Step Mother || Omelia

Secret Step-Mother

Continued...

Betty sat on the balcony of Megan and Nathan's house, with Leo in her lap. He was screaming his head off for Amelia. "Mommy!" He cried. He had never spent a night away from Amelia since he got to Owen's.

"I know, but mommy isn't here. But B's here... I'm right here," she shushed, handing him his bottle back. He steadily cried himself to sleep in Betty's arms, causing the bottle to drop and roll across the deck. Betty's eyes tracked its roll so that she could pick it up only to see it stop at someone's feet. She glanced the figure up to see Megan with a short smile and her arms folded.

"Does that bother you?" She vaguely asked. Betty wasn't sure what Megan was asking, so she opted for a shrug. "I mean, it would bother me. If I carried a baby for nine months and then he calls someone else mommy to my face," she clarified. Betty oohed and watch Megan move to lean against the balcony, facing Betty next to her propped up feet.

"Front the day that I found out about Leo until now, I knew I could never be his mom. I was not cut out for motherhood and I'm still not. I sent him to foster care to give him a fighting chance and with Amelia and Owen that's what he has. That's what we both have. I love being his sister. I love not having the responsibility of his entire life in my hands at 16. So, no, it doesn't bother me. Because I'm not his mommy. Yes, I spent months carrying him and hours, giving birth to him, but I'm not his mother. I'm B," Betty answered. She clasped her fingers together under Leo's bottom to ensure he didn't slide off her lap and placed her head on top of his gently.

"You're really brave. To be able to give up your son to be raised as your brother," Megan commented. She knew that if she had a child at 16 she would have had to give it up and not look back. And even with her own kids, she wasn't sure if she would allow she and Nathan to raise Farouk or Faith's child at 16 or 17 years old. The thought of her kids doing have the things that kids were doing now-a-days scared her. She wanted to shelter them as much as possible for the scary things that they could get caught up in. And teen pregnancy was one of them.

"It was either that, or go back to my parents who don't want me anyways, break my sobriety, and probably be on kid number two by now, because no one ever took the time to care about my sexual health," Betty shared. Megan was shocked.

"No one had the sex talk with you?" She asked. Betty rolled her eyes and scoffed under her breath.

"I got the sex talk, but I wasn't told that when you get high and run out of money your dealer is going to use unprotected sex as a means of currency. And I clearly didn't have money for what I was pining for so, I wasn't concerned about protecting myself from things I wasn't focused on," Betty honestly replied. "Before Amelia came along, I ran the streets looking for my next fix. My parents had given up on me and even stopped responding to Amelia when she would call about my sobriety awards. Before Amelia and Owen, I was ready to move on to harder drugs, bigger scores, and even more illegal acts to get them. I didn't care about school or Leo or really anything. Then one day I got the call about Leo's appointment and came to only really to say goodbye. But, Amelia talked to me, convinced me to come home with her and I was just sober enough to clearly think about my future and I took her offer," she continued. Megan tried not to cry, saddened by everything that Betty went through just to get to the point she was at right now. She was healthy, clean, safe, and surrounded with loving people. If anything, Megan wanted to create a home that nurtured the same as her brother's. And even though she wasn't totally up for the living arrangement in the beginning, she could say without a doubt that the family he had built for those kids was just.

"Alright," Megan said, wiping a few stray tears and standing up straight, "after nap time we are gonna go out to for dinner. I was thinking Taco then the beach. How does that sound?" She asked. Betty slid aunt a half smile and nodded.

"Sounds good," she replied. Megan hummed and walked herself I tot he house and straight to Faiths room. The toddler was sound asleep in her fairly dark room, melting Megan's heart. The mother stealthily moved across the messy room and reached her hand into the crib, stroking her read headed beaut's back. She had a greater appreciation for her role as a mother and her opportunities to give her children more after talking with Betty.

—

Amelia stood in her lab configuring numbers when the door opened, breaking her concentration. She took off her goggles and looked to her left to see Teddy in the door way with two Shake Shack cups. "Strawberry for you. Banana blueberry for muah," she offered, holding the cream based drink to her friend. Amelia dropped a half smile and took the drink.

"Thanks," She said in a raspy voice that indicated she had been crying for a while. Teddy moved around the to the opposite side of the table and sat across from She Shepherd.

"You okay? I know it's hard, with this being your first day back, but everyone missed you," Teddy smiled. Amelia wanted to show her gratitude, but the only feeling she could muster was grief. She wanted to go back home, and go to bed, but she knew that if she left she wouldn't be able to come back. It was the first hurdle she need to jump in order to restart her life. "So, have you and Owen set a date yet," Teddy asked. Amelia shook her head and dropped her pencil.

"I- uh...," she wasn't up for small talk, but decided to just humor Teddy and partake. "No. We haven't really thought about it," she simply replied. Teddy hummed, pushing back her smile.

"Well, I wouldn't shoot for a August wedding. Patrick and I kind of already claimed it," she smirked, placing her ring ridden hand on the table in front of her friend. Amelia gasped and drafted her best fake smile.

"Wow. Congrats. I'm so happy for you," she said. Teddy sulked, definitely not buying the bull that Amelia was giving off.

"Really? Because your mood doesn't know that. Are you okay? What's going on?" Teddy asked. Amelia shook her head and slumped into her chair.

"Nothing. I'm just confused," Amelia replied. "I was supposed to hate you, because you are the Owen that was giving my husband what he always wanted, while I was too. And then we became friends over the mutual hatred of my husband. And then we became regular friends while we went through pregnancy together and now you are living out my dream, while I'm stuck wondering if I'll ever be able to beat this mental roadblock that says you will never carry a viable pregnancy or give your husband the child he wanted," Amelia confessed. Teddy got up and moved around the table, turning Amelia's swivel stool to face her.

"You are living my dream. Well you were when I first came here. But as we grow our dream change. And I know it's confusing when you've wanted something for so long and then it doesn't seem like it's going to happen. But guess what? Sometimes it come in different forms. I didn't want to raise this baby alone and I got Patrick. You wanted to give Owen a child  and you have two. Just because they didn't come in the form that you had planned doesn't mean it's not here. It's here. And it's good," she smiled, pulling Amelia into a deep hug that broke Amelia. She started to sob in Teddy's shoulder, realizing that her confusion wasn't because she couldn't, it was because she had and hadn't realized it.

"You are the best," Amelia cried. Teddy rubbed her friends back and pulled away with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you not wearing a bra?" She asked, unsure of why she didn't feel a bra strip or clasp when she rubbed her friends back. Amelia laughed and nodded.

"I didn't have the time to grab one nor did I really want to wear one," she smiled. Teddy gasped and moved back around the table to her shake.

"When you and Owen get remarried you'll be PJ's step-mother!" Teddy laughed as she started to walk away.

"Secret step-mother!" Amelia yelled back through a giddy smile. Teddy pointed at her with the you're-right face and headed off to her next consult. Amelia sat back in her chair and took a sip of her shake. She had everything she could've asked for. If only Koracick were back from whatever hole he had crawled out of, then she'd truly be set.

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The End

Thank you guys soo much for sticking with me through this journey! I hope that you all enjoyed and will check out some of my other books! If you guys want I could do a time jump to see where everything ended up a year later, but for now, this is the end of this one! I love you all! Thanks again!❤️