Four Beating Hearts

41 - abandonment

Penelope POV

It had been a couple of days since mommy was acting strange and I was sitting on the couch with momma. Mommy and mama were running around the house getting ready and I was sort of confused on why they were getting ready but momma and I weren't.

Mama came over and kissed me on the top of my head. "We'll be back in a bit little one." She told me and headed out the door. I tilted my head a little confused, where were they going and why wasn't I going with them?

It wasn't until mommy came over to say goodbye that I lost it. "Bye baby girl. We'll be home in a little while. Be good for momma." She told me as she kissed the top of my head.

I whined a little, "Mommy I go wit? No leave mommy. I be good!" I started tearing up from the idea of her leaving.

She shook her head quickly. "Baby girl, I'm not leaving because of you. Mama and I have to run some errands so you're going to stay with momma while we're gone. Okay?" I shook my head no.

"Mommy no leave me." I sobbed and momma held me closer to rock me.

Mommy looked upset at my reactions. I know I'm behaving irrationally, but I haven't been separated from her in awhile. 

"Baby, I'm not leaving you for good. I will be back as soon as I can, I promise you. I love you sweet girl." Mommy said while kissing my forehead and walking out the door.

I cried out for her but she didn't come back in. Momma tried to soothe me, but it wasn't working.

"It's okay sugarplum, mommy's going to be right back with mama. You're okay my baby." Momma told me and I felt awful for how I was reacting.

I nodded my head softly before tugging on her shirt. Momma quickly removed her shirt and my onesie and I cuddled into her, the skin-to-skin giving me some sense of relief. My sobs turned to sniffles before I eventually fell asleep from all of the upset.

Bethany POV

I felt awful for leaving her, but we needed to go see if we would legally be able to formally adopt her.

That process didn't take long and luckily it looks like we are eligible to adopt her. (a/n: this is not at all a quick process and adoption definitely needs more attention, but I don't have the brain function rn to write it.)

We picked up some lunch already and were pulling in the driveway with it. Mariana told me to go ahead inside and she would grab the food. I had told her about what happened with Penny and she understood. It was the first time she had been without me and knows she's specifically attached to me.

I walked in and saw Penny cuddling skin-to-skin with Bella and my heart clenched at the sight. When I got closer I could see how red and puffy her eyes were making me look up at Bella.

She sighed softly. "She felt like you abandoned her I think. She cried for awhile until I did skin-to-skin, that's when she started calming down. She must have fell asleep from all of the upset." Bella explained to me and I felt my eyes water. I never want her to feel like I abandoned her.

I sat on the couch next to Bella who told me I may want to remove my shirt early just in case. I quickly pulled it off before we carefully moved Penny into my arms. I held her closely while brushing some of her hair back.

She started to stir and smiled when she opened her eyes and saw me. "Mommy? You back?"

I smiled back at her and kissed the tip of her nose. "Yes baby, I'm back. I told you I'd come back, I'll always come back to you my baby." I told her and she cuddled her body back into mine.

"Mommy can I nurse p'ease?" Penny asked very politely and I gave her the go ahead.

She gently latched on and suckled for a little while before she unlatched. "Hey Bella, will you grab her a pull-up?" I asked my wife who nodded and quickly disappeared up the stairs.

She quickly returned and we put Penny into the pull-up before making our way into the kitchen for lunch. Mariana had gotten everything ready so I gave her a quick kiss and Penny reached over to hug her while she was still in my arms.

"I missed you mama." Penny mumbled into Mariana's shoulder.

I saw Mariana smile and kiss the side of Penny's head. "I missed you too baby." Mariana told her before Penny released and we sat down for lunch. Penny refused to sit in her own seat so she stayed in my lap as Bella and Ana took turns feeding her.

Once we were done eating we all stayed at the kitchen table for a few extra minutes. I looked at my wives who both nodded. Luckily Bella started because I couldn't find my words.

"Sugarplum," She said grabbing Penny's attention. "We know you're little, but we do need to talk to about something. We can talk about it again when you're big, but we will talk about it again with you if we need to." Bella stated as Mariana took over.

"You know how Ana transferred guardianship to me?" Mariana asked her and Penny nodded. "Well, I also added on momma and mommy of course." Mariana finished but I could tell she's confused.

I spoke up finally. "Mama and I left today because we wanted to talk to some people about legally adopting you. It looks like we are eligible to, but we wanted to talk to you before we went ahead. Is this something you'd want? We know you turn 18 in six months or so, but we want you to feel like you legally are our daughter if you want to be." I explained to her and I saw her tear up, so I pulled her closer.

"You wan me?" She asked as tears spilled out of her eyes.

We all nodded quickly, "Yes sugarplum. We want you very much." Bella told her and Penny nodded quickly.

"I wanna be adopted." Penny told us and I think we all let out a little sigh of relief.

"We can come back to it when you're big if you want. We don't want you to feel pressured." Ana told her and Penny shook her head.

"I wanna be adopted." Penny said with a smile.

We all smiled in return and ended up crushing her into a hug while kissing the top of her head.

"We love you so much sweetie." I told her and both of my wives nodded in agreement.

"I love you too mommies." Penny told us back. I nodded my head, we can do this.