Derailed

Chapter 23

I'm an emotional mess the entire drive back to the apartment. I knew it was going to be bad but I had no idea it was going to be that bad. I really thought my mom cared about me more than that. Maybe she will come around but after assaulting my child's dad, I don't think I ever want her around my child.

When we arrive I walk straight in and curl up on the couch with my head in a pillow, crying. Zane is only a few steps behind me with my suitcase.

"Babe, it's going to be okay." He sits next to me and tries to comfort me. I raise my head to see a cut across his cheek from the ring on my mom's finger when she slapped him. I can't believe she did that.

"I'm so sorry." I sob into his chest.

"Don't worry about me Liv, I can take it. I'm worried about you. This stress is bad for the baby. I promise I'm okay and that this will work out. Your mom will come around, don't let it eat you alive."

"I never envisioned having my first child without my mom there for it."

"I know. But I'll be here for you every way I possibly can be, at least try to have peace in that." He wipes the tears from my face.

It takes me several weeks to get over what happened at my moms. It sucks knowing that I have no parents to rely on or enjoy these moments with now that my mom drew the line in the sand. One day my child is going to ask where their grandparents are and I'm not going to have a single good answer. At least they'll have Zane's parents, who I still haven't met myself.

It's Christmas Eve now and I'm thoroughly enjoying spending it here with Zane. We put a small tree up with twinkly white lights by the tv. There's something so magical about Christmas that I've always loved, I can't wait to make Christmas memories with our kids. We eat a delicious Christmas dinner that Zane made to perfection, then he grabs a small box with a gold bow out from under the tree.

"Open it." He says as he places the box in my hand. I give him a look because we agreed not to get each other anything so we can save for the baby, but it's sweet none the less. Inside there's a ceramic heart ornament that says "our gift due June 2020". It was so thoughtful of him to think of something like this and a couple happy tears escape my eyes. He is going to be the sweetest, best dad ever. We place the ornament on our small Christmas tree and hug each other extra tight.