"Lindsey?" Stevie made her presence known as soon as she flicked on the light that led down to his studio.
Leaning back in his chair, he turned away from the sound bar to look back at his wife. "There's my girl." He let a soft smile trail across his face as he watched her linger in the doorway. "Are you leaving?" He wondered, eyes scanning over her change in clothes.
Nodding her head, she slipped further into the room. "There's a full moon tonight." She announced, wrapping her arm around his shoulders as she sat down on the arm of his chair.
"Oh," he slipped a hand around her waist, rubbing her hip with his thumb softly. "Then I'll go with you." He didn't want her down by the ocean that late at night, not alone, at least.
"Well, it was actually Everleighs idea." She pressed a kiss to the side of his head, patting his arm to reassure him that they would be just fine.
He couldn't help but crease a brow as he glanced up to look into her deep brown eyes. "Be careful, honey." He gave her hand a light squeeze, knowing that look all too well... She didn't want to answer any more of his questions.
"Love you." She leaned in closer, one hand meeting his chin as she brought his lips to hers. "I'm sure I'll be back before you even think about going upstairs for the night." She teased as she slipped off the chair.
He leaned back once more, eyes following her towards the door. "Make sure you have your phone before you leave." Lindsey reminded her, which caused a swift eye roll.
"Bye, baby." She wiggled her fingers before she headed up the staircase.
She wanted to tell him about the conversation she'd had with Evee, she really did, but their daughter had asked her not to.
She wanted to know everything... She wanted the whole truth and the only person she wanted to talk to about it with was her mom.
"Got your jacket?" She was trying to pretend as if the air wasn't so thick with tension that it was almost suffocating.
Standing in the foyer, almost completely frozen, Evee nodded her head lightly.
"Do you want ice cream?" Stevie forced a smile, hoping to lighten the mood just a little bit.
She shook her head a little, eyes still glued on the hardwood floor as tears blurred her vision.
Nodding her head, she realized that Ev wasn't ready to talk, and that was okay... She understood. "Let's go." With her keys in hand, Stevie motioned for her daughter to lead the way out of the house.
It was still kind of warm outside- the sun just setting, but the night birds were already chirping and the moon hung up in the sky.
It was one of those nights that had become a long standing date in their home.
It had started when Everleigh was little- maybe she was four, or five, but not much older than that. And she hated bedtime- she'd beg for one more book, or one more song, but still never fall asleep. So, many times, late at night, when the rest of the world was tucked away, Stevie and Lindsey would take her to "follow the moon."
They would drive around for awhile and by the time they were pulling back into the driveway, she'd be fast asleep in her car seat... She loved it, and so did her parents.
And by that point, those nights were so far and few between, it was usually just Lindsey that would go with Stevie to see the moon.
"I knew something was different." Everleigh didn't say a word the entire car ride, but as soon as the engine had turned off, she spoke up... She couldn't take the silence any longer.
Sighing heavily, the blonde sank back into the drivers seat. "Don't you wanna talk to your father about this, too? I think he'd really want to be here for-"
"No." She cut her off before she was able to pull on Everleighs heartstrings. "I need to hear it from you..." there was no one else in the entire world that understood Evee the way her mom did... She knew that Stevie would just know what to say and that's what she wanted.
"Everleigh..." she could feel her heart grow heavy as she stared over at her. "What do you want me to say?" She didn't know where to start- she had never thought about this before.
"How are you not my mom?" Everleigh's voice was so low and so sad, it was just terrible. "I mean, I don't remember you not being my mother. I don't ever remember thinking it was different..." she started to ramble, eyes fixated on the dashboard to refrain from making any sort of eye contact. "I felt closer to you than I did anyone else in the whole world." She whispered as her voice cracked from emotion.
Stevie stared at her daughter for a long moment, this deep fear washing over her instantly.
She knew that if she told Evee the truth, things would never be the same again... Everything would change and that was terrifying, but that was the right thing to do.
If she wanted to know, Stevie couldn't lie... not completely.
"You were the piece of the puzzle that we didn't know we were missing ." Stevie began as this weak smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "It was the most random time in our lives, Evee." She added as she started to drift back almost fifteen years into the past. "And I knew this couple..." she couldn't tell her- she couldn't mention Crosby.
She knew it was wrong, but her mama heart told her it was for the best... She was protecting both of them.
"They had been married for a couple of years and all they wanted was a family." She shrugged a shoulder lightly, finding it incredibly hard to explain. "They didn't have anyone else to ask, so they asked me if I would carry their baby for them." Her eyes slowly traveled to the right, but when she saw the look on her face, she couldn't any longer. "So, I agreed to be their surrogate and it was the most insane experience." She admitted with a sad laugh. "I totally adored you. I loved you far before I even met you and I knew, deep down, that you were meant to be my daughter.... You were my girl from the very beginning." The waterworks had started for the both of them. "You arrived a couple of weeks early and you were so fussy." She wasn't going to sugarcoat it. "You cried for days, and your biological parents couldn't calm you down, not in the slightest." She paused for a moment, thinking about how much of a burden parenthood seemed for them... They would have never been able to do it. "And at that point, I was so captivated with you and so was your father..." she recalled. "They weren't ready to be parents- it was so obvious and we loved you so much already..." she took a second to think about what she was supposed to say next. "So we adopted you." She concluded as she brought her hand up to her face to wipe away some of the tears. "You completed our family." She whispered as she stared blankly...
That was it, it was over. The truth was out.
And it really pained her not to tell Evee that even though she wasn't her "biological" mother, she was her grandma... They were still connected in a way.
It was a long couple of minutes that came and went before Everleigh finally said anything. "I want to meet my real parents."
And that's what broke Stevie's heart.
