January 1, 2013,
I was just getting back to Neverland after filming the pilot episode of "my stepbrother is a secret agent" and I'm excited because this new job has way better work hours than my music career does. I'm not saying that I'm giving up on music but, I do need a break from it for a while and surprisingly my manager Frank took the news very well.
It was just a little after 10 o'clock in the morning when I walked through the front door and Kyle was in the kusina making pancakes. I walked up behind him and kissed his neck as he sinabi "I can already tell that I'm going to like having you tahanan so early every day!" Carter ran into the room and pretty much jumped into my arms with excitement.
I helped Kyle set the mesa and all of us sat down to eat breakfast. Kyle sinabi as he helped Carter cut his pancakes "we have to start thinking about when we're going to tell your family about our engagement. They haven't even seen Neverland since we moved in. I think everyone's long overdue for a visit; don't you?" I sinabi "Prince, Blanket, and Paris yes… My other family members not so much! They always cause problems when it is definitely not necessary!" He sinabi "just think about it because you can't keep them away forever babe!" I sinabi "I know that; I just think we should invite them over tomorrow and get all this over with! I'm perfectly fine with having my siblings come over here anytime they want to; even if they wanted to sleep over! I would pag-ibig that!"
January 2, 2013,
Kyle had just walked in carrying four boxes of pizza in his arms when my family members pulled into the driveway. I rolled my eyes and sinabi sarcastically "oh joy; this is going to be fun!" I opened up the door and was surprised to see that it was only my aunt Latoya and of my siblings. I sinabi as I hugged each of them "I'm a little surprised that grandma didn't at least come!" Aunt Latoya sinabi "she couldn't deal with coming here and remembering how happy your dad was when he was living here." I sinabi sympathetically "I understand; there's plenty of time for her to visit us!"
As we sat down at the table, I reached for a piece of pizza and Paris noticed my engagement ring. She looked at my aunt and asked "is that a promise ring AJ? Please tell me that's just a promise ring!" I sinabi "it's not a promise ring Paris; it's an engagement ring!" Paris sinabi almost seeming to be in denial "engagement ring as in engaged to be married?" I sinabi "yes; that would be why it's called an engagement ring!" My aunt’s eyes widened as she stared at me with a stunned look on her face. She sinabi "engagement ring; really Kyle? Are you sure you're ready for such a big commitment at 19 years old?" Kyle responded "if it was any other girl, I wouldn't have proposed so quickly; but I'm truly in pag-ibig with AJ and always will be!" Aunt Latoya asked "you know that Carter's part of the deal if you marry AJ right?"
We moved into the living room and Kyle continued the conversation sa pamamagitan ng saying "of course I do!" I sinabi "Carter calls him daddy and says that he is his daddy!" Aunt Latoya laughed and asked "yeah; but how much of the dirty work that goes along with parenting are you doing Kyle?" I sinabi "I don't know who told you that the two of us aren't good parents! I'm assuming from my uncles… Don't believe everything that they say because they blow everything out of proportion!" She sinabi "they told me that Carter still drinks out of a baby bottle and wears diapers!" I sinabi "they haven't seen him in months! They don't know what they're talking about! We may be teenage parents; but I think we're doing a pretty good job at it! He doesn't drink from a bottle anymore!" She asked "well; what about the diaper situation?" I sinabi "they are completely gone for your information! I would think that you out of all people wouldn't believe everything that comes out of some of the family's mouths!" She sinabi "it's not that I believed them; it's just that you're just a teenager who doesn't really know anything about parenting."
I furrowed my eyebrows because I was quite offended sa pamamagitan ng what my aunt had just sinabi and sinabi "just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean that I can't figure it out!" She sinabi "I didn't mean for that to sound rude." I sinabi wanting to let it go "it did sound rude; but that's alright!" Prince asked as he looked at me "you do realize that most of the family is going to flip out about this whole you and Kyle getting married thing; right?" I sinabi "that's alright; they always complain about something that I do or don't do. I'm used to sa pamamagitan ng now!" Paris sinabi "I have a feeling that some of them won't come to the wedding just because they want to annoy you AJ." I sinabi "I really don't care anymore! I've seen firsthand how two-faced they can be and I don't really want to associate with them! I can see why dad kept us a ligtas distance away from them!" Kyle sinabi "all I care about is that I get married to AJ! It doesn't matter what it takes! I know that she is the one for me and other people's opinions don't matter!"
January 3, 2013,
It was barely 7 in the morning when Kyle and I were woken up sa pamamagitan ng this loud banging noise coming from outside. Kyle rubbed his eyes and asked "what the hell is that noise babe?" I forced myself out of kama and looked out the window. I sinabi "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" Kyle asked "what is it?" I bit my bottom lip in anger as I sinabi "my uncles are outside ramming their fucking car into the front gate!" Kyle looked out the window and shook his head in disbelief as I put my slippers on. Kyle asked "where are you going?" I asked "where do you think I'm going? I'm going to find out what the hell their problem is!" He sinabi "I don't think that's a good idea AJ! Maybe I should just call the cops!" I sinabi "the cops aren't going to get through to them; they never do! I'm going down there to deal with this myself!" He sinabi "then I'm going with you to back you up!" I quickly looked into Carter's bedroom and noticed that he was still sleeping.
Kyle and I walked up to the front gate outside in our pajamas. Once they saw us coming, my uncles got out of the car and Marlon sinabi "you guys better not get married! We totally disapprove of all of this!" Jermaine asked "what are you two thinking? You guys are only a couple of stupid teenagers!" I sinabi "first of all, what the hell are you doing ramming into the gate like that? segundo of all, you guys don't really have a lot of room to talk! Each of you doesn’t know how to respect a woman!" Randy sinabi "yes we do and we know a whole lot madami about pag-ibig than you do!" I sinabi "really? Last time I checked all of you have either several failed marriages or a marriage in shambles!" Jackie sinabi "if you and Kyle go through with this wedding, all of us will be there to protest!" Kyle laughed and sinabi "you really think we care about your approval; newsflash we don't!"
I looked at the damage that had been afflicted on the gate and sinabi "you guys are going to be paying for this!" Tito sinabi "you make millions and millions of dollars; pay for it yourself!" I sinabi "if I don't receive a check in the mail from you within the susunod week, I will be pressing charges for property damage and attempted trespassing!" Jackie sinabi "I don't believe you'll actually go through with it; but whatever helps you sleep at night!"
They all got back into the car and drove off in the other direction. I looked at Kyle in complete disbelief and asked "are they really that immature?" Kyle sinabi "apparently!" I sinabi "I know how my dad was with confrontation of any kind and he must've been terrified of my uncles!!! They don't scare me at all and I was being dead serious when I sinabi that I'm going to press charges on them if they don’t give me the money to repair the gate! Dad probably would've let them get away with it just to keep the peace; but I'm not like that and they'll learn their lesson quickly! I don't know how many times I have to say or do something until they realize not to mess with me! I'm so sick of the ridiculousness they cause! They are grown men and need to start pagganap like it because I'm getting fed up with their crap!"
February 11, 2013,
I was sitting in the living room watching TV with Carter while Kyle did some maintenance work on my truck when I got a phone call from Prince. I answered it and asked "what's up? I miss you guys!" He sinabi "you know my 16th birthday is coming up and I don't really have anything planned. Blanket was thinking of what he would want to do for his 11th birthday and he brought up the idea of hanging out at Neverland to have a sleepover together." I sinabi "it's funny that you bring that up because I was just talking to Kyle the other araw about having a sleepover with the three of you!" Prince asked "so does that mean Blanket, Paris, and I can sleepover at Neverland?" I sinabi "of course; but instead of just staying one night since tomorrow's Friday, you guys should just stay for the whole weekend!" I could hear Paris in the background asking "is AJ going to let us stay the night at Neverland? I haven't been there since 2005 and I've been dying to go over there since I found out she owns the ranch!" Prince sinabi "the entire weekend is even better! We'll be there around 4 o'clock tomorrow! Thank you so much AJ!" I sinabi "you don't need to thank me Prince! I miss you guys and can't wait to see you! Carter needs help with something; so I have to get off the phone now. I'll see the three of you tomorrow." He sinabi "okay AJ; we pag-ibig you and can't wait to spend the whole weekend at the ranch!"
February 12, 2013,
Kyle had just gotten back from picking up the Chinese pagkain we ordered and we were waiting for my siblings to get here; so we could start the weekend long sleep over at Neverland. I opened the front gate from a keypad inside the house as a car pulled up in front of the entrance to the ranch and dropped them off. As I welcomed Blanket, Paris, and Prince inside, I noticed Paris had dramatically changed her appearance from the last time I had seen her. She died her hair black and had it cut in a punk rock style. I stared at her in silence for a few segundos trying to come up with the right words to say and I sinabi "it's a little surprising to see this new side of you that I didn't know existed; but I like it!" She thanked me and we all sat down at the mesa to start eating.
I asked "how are things going for you guys over at grandma's?" Blanket sinabi "it was really fun in the beginning; but now she's hardly ever around anymore!" I asked "what do you mean?" Paris sinabi "ever since our uncles and Janet kidnapped her over the summer, they've been watching her like a hawk! I'm assuming you saw the video of me and Aunt Janet arguing in the driveway at Havenhurst! She took my phone away when I tried to reach out for help when we hadn't heard from grandma in a few days! I was really worried about her; Prince and I both were!" Prince sinabi "I was going to call you AJ; but there's not much you can do from halfway around the world!" I sinabi "you still could've called me! I told you that if you ever needed anything that I would be there for you; no matter what!" Paris sinabi "I am so sick of all this drama! The biggest reason we wanted to come over here was to get away from the rest of the family!" I sinabi "I know how you feel because they had been harassing Kyle and me ever since they found out about the two of us planning to get married! They leave nasty notes in the mailbox and try to scare us with their threats." Prince sinabi "it's probably only going to get worse after you two get married! All they do when they come over to our house is complain about you and Kyle! It's really starting to make me mad!" I asked "why; what do they say about me and Kyle?" Prince sinabi "they say that you're really immature and that Kyle doesn't know the real side of who you are AJ!" Kyle sinabi "they don't even know what they're talking about! I can guarantee you that I know madami about AJ then all of them combined!" I sinabi "they only see what they want to see! They bring out the anger in me! Very few people can make me that mad!" Paris sinabi "after you pressed charges on them for damage to the front gate and attempted trespassing, they flipped out! It was only a $500 fine or they could have fought you in court over it! I couldn't believe they actually thought about taking it to court instead of paying 500 bucks! It would've only been $100 each for them to pay the fine equally! I don't understand why they would want to make a big deal out of nothing!" I sinabi "it's because they just want to get as much money as they can from me! That's the only motive they have and that's all they care about!" Kyle sinabi "I really hope that you guys try to stay away from them as much is possible because they are up to no good!" I sinabi "alright; enough with all this drama; let's have some fun!"
I started to ipakita them around the house and Prince noticed the grand piano sitting in the corner of the living room. He asked "is that the same piano that was here when we all lived here?" I sinabi "yes; it is!" He ran his fingers across the keys and sinabi "I remember that all of us would sit on the floor while dad played us some songs a little while before we went to bed." I sinabi "yeah; and you and I would argue over who would sit on his lap! I've kind of forgotten all the songs that daddy taught me when I was little." Blanket sinabi "I wish I wasn't three years old when we moved out of here because I don't really remember anything dad did with us here." I sinabi "that's alright Blanket; I bet you still have a lot of fun memories with daddy in the other places we lived in together!" He sinabi "I still have some memories; but I'm forgetting most of them because I was only seven when he died!" I sinabi after thinking about it for a few minutos "follow me you guys; I have an idea!"
Blanket, Prince, Paris, Carter, Kyle, and I all walked down from the main house to the personal movie theater that was on the ranch. Kyle and I haven't set foot inside it since we moved to the ranch and this seemed like the perfect excuse too! We walked inside and saw the concession stand that the few staff members I hired a couple of weeks nakaraan had stalked full of candy. The papkorn machine was already running and the buttery smell filled the air around us. Blanket asked "this was really our own movie theater AJ? I sinabi "yeah; it's pretty cool!" Paris asked "why did you want to bring us to the movie theater?" I opened a nearby door and we walked into the screening room. Kyle sat down with Carter on his lap and helped him open up a package of maasim gummy worms.
10 minutos later, I came in carrying a huge stack of videotapes and Blanket asked "what are you doing AJ?" I sinabi "you'll see in a minute" as I popped a videotape into the VHS machine that was installed in the wall. I sat down in the chair susunod to Prince and a tahanan video started playing.
*In the tahanan video, dated at the bottom of the screen February 18, 2001*
Dad, Prince, and I were all sitting on the couch. I asked "daddy; why do you have to leave tomorrow?" He responded as he looked down at me "you know I have to work AJ. I wish I could stay every single day; but I do have to leave every once in a while to make money." Prince sinabi "I'm going to miss you too much daddy! I don't want you to leave!" Dad sinabi "I know mansanas head; but I have to! You're going to have fun here with Grace; I promise!" I sinabi "you always say that we'll have fun while you're gone; but we never do! It's so much madami fun when you're tahanan daddy or when you take us with you on your trips!" He sinabi "I know AJ; but I can't always take you with me; especially because there are three of you now and I can't leave Prince and Paris behind!" I sinabi "I know; I'm just going to miss you tucking me into kama every night and playing hide and seek!" He sinabi "I'm only going to be gone for three days and then I'll be back!" I asked "you're still going to help me get ready for kama tonight; right? He sinabi "I always do!"
The video cuts off for a few segundos and then continues onto ipakita dad lying susunod to me in my bed. I asked "am I going to be able to see you tomorrow morning before you leave?" He sinabi "I don't think so sweetheart because I'm leaving really early in the morning!" I asked "daddy; can I ask you something?" He sinabi "of course you can!" I asked "what's it like to be in love?" He had a surprised look on his face that such a big tanong could come from a six-year-old. He pondered it back and forth in his mind for a few minutos before saying "it depends on what kind of pag-ibig you're asking about." I asked "what kinds of pag-ibig are there?" He sinabi "well; there's pag-ibig like what I have for you and your brother and sister. Like the way a mommy or daddy loves their children. Then there's tuta love." I sinabi "I know what you mean; like when a boy dog and a girl dog pag-ibig each other!" He chuckled and sinabi "no; that's not what tuta pag-ibig is! tuta pag-ibig is when two young people think they might pag-ibig each other." I sinabi "oh; are there any madami kinds of love?" He sinabi "there is one more." I asked "what's it called?" He responded after waiting a few segundos "true love." I asked "how do you know the difference between true pag-ibig and regular love?" He sinabi "trust me; when the time comes you'll know the difference! You'll just be able to tell! Why are you asking me all these tanong about love?" I sinabi "I don't know; I was just wondering." He sinabi after lightly pecking my lips "oh okay; just as long as you don't go out and fall in pag-ibig with any boys anytime soon! Your daddy's little girl and if it were up to me you wouldn't petsa any boys until you turned 50 years old!"
*Video ends*
I definitely understand what true pag-ibig is supposed to feel like now because I'm truly in pag-ibig with Kyle. It's funny how dad just knew that someday I would figure this whole being in pag-ibig thing out! I put another videotape in the VHS and pressed play.
*In the video dated at the bottom of the screen March 1, 1999*
Dad looks directly into the camera and says "hello world; I just want to ipakita you what I have to deal with on a daily basis." He points the camera in my direction and asks "do you know why you're in timeout this time AJ? I sinabi "I don't care! Shut up; you stupid daddy!" He sternly sinabi "stop that right now! You don't tell me to shut up or call me stupid; that's not nice at all!" I started taking off one of my shoes and pretended like I was going to throw it at him. He sinabi "don't even think about it AJ!" I laughed as I threw my left shoe directly into the camera lens and just barely missing his face. He asked "why would you do that AJ?" I stuck my tongue out at him and sinabi "because you told me not to; that's why!" He sighed with frustration and sinabi "it doesn't matter how many times I put you in the corner; it always turns into a battle! Do I need to go over there and hold you on my lap until you calm down?" I sinabi "I AM CALMED DOWN!!!" He sinabi "no you're not and what did I tell you about yelling in this house? Do we yell here?" I sinabi "NO!!!" He calmly asked "then why are you still yelling at me Alanna?" I sinabi "BECAUSE YOU WON'T LET ME OUT OF TIMEOUT!!!" He sinabi "you yelling at me won't get you any closer to being out of Timeout! You know that yelling at me isn't going to bother me AJ."
I started crying and he sinabi "that's not going to work anymore either!" I sinabi "you're a mean daddy!" He sinabi "that's not a nice thing to say to me. Do you realize that if you just calm down you would already be out of the corner?" I sinabi "JUST SHUT UP DADDY!!!" He sinabi "stop telling me to shut up Alanna Michael Jackson! I hope you're not in timeout for three hours straight like you were earlier."
*Video ends*
Prince sinabi "I can't believe you use to talk to dad like that!" Paris sinabi "yeah I know AJ; and then you threw your shoe at daddy's head!" I sinabi "I used to be really out of control; but since I had Carter I have calmed down a lot! I've only gotten into a few fights since then and try my best to avoid situations where I would have to fight. Before, I would go looking for someone to start a fight with; just so I could prove that I was stronger than them! I hate to say it but, I think the fact that dad isn't physically here anymore has caused me to grow up a lot just because he isn't there to protect me from a bad situation that I put myself in anymore!"
February 13, 2013,
We were all sitting around the mesa eating the birthday cake I bought for Prince and I sinabi "so little brother; I saw the picture of the police officer Pagsulat you a ticket for the way you parked one of the cars!" He laughed and sinabi "cut me some slack AJ; this whole driving thing is new to me!" I sinabi "I know; I just like messing with you!" He asked "I still have to finish a few madami hours of driving with an adult in the car before I can go for my official driving test and I was wondering if you would ride around with me in the car today?" I sinabi "sure; Kyle will you stay here with my brother and sister and Carter while I go with Prince?" He sinabi "that's fine babe; I don't know what all of us are going to do; but we'll have fun!" Carter sinabi "daddy; can we go swimming in the pool?" Paris sinabi "that sounds like fun!" I sinabi "alright; you guys have fun! Prince and I will be back in a few hours."
Prince climbed into the driver’s upuan in my truck and I sat susunod to him in the passenger's seat. I sinabi "you better not crash my truck because you'll never hear me forgive you!" Prince looked at me horrified and I sinabi “I’m joking! There's no pressure!" He took a sigh of relief and started the truck. As we drove many roads in Santa Barbara, we started to make small talk. Prince asked "so how do you like being an adult?" I sinabi "it doesn't really feel any different to me because ever since grandma kicked me out of her house Kyle and I have pretty much been doing everything on our own. It's definitely weird paying bills and signing documents; but I like having the responsibility. I don't have to depend on other people anymore to make sure that things get done!" He sinabi "grandma really misses you and started to regret making you leave. I think she realizes now that you live at Neverland with Kyle and Carter that you will never ilipat back into her house! I think she knows that dad would have been disappointed in both her and you for letting it get to the point where you need to be on your own pretty much at 17 years old. Dad would never let you go out on your own at that age; let alone take Carter with you! Grandma felt really badly for that and worried about you for days on end until Aunt Latoya called her and told her that the three of you were staying with her." I sinabi "I was never really mad at grandma for kicking me out. Sure, I was mad in the moment; but that's part of my oppositional defiance disorder. I know I deserved to be kicked out of the house because she did warn me about anything going on between Kyle and I. Honestly, I felt really stupid about it afterwards! I wasn't really worried about myself; I was madami worried about Carter!" Prince sinabi "I was really mad at uncle Jermaine for threatening to bring patong lalaki to the pound if you didn't come to pick him up! I actually ended up getting into an argument with him about it! I'm not usually the type to challenge the adults; but that was totally uncalled for!" I sinabi "I'm completely fine with you guys stepping out into the spotlight a little bit; I just don't want it to get in the way of your education because that's what's most important right now! I saw Paris on the Ellen ipakita and heard that you're conducting an interview for entertainment tonight!" Prince sinabi "Blanket isn't really handling not having you living with us that well! Even though he is 11, he cries for you almost every night when he's in his room sa pamamagitan ng himself! I go in there and asking what's wrong; but all he'll tell me is that he misses daddy even madami now that he doesn't see you every day!" I sinabi "well; anytime you guys want to come see me and hang out is fine with me! I get off of work from filming the Nickelodeon ipakita around noon most days." He sinabi "once I get my license we'll visit you a lot more! I don't really like asking people to drive us over to your house because all they do is complain about you!" I sinabi "don't pay any attention to them Prince; they aren't worth it!" He sinabi "it's almost like they forget that you’re my older sister and they criticize you right in front of us! They don't even care about our opinions and the worst part is that they don't even really know us! They may think they do; but they don't!" I sinabi "let them talk bad about me all they want because I don't care and I never will! The only people whose opinion matters to me are Kyle, my siblings, Carter, and dad!"
We pulled back into the driveway at Neverland and got out of the truck. Prince and I walked out to the backyard where the swimming pool is. I sat down on the edge of the pool and let my feet hang over the side into the water. Blanket, Kyle, Paris, and Carter noticed us and I chuckled at how cute Carter looked swimming around with his little Spiderman lifejacket on! Kyle lifted Blanket up and tossed him halfway across the pool. Blanket sinabi as he resurfaced to the tuktok of the water "you should come in AJ!" Carter sinabi "yeah mommy; you should come in!" I sinabi "I think I'm okay up here for now." Kyle asked "Carter; do you want me to make mommy get in the pool?" Carter sinabi "yeah daddy; but how are you going to do that?" He sinabi "you'll see" as he looked at me with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He climbed out of the pool and slowly walked up to me as I laughed. I sinabi "you wouldn't dare!" He chuckled and sinabi "oh; but I would!" I walked backwards and sinabi as I put my arms up to block him from grabbed me "I have a pair of $200 jeans on; don't!" I bumped into Prince as I continuously walked backwards and he playfully pushed me towards Kyle. As Kyle picked me up, I shouted "no, no, no!" I started laughing uncontrollably and grabbed onto Prince's sando as I sinabi "if I'm going in then you're going in with me!"
I pulled Prince just barely inside the pool before Kyle tossed me with all his might across to the deep end. I came up for air and sinabi "you are so dead Kyle!" I climbed out of the pool and went over to where Paris was sitting drying off of the towel. Paris asked "you really are in pag-ibig with Kyle; aren't you?" I sinabi "of course I am! I wouldn't have taken the engagement ring if I wasn't!" She sinabi "I can honestly say that I've never seen you so happy in my life! Kyle is such a great guy and any guy who would father a child that isn't biologically his is amazing to me!" I sinabi "yeah; I know and that's what I wish other people would see!" She sinabi "while you were gone with Prince I finally got to see what you were talking about! He got Carter dressed to go swimming, made sure that he ate enough of his lunch, and he even helped Carter wipe his nose when he sneezed everywhere earlier! He is the only guy I know besides dad that wouldn't hesitate to clean up boogers!" I sinabi "I know; it almost makes the want to cry because that should be Damien! Trust me, I couldn't care less if I ever saw Damien again; but at least Carter has Kyle! It's sad to think that the only father that he's ever known isn't even his father! I just don't want him to know about Damien yet because I don't want him to get his hopes up that Damien will be there! Kyle already does everything that any good daddy would do! I couldn't ask for a better fiancé if I picked him out myself! He watches Carter all araw for me while I'm out living my dream! He picks up pagkain for me and brings it to me at work! He gives Carter a bath four nights a week because we agreed to split that evenly! He cleans up everything and anything that Carter does or plays with; including things that most fathers wouldn't even go near or want anything to do with! I just pag-ibig Kyle so much; it's the kind of pag-ibig that you can't even describe!" Paris sinabi "I think if daddy was here he would totally approve of you getting married to Kyle; even if you guys are only a couple of teenagers!" I asked" just out of curiosity; what if instead of Kyle and me getting married it was Damien? What do you think dad would say?" She sinabi "dad would have a total freak out! He hated Damien for all the pain that he caused you! I'm so glad that you realized that Damien wasn't good for you or Carter! I agree with you on Kyle; I think he's the perfect guy for you and Carter!"
February 14, 2013,
I had just gotten tahanan from work, after an extra-long araw and was just happy to be able to relax. It was 9 o'clock at night when I walked through the front door of the house and all the lights were off. I turned them on and walked upstairs. I glanced over in Carter's room and noticed that he was asleep. I walked into his room and turned the TV off after halik the tuktok of his head which was still wet from taking a bath earlier. I shut the door as I left the room and went down to our bedroom.
I turned on the light and saw Kyle sitting on the edge of the kama with rose petals surrounding him. He sinabi "happy Valentine's araw babe! I know you don't really like romantic holidays like this; but I wanted to do something special!" I kissed his lips as I sat down susunod to him on the bed. I went to grab the box of condoms that was sitting on tuktok of the dresser and he sinabi "you know AJ; we don't really need to use those!" I asked with a confused look on my face "why; I thought this whole romantic thing was to get me in the mood and it's working! You didn't really have to do all this to make me want to!" He sinabi "that's not what I meant! Obviously I want to have sex with you because it's Valentine's araw and I pag-ibig you! What I meant was that we don't need to use the condoms!" I sinabi "but; if we don't use them there is chance that you could get me pregnant!" He sinabi "that's the whole point AJ; I want to have a baby with you!" I sinabi "whoa; slow down Kyle! We aren't even married yet!" He sinabi "so; let's go get married at the courthouse in a couple days!" I asked "what's gotten into you? Why do you want to do all this so suddenly?" He sinabi "your uncles came sa pamamagitan ng the ranch again this morning and spray-painted the sign outside. I say that you and I just go get married as soon as possible. We can still have the big wedding in a few madami years; but this way everyone will know that we were serious when we sinabi that we were getting married and maybe they'll leave us alone!" I sinabi "actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all! Instead of doing the whole thing with a priest, we should just save all of that for the big wedding. You and I can just go down to the courthouse for now and sign a marriage license that states that we are legally married just so my uncles can't try to sabotage anything anymore!" He sinabi "sounds good to me; just as long as the family knows that we will eventually have a huge ceremony like a normal wedding when we have madami time!" I sinabi "the people that matter will understand where we're coming from! I would never leave them out of the real marriage! This is just the paperwork that says that were married; not an important wedding! I would never leave any of them out of that!"
February 17, 2013,
We just left the courthouse after signing our marriage license, and we are headed over to my grandmother's house to tell everyone. We pulled into the driveway and I asked "are you ready for this… Husband?" Kyle laughed and sinabi "you're so cheesy! Yes I'm ready for this… Wife!" I held Carter's hand as he walked inside and the entire family was waiting for us. Uncle Randy sinabi "I heard you have an announcement to make.” I sinabi as I took a deep breath "Kyle and I got married."
Just like I thought they would, they immediately erupted into a barrage of screaming and protest. Uncle Jermaine asked "what do you mean you guys got married? I thought you were going to have a wedding!" I sinabi "we are; just not right now because I'm too busy with work to plan a wedding! We just went down to the courthouse and signed our marriage license; that's all! We are saving all the special stuff for the big wedding ceremony in a couple of years!" Grandma smiled and sinabi "I really don't understand why your uncles are being so immature about this! I'm happy for you and Kyle!" Jackie asked as he raised his voice at my grandmother "how can you be happy for them? This is the stupidest thing they have done! Michael would be flipping out right now if he was here!" Kyle sinabi softly "actually; AJ and I went to a psychic to get Michael's approval on the marriage and he was okay with it!" Uncle Tito sinabi "all that psychic stuff is fake and you are just using that as an excuse!" Paris sinabi at the tuktok of her lungs trying to overpower the screaming that was going on in the room "EVERYBODY JUST BE QUIET! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE HAPPY FOR AJ? EVERYTHING CAN'T ALWAYS BE ABOUT YOU GUYS!" She ran upstairs and I ran after her.
I followed Paris into her bedroom and shut the door behind me. She had tears in her eyes and her mascara was running down her face. I looked at her sympathetically and sinabi "it's alright Paris! I don't give a shit about what they think!" I sinabi down on the kama susunod to her and put my arm around her as she sinabi "I hate it when our uncles come over here! It's always so stressful because all they want to do is start drama! I don't know why they like to pick on you so much; I don't get it! What did you ever do to them to deserve that?" I sinabi "it's not about what I did to them; it's about what I have! They are just jealous of my success and I guarantee you that if I passed each of them $1000 that they would totally be with us being married! All they care about is money Paris! That's all they'll ever care about!" She sinabi "I'm so excited that you and Kyle are married! I know that dad would be excited too! It's funny because dad would always joke around when we were little about you and Kyle getting married someday!" I laughed and sinabi "it's pretty ironic that me and Kyle are actually married now!"
May, 7, 2013,
Kyle and I are slowly settling into married life and it's actually pretty easy to use to! We were upstairs getting ready for kama and Kyle was in the bathroom that is in our bedroom brushing his teeth. I looked in from the spot where I was laying in bed. He laid down on the kama and I sinabi "now that we're married; I've been thinking about this whole baby thing and I think we should go ahead and start trying to get pregnant." He sinabi in an excited tone "finally; let's start now!"
June 13, 2013,
There is a knock on the front door of Neverland and I went up to answer it. It was my grandmother with my siblings. I invited them inside and we went into the living room where Carter was watching TV with Kyle. They all sat down on the sopa with us and my grandmother sinabi "I just want to apologize to you for the way that your uncles acted when you announced everything with the marriage license." I sinabi "you don't need to apologize to me grandma; I know that you're scared of them and that they intimidate you!" She sinabi "I pag-ibig you, Kyle, and Carter! I don't have a problem at all with you to getting married with a marriage license for now and then the ceremony later! I can completely see that you two are in love!"
Carter interrupted the conversation sa pamamagitan ng saying something that absolutely embarrassed me beyond belief. He asked right in front of everyone "mommy; how come daddy makes you scream at night when you're in your room with him?" Kyle looked at me with a mortified look on his face and I started to blush. I sinabi "oh my God; this is embarrassing!" Grandma immediately burst out laughing as I turned bright red. She sinabi "so I guess that tanong from Carter means that you and Kyle just might be ready for another baby?" I sinabi as I continued to blush "possibly; I'm still stuck on the fact that Carter was awake all those times and heard Kyle and I!" Kyle sinabi "I guess we automatically assume that he will be sleeping when we decide to try because it's usually midnight!" I sinabi wanting to change the subject away from the sex life between Kyle and I "I have to go to work soon so; you guys might want to leave!"
After they left, Kyle looked at me and then Carter asked "daddy; how come you make mommy scream like that?" Kyle sinabi completely at a loss for words "ummm; mommy and I are just watching scary pelikula together in our bedroom. We don't wake you up; do we?" Carter responded "not really; I get up to go to my potty in the middle of the night and I can hear mommy screaming. I thought you were hurting her daddy." I forced back laughter and sinabi "don't worry buddy; daddy would never hurt me! Daddy and I just watch some really scary pelikula at night and it makes me scream really loud." Carter sinabi "oh okay then; just as long as you're not hurting mommy daddy!" He ran off upstairs and Kyle and I both took a sigh of relief. Kyle sinabi "oh my God AJ! You and I need to be madami careful about making sure Carter's asleep!" I sinabi "I'm just glad that he didn't decide to walk in on us! That would have terrified him! I'm locking our bedroom door from now on; so at least he will have to knock! I've never been so embarrassed in my life!" Kyle sinabi "tell me about it! We just had our son describe the noises that he hears you and I making while we're being intimate to your 80-year-old grandmother and little siblings!" Afterwards, Kyle and I couldn't help but laugh at the awkward situation our son had created!
August 5, 2013,
I stood in the bathroom and tossed yet another negative pregnancy test into the trashcan which was now overflowing with the past pregnancy tests I have taken. I walked out of the bathroom and Kyle could tell sa pamamagitan ng the expression on my face that it wasn't successful. I threw my hands up in the air as I sat down susunod to him on the kama and sinabi "I don't get it! It was so easy for me to get pregnant the first time! You and I have literally had sex every night for the past five months and still nothing! I wonder if something is wrong with me!" He sinabi "maybe you should just make a doctor’s appointment just to be sure that nothing's wrong babe!" I sinabi "I'll see if the doctor can fit me in for an appointment tomorrow morning before I go to work. I hope nothing's wrong with me that stopping me from getting pregnant!"
August 6, 2013,
Kyle and I sat there in a hospital room waiting for the results of the tests the doctor performed on me. Thankfully, Prince and Paris are still off from school for the summer and agreed to watch Carter during my appointment. Kyle and I were both worried because it was taking the doctor a really long time to come back into the room.
After 20 minutos of waiting, Dr. Simpson came back into the room and sinabi "every single test I ran on you came back negative. There should be no reason why you yourself can't become pregnant. You've obviously had a child before; so your eggs looked perfectly fine to me. Do you mind if I do some blood work on you Kyle?" He sinabi "I don't see why not." She ran some tests down to the lab and we were once again left waiting in the hospital room for the results.
Dr. Simpson came back into the room and sinabi "I've never seen this in a 19 taon old before!" Kyle and I both asked in unison "what is it?" She responded "from everything that I can tell from the tests… You're almost completely sterol Kyle. You only have a 5% chance of getting AJ pregnant with your own equipment; if that's what you want to call it!" Kyle just looked at me and bolted out of the room. I sinabi as I looked at Dr. Simpson "I better go after him; thanks for making time for my appointment."
I ran outside to the parking lot and saw Kyle sitting on the curb trying his best not to cry. I sat down susunod to him and sinabi "there's still that 5% chance that you could get me pregnant naturally. We can keep trying if you want to!" He asked "what's the point? I'm not real man according to what the doctor just sinabi in there!" I put my arm around him and sinabi "just because you can’t get me pregnant with your own stuff doesn't make you any less of a man than you are in my eyes!" He asked "what makes you say that babe?" I sinabi "think about it; it takes a real man to be a father to a child that isn't even biologically his! You gave up your dream of being a mechanic just so I could live my dream! That's way madami than Damien would ever do for Carter or me if I was with him instead of you!" Kyle asked "you really wouldn't pag-ibig me any less? Even if you and I can never physically create a child together?" I sinabi "of course I would still pag-ibig you as much as I do now! I pag-ibig you for you and that other stuff has nothing to do with it! Besides; just think of how much money we'll save because we really don't need condoms anymore!" Kyle smirked and sinabi "yeah; that's always a good thing!" I sinabi "if you want to keep trying to get me pregnant, I'm cool with that because in end if it doesn't work it was a real good excuse to mess around with you even madami than usual!" The two of us rolled around on the ground laughing and he sinabi "you can always manage to cheer me up; no matter what's going on!"
September 15, 2013,
I came downstairs carrying my cell phone in my hand and Kyle asked "why do you look so depressed?" I sinabi "that was one of the producers of the Nickelodeon ipakita that I'm part of and he just called to tell me that the ipakita is canceled because of bad ratings." Kyle asked "so what happens now?" I sinabi "I guess I go back to finishing my segundo album that was supposed to be released. Then I will probably have to go on tour again; hopefully this time worldwide!" He sinabi "well; I'll be here to support you with whatever you need while you're in the studio or promoting the album when it's released." I sinabi "thanks; I don't think we've had so many depressing things happen to us this close together before!" He sinabi "the good thing is that it can't get any worse than it already is!"
After talking with Frank on the phone about heading into the studio tomorrow to finish working on the album that I never completed, I sat there in the living room staring off into space. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a police officer was walking up to the front gate. I got off the sopa and opened the gate from the keypad inside and he knocked on the door to the house. I answered it and he sinabi "hello; I've been asked to deliver this mandated court appearance paperwork to your house.” I wrinkled my eyebrows with a puzzled look on my face and shut the door as he walked away.
I opened the kahel envelope and pulled out an official court document that sinabi "petition for custody" across the top. Underneath that, I read" the father stated as Damien Adam Hayes is issuing you Alanna Michael Jackson with a petition to the court of Santa Barbara County for partial custody and/or visitation with the child hereby stated as Carter Shawn Jackson. You have four months to decide if you would like to settle this out-of-court sa pamamagitan ng way of mediation or if you would like to appeal the above father's ability to adequately care for the child. – Thank you for your time, Judge Marion Anderson
I shook my head in disbelief as tears began to well in my eyes. I ran upstairs and shut the bathroom door faster than Kyle could even notice. A few minutos later, he heard me sobbing and leaned up against the door. He asked "what's wrong AJ?" I sinabi "come in here!" He opened the door and sat down on the closed toilet upuan as he looked down at me. I curled myself up into a ball and had my head buried in the tuktok of my needs as I sobbed uncontrollably. Kyle asked "what's going on?" I managed to force out the words "Damien wants to fight me for custody or visitation over Carter!" Kyle sinabi "I thought Damien didn't care if he ever saw Carter again!" I sinabi "that's the thing; Damien doesn't care about Carter! He's only doing it to spite me because I am a lot better off financially than he is! I think he thinks that if we evenly shared 50-50 custody of Carter then I would have to pay him some sort of child support for the time he would have Carter! I think I really would have to pay child support if he won 50-50 custody of Carter!" Kyle sinabi "even though I've never met Damien, I hate him! That's really immature of him to use Carter to get money from you!" I sinabi "I don't even care about the money! I care about Carter! I don't want him to get attached to Damien all because Damien will pretend like he cares about him for the first few months and then decide to just not ipakita up one araw when Carter is waiting for him!" Kyle sinabi "I understand why you want to protect Carter from being hurt emotionally sa pamamagitan ng Damien and I highly doubt with Damien's past he will be awarded any type of custody! I think the most the courts would be willing to give him is supervised visitation! Don't worry AJ; we're going to fight this in court! We can't let Damien get any time alone with Carter because there's no telling what he would do just to get money out of you!!!"
I was just getting back to Neverland after filming the pilot episode of "my stepbrother is a secret agent" and I'm excited because this new job has way better work hours than my music career does. I'm not saying that I'm giving up on music but, I do need a break from it for a while and surprisingly my manager Frank took the news very well.
It was just a little after 10 o'clock in the morning when I walked through the front door and Kyle was in the kusina making pancakes. I walked up behind him and kissed his neck as he sinabi "I can already tell that I'm going to like having you tahanan so early every day!" Carter ran into the room and pretty much jumped into my arms with excitement.
I helped Kyle set the mesa and all of us sat down to eat breakfast. Kyle sinabi as he helped Carter cut his pancakes "we have to start thinking about when we're going to tell your family about our engagement. They haven't even seen Neverland since we moved in. I think everyone's long overdue for a visit; don't you?" I sinabi "Prince, Blanket, and Paris yes… My other family members not so much! They always cause problems when it is definitely not necessary!" He sinabi "just think about it because you can't keep them away forever babe!" I sinabi "I know that; I just think we should invite them over tomorrow and get all this over with! I'm perfectly fine with having my siblings come over here anytime they want to; even if they wanted to sleep over! I would pag-ibig that!"
January 2, 2013,
Kyle had just walked in carrying four boxes of pizza in his arms when my family members pulled into the driveway. I rolled my eyes and sinabi sarcastically "oh joy; this is going to be fun!" I opened up the door and was surprised to see that it was only my aunt Latoya and of my siblings. I sinabi as I hugged each of them "I'm a little surprised that grandma didn't at least come!" Aunt Latoya sinabi "she couldn't deal with coming here and remembering how happy your dad was when he was living here." I sinabi sympathetically "I understand; there's plenty of time for her to visit us!"
As we sat down at the table, I reached for a piece of pizza and Paris noticed my engagement ring. She looked at my aunt and asked "is that a promise ring AJ? Please tell me that's just a promise ring!" I sinabi "it's not a promise ring Paris; it's an engagement ring!" Paris sinabi almost seeming to be in denial "engagement ring as in engaged to be married?" I sinabi "yes; that would be why it's called an engagement ring!" My aunt’s eyes widened as she stared at me with a stunned look on her face. She sinabi "engagement ring; really Kyle? Are you sure you're ready for such a big commitment at 19 years old?" Kyle responded "if it was any other girl, I wouldn't have proposed so quickly; but I'm truly in pag-ibig with AJ and always will be!" Aunt Latoya asked "you know that Carter's part of the deal if you marry AJ right?"
We moved into the living room and Kyle continued the conversation sa pamamagitan ng saying "of course I do!" I sinabi "Carter calls him daddy and says that he is his daddy!" Aunt Latoya laughed and asked "yeah; but how much of the dirty work that goes along with parenting are you doing Kyle?" I sinabi "I don't know who told you that the two of us aren't good parents! I'm assuming from my uncles… Don't believe everything that they say because they blow everything out of proportion!" She sinabi "they told me that Carter still drinks out of a baby bottle and wears diapers!" I sinabi "they haven't seen him in months! They don't know what they're talking about! We may be teenage parents; but I think we're doing a pretty good job at it! He doesn't drink from a bottle anymore!" She asked "well; what about the diaper situation?" I sinabi "they are completely gone for your information! I would think that you out of all people wouldn't believe everything that comes out of some of the family's mouths!" She sinabi "it's not that I believed them; it's just that you're just a teenager who doesn't really know anything about parenting."
I furrowed my eyebrows because I was quite offended sa pamamagitan ng what my aunt had just sinabi and sinabi "just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean that I can't figure it out!" She sinabi "I didn't mean for that to sound rude." I sinabi wanting to let it go "it did sound rude; but that's alright!" Prince asked as he looked at me "you do realize that most of the family is going to flip out about this whole you and Kyle getting married thing; right?" I sinabi "that's alright; they always complain about something that I do or don't do. I'm used to sa pamamagitan ng now!" Paris sinabi "I have a feeling that some of them won't come to the wedding just because they want to annoy you AJ." I sinabi "I really don't care anymore! I've seen firsthand how two-faced they can be and I don't really want to associate with them! I can see why dad kept us a ligtas distance away from them!" Kyle sinabi "all I care about is that I get married to AJ! It doesn't matter what it takes! I know that she is the one for me and other people's opinions don't matter!"
January 3, 2013,
It was barely 7 in the morning when Kyle and I were woken up sa pamamagitan ng this loud banging noise coming from outside. Kyle rubbed his eyes and asked "what the hell is that noise babe?" I forced myself out of kama and looked out the window. I sinabi "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" Kyle asked "what is it?" I bit my bottom lip in anger as I sinabi "my uncles are outside ramming their fucking car into the front gate!" Kyle looked out the window and shook his head in disbelief as I put my slippers on. Kyle asked "where are you going?" I asked "where do you think I'm going? I'm going to find out what the hell their problem is!" He sinabi "I don't think that's a good idea AJ! Maybe I should just call the cops!" I sinabi "the cops aren't going to get through to them; they never do! I'm going down there to deal with this myself!" He sinabi "then I'm going with you to back you up!" I quickly looked into Carter's bedroom and noticed that he was still sleeping.
Kyle and I walked up to the front gate outside in our pajamas. Once they saw us coming, my uncles got out of the car and Marlon sinabi "you guys better not get married! We totally disapprove of all of this!" Jermaine asked "what are you two thinking? You guys are only a couple of stupid teenagers!" I sinabi "first of all, what the hell are you doing ramming into the gate like that? segundo of all, you guys don't really have a lot of room to talk! Each of you doesn’t know how to respect a woman!" Randy sinabi "yes we do and we know a whole lot madami about pag-ibig than you do!" I sinabi "really? Last time I checked all of you have either several failed marriages or a marriage in shambles!" Jackie sinabi "if you and Kyle go through with this wedding, all of us will be there to protest!" Kyle laughed and sinabi "you really think we care about your approval; newsflash we don't!"
I looked at the damage that had been afflicted on the gate and sinabi "you guys are going to be paying for this!" Tito sinabi "you make millions and millions of dollars; pay for it yourself!" I sinabi "if I don't receive a check in the mail from you within the susunod week, I will be pressing charges for property damage and attempted trespassing!" Jackie sinabi "I don't believe you'll actually go through with it; but whatever helps you sleep at night!"
They all got back into the car and drove off in the other direction. I looked at Kyle in complete disbelief and asked "are they really that immature?" Kyle sinabi "apparently!" I sinabi "I know how my dad was with confrontation of any kind and he must've been terrified of my uncles!!! They don't scare me at all and I was being dead serious when I sinabi that I'm going to press charges on them if they don’t give me the money to repair the gate! Dad probably would've let them get away with it just to keep the peace; but I'm not like that and they'll learn their lesson quickly! I don't know how many times I have to say or do something until they realize not to mess with me! I'm so sick of the ridiculousness they cause! They are grown men and need to start pagganap like it because I'm getting fed up with their crap!"
February 11, 2013,
I was sitting in the living room watching TV with Carter while Kyle did some maintenance work on my truck when I got a phone call from Prince. I answered it and asked "what's up? I miss you guys!" He sinabi "you know my 16th birthday is coming up and I don't really have anything planned. Blanket was thinking of what he would want to do for his 11th birthday and he brought up the idea of hanging out at Neverland to have a sleepover together." I sinabi "it's funny that you bring that up because I was just talking to Kyle the other araw about having a sleepover with the three of you!" Prince asked "so does that mean Blanket, Paris, and I can sleepover at Neverland?" I sinabi "of course; but instead of just staying one night since tomorrow's Friday, you guys should just stay for the whole weekend!" I could hear Paris in the background asking "is AJ going to let us stay the night at Neverland? I haven't been there since 2005 and I've been dying to go over there since I found out she owns the ranch!" Prince sinabi "the entire weekend is even better! We'll be there around 4 o'clock tomorrow! Thank you so much AJ!" I sinabi "you don't need to thank me Prince! I miss you guys and can't wait to see you! Carter needs help with something; so I have to get off the phone now. I'll see the three of you tomorrow." He sinabi "okay AJ; we pag-ibig you and can't wait to spend the whole weekend at the ranch!"
February 12, 2013,
Kyle had just gotten back from picking up the Chinese pagkain we ordered and we were waiting for my siblings to get here; so we could start the weekend long sleep over at Neverland. I opened the front gate from a keypad inside the house as a car pulled up in front of the entrance to the ranch and dropped them off. As I welcomed Blanket, Paris, and Prince inside, I noticed Paris had dramatically changed her appearance from the last time I had seen her. She died her hair black and had it cut in a punk rock style. I stared at her in silence for a few segundos trying to come up with the right words to say and I sinabi "it's a little surprising to see this new side of you that I didn't know existed; but I like it!" She thanked me and we all sat down at the mesa to start eating.
I asked "how are things going for you guys over at grandma's?" Blanket sinabi "it was really fun in the beginning; but now she's hardly ever around anymore!" I asked "what do you mean?" Paris sinabi "ever since our uncles and Janet kidnapped her over the summer, they've been watching her like a hawk! I'm assuming you saw the video of me and Aunt Janet arguing in the driveway at Havenhurst! She took my phone away when I tried to reach out for help when we hadn't heard from grandma in a few days! I was really worried about her; Prince and I both were!" Prince sinabi "I was going to call you AJ; but there's not much you can do from halfway around the world!" I sinabi "you still could've called me! I told you that if you ever needed anything that I would be there for you; no matter what!" Paris sinabi "I am so sick of all this drama! The biggest reason we wanted to come over here was to get away from the rest of the family!" I sinabi "I know how you feel because they had been harassing Kyle and me ever since they found out about the two of us planning to get married! They leave nasty notes in the mailbox and try to scare us with their threats." Prince sinabi "it's probably only going to get worse after you two get married! All they do when they come over to our house is complain about you and Kyle! It's really starting to make me mad!" I asked "why; what do they say about me and Kyle?" Prince sinabi "they say that you're really immature and that Kyle doesn't know the real side of who you are AJ!" Kyle sinabi "they don't even know what they're talking about! I can guarantee you that I know madami about AJ then all of them combined!" I sinabi "they only see what they want to see! They bring out the anger in me! Very few people can make me that mad!" Paris sinabi "after you pressed charges on them for damage to the front gate and attempted trespassing, they flipped out! It was only a $500 fine or they could have fought you in court over it! I couldn't believe they actually thought about taking it to court instead of paying 500 bucks! It would've only been $100 each for them to pay the fine equally! I don't understand why they would want to make a big deal out of nothing!" I sinabi "it's because they just want to get as much money as they can from me! That's the only motive they have and that's all they care about!" Kyle sinabi "I really hope that you guys try to stay away from them as much is possible because they are up to no good!" I sinabi "alright; enough with all this drama; let's have some fun!"
I started to ipakita them around the house and Prince noticed the grand piano sitting in the corner of the living room. He asked "is that the same piano that was here when we all lived here?" I sinabi "yes; it is!" He ran his fingers across the keys and sinabi "I remember that all of us would sit on the floor while dad played us some songs a little while before we went to bed." I sinabi "yeah; and you and I would argue over who would sit on his lap! I've kind of forgotten all the songs that daddy taught me when I was little." Blanket sinabi "I wish I wasn't three years old when we moved out of here because I don't really remember anything dad did with us here." I sinabi "that's alright Blanket; I bet you still have a lot of fun memories with daddy in the other places we lived in together!" He sinabi "I still have some memories; but I'm forgetting most of them because I was only seven when he died!" I sinabi after thinking about it for a few minutos "follow me you guys; I have an idea!"
Blanket, Prince, Paris, Carter, Kyle, and I all walked down from the main house to the personal movie theater that was on the ranch. Kyle and I haven't set foot inside it since we moved to the ranch and this seemed like the perfect excuse too! We walked inside and saw the concession stand that the few staff members I hired a couple of weeks nakaraan had stalked full of candy. The papkorn machine was already running and the buttery smell filled the air around us. Blanket asked "this was really our own movie theater AJ? I sinabi "yeah; it's pretty cool!" Paris asked "why did you want to bring us to the movie theater?" I opened a nearby door and we walked into the screening room. Kyle sat down with Carter on his lap and helped him open up a package of maasim gummy worms.
10 minutos later, I came in carrying a huge stack of videotapes and Blanket asked "what are you doing AJ?" I sinabi "you'll see in a minute" as I popped a videotape into the VHS machine that was installed in the wall. I sat down in the chair susunod to Prince and a tahanan video started playing.
*In the tahanan video, dated at the bottom of the screen February 18, 2001*
Dad, Prince, and I were all sitting on the couch. I asked "daddy; why do you have to leave tomorrow?" He responded as he looked down at me "you know I have to work AJ. I wish I could stay every single day; but I do have to leave every once in a while to make money." Prince sinabi "I'm going to miss you too much daddy! I don't want you to leave!" Dad sinabi "I know mansanas head; but I have to! You're going to have fun here with Grace; I promise!" I sinabi "you always say that we'll have fun while you're gone; but we never do! It's so much madami fun when you're tahanan daddy or when you take us with you on your trips!" He sinabi "I know AJ; but I can't always take you with me; especially because there are three of you now and I can't leave Prince and Paris behind!" I sinabi "I know; I'm just going to miss you tucking me into kama every night and playing hide and seek!" He sinabi "I'm only going to be gone for three days and then I'll be back!" I asked "you're still going to help me get ready for kama tonight; right? He sinabi "I always do!"
The video cuts off for a few segundos and then continues onto ipakita dad lying susunod to me in my bed. I asked "am I going to be able to see you tomorrow morning before you leave?" He sinabi "I don't think so sweetheart because I'm leaving really early in the morning!" I asked "daddy; can I ask you something?" He sinabi "of course you can!" I asked "what's it like to be in love?" He had a surprised look on his face that such a big tanong could come from a six-year-old. He pondered it back and forth in his mind for a few minutos before saying "it depends on what kind of pag-ibig you're asking about." I asked "what kinds of pag-ibig are there?" He sinabi "well; there's pag-ibig like what I have for you and your brother and sister. Like the way a mommy or daddy loves their children. Then there's tuta love." I sinabi "I know what you mean; like when a boy dog and a girl dog pag-ibig each other!" He chuckled and sinabi "no; that's not what tuta pag-ibig is! tuta pag-ibig is when two young people think they might pag-ibig each other." I sinabi "oh; are there any madami kinds of love?" He sinabi "there is one more." I asked "what's it called?" He responded after waiting a few segundos "true love." I asked "how do you know the difference between true pag-ibig and regular love?" He sinabi "trust me; when the time comes you'll know the difference! You'll just be able to tell! Why are you asking me all these tanong about love?" I sinabi "I don't know; I was just wondering." He sinabi after lightly pecking my lips "oh okay; just as long as you don't go out and fall in pag-ibig with any boys anytime soon! Your daddy's little girl and if it were up to me you wouldn't petsa any boys until you turned 50 years old!"
*Video ends*
I definitely understand what true pag-ibig is supposed to feel like now because I'm truly in pag-ibig with Kyle. It's funny how dad just knew that someday I would figure this whole being in pag-ibig thing out! I put another videotape in the VHS and pressed play.
*In the video dated at the bottom of the screen March 1, 1999*
Dad looks directly into the camera and says "hello world; I just want to ipakita you what I have to deal with on a daily basis." He points the camera in my direction and asks "do you know why you're in timeout this time AJ? I sinabi "I don't care! Shut up; you stupid daddy!" He sternly sinabi "stop that right now! You don't tell me to shut up or call me stupid; that's not nice at all!" I started taking off one of my shoes and pretended like I was going to throw it at him. He sinabi "don't even think about it AJ!" I laughed as I threw my left shoe directly into the camera lens and just barely missing his face. He asked "why would you do that AJ?" I stuck my tongue out at him and sinabi "because you told me not to; that's why!" He sighed with frustration and sinabi "it doesn't matter how many times I put you in the corner; it always turns into a battle! Do I need to go over there and hold you on my lap until you calm down?" I sinabi "I AM CALMED DOWN!!!" He sinabi "no you're not and what did I tell you about yelling in this house? Do we yell here?" I sinabi "NO!!!" He calmly asked "then why are you still yelling at me Alanna?" I sinabi "BECAUSE YOU WON'T LET ME OUT OF TIMEOUT!!!" He sinabi "you yelling at me won't get you any closer to being out of Timeout! You know that yelling at me isn't going to bother me AJ."
I started crying and he sinabi "that's not going to work anymore either!" I sinabi "you're a mean daddy!" He sinabi "that's not a nice thing to say to me. Do you realize that if you just calm down you would already be out of the corner?" I sinabi "JUST SHUT UP DADDY!!!" He sinabi "stop telling me to shut up Alanna Michael Jackson! I hope you're not in timeout for three hours straight like you were earlier."
*Video ends*
Prince sinabi "I can't believe you use to talk to dad like that!" Paris sinabi "yeah I know AJ; and then you threw your shoe at daddy's head!" I sinabi "I used to be really out of control; but since I had Carter I have calmed down a lot! I've only gotten into a few fights since then and try my best to avoid situations where I would have to fight. Before, I would go looking for someone to start a fight with; just so I could prove that I was stronger than them! I hate to say it but, I think the fact that dad isn't physically here anymore has caused me to grow up a lot just because he isn't there to protect me from a bad situation that I put myself in anymore!"
February 13, 2013,
We were all sitting around the mesa eating the birthday cake I bought for Prince and I sinabi "so little brother; I saw the picture of the police officer Pagsulat you a ticket for the way you parked one of the cars!" He laughed and sinabi "cut me some slack AJ; this whole driving thing is new to me!" I sinabi "I know; I just like messing with you!" He asked "I still have to finish a few madami hours of driving with an adult in the car before I can go for my official driving test and I was wondering if you would ride around with me in the car today?" I sinabi "sure; Kyle will you stay here with my brother and sister and Carter while I go with Prince?" He sinabi "that's fine babe; I don't know what all of us are going to do; but we'll have fun!" Carter sinabi "daddy; can we go swimming in the pool?" Paris sinabi "that sounds like fun!" I sinabi "alright; you guys have fun! Prince and I will be back in a few hours."
Prince climbed into the driver’s upuan in my truck and I sat susunod to him in the passenger's seat. I sinabi "you better not crash my truck because you'll never hear me forgive you!" Prince looked at me horrified and I sinabi “I’m joking! There's no pressure!" He took a sigh of relief and started the truck. As we drove many roads in Santa Barbara, we started to make small talk. Prince asked "so how do you like being an adult?" I sinabi "it doesn't really feel any different to me because ever since grandma kicked me out of her house Kyle and I have pretty much been doing everything on our own. It's definitely weird paying bills and signing documents; but I like having the responsibility. I don't have to depend on other people anymore to make sure that things get done!" He sinabi "grandma really misses you and started to regret making you leave. I think she realizes now that you live at Neverland with Kyle and Carter that you will never ilipat back into her house! I think she knows that dad would have been disappointed in both her and you for letting it get to the point where you need to be on your own pretty much at 17 years old. Dad would never let you go out on your own at that age; let alone take Carter with you! Grandma felt really badly for that and worried about you for days on end until Aunt Latoya called her and told her that the three of you were staying with her." I sinabi "I was never really mad at grandma for kicking me out. Sure, I was mad in the moment; but that's part of my oppositional defiance disorder. I know I deserved to be kicked out of the house because she did warn me about anything going on between Kyle and I. Honestly, I felt really stupid about it afterwards! I wasn't really worried about myself; I was madami worried about Carter!" Prince sinabi "I was really mad at uncle Jermaine for threatening to bring patong lalaki to the pound if you didn't come to pick him up! I actually ended up getting into an argument with him about it! I'm not usually the type to challenge the adults; but that was totally uncalled for!" I sinabi "I'm completely fine with you guys stepping out into the spotlight a little bit; I just don't want it to get in the way of your education because that's what's most important right now! I saw Paris on the Ellen ipakita and heard that you're conducting an interview for entertainment tonight!" Prince sinabi "Blanket isn't really handling not having you living with us that well! Even though he is 11, he cries for you almost every night when he's in his room sa pamamagitan ng himself! I go in there and asking what's wrong; but all he'll tell me is that he misses daddy even madami now that he doesn't see you every day!" I sinabi "well; anytime you guys want to come see me and hang out is fine with me! I get off of work from filming the Nickelodeon ipakita around noon most days." He sinabi "once I get my license we'll visit you a lot more! I don't really like asking people to drive us over to your house because all they do is complain about you!" I sinabi "don't pay any attention to them Prince; they aren't worth it!" He sinabi "it's almost like they forget that you’re my older sister and they criticize you right in front of us! They don't even care about our opinions and the worst part is that they don't even really know us! They may think they do; but they don't!" I sinabi "let them talk bad about me all they want because I don't care and I never will! The only people whose opinion matters to me are Kyle, my siblings, Carter, and dad!"
We pulled back into the driveway at Neverland and got out of the truck. Prince and I walked out to the backyard where the swimming pool is. I sat down on the edge of the pool and let my feet hang over the side into the water. Blanket, Kyle, Paris, and Carter noticed us and I chuckled at how cute Carter looked swimming around with his little Spiderman lifejacket on! Kyle lifted Blanket up and tossed him halfway across the pool. Blanket sinabi as he resurfaced to the tuktok of the water "you should come in AJ!" Carter sinabi "yeah mommy; you should come in!" I sinabi "I think I'm okay up here for now." Kyle asked "Carter; do you want me to make mommy get in the pool?" Carter sinabi "yeah daddy; but how are you going to do that?" He sinabi "you'll see" as he looked at me with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He climbed out of the pool and slowly walked up to me as I laughed. I sinabi "you wouldn't dare!" He chuckled and sinabi "oh; but I would!" I walked backwards and sinabi as I put my arms up to block him from grabbed me "I have a pair of $200 jeans on; don't!" I bumped into Prince as I continuously walked backwards and he playfully pushed me towards Kyle. As Kyle picked me up, I shouted "no, no, no!" I started laughing uncontrollably and grabbed onto Prince's sando as I sinabi "if I'm going in then you're going in with me!"
I pulled Prince just barely inside the pool before Kyle tossed me with all his might across to the deep end. I came up for air and sinabi "you are so dead Kyle!" I climbed out of the pool and went over to where Paris was sitting drying off of the towel. Paris asked "you really are in pag-ibig with Kyle; aren't you?" I sinabi "of course I am! I wouldn't have taken the engagement ring if I wasn't!" She sinabi "I can honestly say that I've never seen you so happy in my life! Kyle is such a great guy and any guy who would father a child that isn't biologically his is amazing to me!" I sinabi "yeah; I know and that's what I wish other people would see!" She sinabi "while you were gone with Prince I finally got to see what you were talking about! He got Carter dressed to go swimming, made sure that he ate enough of his lunch, and he even helped Carter wipe his nose when he sneezed everywhere earlier! He is the only guy I know besides dad that wouldn't hesitate to clean up boogers!" I sinabi "I know; it almost makes the want to cry because that should be Damien! Trust me, I couldn't care less if I ever saw Damien again; but at least Carter has Kyle! It's sad to think that the only father that he's ever known isn't even his father! I just don't want him to know about Damien yet because I don't want him to get his hopes up that Damien will be there! Kyle already does everything that any good daddy would do! I couldn't ask for a better fiancé if I picked him out myself! He watches Carter all araw for me while I'm out living my dream! He picks up pagkain for me and brings it to me at work! He gives Carter a bath four nights a week because we agreed to split that evenly! He cleans up everything and anything that Carter does or plays with; including things that most fathers wouldn't even go near or want anything to do with! I just pag-ibig Kyle so much; it's the kind of pag-ibig that you can't even describe!" Paris sinabi "I think if daddy was here he would totally approve of you getting married to Kyle; even if you guys are only a couple of teenagers!" I asked" just out of curiosity; what if instead of Kyle and me getting married it was Damien? What do you think dad would say?" She sinabi "dad would have a total freak out! He hated Damien for all the pain that he caused you! I'm so glad that you realized that Damien wasn't good for you or Carter! I agree with you on Kyle; I think he's the perfect guy for you and Carter!"
February 14, 2013,
I had just gotten tahanan from work, after an extra-long araw and was just happy to be able to relax. It was 9 o'clock at night when I walked through the front door of the house and all the lights were off. I turned them on and walked upstairs. I glanced over in Carter's room and noticed that he was asleep. I walked into his room and turned the TV off after halik the tuktok of his head which was still wet from taking a bath earlier. I shut the door as I left the room and went down to our bedroom.
I turned on the light and saw Kyle sitting on the edge of the kama with rose petals surrounding him. He sinabi "happy Valentine's araw babe! I know you don't really like romantic holidays like this; but I wanted to do something special!" I kissed his lips as I sat down susunod to him on the bed. I went to grab the box of condoms that was sitting on tuktok of the dresser and he sinabi "you know AJ; we don't really need to use those!" I asked with a confused look on my face "why; I thought this whole romantic thing was to get me in the mood and it's working! You didn't really have to do all this to make me want to!" He sinabi "that's not what I meant! Obviously I want to have sex with you because it's Valentine's araw and I pag-ibig you! What I meant was that we don't need to use the condoms!" I sinabi "but; if we don't use them there is chance that you could get me pregnant!" He sinabi "that's the whole point AJ; I want to have a baby with you!" I sinabi "whoa; slow down Kyle! We aren't even married yet!" He sinabi "so; let's go get married at the courthouse in a couple days!" I asked "what's gotten into you? Why do you want to do all this so suddenly?" He sinabi "your uncles came sa pamamagitan ng the ranch again this morning and spray-painted the sign outside. I say that you and I just go get married as soon as possible. We can still have the big wedding in a few madami years; but this way everyone will know that we were serious when we sinabi that we were getting married and maybe they'll leave us alone!" I sinabi "actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all! Instead of doing the whole thing with a priest, we should just save all of that for the big wedding. You and I can just go down to the courthouse for now and sign a marriage license that states that we are legally married just so my uncles can't try to sabotage anything anymore!" He sinabi "sounds good to me; just as long as the family knows that we will eventually have a huge ceremony like a normal wedding when we have madami time!" I sinabi "the people that matter will understand where we're coming from! I would never leave them out of the real marriage! This is just the paperwork that says that were married; not an important wedding! I would never leave any of them out of that!"
February 17, 2013,
We just left the courthouse after signing our marriage license, and we are headed over to my grandmother's house to tell everyone. We pulled into the driveway and I asked "are you ready for this… Husband?" Kyle laughed and sinabi "you're so cheesy! Yes I'm ready for this… Wife!" I held Carter's hand as he walked inside and the entire family was waiting for us. Uncle Randy sinabi "I heard you have an announcement to make.” I sinabi as I took a deep breath "Kyle and I got married."
Just like I thought they would, they immediately erupted into a barrage of screaming and protest. Uncle Jermaine asked "what do you mean you guys got married? I thought you were going to have a wedding!" I sinabi "we are; just not right now because I'm too busy with work to plan a wedding! We just went down to the courthouse and signed our marriage license; that's all! We are saving all the special stuff for the big wedding ceremony in a couple of years!" Grandma smiled and sinabi "I really don't understand why your uncles are being so immature about this! I'm happy for you and Kyle!" Jackie asked as he raised his voice at my grandmother "how can you be happy for them? This is the stupidest thing they have done! Michael would be flipping out right now if he was here!" Kyle sinabi softly "actually; AJ and I went to a psychic to get Michael's approval on the marriage and he was okay with it!" Uncle Tito sinabi "all that psychic stuff is fake and you are just using that as an excuse!" Paris sinabi at the tuktok of her lungs trying to overpower the screaming that was going on in the room "EVERYBODY JUST BE QUIET! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE HAPPY FOR AJ? EVERYTHING CAN'T ALWAYS BE ABOUT YOU GUYS!" She ran upstairs and I ran after her.
I followed Paris into her bedroom and shut the door behind me. She had tears in her eyes and her mascara was running down her face. I looked at her sympathetically and sinabi "it's alright Paris! I don't give a shit about what they think!" I sinabi down on the kama susunod to her and put my arm around her as she sinabi "I hate it when our uncles come over here! It's always so stressful because all they want to do is start drama! I don't know why they like to pick on you so much; I don't get it! What did you ever do to them to deserve that?" I sinabi "it's not about what I did to them; it's about what I have! They are just jealous of my success and I guarantee you that if I passed each of them $1000 that they would totally be with us being married! All they care about is money Paris! That's all they'll ever care about!" She sinabi "I'm so excited that you and Kyle are married! I know that dad would be excited too! It's funny because dad would always joke around when we were little about you and Kyle getting married someday!" I laughed and sinabi "it's pretty ironic that me and Kyle are actually married now!"
May, 7, 2013,
Kyle and I are slowly settling into married life and it's actually pretty easy to use to! We were upstairs getting ready for kama and Kyle was in the bathroom that is in our bedroom brushing his teeth. I looked in from the spot where I was laying in bed. He laid down on the kama and I sinabi "now that we're married; I've been thinking about this whole baby thing and I think we should go ahead and start trying to get pregnant." He sinabi in an excited tone "finally; let's start now!"
June 13, 2013,
There is a knock on the front door of Neverland and I went up to answer it. It was my grandmother with my siblings. I invited them inside and we went into the living room where Carter was watching TV with Kyle. They all sat down on the sopa with us and my grandmother sinabi "I just want to apologize to you for the way that your uncles acted when you announced everything with the marriage license." I sinabi "you don't need to apologize to me grandma; I know that you're scared of them and that they intimidate you!" She sinabi "I pag-ibig you, Kyle, and Carter! I don't have a problem at all with you to getting married with a marriage license for now and then the ceremony later! I can completely see that you two are in love!"
Carter interrupted the conversation sa pamamagitan ng saying something that absolutely embarrassed me beyond belief. He asked right in front of everyone "mommy; how come daddy makes you scream at night when you're in your room with him?" Kyle looked at me with a mortified look on his face and I started to blush. I sinabi "oh my God; this is embarrassing!" Grandma immediately burst out laughing as I turned bright red. She sinabi "so I guess that tanong from Carter means that you and Kyle just might be ready for another baby?" I sinabi as I continued to blush "possibly; I'm still stuck on the fact that Carter was awake all those times and heard Kyle and I!" Kyle sinabi "I guess we automatically assume that he will be sleeping when we decide to try because it's usually midnight!" I sinabi wanting to change the subject away from the sex life between Kyle and I "I have to go to work soon so; you guys might want to leave!"
After they left, Kyle looked at me and then Carter asked "daddy; how come you make mommy scream like that?" Kyle sinabi completely at a loss for words "ummm; mommy and I are just watching scary pelikula together in our bedroom. We don't wake you up; do we?" Carter responded "not really; I get up to go to my potty in the middle of the night and I can hear mommy screaming. I thought you were hurting her daddy." I forced back laughter and sinabi "don't worry buddy; daddy would never hurt me! Daddy and I just watch some really scary pelikula at night and it makes me scream really loud." Carter sinabi "oh okay then; just as long as you're not hurting mommy daddy!" He ran off upstairs and Kyle and I both took a sigh of relief. Kyle sinabi "oh my God AJ! You and I need to be madami careful about making sure Carter's asleep!" I sinabi "I'm just glad that he didn't decide to walk in on us! That would have terrified him! I'm locking our bedroom door from now on; so at least he will have to knock! I've never been so embarrassed in my life!" Kyle sinabi "tell me about it! We just had our son describe the noises that he hears you and I making while we're being intimate to your 80-year-old grandmother and little siblings!" Afterwards, Kyle and I couldn't help but laugh at the awkward situation our son had created!
August 5, 2013,
I stood in the bathroom and tossed yet another negative pregnancy test into the trashcan which was now overflowing with the past pregnancy tests I have taken. I walked out of the bathroom and Kyle could tell sa pamamagitan ng the expression on my face that it wasn't successful. I threw my hands up in the air as I sat down susunod to him on the kama and sinabi "I don't get it! It was so easy for me to get pregnant the first time! You and I have literally had sex every night for the past five months and still nothing! I wonder if something is wrong with me!" He sinabi "maybe you should just make a doctor’s appointment just to be sure that nothing's wrong babe!" I sinabi "I'll see if the doctor can fit me in for an appointment tomorrow morning before I go to work. I hope nothing's wrong with me that stopping me from getting pregnant!"
August 6, 2013,
Kyle and I sat there in a hospital room waiting for the results of the tests the doctor performed on me. Thankfully, Prince and Paris are still off from school for the summer and agreed to watch Carter during my appointment. Kyle and I were both worried because it was taking the doctor a really long time to come back into the room.
After 20 minutos of waiting, Dr. Simpson came back into the room and sinabi "every single test I ran on you came back negative. There should be no reason why you yourself can't become pregnant. You've obviously had a child before; so your eggs looked perfectly fine to me. Do you mind if I do some blood work on you Kyle?" He sinabi "I don't see why not." She ran some tests down to the lab and we were once again left waiting in the hospital room for the results.
Dr. Simpson came back into the room and sinabi "I've never seen this in a 19 taon old before!" Kyle and I both asked in unison "what is it?" She responded "from everything that I can tell from the tests… You're almost completely sterol Kyle. You only have a 5% chance of getting AJ pregnant with your own equipment; if that's what you want to call it!" Kyle just looked at me and bolted out of the room. I sinabi as I looked at Dr. Simpson "I better go after him; thanks for making time for my appointment."
I ran outside to the parking lot and saw Kyle sitting on the curb trying his best not to cry. I sat down susunod to him and sinabi "there's still that 5% chance that you could get me pregnant naturally. We can keep trying if you want to!" He asked "what's the point? I'm not real man according to what the doctor just sinabi in there!" I put my arm around him and sinabi "just because you can’t get me pregnant with your own stuff doesn't make you any less of a man than you are in my eyes!" He asked "what makes you say that babe?" I sinabi "think about it; it takes a real man to be a father to a child that isn't even biologically his! You gave up your dream of being a mechanic just so I could live my dream! That's way madami than Damien would ever do for Carter or me if I was with him instead of you!" Kyle asked "you really wouldn't pag-ibig me any less? Even if you and I can never physically create a child together?" I sinabi "of course I would still pag-ibig you as much as I do now! I pag-ibig you for you and that other stuff has nothing to do with it! Besides; just think of how much money we'll save because we really don't need condoms anymore!" Kyle smirked and sinabi "yeah; that's always a good thing!" I sinabi "if you want to keep trying to get me pregnant, I'm cool with that because in end if it doesn't work it was a real good excuse to mess around with you even madami than usual!" The two of us rolled around on the ground laughing and he sinabi "you can always manage to cheer me up; no matter what's going on!"
September 15, 2013,
I came downstairs carrying my cell phone in my hand and Kyle asked "why do you look so depressed?" I sinabi "that was one of the producers of the Nickelodeon ipakita that I'm part of and he just called to tell me that the ipakita is canceled because of bad ratings." Kyle asked "so what happens now?" I sinabi "I guess I go back to finishing my segundo album that was supposed to be released. Then I will probably have to go on tour again; hopefully this time worldwide!" He sinabi "well; I'll be here to support you with whatever you need while you're in the studio or promoting the album when it's released." I sinabi "thanks; I don't think we've had so many depressing things happen to us this close together before!" He sinabi "the good thing is that it can't get any worse than it already is!"
After talking with Frank on the phone about heading into the studio tomorrow to finish working on the album that I never completed, I sat there in the living room staring off into space. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a police officer was walking up to the front gate. I got off the sopa and opened the gate from the keypad inside and he knocked on the door to the house. I answered it and he sinabi "hello; I've been asked to deliver this mandated court appearance paperwork to your house.” I wrinkled my eyebrows with a puzzled look on my face and shut the door as he walked away.
I opened the kahel envelope and pulled out an official court document that sinabi "petition for custody" across the top. Underneath that, I read" the father stated as Damien Adam Hayes is issuing you Alanna Michael Jackson with a petition to the court of Santa Barbara County for partial custody and/or visitation with the child hereby stated as Carter Shawn Jackson. You have four months to decide if you would like to settle this out-of-court sa pamamagitan ng way of mediation or if you would like to appeal the above father's ability to adequately care for the child. – Thank you for your time, Judge Marion Anderson
I shook my head in disbelief as tears began to well in my eyes. I ran upstairs and shut the bathroom door faster than Kyle could even notice. A few minutos later, he heard me sobbing and leaned up against the door. He asked "what's wrong AJ?" I sinabi "come in here!" He opened the door and sat down on the closed toilet upuan as he looked down at me. I curled myself up into a ball and had my head buried in the tuktok of my needs as I sobbed uncontrollably. Kyle asked "what's going on?" I managed to force out the words "Damien wants to fight me for custody or visitation over Carter!" Kyle sinabi "I thought Damien didn't care if he ever saw Carter again!" I sinabi "that's the thing; Damien doesn't care about Carter! He's only doing it to spite me because I am a lot better off financially than he is! I think he thinks that if we evenly shared 50-50 custody of Carter then I would have to pay him some sort of child support for the time he would have Carter! I think I really would have to pay child support if he won 50-50 custody of Carter!" Kyle sinabi "even though I've never met Damien, I hate him! That's really immature of him to use Carter to get money from you!" I sinabi "I don't even care about the money! I care about Carter! I don't want him to get attached to Damien all because Damien will pretend like he cares about him for the first few months and then decide to just not ipakita up one araw when Carter is waiting for him!" Kyle sinabi "I understand why you want to protect Carter from being hurt emotionally sa pamamagitan ng Damien and I highly doubt with Damien's past he will be awarded any type of custody! I think the most the courts would be willing to give him is supervised visitation! Don't worry AJ; we're going to fight this in court! We can't let Damien get any time alone with Carter because there's no telling what he would do just to get money out of you!!!"
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