Innocent

Chapter Nineteen

"Mom's going to kill all of us when she sees that we abandoned her at the court hearing," Luke said very nervous. I winced when I heard the screams of Marissa and wanted to block my ears.

"Shouldn't you be in there?" I questioned. Luke nodded his head and licked his lips. "Why not?"

"What assistance would I be?" he asked. "I can't even look at blood without squealing like a fat pig. I passed out once when you had loose teeth when you were little." I raised my eyebrows but remained quiet as the disturbance of the yelling grew quieter and a little baby whimpering came in the distance.

Luke immediately ran for the door but I heard a groan when he was handed the baby. I shut my eyes for a moment and breathed in while trying to comprehend why our dad was doing the labor instead of Luke. Aaron came and sat by me but he didn't say anything.

"You do realize you have to be in there for the final ruling, right?" Aaron asked. I nodded my head and attempted to chew my nails a bit before I looked over at Aaron. "Is your mom going to pick you up?"

"Most likely. My dad called a while ago and gave me a face." I shrugged my shoulders and remained silent with Aaron as we listened to Luke muttering profanities under his breath.

Eventually when they were done, Luke and my dad came out but ushered me inside. I was confused when they closed the door behind me but sat beside Marissa as I looked at her. Her hair was gross and she was sweating nervously. I didn't even want to look at her like that but she already started talking so I couldn't just leave her like that.

"I obviously won't be there for the rest of the court hearing and I'm sorry that you had to wait so long to get the justice you deserve." She squirmed in her bed so that she could turn and look at me. She smiled a bit and breathed in heavily. "I'm really sorry that you had to sit out on the bench for five hours. I honestly thought that you would've been gone by now." I was slightly offended but didn't say anything as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "I mean, I thought court hearings were done in a couple of minutes, at least the ending." She shrugged her shoulders for a minute and I copied her movement. "So do you want to know what we decided to name our girl?" she asked.

I smiled down at her but didn't really care to hear the details of what they named her. I was just ecstatic to know that they had a girl. I mean, I could've dealt with a little boy but I always wanted a sister. This will probably be the closest to a little sister I'll ever get. The only problem with being a girl is when she becomes a teenager.

Inside my head, I wondered if she would be one of those types of girls who are popular but a snob or a really nice shy girl. I wondered if she would be smart or athletic. Or both!

As my mind raced with ideas, I didn't register that Marissa's mouth was moving until my mind went blank and my face felt pale. I gulped and looked back down at Marissa to make sure she knew what she was saying. She nodded her head and I felt some sweat appearing on my forehead.

"We named her Chloe." She smiled sweetly at me but in that moment, she seemed extremely quiet. She seemed like she didn't want to explain why she had named her child after me but at the same time, she didn't want to stop talking about it. "After you."

"But... why?" I questioned. Marissa pressed her lips together hard and then shook her head slightly. She turned the overhead TV off so that we could be in serious talking mode and she only slightly smiled. I think she was a fed up that I didn't know why at first.

"I want my daughter to be like you." She smiled at me again but rested her head against the pillow and closing her eyes. I was guessing she was tired since the next minute she fell asleep and was snoring louder than ever.