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Adrian's hand reaches out to touch mine, "It's okay to grieve, Olivia. And it's okay to ask for help when you need it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you, of all the people in the world, are a fighter."
I nod, grateful for his understanding, "Thank you, Adrian. It means a lot to me."
As we sit there, lost in thought, we hear the soft patter of little feet entering the room. I turn to see Emily, looking much better than the night before, with a big smile on her face.
"Daddy, I feel better now!" she exclaims, crawling onto the bed and snuggling up next to us.
Adrian looks down at her with a warm smile. "I'm so glad, baby. How about we have some breakfast in bed together?"
Emily's eyes light up, "Can we have pancakes, Daddy?"
Adrian chuckles, "Of course we can, princess."
As he gets up to prepare breakfast, I can't help but feel a sense of joy wash over me. There's something special about being here with Adrian and his daughter, in this moment of pure happiness and love.
Now that her father is busy putting food on her plate, Emily turns her attention to me, “Olivia, hi! What are you doing here? Did you have a sleepover?”
I blush and nod, “Yes, Emily. We had a sleepover. I live right there, see?” I say, pointing at my house through the window. “And your daddy suggested that I stay over because I was scared of the rain and thunder.”
“Oh wow!” she says. “I would be scared too. Guess what?" Emily says, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
"What is it, sweetie?" I ask, a smile on my face.
"I went to a sleepover at Rachel's house, and we snuck some candy from the kitchen!" Emily giggles, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.
Adrian joins us with the plates and chuckles, shaking his head in mock disapproval, "Emily, you know you're not supposed to take things without asking. Did you tell Rachel's mom what you did?"
Emily nods quickly, "Yes, Daddy! And she said it was okay as long as we didn't eat too much."
I can't help but smile at the innocence of childhood. Emily then turns to me and asks, “Did you and Daddy do something naughty last night?”
Suddenly, I become afraid. A wave of worry washes over me. I can't help but wonder if Adrian's ex-wife knows about me, and if she'll be okay with him spending time with me and their daughter.
Emily is just a child and children don’t know the world of adults. What if she mentions this situation about me sleeping over to her mother, Adrian’s ex-wife? What if his ex-wife doesn’t like that? I might be young, but I had enough worldly knowledge to know just how protective moms were of their daughters, and how she could go to court to gain custody of Emily or try to prevent Adrian from seeing me if she didn’t like the way this proceeded. From experience, I know that Adrian needs to tell his ex-wife about our situation – whatever the ‘situation’ is.
“Adrian,” I ask. “Can I talk to you outside?”
He looks at me with concern in his eyes but just nods, “Emily, honey, will you be okay eating on your own? Daddy and Olivia are just going to step out for a few seconds. Here, watch some cartoons.”
He puts on the TV and hands her the remote. She settles into bed and begins eating, engrossed in the show, already forgotten about us.
We head to the living room. As we sit on the couch together, I can't help but feel a little nervous about the situation. "Adrian," I start, my voice quiet. "Would you have to tell your ex-wife about us?"
Adrian turns to look at me, a mischievous glint in his eye. "What, that we're a couple now?" he teases, a flirty smile on his lips.
I can't help but laugh at his response, feeling a little more at ease. But as I look into his eyes, I realize that this is a serious matter just because of how much he’s starting to mean to me. "No, I mean it," I say, my tone firm. "Shouldn't we talk about these things? What if we end up spending more time together or Emily mentions to her mother that there was a woman sleeping in your room? Won’t that have consequences for you?"
Adrian's expression softens, and he takes my hand in his. "Olivia, trust me. My ex-wife is not a problem. I’m over her.”
“What do you mean you’re over her?” I clarify. “This isn’t about you or her being over each other … it’s about Emily. She needs to know who is a part of Emily’s life and who isn’t. And looking at how we’re going, I believe I may be a more regular part of Emily’s life. If I was a mother, I would want to know each and every person my child interacts with, and I’m sure your ex-wife would too. Imagine how she would feel if she finds out you have a strange woman spending nights at your house around her daughter!”
I wait for him to agree with me, but Adrian's expression turns serious as he speaks. "Olivia, I need to tell you something," he says, his voice dropping to a low murmur. "Emily's mother isn't a part of her life. She's a country singer or was when we met. Her name is Veronica Jones. We were so in love when we first met – I had VIP passes to her concert, but I didn’t know she was an alcoholic back then. Or maybe I did but thought she would grow out of it …”
He sighs and puts his hands in his face, “It never got better though. We got married, and life was fun, up until it became a nightmare. The fights got louder, the parties got wilder, her greed got larger and her addictions – frightful. One day, she told me she was pregnant. I was ecstatic but two weeks later, caught her trying to do drugs. This was when she was pregnant with Emily, and the moment I found out that she was still into drugs, I had her escorted by bodyguards for the entire nine months, day in and day out, to make sure she didn't take any drugs. And after Emily was born, she ran from the hospital to get her fix, leaving us there. She never even held Emily, and that was the last straw."
He shakes his head, looking down at his hands. "A year later, she called me telling me she was sober. I gave her another chance. After that, I tried to give her chances to get clean and be a part of Emily's life, but she kept letting us down. This one time, we sent Emily to summer day camp. One evening, I got a call saying Veronica never showed up to pick up our daughter. I found out later that Veronica had stolen my prized guitar, pawned it for money, and bought drugs with it.”
I gasp. The story just gets worse and worse, and now, my heart is breaking for Adrian and more importantly, for Emily. I couldn’t help but ask, “That's terrible, Adrian. How could she forget her own daughter at summer camp?"
