Page 12 of Under the Mistletoe

But I was wrong.

Years passed, and life took us in different directions.

I heard bits about her here and there, but those bits became less and less frequent. I kept expecting her to come back home, but she never did—not until now. I didn’t know what had taken her so long to find her way back home, but I had every intention of finding out.

Beck

“It’s really cold out, Ava. You need to put your coat and gloves back on.”

“What ‘bout you?”

“I’m working and got hot.”

“I got hot, too.”

“Ava, put on your coat,” I fussed.

I could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to protest, but I gave her a stern look, and she complied. And then, she was back to running circles around the yard. I was trying my damnedest to put together her new playset, but I was struggling. I had bolts scattered around me, and I had no idea where they went. The instructions might as well have been written in Chinese, but I was determined to get it done.

"What’s this?" Ava asked, pointing to one of the metal bars.

"That’s one of the legs, baby.” I kept working as I explained, "We’re gonna use it to keep the swing from tipping over."

“Okay.” She held her arms out and started running as if she was soaring through the clouds. "I’m gonna swing high! Like a birdie!”

I chuckled, tightening another bolt. "Okay, sweetie. I need you to come over here and help me hold this part steady.”

She raced back over, little hands gripping the edge of a beam with all her might. I pretended to struggle a bit more than necessary just to see her eyes light up when I said, "Wow, you’re strong!”

“I’m a good helper.”

“Yes, you are! I appreciate it very much."

And just like that, she was off again, darting through the yard with endless energy. I sat back and watched her for a moment and seeing her so happy made my heart swell. She was so sweet and wonderful, and I couldn’t imagine my life without her. The thought had my mind drifting back to the night I told her father I was pregnant.

I was standing in the kitchen, and my hands were literally trembling as I handed him the pregnancy test. His eyes narrowed, and his voice was full of anger as he roared, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“Afraid not.”

“But we were careful.”

“We weren’t careful enough.”

I was nineteen when I first started dating Trevor. We’d met in college, and we’d been dating for just over a year. He was handsome and smart, and he had an outgoing personality that drew people in. While he hadn’t completely stolen my heart, I cared a great deal about him and thought we had a pretty good thing.

I didn’t realize that I was completely wrong about him until the night I showed him the pregnancy test I’d taken. He saw those two little red lines, then looked at me and said the words that broke my heart. “You gotta get rid of it.”

“What?”

“Get rid of it, Beck.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I am,” he clipped. “We’ve got no way to support a kid. Neither of us have jobs or money coming in. Hell, I haven’t even graduated yet. There’s no way I’m gonna get tied down to some kid.”

“It’s not some kid. It’s our kid.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don’t make this into something it’s not, Beck.” He glanced down at my abdomen, then repeated, “Just get rid of it, and let’s forget this ever happened.”

---