BRAD’S POV
I woke up the next morning with the intention of making up for my outburst last night. Maddie was still sleep so I went into the kitchen and began cooking breakfast. I made all of Maddie’s favorites: smiley face pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with strawberry jam, grapes, pineapples and orange juice.
Just as I lifted the last pancake out of the griddle, I look to my left and see Maddie appear at the entrance to the kitchen. She is rubbing her eyes and yawning a bit.
“Good morning sweetheart. Are you hungry?” I ask her as I fix our plates.
She nods and I tell her to go to the table. She slowly makes her way to the dining table and sits in one of the seats. I bring our plates to the table and place one in front of Maddie. I place the other on across from her and return back into the kitchen to retrieve our eating utensils.
When I return to the table I hand a fork to Maddie. She takes it without a word and begins forking food into her mouth.
“What do you want to do today? We can do whatever you want.”
She stops eating and looks at me. “I want to meet my real mom.”
I drop my fork at her words. I clear my throat. “Baby, if you want to meet her when you’re eighteen than that’s fine.”
“Eighteen?!” she gasps. “But that’s eight years! You said we can do whatever I want and I want to meet my real mom!”
“Maddie, my answer is no and do not yell at me again. I’m your father!”
“So why do you get to see me every day while my real mom doesn’t. If mommy adopted me that means you gave me away too! I didn’t meet you until I was one!”
I can’t believe she even remembers that. Hell, I don’t remember anything from when I was a year old but that was twenty-nine years ago compared to nine years for Maddie.
I knew I couldn’t tell Maddie the truth about her adoption; she wouldn’t understand. I blew out a breath and ran my hands over my face.
“Baby, I didn’t give you away and like I said, you can meet your real mom when you’re eighteen.”
She pouts at my words and leans back in her chair. She places her arm over her chest and I see tears starting to form in her eyes. She then jumps up from her seat and rushes to her room.
I sigh as I watch her run away. So much for trying to cheer her up.
WHITNEY’S POV
My mother and I sat in a booth as IHOP. She didn’t feel like cooking so we decided to dine out for breakfast. I told my mother about my dream while we ate.
“What do you think it means?” I ask her when I’m done.
