Eventually - All or Nothing #2

29th December 2022

When John had ordered Aimee's earrings from Tiffany's for Christmas, he had made two other, rather bold, purchases. Both a little pre-emptive, banking on Aimee agreeing to him adopting Rosie. One, was the tiny, beaded bracelet that now sat around Rosie's wrist, the turquoise heart shaped Tiffany tag was engraved on one side with Rosie's soon-to-be initials and a butterfly, like his tattoos. He had presented it to Rosie, like he presented Aimee with her ring, much to Aimee's amusement, as she did not think John could be this smooth. The second Tiffany box was for Hattie, and now, back in Starbucks, with just days to go before the New Year, John was about to give Hattie her gift.

Their usual seats were occupied by someone else today, Hattie had a little strop about it, demanding John ask the girl sitting with her laptop open to move, but there's no chance of him ever doing that. Instead, they are sitting in a cosy corner, side-by-side on a forest green sofa. Hattie has a Christmas tree shaped brownie and her favourite hot chocolate. John opted for just tea. For several minutes, he watches Hattie cheerfully spooning whipped cream into her mouth, her wispy curls resting on her shoulders, she gets them from Lauren, his are much tighter. Her blonde hair is getting dark as she gets older, just like his did.

"Hats, how would you like a sister?" He hasn't seen Hattie since the adoption decision was made; it was important for him to tell her in person, just the two of them and not over FaceTime like he told her about the engagement, and she excitedly asked if she could be a flower girl.

"Is Aimee having a baby!?" Hattie jumps to her feet, and a few people glance over at them and smile fondly. He curses his own stupidity, he well and truly put his foot in it there. He only hopes he hasn't been recognised and no-one goes blabbing to the press that he's having a baby.

"No," he tugs on Hattie's arm, pulling her back down into her seat. "Not right now." Eventually though. He hopes. They all hope. "You know what adoption is, right?"

"Like in Tarzan!" John breathes a sigh of relief that at least one of the girls has some kind of understanding.

"I'm going to adopt Rosie, so that means she'll be your sister, and I'll be her daddy."

"But you're my daddy?!" Hattie is his big girl, the trail blazer who does everything first, always one step ahead of Rosie, and this had given him unrealistic expectations of how she would react to this news. He didn't expect this jealousy, but he should have, as sharing has never been one of the girls' strong points.

Hattie looks fierce, suddenly he can't see himself in her, only Lauren. He has always been scared of Lauren when she is mad. Hattie's eyes are narrowed, and her lips pouted as a tantrum beckons. She can throw tantrums worthy of Veruca Salt, and he is a fearful that this is about to happen in public. Up until now, the girls have been remarkably resilient regards all the changes in their lives in such a short space of time; Megan leaving, he and Aimee getting together, Aimee and Rosie moving in, an impending wedding... It's a lot for anyone, it's a been a whirlwind, John knows that, and maybe a little too much for a tiny person to keep up with.

He puts himself in Hattie's shoes.

"Sharing is hard, isn't it?!" John thinks back to when he was a kid and would argue with Jenny relentlessly over things like who got to sit next to their dad at a restaurant or who got to use the blue Crayola marker.

Hattie nods solemnly, her pout still firmly in place. She doesn't like to share; for Christmas she and Rosie got a big Playmobil doll house that Daddy said is for sharing, but Rosie gets to play with it all the time when Hattie is at her other house, and that's not fair. Rosie thinks the house is hers, she puts the furniture in the wrong places, and now, she is going to think that Daddy is hers too.