Family Ties (Rewritten)

Dinner

Emily:

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I could hardly believe the girl who stared back. My eyes were no longer encased with dark bags, no longer void of the joy that was stolen from me.  They were now filled with confidence that everything was going to be fine. Cora was ten months old, and my love for her grew stronger every day.

I didn't feel like a failure of a mother. Thanks to my family and friends, I was able to push past all of my postpartum depression and bond with my little girl like I needed to. I was even confident enough to place her in a daycare so that I was able to resume my life at college. James came over every day to help me take care of Cora and myself.

My parents were thrilled to have him around. They could see that he was a big part of the reason I was slowly returning back to normal. Since he's been coming around, my nightmares have subsided.

Our friendship meant the world to me, and it was beginning to blossom into something else.

"Are you almost ready?" My mom asked from the other side of the bathroom door. "James is here."

I applied the maroon lipstick to my lips and smiled at myself one last time. James asked me to have dinner with him at the same restaurant that Vincent was supposed to take me to the night he kidnapped me.  He worried that it would cause me some sort of PTSD, but it was very healing. I was ready to live a normal life again, and that included going out to eat with my best friend. We were changing my bad memories into good ones.

"I'm coming!"  I walked down the stairs and smiled when I saw James standing there with a single pink tulip in his hand.  He was wearing a green sweater with a pair of khaki pants, and his red hair was slicked back with an ungodly amount of hair gel.

"What's that look?"  He asked, crossing his arms over his chest with a smirk.  "You act like you've never seen a dashing ginger gentleman before."

"Well, I was hoping to buy myself a bottle of hair gel tomorrow, but it looks like you bought it all up."

"Hey!  Don't hate me for looking so damn good."

My dad laughed and placed his big hand on top of James's shoulder.  "Son, don't listen to her.  You look as handsome as a young Robert Redford."

James scratched his head.  "Who's that?"

"Never mind."  Dad said, still grinning.  "I want you to take extra special care of my girl tonight."

"You have my word, Mr. Hayden."

They shook hands while my mom gave me a wink from across the room. She was elated to see me feeling comfortable with leaving the house again.

As we were about to leave, the doorbell rang.

"That must be Hope." Mom said, "She was supposed to bring Cora back here an hour ago."

After healing from the gunshot wound and the mental warfare that she had endured after being attacked by Vincent, Hope made it a point to be present in Cora's life. She was still filled with remorse over for saying I should have gotten an abortion, though I insisted many times that it was water under the bridge.

How could I stay angry with her after she risked her life for me? Besides, she was my best friend. 

And she had a surprisingly strong bond with Cora.