Separated

Part 6

Stevie was nervous. Well, nervous was an understatement. She and Lindsey had finally agreed on a time to meet up. They were both single parents, they both had jobs. Even if the matter at hand was an important one, things still managed to get in the way. But not that night. It had been over a week since they found out about each other, about the girls. They might not have been exactly sure what was going to happen, but they needed to see each other and talk at last.

Before Lindsey could ring the doorbell, the door was opened right as he was about to do so. Stevie smiled at him nervously, immediately she started fidgeting with the rings on her fingers. 

"I saw you coming through the window." She said, letting him come inside.

"Were you waiting for me?" Lindsey asked, unsure why he did so.

"Uh, well kinda, yeah." Stevie cleared her throat before answering as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you." He declined, waiting for Stevie to say something else. He was just as nervous and unsure about it all as she was.

"Okay, then I think we can sit down." She suggested, showing him to the living room. 

Lindsey's eyes immediately caught framed pictures around the room. It was a very strange feeling, it was as if he was looking at his own daughter just that she was with other people, whom he'd never met before. He knew it was Jade, of course he knew. In some of them she was alone, in others she was together with Stevie or with Stevie and a man he didn't recognize. He assumed it was the girls' biological father. 

"It's crazy, huh?" Stevie asked without expecting an answer. "How two people can look exactly the same."

"I think Jade has darker hair." Lindsey said, smiling a little to himself. 

"Might be from her father."

"They both resemble you a lot more though."

"Lindsey, how are we going to deal with this?" Stevie tried to steer his train of thought back on the subject. 

"I don't want to keep them apart. They're sisters." 

Stevie frowned slightly. "I think that's a long way ahead of where we are right now. I- I want to be sure."

Lindsey looked away from the pictures, focusing on Stevie. "Sure? You mean, you aren't sure?"

"Well..." Stevie started chewing on her bottom lip, then sighed. "I know it, deep down." She added. "But you have no idea what I've gone through, believing that one of my children died. I don't want to just assume, think. I want a doctor, a test to tell me."

"Stevie, she's yours." Lindsey said, coming to sit down as well. "We both know it. I just... I don't know how to... what to..." He trailed off, cocking his head back as he stared blankly at the ceiling. "Please, don't take my daughter away from me."

It stung. Stevie was speechless for a second, she then shook her head, laying a hand over her heart. "I would never. Lindsey, you raised her. You've mentioned an ex wife, I don't know what happened there, but you're Amber's father, she's known you her whole life as her Daddy. I know that neither of us has ever thought possible we'd end up in a situation like this and we both have no clue about how to deal with it, but one thing I can promise you." She stopped, giving his hand a squeeze. "I will never ever try and take Amber away from you."

Lindsey felt slightly more relieved. "I needed to hear that." He smiled, his fingers now intertwined with Stevie's, neither of them seemed to notice. "Michelle, my ex wife, she was gone after the first year of Amber's life. She was the one, who desperately wanted to have a baby. I don't know what happened, but shortly after we brought Amber home, Michelle started distancing herself away from her. The doctor said it was most likely postpartum depression, but..." Lindsey shrugged. "The feelings, actually, the lack of feelings didn't go away. I was the one taking care of our daughter mostly, soon Michelle and I started having problems of our own, which eventually led me to... to no longer feel much for her, Amber had become my world. We divorced soon after Michelle had decided motherhood, having a family wasn't for her."

It hurt Stevie, knowing that she could have been there for Amber, she could have been a mother to her daughter since the beginning if only the hospital staff hadn't made an obviously very grave mistake.

"I'd like to hear more about Amber." Stevie spoke up after some time, a smile forming on her lips.

"I've brought a couple of pictures." Lindsey remembered, taking them out of the inside of his jacket. 

"Maybe you'd like something to drink after all?" Stevie offered again.

"Actually, a cup of tea sounds nice." Lindsey smiled and nodded his head as a thank you, watching Stevie leave the room. 

Maybe they were capable to deal with it after all, maybe they just needed to do it together.