The Act of Forgiveness

7

As they settled in their seats I pulled Evie from Jasper's lap and let her settle on mine. She held a small lady bug toy that crinkled and she loved to chew on it.

"Hello little love." Barbara gently patted Evelyn's cheek and she squealed at the sight of her grandmother.

"Hello son." Jasper's father, Cliff, shook his hand with a fond smile.

"Come to aunty M." Mary Kate didn't even stop to say hello to me or her brother as she whisked the baby from me. "Look at your little dress princess!"

"Hello to you too." I grumbled with fake annoyance towards her.

After the waitress took our orders and went off to the kitchen, Jasper coughed awkwardly and looked down.

"So, for the next couple of months, Poppy and Evelyn are going to live with me down in California." He spoke quickly, trying to explain to his family that he was ripping us away from them, even though we saw them every single day for the past year.

"You're leaving us?" Mary Kate asked and I tried to avoid her look as water swelled in her eyes.

"Uhm, yeah, but Eve needs both her daddy and mommy." I answered awkwardly as I rubbed the back of my neck and scooted closer to Jasper. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and squeezed them in a comforting manner.

"But... you can't! I'll never get to see you!" MK argued, holding Evelyn to her chest, she was oblivious to her surroundings.

"I don't want to separate them more than they already have been." I replied calmly, trying to be gentle about the whole situation. "They have so much to learn about each other."

"When do you leave?" Barbara asked tentatively, leaning forward a bit in her seat, sipping on her lemon water.

"Wednesday." Jasper muttered.

Two days. I had to pick up my life and move to the crazy town of Hollywood just so that Evelyn could be with her dad.

"When will you be back?" Cliff asked in a stone faced expression, not amused that his two girls were upset.

"No sooner than four or five months." I looked him in his cold, gray eyes and I felt an unnecessary fear for the man that could play the role as my second father. He sighed and gently rubbed Barbara's shoulder as she bowed her head.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, leaning into Jasper who offered the support I was yearning for. Not only had I lost my last blood relative until he decided to come around, but my second family was upset. All because of a little baby who was ten months old.

"We're going to miss her first birthday." Mary Kate pouted, a tear quickly falling down her cheek.

"M," I started, reaching across the table. "We'll find a way to get you wherever we are."

"Not your fault sweetheart, you're cleaning up after your mistake." Barbara said sweetly, but I narrowed my eyes at her.

"In no way is my daughter a mistake." I felt my inner mama bear rip through my body as Barbara looked around flustered.

"I didn't mean it like that, but we all know she wasn't planned." She tried to cover up her tracks.

"It doesn't matter whether she was planned or not! She is a miracle baby, you know what happened while I was pregnant!" I argued, pulling my baby from Mary Kate's lap.

"Yes, but if you were more prepared then there probably wouldn't have been so many complications." She shrugged and my mouth gaped, how could a woman that I've known for years, sit here and talk about her granddaughter like that?