“Like what?”
Daisy gently stroked her hand through Amelia’s hair and thought about the best way to word this difficult topic. “Some mommies decide to have their babies, and some decide not to have them before they’re born.”
Amelia raised her eyebrows. “Like they take them out of their tummy?”
“Yes. Some mommies feel like they can’t handle having a baby—maybe they’re young, or scared, or feel hopeless, and they choose not to have it.”
Amelia slowly nodded, understanding, while Daisy willed her tears not to fall.
“And I let Jameson believe that I had you taken out of my tummy. I made him believe that you were not going to be born. So while he knew you had once existed, I never told him that I chose to keep you.”
Daisy penitently nodded once. “I’m so sorry, Amelia. I thought I was making the best decision for you. But now I see that maybe I should’ve told both of you about each other a long time ago. I’ll always regret making you grow up without a dad.”
Daisy whispered the last bit and sat with her head hung low. After a couple of seconds, Amelia’s hand gently landed on her mother’s cheek. Daisy looked into her blue orbs and grinned. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Mommy. Thank you for telling me.”
Daisy exhaled. She’d made a choice at eighteen with the tools she had, and she’d been refining those tools ever since. “You’re welcome. I promise not to keep these kinds of things from you.”
“Okay,” Amelia said as she snuggled into Daisy’s chest. They both lay back into Amelia’s pillows and dozed off slowly into the night.
Daisy was awoken at 6 a.m. Her cell was beeping. She slowly moved a sleeping Amelia off her chest and stood from the bed. Looking down at her phone, she noticed a missed call from Matt and several missed texts from Jameson.
She felt the strangest emotion seeing the two names appear on her screen side by side: her past and her present.
She lingered on Matt’s missed call a beat longer than she meant to.
Matt.
Her fixture. The word fit him neatly, though she could never say it aloud.
He was the one who stocked the freezer with popsicles when Amelia had a sore throat, who fixed the crooked kitchen drawer without being asked, who left grocery lists on the fridge when she was out of something.
And then there was Jameson.
She was only just beginning to know him again. Once, he’d been her very heartbeat, the boy she trusted without reservation. He was also the reason she kept Matt at arm’s length, choosing to love him from a distance despite his steady presence in their lives.
With a sharp shake of her head, she pushed the thought aside and opened Jameson’s texts.
Jameson: Hey! Sorry it’s late. Just checking in. How is she?
Jameson: I know you wanted some time with her, but I’d love to come over this weekend and spend some time together. Now that she knows, I really want to get to know her… as a parent.
The last text had been the one to wake her up:
Jameson: Me again. I’m assuming you must be still sleeping. Sorry to bother. Headed into the studio. I’ll catch up with you later.
Daisy grinned and made her way into the living room. She sat down on the couch and responded to Jameson’s text.
Daisy: Call me when you’re free and we can figure something out.
She waited a few seconds for her phone to light up with his call, but when it didn’t, she decided to call Matt back instead.
It only took two rings for him to pick up.
“Morning, Daisy,” he rasped into the phone.
“Morning,” she said back.
