Burreaux

Amelia Lynn Alyse-Burrow

Joe quickly ended the conversation and asked his best friend Ja'Marr to take care of the rest of the party. He hurried up the staircase and into his room. The door locked and he fell onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling debating on calling Karleigh. The timing would have been just right for the kid to be his... the night he proposed they slept together and with the alcohol in their system they forgot to use any protection but it could also be some rebound one-night stand. He pulled out his phone took a deep breath and looked at her contact... he looked at her name on the screen reading Karleigh❤️. His finger clicked the unblock button and without a second thought, he called her. The phone rang for what seemed like hours but it was seconds before she answered.

"Hello." An unfamiliar voice answered. "Who is this?"

"Uhh, my name is Joe I'm trying to reach Karleigh." He said in a cautious tone.

"Oh, you're Joe. She can't come to the phone right now Mia is....she is dealing with a family emergency. I'll have her call you."

"Her name is Mia?" He said almost tearful.

"Amelia," She said not wanting to give too much away.

"Please tell her I want to talk...I need to see them. Please."

"Who is on the phone Jane?" He heard Karleigh say in the background.

"It's Joe. He said he wants to see both of you.." Jane said holding the phone away from her so Joe wouldn't hear.

"Hey, Joe..." Karleigh said as she took the phone into her hands.

"Is she OK? Your friend said something was wrong is she sick? Did she get hurt?" he said letting out all of the panic.

"H-how do you know?"

"Karleigh what is wrong with Mia?" he said with a sudden feeling of fatherly concern.

"She has a fever and she won't quit coughing. Joe who told you?"

"Tee said you had a 2 1/2 year old daughter. We didn't use protection that last night. Then your friend told me her name and the second she said Mia I knew she was mine..."

"Oh... can we talk later Joe I have to take care of her."

"I want to see her Karleigh you kept her from me for 2 1/2 years I want to see my daughter!" he said slightly angry but trying to not raise his voice.

"Kept her from you?! Joe I didn't fucking keep her from you! By the time I found out I was pregnant, I was already in Texas and you were in Cincinnati I called and called but you had blocked me. I called your parents but they had blocked me too I tried I even went to their house but they had moved! I had no way to get ahold of you and I went through it all by my fucking self." She spat through the phone.

"You're the one that left me Kar! I wanted to marry you I had the ring in my hand and you practically threw it in my face! Why would you risk getting pregnant that night if you knew you were leaving me!... I loved you Kar and you left... you Fucking left and it screwed me up in the head so damn bad that I had to remove every single trace of you so I wouldn't keep spiraling."

"What was I supposed to do? Follow you from every team moving cities possibly every year never being able to settle down in a job and truly have a career which might I remind you I worked so DAMN hard for and sacrificed so much for!"

"YES! You knew where I was going in life and you chose to be with me! And now because of all this, I lost out on the first everything with my daughter. You knew how much I wanted a family Kar."

"I tried Joe I tried to find you but I couldn't. You know that leaving you hurt me too."

"Karleigh she won't quit coughing! I'm worried" Jane hollered.

"Kar please let me come help." He begged

"Joe now isn't a good time I have to go." She said as she hung up.

He slammed the phone down on the bed in frustration. He just found out he has a daughter and she is sick and there is nothing he can do. He felt completely useless. The music from the party bleeds through the crack of his door making him groan. The thought of people still downstairs in his house made his already irritated mood worse. He couldn't dive too deep into his thoughts before his phone buzzed. His phone screen lit up with a text message. Windward Apartments #315 bring childrens Tylenol and food.—jane That made him jump out of bed and quickly put on his shoes. He ran down stairs and grabbed some left over food from the party and told Ja'Marr to handle everyone and he would be back later.

Half an hour later he showed up at her front door. He knocked three times and stood back waiting on the door to open. Suddenly a very tried and stressed out Karleigh stood in front of it. He didn't say a word he just held out the children Tylenol and smiled softly.

"Joe? How..how did you know I needed? Why are you here? How did you find us?" Karleigh asked in pure confusion.

"I texted him! You two needed to talk and we needed Tylenol so I killed two birds with one stone. Now let the man inside." Jane said sternly.

"Thank you...come on in." Karleigh said in a cautious tone.

He waited for her to step aside before he walked into the apartment. His eyes scanned around the room before he spotted a little girl with a bright red nose and cough. A smile spread across his face when he noticed how much she resembled him. There was no denying that she was his little girl. In that split second she became his entire world and he knew he would never be the same.

"What is her full name?" He asked Karleigh.

"Amelia Lynn Alyse-Burrow." She said as she smiled at her little girl.

"She looks like me..." He whispered with tear filled eyes. He slowly approached his daughter, knelt down and gave her a small smile. "Hi Amelia...I'm your dad." His heart swelled with joy when she reached for him. He quickly picked her up and held her close not caring about the possibility of catching her cold. He stayed in that position just holding his daughter in his arms.