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“Sure,” he said, his tone filled with acid now. “You take what you need, Em. I’ll be here, because I literally can’t leave.”
She pressed her eyes closed, the tears in them stinging and burning. She’d heard what he really meant. If he could leave, he would. He’d leave her, because she was so frustrating to him. He’d walk away from their relationship, because she couldn’t confide in him.
“Good-bye, Emma,” he said, and while his voice wasn’t unkind, she flinched when the call disconnected.
Please don’t let that be our final good-bye, she thought as she lowered her hand holding her phone.
Her mind seemed to be running in two tracks. One moved slow enough for her to understand what she needed to do next. The other raced right up against the rails. She ignored that part for now and crouched down in front of her daughter.
“Missy,” she said. “It’s time for you to know who your father is and why I’ve had you living here with Fran and Matt and not me.”
The little girl said nothing, and Emma knew she was the one who needed to talk. In every instance, she was the one who needed to find the courage to open her mouth and talk. To Missy. To Ginger. To Robert.
And especially to Ted, at least if she wanted to keep him in her life.
It had only been a few weeks since he’d come into her life, but so much had changed in such a short time.
“Okay, Momma,” Missy said, drawing in a long breath. “I’m ready.” She’d asked innocent questions about her father in the past, and Emma had been able to put her off, because she was a child. She’d been asking a lot more questions about where Emma lived and why Missy couldn’t be there with her in the past couple of years, and Emma knew she’d started to grow her “big kid” eyes.
She was almost finished with fifth grade now, and she could handle this.
“Let’s go sit in the swing on the back porch,” she said. “And I’ll tell you everything.”
As she walked with her daughter through the kitchen, she tried to put on a brave face for Fran and Matt. Ted’s words from a while ago rang in her ears.
Everything comes out when it’s the right time.
Everything comes out in the end.
All she could do now was pray that it was the right time, and that her daughter would understand why Emma had done what she’d done.
