"Mommy, wake up."
Carrie groaned, fluttering her eyes open to see her son's blue eyes staring at her.
"Good morning baby." Carrie smiled. She yawned, sitting up and looking at her surroundings. She quickly remembered last night and realized that she must have fallen asleep on the couch.
"What time did we fall asleep last night?"
"You fell asleep about 2:30 in my lap so I put a pillow under your head, covered you up, and went back upstairs. I tried to let you sleep as late as I could but Isaiah wanted to wake you." Ivey laughed, bringing her a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling?"
"Better this morning. Thank you for letting me rant to you in the middle of the night, seriously don't know what I'd do without you."
"That's what I'm here for." Ivey winked.
"Mommy how was your show?" Isaiah asked, climbing onto Carrie's lap.
"It was great! I missed putting you to bed though." Carrie smiled, ruffling his hair. "I hope you were good for Aunt Ivey."
"I was! I even helped her clean up after dinner!"
"Good boy." Carrie kissed her son's forehead. "Go get your stuff together. We can pick up breakfast on the way home."
"Okay!" He cheered, hopping off her lap and running upstairs.
"So are you going to call Mike today?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I don't know what the heck I'm going to say to him though. I don't even know what he wants. I have no idea if he's trying to get with me or if he just wants to meet Isaiah or neither."
"Yeah, you're just going to have to ask him and be straight up about everything. Tell him how you feel and how things are going to be if he wants to get to know Isaiah. He can't just walk in out of nowhere and tell him he's his father."
"I know and I'm afraid he's not going understand that. If he wants in, he has to be all in. I'm not letting him walk out of Isaiah's life again. He doesn't need that. I just don't want Isaiah to get hurt." Carrie sighed, leaning against the couch.
"He'll understand. He has too. If he's not all in, then everything can just go back to how it was without him. It'll all work out." Ivey assured her.
"Ready mommy!" Isaiah came skipping down the stairs with his backpack.
"Do you have everything?"
"Yep!"
"Alright, lets go. Thank you again for keeping him Ivey, I'm going to repay you for all of this one day I promise." Carrie said, grabbing her purse.
"It's no problem Care. You know he's more than welcome here any time." She smiled, giving her best friend a hug. "Hang in there and be strong."
"Thank you." Carrie grinned. "Come on I, let's go."
"Where are we going for breakfast?" Isaiah asked, walking out to the car with Carrie.
"We can go wherever you want bud."
"Can we go to IHOP?" Isaiah asked excitedly.
"Sure, if that's what you want." She smiled, helping him into the car. She pulled out of the driveway and headed to her son's favorite breakfast place.
Getting out of the car, Carrie helped Isaiah down and held his hand as they crossed the parking lot and entered the restaurant.
"Mommy am I ever gonna have a little brother or sister?"
Carrie was taken back by the question her son asked across the table.
"Um well." She stuttered. "I don't know."
"Aiden told me he was gonna have a little brother soon at school yesterday. Can I have a little brother mom?" Isaiah said, taking a sip of his orange juice.
"Well baby it's not always that easy." Carrie sighed. She didn't know how to explain this to her six year old son. "It's God's decision if he wants to bring you a little brother. We don't have control over it."
"So if I pray for a little brother every night God will bring us one?"
Carrie felt her heart break inside. She knew that as long as she was single, she wouldn't be able to give him a sibling. "He might. It's up to him."
"I hope so. I'm gonna add it to my prayer list." He smiled as the waitress brought their food.
Before they ate, the two bowed their heads and prayed together as always.
"Don't forget my baby brother." Isaiah added as Carrie said amen.
"And please bring Isaiah a little brother." Carrie said softly, trying to keep the tear that threatened to fall from sliding down her cheek. "Amen."
Carrie looked up to see Isaiah smiling wide as he dug into his pancakes.
She smiled. Looking at her son brought her more joy than anything else and she still couldn't believe that he was hers. She could still cry every time she looked at him.
She prayed that one day she'd find a man that loved them both and wanted to spend the rest of his life with them.
Maybe one day, she'd have the opportunity to give her son the little brother he deserved.
