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“Granny,” I warn, not ready for her to start preaching to us about all the mistakes Tyler and I have been making and how we haven’t been fair to Maddie. “Now’s not the time. I didn’t invite Tyler over here so you could give him the third degree.”
“It’s not just Tyler who needs to hear what I’ve got to say—both of you have done a lot of wrong, and I think it’s high time you work out some way to fix it.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, Granny—fix everything. It was wrong of me to not tell Tyler the moment I found out I was pregnant. I know that’s how you feel, but at the time, I thought I was making a good choice by not telling him.”
“Well, you were wrong. Both of you. You were wrong for not telling him and you—” She flicks her gaze from me to Tyler. “—You were wrong for just leaving her behind like that. Did you ever plan on contacting her again to see how she was doing with everything?”
Tyler’s face blanches. “I meant to, but I didn’t think she would want to hear an apology from me so soon after I left, and I was too busy running to hear what she had to say to me. The passage of time doesn’t make me any less sorry for what happened though.”
She nods. “That’s good to hear. Now that you’ve both admitted that you were wrong for ending things the way you did, the two of you can start working things out. You both need to get on the same page and stick there for the sake of Maddie. The little angle deserves the best from both of you.”
I sigh, and as many times as I’ve heard similar speeches from her over the last three years, it doesn’t make hearing it again this time with Tyler any less impactful. She’s always been right—deep down I’ve known that.
“She’s right,” Tyler says. “We need to figure this out. I want the opportunity to get to know her—to be a part of her life—so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make things work between us, Avery, so we can both be there for Maddie.”
“Daddy, fix it,” Maddie says to Tyler while holding up the pink plastic lock and key.
Tyler takes the toy from her tiny hands and sticks the key into the slot and then twists. “There you go.”
Maddie squeals with delight as the latch opens up and swings free from its locked position. “Yaya! Daddy fixed it!”
We all clap and focus our attention on the little girl who has completely stolen all of our hearts.
AVERY
Most of the dinner conversation tonight was centered on Maddie. I love seeing Tyler take a genuine interest in his daughter and it makes me feel guilty for not telling him about her sooner. It’s obvious now that I see the two of them together that he’s going to be a great father.
I stand up and grab my plate along with Maddie’s and put them on the counter next to the sink.
Granny smiles over at Maddie and says, “Let’s take a time-out for a potty break.”
The two of them scamper out of the room and I’m left with just Tyler.
He stands up and carries his plate to me. “She’s amazing. You’re doing a good job with her.”
That’s nice to hear from him and it makes my heart extremely happy to know that he wants to be a part of her life. “I’m so glad that the two of you have hit it off so well. I can’t tell you how nervous I was about bringing you here. I wasn’t sure how you were going to react to the news.”
Tyler nods and then runs his fingers through his shaggy blond hair. “I’ll admit, you caught me off guard, but I’ve been trying to really keep my temper in check and not run off when things get a little too hard.”
“That’s good to know. Hopefully that means you’ll be coming around more often.”
“I’ll be here to spend time with Maddie every chance I get—and maybe even with you, if you aren’t opposed to that.”
I bite my lower lip. “I’ll admit that I held a lot of anger toward you until Maddie actually got here. She taught me a lesson about how special the bond is between a child and their parents, so it helped me understand a little more about why keeping your promise to your dad was so important to you—no matter how crazy it sounded to anyone else.”
“Me leaving Wellston had nothing to do with you, Avery. I hope you know that. It had everything to do with me and my own fears and guilt. I couldn’t understand why you didn’t hate me and blame me for the loss of your father. I never imagined that you shared in that guilt with me. I wish I would’ve known that you felt that way. I would like to think even as fucked up as my head was back then, that I would’ve been here to comfort you and make sure that you knew that it wasn’t your fault—that you had nothing to feel guilty over—but honestly I was so raw about Dad’s death back then I’m not sure that knowing that you felt guilt too would’ve changed the way I reacted.”
“I could say the same thing to you,” I remind him. “I think if we’d communicated with each other a little more, everything would’ve been different.”
He leans his hip against the counter as he faces me. “We could wrestle with the what-ifs forever, but that won’t do us any good. It’ll only continue to make us hurt. Back then, I was just so sure that I was being punished for breaking my promise to my dad and that I was not only going to bring myself down, but I would’ve taken you down with me. I couldn’t imagine anything worse happening than causing your father’s death.”
“But that’s where you’re wrong, Tyler. You weren’t punished. Don’t you see? That night we were together may have turned into a tragedy, but something extraordinary came from it, too, and she’s got little blond curls and is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“I wish I could’ve been here for you. Maybe it would’ve made everything else feel a little less tragic if I had stayed b
ehind and seen the good that came from that night. I’m sorry that you had to go through it all alone, and I understand why you didn’t trust me enough to tell me about Maddie. The only thing I can ask for now is a chance to prove my loyalty to you and her.”
Tyler reaches up slowly and softly touches my cheek. “I’m sorry I left you, Avery.”
