Page 61 of Made For Me

My head is spinning around and around as I read the letter over and over again, the tears just running down my cheeks. I use my fingers to trace the letters, knowing she wrote this for me. “I tried.” I look over at Max, who is sitting beside me, his hand rubbing my back. “I tried so hard.” The sobs rip out of me. “I was rooting for her so hard.”

“You did everything you could have done,” he tells me, and I know that I did.

“She wanted so much to be a good mom.” I wipe the tears off my face. “She wanted to be so much better than her own mom.”

The door opens and Matthew steps in. “Nico is on his way,” he says softly as he sits down beside Max. “This kid’s life is going to change and he has no idea.”

“I can’t even imagine what is going to happen,” I add, looking around the table. “At the end of the day, this is about Penelope. She needs a fighting chance.”

“She needs to get the hell away from her grandparents,” Matthew declares. “From what Abigail said, they went to visit her once or twice.”

I close my eyes, trying not to put it on myself, knowing there is nothing I could have done. My hands were tied. “Nico is here,” Matthew says when getting up and walking out.

It takes maybe thirty seconds for him to come back in, followed by Nico. I look behind Nico and I’m shocked to see Chase right there, almost pushing his way toward me. He steps around and finally gets to me. I get up when he is close enough. He wraps his arms around my waist tightly, pulling me to him. He doesn’t say anything to me. He just hugs me as tight as he can. He finally lets me go, and his hands hold my face, his eyes search mine. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I nod my head as he kisses me.

“Um, sorry, but what the hell is going on?” I hear a voice and look over to see someone standing there in a track suit. His hair is still wet and I can only imagine what he is going through. I know right away this is Penelope’s father, they have the same eyes.

“Why don’t I take over?” I look at Matthew and then Nico, who just nods at me.

“Do you want to sit down, Tristan?” I ask him and he comes forward and sits down.

“Do I need a lawyer?” he asks and looks over at Nico, who sits next to him and shakes his head.

“Tristan, did you know someone called Monica?” I ask him, and his eyebrows shoot together and he shakes his head.

“Not that I can remember,” he says, looking around at the men.

I reach for my file in my bag, pulling out the picture of her. My hands shake when I see her smiling up at me. “This is Monica,” I say, turning the picture around and passing it to him.

“Sorry.” He looks down ashamed. “I have no idea.”

“From what she said, the two of you met at a party,” I remind him. “You had just gotten drafted.”

He huffs out, “I don’t remember anything from that night. I was just so happy to be drafted I let loose.” He looks at his hands. “There were girls everywhere.” I can only imagine. “I don’t know why this means anything.” I can tell from his tone he’s getting really fucking nervous.

I swallow down now, knowing what I say next or what comes next is going to change his whole world. “Two years ago, Monica had a baby girl.” I look at him to see if he gets it. “We think she had your baby.”

I can tell the exact time it sinks in as he gets up. “What?” He looks at Nico, who gets up and puts his hand on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay,” he assures him. “Whatever it is, we are going to be there with you every single step of the way.”

“Where is Monica?” He looks around the table.

I was wrong, telling him he has a child isn’t going to change his life, finding out he’s the only parent this child has is going to change his life. “She died,” I say, ripping the Band-Aid off. “Long story short. She didn’t have that great of a relationship with her parents.” He sits down now, his mouth opening and closing. “She was already in the system when she had Penelope, so we had to monitor her.”

“Is Penelope,” he asks, “is she?”

“She is alive,” I confirm and he puts his head back as a sigh of relief leaves him. “Tristan, we would need to do a DNA test before anything,” I say, and he nods his head. “Just to make sure that you are in fact the father.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he admits, and I can only imagine what he is going through.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, and I wish Monica had told you when it first happened.”

“When can I do this test?” he asks.

“We have someone who can do it now,” Nico says, and Tristan nods his head.

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