Page 116 of Falling in Love with Two

“She’s the one who’s an idiot. She’s never going to know how amazing our daughter is going to be.”

Her tears flow harder once again.

“Leah, talk to me,” I prompt.

“I just really wanted to have my mom around through the pregnancy. It would have been nice to have her to get advice from and to go shopping with. I know we have been estranged, but I thought the baby would help us get over all the bullshit. Usually, I wouldn’t give a shit. All of the pregnancy hormones have made me all sentimental.”

“It’s normal that you want family around. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

She grabs a tissue to wipe her nose. “It sucks that none of my family wants anything to do with me.”

I feel horrible. I have half a mind to go tell her mother exactly how I feel about her. But I think my efforts would be better spent making Leah feel better. I’m starting to realize her mom isn’t worth anyone’s time.

I ask, “When was the last time you heard from your dad?”

“When he left, I was seven. I sent him a couple of letters when I was a teenager, but I never heard back. Mom told me he got remarried and had more kids. I guess both of my parents threw out their first pancake.”

“Huh?”

“You know how when you make pancakes, the first one is usually a mess, so you throw it out? That’s me. I’m the first pancake.”

I give her a confused look. “You know how to cook pancakes?”

She grabs a throw pillow and hits me in the face with it. “Oh, shut up.”

“But for the record, I never throw out my first pancake. Just because it may not be perfect doesn’t mean it doesn’t still taste delicious.” I wiggle my eyebrows up and down at her.

She laughs, and I feel like I’m achieving my goal of making her feel better.

I pick up the bag of baby carrots she’s been munching on. “Leah, do you realize these expired two weeks ago?”

Immediately, her face falls and the tears start again. “Oh my God. On top of everything, I’m going to hurt our baby by eating expired carrots.”

“Oh, come here.” I take her into my arms. “I’m sure the baby is just fine.”

I know the continued tears aren’t just because of the carrots. It’s the culmination of everything that happened today. So, I hold her and let her cry.

Her tears soak my shirt, but I don’t care. I’ll hold her for as long as she needs me to.

When she calms down, I spot a shoe box on the coffee table. “What’s that?”

“Some pictures my mom gave me.” She grabs it. “I was waiting on you. I didn’t want to go through it alone.”

When she opens it, there’s a small stack of photos. I was expecting more. My mom would have taken double this on a Saturday picnic in the park. The look on Leahs’ face shows she was expecting more too. She takes them out of the box and starts looking through them.

The first one is a photo of Leah as a toddler with a man she says is her dad. I can see the resemblance in their bright green eyes.

The next is one that shows Leah at her Kindergarten graduation.

“You were a cute kid,” I say.

“Between the two of us, our daughter will be down right adorable,” she smiles.

Her face lights up at the next photo. “Look! It’s the Barbie cake I was telling you about.”

There are a couple more photos from the party, and she tells me all about it.

I know she hasn’t had an easy go of it. But I swear I’m going to do my best to make her life great from here on out.

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