PIXX’S WINTER LEGACY1.3

Jack entered the kitchen and gave the toddler a peeved look. This one was worst because she could move around and she was more vocal. Snowie’s hair was the perfect mix of his natural black hair and Agnes’ blond hair. Jack looked at the cake longingly, the tot had already seen him, she would demand attention any second, but just maybe it wasn’t too late to run out of the room.

Snowie, in all her innocence had no idea of her father not wanting her around. She was fascinated by the tall, hard man who she often saw in her house. Her mother had told him to call him Daddy but the closest she came to that word was Dada. She took the man’s look of bemusement the first time she raised up her short arms to him and shouted ‘Dada’ to be one of approval, and she noted that whenever she referred to him as ‘Dada’ she got attention.

The one she called ‘Mama’ had taught her lots of words and as soon as Snowie comprehended the meanings, she began to put them together, she realized that the more words she put together the easier it was for Mama and Dada to understand what she wanted.

Jack busied himself strumming away on the guitar, however, he looked on as his daughter said words and giggled uproariously when her mother clapped in approval. Jack lowered his head to hide his smile, he hated to admit it but he was actually fascinated by the toddler and his annoyance of her was quickly turning to adoration. The first time she had called him Dada his heart nearly melted.

Since then the little girl said ‘Dada’ and lifted her arms to him whenever she wanted his attention. She would snuggle her head against his neck or try to hug him with her short little arms. Eventually, her parents noticed that Snowie preferred her father to her mother, especially when she was sleepy, she would cry and throw a tantrum until Jack tended to her.

Jack set about teaching Snowie her life skills, although her mother finished the lessons, Jack decided that he would give himself credit for trying. He also refused to admit that he’d fallen in love with the girl, telling himself that he was only teaching her so that she could hurry up and grow up.

Meanwhile, Agnes spent her time with her son Claus. It was obvious that the little boy and his sister shared a lot of the same features. Agnes’ big gray eyes for one, and possibly the same reddish-brown hair.

Agnes started when the bedroom door flew open, an exhausted Jack came in and set Snowie on the floor, she was already bathed and ready for bed. Agnes hid her smile as she watched her husband hand the toddler the bottle roughly, knowing that his roughness was only a show for her. She had seen the way he interacted with the girl. “Be sure to put her on the potty before you put her in her crib.”“Whatever.” Jack grumbled.

He did as he was bid though, the little girl chatted animatedly as she did her business. There were a million questions, some impossible to answer. Jack explained to her for the hundredth time why she had to be a big girl and learn how to use the potty.

When he put her in the crib, Snowie’s bottom lip spread, she knew that her Dada would be leaving her soon, the lights would be gone and she would have to sit and be bored in the room with the other baby who squirmed and cried a lot.

Agnes looked at her reflection in the computer screen. She looked older than she actually was, the stress of living with Jack had started to take its toll on her. Her sister worried as Agnes had taken to calling her whenever there was a problem which was often. Agnes had also taken up writing, sometimes just venting via Microsoft Word was all she needed to lower her blood pressure. Agnes called her journal style book Dear Snowie. She wrote so that her little girl would learn not to fall for a man who would not treat her like the princess she was.

Gunter sighed as he looked at the screen. Agnes was telling him about her book, she had just documented the day’s events. Today was one of the good ones, Snowie had kept Jack distracted so Agnes had some peace from the temperamental man. Like Cornelia, Gunter had asked his sister-in-law to move in with them, he worried about her and her children. But Agnes was determined to seem independent when they could clearly see her breaking.

As he had promised all those years ago, Gunter had done his research on Jack Winter and what he found was surprisingly insignificant. Sure Jack was not the kind of man any parent would wish for their daughter to marry but he was not a hardened criminal. His crimes included misdemeanors, petty theft and a couple DUIs and DWIs, but nothing like Gunter had expected to find. To be on the safe side he began to document his many conversations with Agnes, just in case something happened. And seeing as how he was down in age, he made sure that his son Mortimer could access his computer.

After another heated exchange with her husband, Agnes found herself on Cornelia’s doorstep. She needed another break from the two crying children and her moody husband.

Mortimer let her in and immediately trapped his aunt at the table so he could tell her about his upcoming birthday and his best friend Bella. Gunter was in the background typing away musing at how his son would probably marry the girl who was his constant companion.

As soon as Gunter stepped away from the laptop to turn in for the night, Agnes took the seat he’d just vacated, plugged her jump drive into the USB port and uploaded her files to Gunter’s hard drive. She had this sense that something bad was going to happen, a nagging feeling she just couldn’t shake. Of course she would not tell the Goths about it or they would never let her leave. When she was done she mounted the stairs to the guest bedroom, changed into the night clothes she kept there and crawled under the covers.

At home Jack was not having a good night. Both of the kids were irritable, Snowie refused to sleep and Claus was being fussy because he’d been constipated for two days and it made his tummy uncomfortable.

The next day Jack was as miserable as his children, this intensified when he was forced to make his own breakfast in a messy kitchen. Agnes was still not at home and he was highly pissed, he was sure to let her know exactly what was on his mind the second she stepped through the door.

After another day with the children Jack was at his wits end, although they allowed him to get to bed earlier he was still in a bad mood, the spot beside him was empty, Agnes would have a lot of explaining to do.

At the Goth house, Agnes was putting the finishing touches on her book. With a beaming smile she folded the laptop and spun in the chair. “What’s wrong?” She asked when she saw Cornelia’s face.“You slept here last night, you’ve been here all day and it looks like you plan on sleeping here again. Agnes, I’m worried about your children, perhaps you should go home and check on them.”Agnes sighed, Jack would be furious and she was not in the mood for a fight but she missed her children and she was also worried about them. “I’ll call you once I get everything settled.” Agnes told Cornelia as she went upstairs to change.

Jack stormed out of the kitchen, Claus was upstairs wailing and Snowie had passed out from exhaustion on the rug in front of the stairs. Jack hated babysitting but he didn’t mind doing it for a few hours, or even over night, this stunt Agnes had pulled was ridiculous. He scooped Snowie up so haphazardly that the girl was startled from her sleep and she began crying along with her brother. The frustrated Jack began shouting at both of his kids, he dumped Snowie into her crib and completely ignored Claus then he stormed into the bedroom.

When he woke up the next morning he was unpleasantly surprised to find Agnes snoring lightly beside him, he walked around to her side of the bed and shook her roughly. Agnes jumped up, and drowsily stumbled into him.

“Two days Agnes, you’ve been at your sister’s for two days. Have you forgotten that you’ve got a family to take care of? I can’t even begin to tell you how pissed off I am. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take care of a sick baby and an energetic toddler on your own?”“I’m sorry Jack. I was busy?”“Busy? Busy!” Jack flung his arms in the air. “Busy with what? Your job is to clean this house, cook the food and take care of the children.”

Agnes got in his face. “That’s bogus and you know it. I practically raised Snowie by myself and I am raising Claus alone. If your want somebody to cook and clean up your messes go hire a butler. I’m sick and tired of being here and having to deal with your bull shit.” Agnes took a breath. “You know what, I’m taking my kids and I’m leaving.”

Before Agnes could continue Jack brought his hand across her face, how dare she threaten to leave him. Agnes fell backward, the back of her head hitting the nightstand. “Woman you must be crazy if you think I’ll let you go anywhere.” Jack shouted and stomped working himself up into a rage.

Just as quickly as his rant had started it subsided. Jack realized that he was getting no reply which was unlike Agnes. “Aggie?” He called looking down at the woman who was curled into the fetal position, blood haloing her head. Jack fell to his knees scooping up his wife’s body. Guilt and fear gripped his heart like a vice.

“Oh God! I’m so sorry, Aggie open your eyes. Aggie? Agnes.” He ran his fingers through her hair, tears clouding his eyes. Even before he’d even met her he’d planned on killing her and now that it finally happened he missed her. Panicking, Jack jumped to his feet and looked around the room, he grabbed the telephone and called 911. “Yes, I need help, my wife slipped and fell, she hit her head and I can’t wake her up.”