Page 74 of When the Storm Breaks
“Oh. That’s funny.”
“Mine is green, like Daddy’s,” Noah said.
“Girls are like their mommies and boys are like their daddies,” Hayley stated confidently. Noah nodded, accepting it as a fact. Little did Hayley know that she looked so much like her daddy. It seemed unfair she would have gotten so much from him and so little from me.
“I already know that Noah’s a lot like his daddy. Are you...” I cleared my throat, preparing to venture into dangerous territory. “Are you like your mommy, Hayley?”
I held my breath and waited for her answer. She nodded. “My mommy loves Disney and so do I. We both love pepperoni pizza and mint chip ice cream. Oh, and here’s a funny one. We both have crooked pinkies.” She held up her hands to show me her crooked pinkies.
“Oh. I can see that. Wow.”
“And you have brown hair like hers,” Noah added.
She flipped the end of her braid over her shoulder and held it up to her eyes as if she needed to confirm that her hair was brown. “Yep. Same color. I looked just like her when I was a baby too.” She jostled Noah’s arm to get his attention. “I bet if you looked at our baby pictures you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was me or my mommy.”
“Probably not.” He shrugged. “Babies all look the same.”
Her eyes widened, offended by his words. “Do not. Levi is the cutest baby in the world.”
“He’s the loudest baby in the world, that’s for sure.” He shrugged one thin shoulder. “But he’s cute sometimes, I guess.”
“Do you look just like your mommy?” I asked Hayley. Why was I doing this to myself? Not to mention, it was wrong to pump a six-year-old for information.
She nodded. “My mommy and daddy picked me out of all the other babies.”
My breath hitched. “They picked you?”
Shut up, Shiloh. Shut your fat mouth.
“They wanted a baby more than anything in the world. And one day they got a phone call that their baby was ready for them. And that was me.” She smiled and held out her arms, like it was the best story ever. And I suppose it was. What could be better than to be chosen? To be wanted more than anything in the world? Nothing.
“That’s amazing,” I said when I found my voice. “They’re so lucky to have found you.”
“They said they were waiting for me for so long that they cried when they finally met me.”
My throat was so clogged with emotion I had no idea how I got the words out. “I don’t blame them,” I said softly. “It would have made me cry too.”
“What would have made you cry?” Brody asked, setting the cobbler and two plastic forks in front of the kids then taking his seat next to me. I’d been so focused on Hayley I hadn’t even seen him coming.
Thankfully, Hayley saved me from having to answer his question.
“Thank you, Mr. McCallister.”
“No problem. And it’s just Brody.”
“Okay. Mr. McCallister.”
Noah and Hayley giggled then kept saying Mr. McCallister while they ate their cobbler. I was hoping the distraction would make him forget his question.
“Watch this,” Noah said, elbowing Hayley. He grabbed the straw from her cup and his own and stuck one in each nostril. “I’m a walrus.”
Hayley giggled. “Hello Silly Walrus.”
She took the same two straws that had been in his nose and put them on top of her head, wiggling them around. “I’m an alien.”
“Hello Silly Alien.”
By the time we left the roadside taco joint, the kids were laughing their heads off.
