Home Is Where the Heart Is (Brittana)

Chapter 22

Brittany's POV

A few days after Everly's birthday, I took her to the park while Santana was at work.

"Mama!" Everly squealed frequently. It made me smile every time.

On our way home, Everly fell asleep in her stroller.

"Hey Brittany."

My feet stopped moving as though they had been glued to the ground. Slowly, I turned around.

"Reid," I stated, trying not to let my voice shake too much, despite how scared I was. How could he have found us?

"So, I see this is my daughter," he said, walking closer to me. "My mom has been telling me all about her. Have you missed me, Brittany?"

I didn't respond, waiting for a good time to run.

"I have a little favor to ask of you," he continued. "See, I can't have this baby coming and asking me for money in a few years, so don't ever tell her I'm her father."

Paralyzed, I didn't even nod my head, although, of course I didn't want to tell Everly about her father who didn't ever want her, and I would never tell her his name.

Instead, I ran into the coffee shop two doors down, breathing out a sigh of relief when Reid didn't follow me. There were enough people in the shop that I felt safer than I had outside, so I ordered a coffee (despite the fact that I didn't really like it) and sat down by the window with Everly, watching until Reid had disappeared before heading back home.

---

The weather started getting cooler after that, and Santana and I loved dressing Everly in fall-themed, cozy clothes. Slowly, we started to wean her off breastfeeding, since she really enjoyed the homemade baby food we made her, and she seemed ready.

We also transitioned her into sleeping in her nursery. She'd often napped in the ocean-themed room, so it wasn't too hard for her to sleep in there at night as well, but it was just a reminder of how quickly our daughter was growing up.

---

Santana's POV

On the first day of October, I didn't have to go to work. I'd known that our apartment was very crowded, but watching Brittany try to do housework (something she always insisted to do while I was at work, since she still sometimes felt bad about not having a job) made it even more clear to me.

"I think we should move," I told her once we were in our bedroom getting ready for bed after our daughter was asleep in the nursery.

"I like our apartment," Brittany replied.

"I do too, but I think it's a little small for the three of us. I know our bedrooms don't feel too crowded, but everything else in this apartment... there just isn't enough room for all our things and all of Everly's things."

"What about the lease?" she asked.

"It runs out in a few months," I replied. "That's why I'm bringing it up now."

"And do you think we can afford a new place?"

"I know we feel tight on money. But, you know, my abuela left me a savings account in my parents' names that I haven't even touched. I asked my parents about it, and they can put it in my name if that's something we want. And with that, I think we could afford the down payment on an older house."

"A real house?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We can start looking if that's something you're okay with. I just kind of hate spending all our money on rent when it could be going into something that's actually ours, and, besides, I think it would be great to have some green space that's just ours."

"Sure," Brittany said. "We should start looking. But, I thought your abuela was still alive. Didn't you go visit her the day we met again?"

"I went to visit her grave," I said, surprised we hadn't talked about my abuela since we'd been together. "I never came out to her, and my therapist said visiting her grave might help with healing from my eating disorder. She passed away a few months before then and left me a lot of money. I never thought I deserved it, and I felt bad using it until now."

"Well, if that's what you want to spend it on, then I think a house is a great idea."

"I agree."

---

Turns out, looking for houses was incredibly difficult. We still hadn't had any luck by the time Halloween came around, and we dressed Everly up as a unicorn for some photos, hoping that we'd find a house before our lease would be up in January.

We went to as many open houses as we could, even if the houses were far out of our price range. During that time, Everly started insisted that we bring her doll (which had been a gift for her first birthday), in addition to her stuffed dolphin which she'd taken to calling Blue, everywhere with her. So, with our daughter and all her favorite toys with us, we'd tour houses, talk to our realtor, and hope something would come out of it for us.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Lima. I was incredibly stressed that we'd miss finding the perfect house while we were gone, even if it wasn't for a long time.

"Santana," Brittany said while we were packing. "We should take this time to stop thinking about houses for a few days. I think we both need it."

After that, I decided to try my best to not think about finding a house, and to put as much of my energy as possible into my family and helping Everly have a great Thanksgiving.

And when everyone said what they were most thankful for after dinner, still seated around the table, I said, "My family."