Page 113 of Wilde In His Arms

“You’re my parents now.I like it here.I don’t want to go back.”

Aria brushed her hand over Stacy’s head.“You don’t have to, sweet girl.”

Nick wasn’t sure how she’d take the next bit of news he’d been holding on to since he met with her father.“There’s one more thing you need to know, sprite.Do you remember your mother?”

“Kinda.Why?I haven’t seen her in a long time.She left us.Is she back?Is she going to try to take me from you?”Her hands trembled as she clasped them together.

Nick and Aria both shook their heads, trying to stave off Stacy falling into a panic attack.

Aria cupped her face.“No one is taking you from us.Ever.Not your dad.Not your mom.She can’t, sweet girl, because she got sick with cancer and she died.”

Tears welled in Stacy’s eyes.“She did?”

“Yes.It was several months ago.Before I found you,” Nick explained.

Stacy looked at him with her sad eyes.“I used to wish that she’d somehow find me and save me, even though I knew she didn’t want me.She just wanted out.She used to say that all the time.”

Nick didn’t understand how the two people in her life both wanted to unburden themselves of her.Such selfishness.So much damage they inflicted on her.

Aria tried to turn things around.“Your dad and I thought that perhaps you’d like to say goodbye.”

Nick set Stacy down and took her hand.“Come see.”He led her over to the garden, where he’d left a rose bush and the rock with MOM engraved into it.

Aria kneeled next to the hole he’d dug earlier.“We thought as a remembrance of her, we’d plant a white rose bush and place this marker for her.”

“Like a funeral.”

“A memorial.And anytime you feel like you want to talk to her, you could come out here and visit her.Even if you just want to sit and think about her.”

“I don’t want to do that.She left me.She never came back.She didn’t care.”Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over.

“Tell her,” Nick encouraged.“Whatever you want to say to her.”

Stacy looked from him, then at the rock.“You left me with him.Why didn’t you take me, too?Why did you let him do that to me?”she yelled.“I hate you!”Her whole body vibrated.

Nick’s heart cracked.He hated seeing her upset.

Aria’s eyes were filled with concern, but also admiration.“That’s it, sweet girl.Let it out.She can take it, because she’s your mom and she knows what she did was wrong.She knows she hurt you.”

Stacy was all out of anger.“Why didn’t you come back?”The softly spoken words were so filled with pain, Nick felt the ache of them in his bones.

“We’ll never know the answer to that question, sweet girl.But what if she did want to come back and just didn’t know how after she hurt you so much?What if you could find a way to believe that answer, knowing that she ran out of time when she got sick?And maybe if you could believe that, you can believe that she regretted leaving you, that she thought about you all the time, and that she wished she was with you.And now, maybe, she’s looking down on you and watching her little girl not just survive, but thrive in her new life.Maybe you can look up to the sky and tell her, ‘I’m still here.I made it.I survived.I did it.’”

Stacy tipped her head back and said, “I’m still here.”

“Say it louder, sprite, so she can hear you.”

“I’m still here,” she yelled.

“Louder, sweet girl.Let her know you mean it.”

Stacy sucked in a deep breath, her tears drying on her cheeks.“I’m.Still.Here!”

Nick scooped her up and held her close.Aria hugged both of them, making a Stacy sandwich.

“That’s my girl.”Nick grinned at her.“You are still here.”

“You made it, sweet girl.You overcame the odds.You kept fighting.You never gave up.Your mom, your dad, all those people who hurt you, none of them are as strong and resilient as you.”

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