Yours From Day One

When you have a baby, people often decide who will look after their children in the event that the worst was to ever happen to them. Nobody holds their baby in their arms and imagines that this will happen but most people do like to have a backup of sorts in place for the just in case. For Ethan Carter that chosen person was my mother. Both my mother and Ethan's mother had babies in their mid twenties and had no real fear or expectation that they would ever be unable to look after their children. They had known each other since college and were both happy with the fact that their child would be safe and loved with the other should anything ever happen.

I was born exactly sixteen months after Ethan and we were brought up like cousins. My mother especially felt it was important to be there for her friend as Ethan's father had opted out before he was born. We quickly became friends and spent endless amounts of time together. We had play dates, sleepovers, day trips, summer holidays and even Christmases together. We truly were like family.

So when my mother got the dreaded phone call that morning, everyone's world really did come crashing down. I had just turned fifteen and Ethan was sixteen. Very much an age where you still desperately needed your mother.