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“No. It was a promise ring,” she explained. “It was Blake’s way of saying that he believed in the future we had talked about having together.”
“But in the end, it didn’t mean that,” Layla said, her gaze still on the ring.
Charli couldn’t argue with that, but she also didn’t want Layla to view Blake in a bad way for the mistakes he’d made. “No. It didn’t.”
“Do you wish it had?”
It was a bit of a surprise that Layla hadn’t assumed that, of course, Charli would have wanted things to work out the way she’d planned. She hesitated, checking to see if her heart lined up with what she needed to say.
“No,” Charli said with all truthfulness. “If things had happened that way, Amelia wouldn’t be here with us. We need to accept that things are the way they are and focus on the future. Not the past.”
Layla closed the box and held it out to Charli. “Do I have to call him Dad?”
As she took it, Charli shook her head. “I’m not going to force you to treat him differently from how you already do unless you want to. Blake understands you need some time. We just wanted you to know the truth.”
“And you’re going to tell everyone else, too?”
“Yep. It’s time I was honest about everything that happened.” She wasn’t sure how she was going to tell her whole family, but she should probably start with her parents. And then Janessa. The rest could find out via the family gossip chain.
“Are you going to tell Amelia?”
“Blake is telling her right now,” Charli said. “We hoped that you would be okay with the four of us hanging out together this afternoon. But if you don’t, that’s fine too.”
Layla looked down at her hands. “I’ve always wanted to know who my dad was, but I didn’t think you’d ever tell me. So… I stopped praying and thinking about the situation.”
“Do you wish I hadn’t told you?” Charli hadn’t even considered that Layla had changed her mind about learning who her father was.
“No. I’m glad you did. He’s nice. I mean, my dad could have been a murderer.”
Charli gave a huff of laughter. “True.”
“So… we can go hang out with them.”
With that decision made, Layla picked up another brownie, and Charli let her.
Once they were finished with their dessert, they cleaned up the picnic. In between trips to the kitchen, Charli sent a text to Blake.
Conversation with Layla went fine. She’s a little shy about immediately seeing you as her dad, but I know she’ll come around. Do you still want us to hang out? Layla would like to.
They’d just finished cleaning up the last of their lunch when Charli’s phone chimed. She draped the cloth she’d been using over the tap, then dried her hands before picking up her phone.
Blake: I’m glad she was receptive. I have no problem giving her all the time she needs to adjust to the news. And yes, we’d love to hang out.
Charli smiled when a heart emoji appeared. Great! We’ll be there in about half an hour.
Two more emojis appeared. The heart eyes one and the kissy face one. She sent those two back to him and tacked on a heart.
“He makes you smile.”
Charli looked up to see Layla watching her. “Yeah, he does. Just like you always make me smile.”
“Well, not always,” Layla said with a smirk. “I don’t think I do when I argue with you.”
“Thankfully, you don’t do that too often.” Charli gave Layla a tight hug, smiling when her daughter hugged her back.
Her pre-teen might flip a switch when she turned thirteen, but she’d enjoy these little fun moments they shared until that happened.
“I told Blake we’d be there in half an hour,” Charli said. “So let’s get some games that we can play there.”
