Jettie Woodruff
PLAUSIBILITY
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my mother. I love it when she tells me that she has a hard time finding another book after reading mine.
To of course, Crystal for all of the tedious hard work, critiquing, and re-reading of everything that I do.
To Monica for her blunt and bold opinions, for telling me… nope, change it. I don’t like that, and for making me laugh…. a lot.
To cover it designs for an amazing cover and to my number one book blogs
Novel Grounds and Island Lovelies Book Club.
Last but not least.
To all of my fans who keep me writing.
You guys rock.
Chapter 1
Aquilla always knew she didn’t belong to the Chavez family. Anyone that looked at her could tell that she wasn’t a descendent of Romano Chavez. Romano, along with her brother, Julius, were both dark skinned with coal black hair. Aquilla was light skinned with glossy blonde hair. Her eyes were a sparkling blue, where Romano and Julius’s were dark. Romano and Julius were built with broad shoulders, strong lean arms, and legs with muscular builds. She was tiny and dainty with thin features. She never questioned her heritage, not until she was older anyways. A child believes what they are told, and up until a few years ago, she did the same.
Why would she question her father’s word? He was her father. Julius was her brother. She had no reason to believe otherwise. She never really cared. She couldn’t have asked for a more loving father. She was the spirit in her father’s soul. He worshiped the ground she walked on, and would have done anything in the world for her. It really didn’t matter where she came from. The handful of times that she had asked, her father de-railed the conversation. The only explanation that she had ever gotten was that her mother was an American and had been killed in an automobile accident. That would be the degree of the discussion.
It wasn’t really important to her. She knew that Romano wasn’t her actual father. She didn’t care. He obviously took her in when her own father didn’t want her. Her brother was generally the best big brother anyone could ask for. There were also plenty of times that she thought he was a pain in her ass. No, he was definitely a pain in her ass, but when push came to shove, she knew he would always be there for her.
Even when she was a little girl, Julius was an awesome big brother. They had a seven year age difference, so he was always protective of her. There were many nights when their father was away on business that she would wake crying. Julius would be the one she wanted, not their caretaker. He would be the one to rub her back and hum her back to sleep.
For some reason, Aquilla was always a scared little girl, mostly at night. If Romano were home, he would be the one to go to her. He usually carried her back to bed with him or there were times she would cry for Julius, and Romano would take her to him. Julius would raise the covers and wrap her little body in his arms. She would be securely asleep in seconds.
Other than one childhood friend that belonged to one of the servants, Aquilla never had friends growing up. Julius was the lucky one to help get those damned, too tight leggings up Barbie’s legs and over her hips. He pretended to eat the play dough cookies and built tents and forts out of the couch cushions and blankets. He even dressed in a tuxedo once and married her when she was seven.
It seemed like every time she would get settled and start sleeping through the night, Romano would move them again, disrupting her routine. A new bedroom always meant late nights for Julius. He probably slept in her bed more than his during those years.
She always wanted Julius. If her shoe was untied, Julius had to tie it. If a servant brought her a plate that needed to be cut up, Julius had to cut it. If it was bath time, Julius had to bathe her, and then be the one to read her a bedtime story. He did it better. He made the characters come alive, unlike her caretaker, who just wanted her to go to sleep. When she knew he was nearing the end of the book and her anxieties about the dark night would manifest, she always looked up to him and requested the same thing, “Don’t leave me okay, Julius?” He never left. He would stay until she was asleep, kiss her hair and promise to stay. He cared about her. He wanted her to be happy.
Julius fired his first employee when he was twelve. Aquilla was only five. It was her new caretaker right after an impulsive, speedy move. He had heard her crying from her room and burst in. He always followed her cries. He was usually the only one that could calm a tantrum, fix a boo boo, or get rid of the monster in her closet. Aquilla had been sitting at her vanity. Her caretaker was trying to brush her wet hair from behind. She was being rough with her, yanking her head back every time the brush stroked down her blonde little curls. The lady grabbed her shoulders and shook her, yelling for her to be still in a loud whisper, through gritted teeth.
That was the first time in Julius’s life that he felt wrath. The rage that flooded his soul, because someone was being mean to his Quill was unbearable. He wanted to rip her head off.
“Get out!” he screamed, with bulging veins in his neck, demanding her to pack her shit and get out of their house.
She refused the orders from the 12 year old boy. Luckily, Romano had been home and came to see what the commotion was all about. That was Julius’s first taste of power. When he explained to his father what he had witnessed, Romano looked at the lady, told her she needed to listen to his son, and turned on his heels, dismissing the caretaker from her duties.
“She hurt me,” Aquilla had said with tears in her big blue eyes. It broke his heart. He would kill anyone for hurting her. He picked up the brush and carefully brushed out her hair. No one could come close to her head with a brush after that, except Julius, of course.
The first time that Julius wasn’t there for her was when she was nine. Julius was sixteen and was accompanying his father on a three day trip. He was excited to be doing business with his father, but was afraid that Aquilla would need him. She still woke up during the night sometimes, and would crawl in bed with him. Half the time, he never knew she was there until he woke the next morning.
It broke his heart when she cried. She didn’t want him to leave. She had wanted to go, too. You would have thought it was Christmas. He went out and bought her more toys than she could play with in a whole year. He wanted to keep her busy until he got back. She played with one. He bought her a beautiful, very expensive doll with long blonde braids like Aquilla’s. She was dressed in an elegant, long Victorian gown and wore a bonnet. He explained to her that she was a bad dream baby, and that she wouldn’t let her be scared while he was gone. It had worked. She carried that doll around for two years, and it still lay on her bed and sits in a chair at night, watching her sleep and catching her nightmares.
When Aquilla was almost ten, she sat on his bed and watched him primp in his mirror, getting ready for his first date. She sat cross legged on his bed, holding the doll, and watched him fuss with his hair.
“There, how do I look?” he asked, after adding the finishing touch of a diamond stud in his right ear.
“You look ugly,” she teased.
He tackled her to the mattress and tickled her until she couldn’t breathe.
“You’re pretty!” she screamed.
“Say I’m handsome,” he demanded, attacking her again.
“You’re pretty!” she screamed again.
“You’re a brat,” he countered, smacking her on the butt as his father came in.
“What are you two yelling about in here?” Romano asked, sitting beside of Aquilla. She scooted into his arms and he wrapped her up, kissing her head.