Page 19 of Falling for You
Diane smacks his arm, “Blair came here for a girl’s weekend after she found out she had Leukemia. I assume she was a bit wild after the news, and that’s our girl that you met. When she came home, she had no idea. But she had her final bloodwork before her first chemotherapy appointment, and it came back positive for pregnancy. All our girl ever wanted was to be a mother. So she forewent treatment, and accepted thatshe would be happy to have any time that she could with her baby. Unfortunately, the cancer progressed a lot faster than we anticipated, and she only got four months with Olivia.” Tears well in her eyes at the memory of losing her daughter.
“Our daughter told us about you. When we knew she wasn’t going to make it to treatment after giving birth, she wrote out all she knew about you, and we used the internet to fill in the holes. She wrote you a letter.” He hands me an envelope with my name scrawled on the front.
I take the letter and walk over to the bar. Emma follows me.
“What do you need, Rome?”
“I don’t know.” I flip the envelope around between my fingers.
She kisses my cheek, and rests her hand on my forearm. “Take your time. I will keep them entertained.”
She walks back to the Ryans leaving me alone with this damn letter, a ticking bomb in my hand.
I take it with me to my office and softly close the door behind me. Taking a seat at my desk, I slice open the envelope. The paper is riddled with blotted ink from what I imagine were from her tears as she wrote this letter for her daughter.
Roman,
First of all, I’m sorry for not telling you about Olivia. I selfishly wanted all the time I could have with her. I didn’t want to share her, even before she was here.
I know this is probably a shock, but if you’re not hearing this from me, then I’ve passed away and my parents are fulfilling my wishes to find you for our baby girl.
Please love her, Roman. Love her for me and you. She’s the best baby. She’s always happy, smiling, and no matter how you feel she will brighten your day. She is everything good about this world.
Show her the world, show her all the best parts of everything, and protect her from the scary.
I will be forever grateful to you for giving me this experience and the love of the beautiful girl in your arms. Getting to grow her for the last nine months, and snuggle her sweet newborn self is my biggest accomplishment in life. So thank you for this beautiful gift. I hope you feel the same about her.
Don’t let her forget me.
XO, Blair
The tears fall silently down my cheeks, disappearing into my beard. I pick up the envelope and a photo falls out. A beaming Blair is sitting in a hospital bed with Olivia. Olivia has on the typical hospital hat with a bow on it. The pride she feels for her child is evident in this photo and causes more tears to come.
This woman gave her life for her child, and here I am hiding in my office from this baby girl.
Get your shit together, Rome.
I shove my chair back to stand up and send it flying into the wall. The action shocks me, my emotional state is too fragile and I’m too overwhelmed by all that I’m feeling.
Taking a deep breath, I step out of my office and walk slowly down the hallway.
The image I see first in the dining room hits me right in the fucking chest.
Emma is holding Olivia, bouncing her around the dining room and snuggling her close to her chest.
She stops as soon as she sees me standing at the entrance to the dining room.
“I’m sorry.” She looks over her shoulder to the table where the Ryans were sitting.
The table is full of bags, strollers, and a carseat.
“Where did they go? They just left her here with a damn stranger?” I stalk over to the front door, whipping it open to look in the parking lot for them.
Emma walks up behind me, “They left. They gave me their contact info, and they’re staying at a cabin at the inn.”
“Then let’s go.” I run over to the bar to grab my keys. “We can’t let them just dump her here!”
“Hey, sit down, take a breath.” Emma places her free hand on my shoulder, the other cradlingmybaby. Mine but not ours. This is all fucking wrong. “Look at me.”
