After ✔

34

"Valencia!" There comes another knock on the door.

I open my mouth to tell Evie to go away, but she says something else instead.

"I'm here for you, love. I know what you're going through is hard, but I just want you to know how much I've grown to love you."

I bite my lip. I instantly feed bad. Evie had been knocking on my bedroom door all morning and I'd been ignoring her.

I get up from the bed and slowly unlock the door.

"Is he with you?" I peek a little.

"Your father? No, it's just me."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I open the door. Evie stands in her pleated skirt and blouse, looking like an angel more that a stepmother.

Maybe because she's petite, or has that glow in her smile that can change everything. 

"There we go." She entends her arms in a hug which I happily comply. She's giving me more love than my own mother ever gave me.

Grabbing her shoulders as tightly as I can, I don't realize I'm crying until the tears drop to my lips.

What's happening? I was so much better last night, thinking this was something I could perhaps deal with.

But now, back in the house, the intensity of it all is starting to get to me.

She holds me and runs her fingers through my hair delicately until I've stopped sobbing.

"You want to talk about it?"

My chest heaves and I pull away gently to wipe my face.

"Not really."

She passes me a loving smile. "Whenever you're ready then."

I wonder who my biological father was. Is. Whatever. Does my mother know him personally? Is he somebody I know, or just some stranger from a club that will never know he has two daughters - one already dead to the world.

"Oh by the way," says Evie. "Mason's looking for you."

"Mason?" I frown. "Why?"

She shrugs. "He's so adorable, you can't help pulling his cheeks everytime you see him."

She turns around and walks away, mumbling incoherently to herself.

I stay back in my room, take a shower and dry my hair. When I'm sure both Evie and my father have left for work, I climb down the stairs, still a little on edge.

I find Mason on the couch in the living room, seated with a juice pocket in his hand watching TV.

When he sees me, he stops sucking on the straw and sets the juice pocket aside.

I come and sit by him. "Hello." I say.

"Cia." He turns his little head up towards me.

"Heard you were looking for me." With that, I pull him into my lap and ruffle his hair.

He rests his head against my chest. "I miss daddy."

"I know, sweetheart. You're going to see him really soon."

Poor Mason. I know what it's like to have your parents fight in front of you, the whole scene it creates. It's not very healthy for a kid.

"Really?"

His eyes light up a little.

Atleast he knows who his parents are.

I mentally smack myself. I've got to stop being so bitter.