Lahat ng Kabanata ng More Than Just Her Stepfather: Kabanata 161 - Kabanata 170

SimonWhen I woke up the next morning, I immediately checked my phone. I had tossed and turned all night. It didn’t feel right to know that Dad and Auntie were at the hospital. Before we had gone to bed, Aunt Caroline had informed us that Naomi had gone into labor. I had expected her to wake us up at some point to tell us that Auntie and both babies were okay. But my rough night wasn’t just because they were in the hospital. It was also about the fact that when they came home, there would be two more people I would need to protect. After I got dressed, I jogged down the hall to the dining room, where Aunt Caroline had all three girls already sitting at the table, eating cereal.“Simon, you’re awake,” she told me. “Grab a bowl and eat breakfast.”As I was walking across the room to follow her instructions, I nonchalantly asked, “Have you heard from Dad and Aunt Naomi?”“I have, yes. I was asked to bring you guys to the hospital after you’ve all eaten,” she told me, making me turn aroun

I gave Rip an irritated look before marching into the house, where I immediately drew up short when I saw Becky and Jess dressed as Ariel and Elsa. I blinked in surprise.“What’s going on?” I asked.“Daddy’s taking us trick-or-treating,” Becky announced.I glanced at Rip, who was shifting his weight beside the door. “But it’s November. There’s no trick-or-treating tonight. Besides, didn’t Aunt Caroline and Uncle Jon take you out on Halloween?”Rip gently set the carseat he was carrying down on the floor before lifting Becky to his shoulder. “I promised them that I would take them trick-or-treating, but you were so sick and having a rough time during Halloween that I didn’t keep my promise. I told them that after you gave birth, I would take them trick-or-treating.”“But how?” I asked. “No one is going to be handing out–”The doorbell rang, making me fall silent as Caroline pulled the door to reveal a little vampire and a fairy standing just outside with little pumpkin bags held out.“

RipI smiled softly as I stood by the door, listening to Naomi and Simon talk about relationships. I was happy to know that he was trying to be a good man. When I first walked into the kitchen on that fateful day, I had been worried that the events of that day would negatively affect him. During all the conversations I had with him, I was glad that he had absorbed the most important lesson I could ever teach him, which was that while a person couldn’t control how they felt about a certain situation. The only thing they could control was how they reacted to their emotions. When Becky cuddled into Simon’s side to comfort him, I couldn’t help but melt at the way he loved not just her, but all of the women in our family.He was always helping Naomi with everything he could. He loved Becky just as much as he loved Jess and treated her like she was his little sister, too. Hell, he was even willing to give his life to protect Alex. Just the fact that he had asked Naomi about how it felt to h

RipBy the end of dinner, my heart was full of happiness. I knew my conversations with Jon were going to be completely different now. They were no longer going to be his venting about not having met his daughter or not being fully committed to Caroline. I was happy for him. Everything was finally falling into place for him, albeit slowly, but surely. He was so happy to finally be able to spend time with Angel. His joy was infectious.But it wasn’t just Jon. It was Becky, Simon, and Jess, too. After informing Caroline and Sarah that Jon and I wanted to pay for houses and cars for them, Sarah had burst into tears, thanking me profusely. No matter how much I told her that it wasn’t a problem, and I was happy to do it for her. I was proud of her for leaving such an abusive relationship and trying to do better for her kids. The only issue that had arisen with my offer was with Simon, who had gotten extremely upset.I expected Sarah to get upset with his sudden hesitancy to move back home w

“A sugarbaby website?” I repeated slowly. “Why?”“I don’t know! I was angry. Growing up, I had an amazing father. Mom’s first husband was an amazing man. He loved me like I was his own, but I always knew that he wasn’t my biological father. He wasn’t nasty about it, but he had always known that while my mother loved him, she wasn’t in love with him, but that was okay, because he felt the same way. They both knew that while his first wife and my father were who they really wanted to be with. His first wife had passed away in an accident, and even though there was no hope that he would ever be with her again, we all knew that if my father ever came back into the picture, my stepfather would have let her go and encouraged her to make up with him.” She paused to sigh heavily, and I could feel her pain.I could tell that she had adored her stepfather. I was happy that even though she hadn’t had Jon in her life to love her, she had someone who loved her and showed her how a man was supposed