Page 225 of You've Got Hate Mail
I don’t have to call my attorney.
I just have to produce the document and proof of delivery. “I have the formal notice sent by my attorney revoking allprivileges that this woman and her husband have to ever see my daughter again.”
And Cricket didn’t have to defend me.
Shit.
Shit.
I should’ve just pulled up the documents.
But watching her try to be nice, and when that failed, threaten to tell my story while naked on the internet to make my in-laws the villains?
I know what that would cost her.
And it’s Cricket.
She’d still do it.
For me.
For any of us here.
“Remove this woman,” I tell the deputy. “And I might want to press charges.”
“You should,” Cricket says. “And get a restraining order.”
The deputy glances at me, then at my mother-in-law. “Ma’am, I need you to come with me.”
“But they’re threatening me! They’re putting my granddaughter in danger!”
“I tried to be nice about it, but you wouldn’t have it,” Cricket says, the soft volume of her voice in direct contrast to the steel in her tone. “Rest assured, I haven’t evenbegunto threaten you. Donotfuck with the people I love, lady.”
My devil-in-law seems to finally get it, and she shrinks back.
Cricket slides her hand down my arm to link her fingers with mine. “Come. Lav needs you.”
“I’ll make sure she leaves,” my dad says behind me. He squeezes Cricket’s shoulder. “Good to see my son found someone who’ll defend him to the death.”
“He’s the best of the best,” Cricket replies with a smile that’s getting a little wobbly.
“So are you,” my dad says.
Cricket pulls me into the house, Pip on our heels.
“Ladybug, you’ve got things worth living for,” Pip says. “Shouldn’t be saying you don’t have anything to lose.”
Cricket smiles back at her. “I won’t lose the important things. You and Heath and Lav and Fluffy and The Cluckinator and Mabel and Ginny and Olivia and Samantha and Dori. Never any fear there that I’d lose you.”
I stop short and pull Cricket into a hug before we get into the house, while all of Lav’s friends and their parents watch.
She got here broken and feeling completely alone, and now she’s defending me without fear because she knows she’s loved.
She knows she belongs.
And I’m so, so fucking glad that she does.
“I love you,” I whisper while I hold her tight.
