Page 22 of Margo

“Now, that I can actually do something about,” Knox announced. Shifting his body slightly, he opened the nightstand drawer and produced a brand-new pink pacifier still in the packaging.

“Yay!” Margo cried. Then she sobered. “If it’s in Baze’s drawer then it’s supposed to be for Luna. Maybe I shouldn’t use it.”

“It’s not been used, and I’ll replace it,” Knox promised. “And besides, Baze would understand it was an emergency.” He ripped open the packaging and handed the binky to Margo who popped it in her mouth, cuddled close to his chest, and started sucking away happily.

She winced when Knox reached down and wrapped his arms around her bottom, surely making it ache, but after the initial gasp of pain and surprise, she sighed happily, her eyes glazed over, and she snuggled in closer.

Knox held her until she was asleep, enjoying the way it felt to have her finally in his arms, until he started to hear movement in the other rooms and the common areas. Carefully moving from the bed so as not to disturb Margo, he pulled his clothes back on and padded out to the living room where all five girls were picking up crayons and markers and doll clothes.

“Not gonna wait for Margo to join you?” he asked.

Jilly shrugged and wouldn’t meet his eyes. “We don’t really need her help,” she whispered at the same time Mariah said, “She can help later.”

Their agreeable attitudes and the fact that their answers didn’t quite match tipped him off. He was pretty sure there was something to Margo’s set-up theory.

He stood in the center of the room and tapped his chin. “Girls…” he began in a warning tone. “I appreciate you starting to clean up without having to be told and trust me when I say that’s how you’ll be spending all day every day until it’s done, but right now, I want to see your journals.”

The girls all froze, stopping what they were doing, and looked at each other with wide eyes. His gut knotted. “Now,” he commanded loudly.

They jumped to their feet and ran to their respective rooms, each returning clutching a leather-bound journal to their chest.

Knox took a seat at the dining table and waited as each girl dropped off theirs in front of him and rushed off to continue cleaning.

He grunted and opened the first one. It was Jade’s. He didn’t expect to get a full story from any one entry but hoped that the combination of all the stories would give him a clear picture of what had happened and some insight into why Margo was so insistent that it had been an ambush.

Thirty minutes later, Knox was seething as he closed the last book. Each girl had given a piece of a full picture, but as he’d expected, Jilly had gone into the most detail. After reading all the stories, one thing was abundantly clear: Margo was right. It had been an ambush. An ambush with the best of intentions, but still an ambush. From what he’d read, a perfectly angelic Margo was too far from the norm. It had put everyone on edge. They were tired of tiptoeing around her, they were tired of her pouting face, and they were tired of being interrogated each time one of them got in trouble from Knox.

He’d expected as much but hadn’t realized the resentment would go this far. Beyond the annoyance, there was sadness that Margo had pushed him away, frustration that she’d had what she wanted and given it up, and a genuine desire to see Knox win Margo over.

Knox had to give credit where it was due. They’d done what they’d set out to do. He’d gotten his in, and once he had, he’d used it to his full advantage just as they’d hoped he would. But their methods were dubious. On paper, the fight sounded like it had been way worse than he’d been able to get out of Margo. It had gotten mean and even physical.

He shook his head. He had no idea how Baze would handle a situation like this, and he was tempted to leave it for him, but there were a number of reasons he wouldn’t be able to do that. First and foremost, his own anger. He wasn’t so angry that he couldn’t safely and fairly hand out punishments, but he was angry enough that if he didn’t do something to have his say and put this in the past, it would fester, and he wouldn’t do as good a job taking care of them as he should. The second reason was Margo. As hard-assed as she liked to pretend that she was, she was also fiercely loyal and protective of her friends. He knew of many previous instances where she’d thrown herself to the wolves, so to speak, to save her friends or to help them in the way they’d helped her. The difference was her friends were usually in on the plan. Margo hadn’t been, and even though it had worked out in the long run, she’d been hurt, and she was owed an apology.

And the last reason was for the sake of the girls themselves. They hadn’t wanted to wait for punishments for minor things like skipping chores or being late to bed because they’d said it would stress them out too much. Waiting to be punished for something like this would pretty much kill them.

He folded his hands on the table as he gathered his thoughts and glanced over to see them all watching him. When they knew they’d been caught, they looked away and continued what they were doing: attempting the impossible feat of sorting puzzle pieces.

He decided not to do or say anything until Margo was up. He didn’t have to wait long. Twenty minutes later, she shuffled into the room, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and sidled up to him.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Well, hello there, Miss Marguerite Mae,” he said, turning his chair and opening his arms. She stepped into them and he pulled her into his lap. Cue the chorus of delighted giggles from the peanut gallery.

Their stifled giggles caught Margo’s attention, and she looked guiltily up at him. “I guess I should probably go help, huh, Daddy?”

It felt un-Daddy-like telling her not to, but he held her tight on his lap and gave a slight shake on his head. “Let’s just wait on that for a minute.”

She gave him a quizzical look, but stayed put, and he whistled loudly, getting the attention of the room at large.

“Girls, come and line up, please,” he directed, holding back a smirk when they rushed to obey.

When they were lined up in front of him, side by side, he regarded them sternly.

“After reading your journal entries about today’s events, I know two things. You love Margo dearly and you owe her an apology.”

Margo looked at her friends and then at him with questions in her eyes and Knox continued, “It seems to me like the fair thing to do at this point would be to let Margo read everything that I read. Then I’ll decide how to handle it.”

Five wide-eyed Little girls gasped, casting their gazes to the floor and hanging their heads in shame.