AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 40
Cash
“Ican’t believe how much stuff babies have,” I commented to my mom as I rinsed out a bottle and put it in the dishwasher. “How can something so little need so much stuff?”
My mom laughed as she wrapped up the enchiladas from dinner. When Marissa and Heather came back to pick Amelia up, we’d all had dinner together before they headed back to the boarding house. I couldn’t believe that I only had a couple more days with her and then she’d be going back to Boston.
“Today was amazing. I always knew that you’d be an incredible father, but seeing it…” My mom started to tear up.
“You’re a pretty amazing grandma, yourself.”
“Gam Gam.”
That is the name that my mom had decided Lia would call her. It was what Mitch’s grandkids called her and she wanted everyone to feel the same even though it was a blended family.
“Marissa’s pretty great.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“How well do you two know each other?”
I’d told my mom that she was a woman I’d been seeing off and on for a few years, which technically was true, but it had made it seem like we’d actually dated. I knew this talk was coming. It didn’t surprise me that she’d want to know what was going on.
I sat down at the kitchen table, joining my mother.
“Not that well. She is a teacher and for a few years she came down to Firefly as a chaperone with the senior class on spring break. When she was here, we would hang out.”
“But you didn’t keep in touch the rest of the year?”
“No.”
“Do you guys think that you might try and be together?”
“No.” We’d talked about it briefly the day that the paternity test came back. She’d said that it was on the table if I wanted to try and I’d explained that I was in love with someone, which she completely understood. “We think it’s best if we just focus on being friends and co-parenting.”
“I’m proud of you.” My mom’s eyes were still brimming with tears and she sniffed them back.
“For knocking someone up?” I joked, knowing full well that was not what she was referring to.
“No. For stepping up and being the man that I raised you to be. I know some men that wouldn’t have wanted to take on that responsibility, especially with a woman that they weren’t in love with. You are handling this situation with maturity and honor and I’m proud of you.”
“I don’t think I deserve an award for doing the right thing.” I knew that some men had children that they never saw, but I could never imagine being one of those men. From the second I knew there was even a possibility that I had a child, I was all in.
“And what about Cheyenne?”
“What about Cheyenne?” Just because Billy had given me his “blessing” didn’t change anything. I knew that she wanted to have a family, kids, it was something that we’d talked about for hours and hours on end. I doubted that she’d want to be with me and be a part of raising someone else’s baby.
I assumed that’s why she’d been so distant.
“Have you talked to her?”
“Yeah.”
My mom picked up Amelia’s teething ring. “How does she feel about all of this?”
“She has her own stuff going on.”
“You mean Oscar? I thought you said that she was happy that he was her father.”
