Disney Ages Novels & Stories

After seven years of marriage, my husband, Marcus Doakes, gave every bit of his tenderness to his divorced first love and her daughter. From then on, I began teaching my own daughter to call him "Mister." When my daughter had an asthma attack and her little face turned blue from lack of air, one phone call from his first love saying, "Jacey is scared of the dark," was enough to make him leave. I covered my daughter's eyes and told her to whisper, "Goodbye, Mr. Doakes" At the parent-child piano competition my daughter had been looking forward to for ages, his first love cried that Jacey had no father to accompany her and was too afraid to go onstage. He turned and left without hesitation. I swallowed the ache in my chest and told my daughter, who had lost her chance to perform, to thank "Mr. Doakes" for coming to watch. Every time, my daughter could only wipe her tears silently in my arms. Later, he seemed to finally realize how much he owed us. For once, he canceled his business banquet and offered to take us to the amusement park for the weekend. But right at the amusement park entrance, his first love called again. "Marcus, the children at the amusement park are laughing at Jacey because she doesn't have a dad. Can you come pick her up...?" When I saw the pity and hesitation flash across his face, he had just crouched down to explain to our daughter. This time, before I could say anything to remind her, my daughter let go of his hand on her own. With tears still shining in her smile, she stepped back obediently. "It's okay, Mr. Doakes. Go protect that little sister. "I have the cotton candy Mommy bought me. That's enough."

At the National High School Football All-Star Game, my boyfriend Evan had just been named MVP. Sophia, the cheer captain, immediately posted on Instagram. Caption: "Guess who got a little something from the champion himself~" The photo turned out to be a pair of Evan's worn underwear! Scrawled across them in lipstick were the words: "For my dearest Sophia." She held them up with her long acrylic nails, pouting for the selfie. The internet exploded. "Why does she have his underwear?" "Isn't it obvious? They're totally together." "Sitting here waiting for the official couple photo." Within seconds, a close-up of the two of them cheek-to-cheek surfaced in the comments. Congratulations and teasing flooded the feed. I gripped my phone, a chill spreading through my entire body. Evan had promised to go public about us ages ago but kept putting it off, saying he needed to prove himself first. He'd been stalling ever since. Now here I was, his actual girlfriend, and I didn't even get an invite to his victory party. I took a deep breath and called him. "Explain." On the other end, Evan's voice was lazy, almost amused. "The fans grabbed everything off me. Jersey, pads, all of it. Sophia insisted on keeping something as a souvenir, so I gave her the underwear. No big deal." "The Instagram post is just riding the hype. Don't be so uptight about it." Then Sophia's voice chimed in. "Yeah, honey, Evan and I are like brothers! I've seen everything on him already. It's just a pair of boxers, so don't be so petty." I listened to their increasingly flirtatious banter through the speaker, then slowly pulled off my engagement ring and tossed it aside. "Fine," I said to Evan. "I'll be the bigger person. Why don't you skip the 'girl bro' thing and just make her your girlfriend? I'm tired of watching this act."