Where Were You

The Voice Of A Mother

Camila's PoV

Laughter could be heard in the living room and it warmed my heart. The laughter of the Jauregui ladies.

I finished clearing off the plates and washed my hands. "Mom?" I turned around to find Lucas standing behind me with a tea towel in her hand. "Did you need any help?"

I smiled and stepped forward, grabbing the towel from her hands and sitting her on the stool in front of me. "Did you finish your homework?"

Lucas nodded and swallowed. "I don't like her." She finally whispered, blinking back tears.

"Honey," I sighed and tucked hair behind her ears, cupping her cheek gently, "listen to Dylan, hear how happy she is?"

"I know." Another whisper fell from her lips and she shrugged. "But she's that happy with us too."

I rested my chin on her small leg and looked up at her, smiling as her fingers ran through my hair. "Lauren is a great person, Luc. I mean, she always was when I knew her."

"But she wasn't there for her!" Lucas raised her voice and I heard the laughter die down.

"Lucas, keep your voice down," I stood up and shook my head, "you don't need to use a tone like that."

"Well," she huffed and pushed herself off the stool, "I'm tired of being the only one here who thinks that Dylan leaving us is a bad idea!" With that, she ran up to her room, slamming the door.

I threw the towel down and made my way to the bottom of the stairs. "If you slam that door one more time Lucas Evelyn Cabello, I swear I'm taking it off the hinges!" I hollered in my best 'Sinu Cabello' voice.

I waited for her to slam it again, knowing she wouldn't. But you never knew with her, she was a Cabello after all.

My bedroom door did get taken off the hinges for a week.

I couldn't sneak Lauren in at all that week. And I couldn't sneak out.

Try having a make-out session with no door. I even tried to hang up a sheet but it was ripped down.

Bad, Sinu. I missed out on potential Lauren time back then.

"Should I go?" Lauren said from behind me and I shook my head.

"No, she's just... I don't know." I sounded defeated.

How do you tell your daughter that having Dylan's mother back in her life was a good thing? Yes, it hurt me too. I felt what Lucas was feeling but Dylan deserved Lauren in her life.

And though I didn't know that whole story behind Lauren's accident that cost her Dylan, I believed deep down that there was some reasonable excuse. Within a matter of an hour, I witnessed the happiness that fell upon the young Davies face whenever she'd look over at her mother and see her eating right beside her.

If a mother had abandoned a child on purpose and treated them badly, you wouldn't have an overly ecstatic nine year old bouncing at every word that fell from the perfect lips of Lauren.

"Mommy, when do you have to leave?" Dylan came up behind her and grabbed her hand, while looking at me.

"Soon baby," Lauren whispered and knelt down, running her fingers through Dylan's wavy hair, "but I'll be back."

Dylan nodded but frowned. "Promise?"

I smiled and knelt down beside Lauren. "Well, it's really up to Chelsea," I said quietly, "but your first game is in two nights with the team and I think your mother should be there."