance through my thick front door's peep-hole I breathed out a breath of relief to find it none other than Mr Knight, with a trolley of boxed waiting to be piled inside. "Come in Casey, just watch your step when you get to the living room, I had a late night last night working on the case and ended up sleeping in there."

A grunt was my only response, so I presumed that already Casey regrets signing up his daughter to marry me, which is ultimately my goal over the next 24 hours, just to see if I can force the marriage to be cancelled and then I don't have to go through with this BS.

Shrugging my shoulders I hurriedly scrambled around the room, picking up all the loose papers off the floor and placing them, neatly back into their correct folders before climbing the stairs and throwing on a grey sweatshirt. It wasn't a look I'd ever want to be seen in public in, but I guess it'll do for today's agenda.  

"Talla will be coming at around 10 today. She just has to quickly hand in her keys and drop a few things off into donation." Casey informed me before leaving without another word.

...

Ten o'clock came slowly and just to make time pass a little quicker I hopped back into the wide web and attempted another Google search of Talla and her backstory. Maybe I'd find out who this rapist really is or if she has a boyfriend and is being forced into doing this because her parents are in debt or trying to steal the business from my family.

As I scrolled past the countless articles of her family, I finally found one that sounded a little of interest: TALLA KNIGHT RAPED AND THE RAPIST GETS AWAY. Immediately I clicked on the article and was taken aback by the picture of the joyful, innocent and glamorous girl that Talla once resembled. Reading on I discovered how the incident happened, with Talla walking home from a party and stopping in front of a bar. According to the statement, she was grabbed by a drunk man and, while screaming for help, he bashed her until she blacked out. Once she awoke, she discovered she was in hospital and was pregnant.

Another photo popped up as the news article continued, this time it was the picture of the rapist who was convicted of the disguising crime. The caption under the picture claimed: Cody Callester, the accused of the crime, gets away with the felony of raping the young daughter of Casey and Phoebe Knight, Talla Knight.

No! It couldn't be! My arch nemesis... is supposedly the father of Talla's daughter? The sound of my doorbell ringing profusely shook the dark thoughts from my mind and I slowly went to answer it.

Talla stood there, looking unimpressed as usual, with Sianna draped across her hip. Looking at her reminded me of the photo I saw in the article written about her and it made me realize how having Sianna had made her look tired and older than she actually was.

"So do you want me to move the boxes to the rooms and then for me to get ready or do you have maids, at your hands and knees to do all this for you?" Talla asked, not a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

...

"The boxes are all finished, you can get ready in the master bathroom, if you want, while I use the guest bathroom." I assured Talla, after the boxes were safely removed from the living room floor the Sianna's new nursery and playroom. "We can continue this unpacking adventure at a later date, currently the engagement party is more important."

She looked conflicted about something and it took all my strength not to ask what was on her mind, especially if it was about her past. So instead I raised my eyebrows, which she must have interpreted as menacingly because her gaze instantly dropped to the floor and she just nodded her head instead of giving me her usual fiery, smart ass answers.  

"What? Cat got your tongue?" I asked cheekily, hoping to get a word out of her, even if it riled her up a little.

"I don't have anything nice to wear to this party. I don't know how to do make-up and Sianna doesn't have anything nice to wear either... also I don't know where the master bathroom is." Talla retorted, gaining a little confidence, though not much, and it was in that moment I realized that she wasn't scared of me but she was scared of the aspect of the party and that she now had to impress the guests.

...

There's something about Talla always being late that both annoys me and makes me admire her her in the slightest way possible. Never in my life had I seen someone show up to an important meeting late and not be fazed by it... and yet here she was doing it for the second time.

The guests were starting to get grizzly at me because of the missing bride-to-be situation and the parents... they weren't pleased on both of our parts. My parents kept coming around to check that Talla hadn't run away and Talla's parents were keeping check on me because I was the one holding Sianna, who was joyfully laughing and grabbing a hold of my tie and yanking it, so it nearly choked me.

Finally, the time came when the soft, whimsical music abruptly stopped and all the guests began staring in one direction. Talla had decided that she'd make her entry in a midnight blue dress which was paired with fake diamond heels. Her hair was cascading down her shoulders and ended in light curls and her make-up was plain and simplistic, yet it made her look as vibrant as she did in the picture of the news article I had read earlier that day.

Watching her slowly make her way down those stairs, made me want to help her and her daughter. They have obviously been living in a tough life and neither deserved that fate. If I married Talla, even just for the recommended two years.

***   

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-OceanBlues