Growing Up |TAYVIN (Sequel To AWRFT) *discontinued*

17. What's Adopted?

I stare at Ellie, and she nonchalantly takes another sip of her smoothie, as if what she had just told me wasn't a big deal.

"Baby, what do you mean by images of this scary man? Do you know who he is?", I ask, trying to figure out what exactly she was starting to remember.

"I dunno Mommy. I think I saw him before, but I can't remember anything else", she says, starting to panic a little bit.

"What does he look like, Ellie?", I whisper, rubbing my temples.

"He's really big and muscly, and he has a tattoo on his arm, and his head is shaved, and he never smiles"', she says, confused as to why I was panicking.

Her description was undoubtedly the appearance of her biological Father.

I can tell that my reaction is making her anxious, so I relax my expression, and try to smile to calm her down.

"Okay, sweetie", I say, gesturing for her to come and sit on my lap.

She hops off her seat and comes over, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Just remember that they're just images and they're not real, Ellie. It's just like having a nightmare, you come to Mommy and tell me straight away if it happens again, okay?", I say, as calmly as I possibly can.

"Mommy, why are you crying?", she asks, putting her hand on my face and wiping away the tears I didn't know had started to fall.

"I'm not crying, it's just my allergies", I say, kissing her head and taking her hand, as we stand up and walk inside.

"Should we go and see what the boys are up to?", I ask her, and she nods, hugging my side.

We go downstairs to the basement and open the door to the studio, to be greeted with the sight of Luke and Noah in the sound booth wearing headphones , while Adam is outside pressing different buttons on the soundboard.

"Wow, that sounds cool, Daddy!", Noah shouts excitedly, clapping his hands in time with whatever music was being played into his ears.

Luke was just sitting on the floor beside him, trying to take his headphones off, but so far, hadn't been successful.

"There's my two favorite girls!", Adam says, as he turns around and sees Ellie and I standing there.

"I need to talk to you, like right now", I mutter to Adam, as Ellie runs into the sound booth to help Luke with his headphones.

"What's up?", Adam asks, pulling me onto his lap, and sensing my tension almost as soon as I sit down.

"Ellie's starting to remember", I whisper, biting my lip and looking at his face.

"Starting to remember what, babe?", he asks, frowning.

"Her biological Father", I say, bursting into tears.

"What? How?", Adam whisper shouts.

"She told me that she's been seeing images in her head of a man. She doesn't know exactly who he is, but from hearing her description, it sounds exactly like him", I say, sobbing into his chest.

"Okay, Tay, you need to calm down, you can't have the kids seeing you like this, and I don't want you having a panic attack", he mutters, wiping my tears and kissing my forehead.

"We have to tell Ellie, Adam", I say quietly, looking down at my feet.

"Tell her that she's adopted? No way, she'll be confused", he says firmly, squeezing my knee.