Room for Just a Little Bit More
Page 10

“Hey, what do ya say the three of us go in the living room and draw pictures of Fred with that tattoo on his head?” I had no idea what that letter said, or what was about to happen in that kitchen, but I felt like maybe the girls and I should go in the other room.
“I’m tired,” Lucy whined.
“Me too.” Piper yawned. “Can we just lie on the couch and watch Frozen?”
“Sure.” I laughed, looking at my watch. “We haven’t seen it in like five hours. You must be having withdrawal. Come on.” Grabbing the bag of pretzels off the island, I led the girls to the family room.
The girls giggled at Olaf, the goofy talking snowman, as I kept my eyes on the kitchen. Kacie handed the letter to Sophia. It didn’t take Sophia long to read it and set it on the island next to her, where Fred leaned in and read it over her shoulder.
“What are you gonna do?” Sophia asked, barely loud enough for me to hear.
Kacie tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged as Sophia reached out and pulled her in for a hug. The second I heard Kacie sniffle, I slipped out from under the girls and told them I’d be right back. As I walked up behind Kacie, Sophia pursed her lips over her daughter’s shoulder, transferring her to me when I got close enough. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight as Sophia grabbed the letter and held it up for me to read.
Kacie,
Read about your engagement in the paper and realized how much I’ve missed out on. I was hoping we could do lunch and catch up. We have so much to talk about.
Love,
Dad
763-555-0616
“It’s not that I don’t want to see him,”—Kacie stood up suddenly, as if someone had asked her a question—“but why now? Why today? I had the best day and this just puts a dark cloud over it.” She sat down at the island and read the letter again.
“So don’t meet up with him. You’re not required to.” I walked behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.
“I know, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I have so many questions. Where’s he been living? How many brothers and sisters do I have? Why did he have to leave me behind in the first place?” Her head snapped up in Sophia’s direction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—”
“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for. I made peace with your father walking out years ago.” She cupped Kacie’s damp cheeks in her hands. “If you want to call him, meet up, and start a relationship, you have my blessing. If you want to throw that letter in the garbage and pretend you never got it, you have my blessing on that too. I support anything you decide.”
“I know.” She sniffed, staring down at the counter. “But he is my dad. What if he’s realized he made a colossal mistake and wants to try and fix things?”
Fred’s face twisted silently when Kacie used the word dad. He was being respectful and keeping quiet, but I knew that had to be a punch in the gut for him. His eyes caught mine and I pressed my lips together in a tight, sympathetic smile.
“You don’t owe him anything. This is solely up to you. It’s about what you want to do,” Sophia responded.
“I wish I knew what I wanted, Mom. It’s been so long since he’s been gone, I don’t even know what it feels like to have a dad anymore. I don’t think I can pass this up.”
“What if he’s, ya know, contacting you for the wrong reasons?” I mumbled slowly. The words were barely out of my mouth and I already regretted them.
Kacie looked up at me with the most beautiful red-rimmed eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. His timing is a little convenient, don’t ya think?”
“You don’t even know him,” she shot back.
“I just want you to be careful, Kacie. You don’t know him either.” I didn’t mean to lecture her, but I’d seen people do things like this before. Unfortunately, even my own extended family had crawled out of the woodwork a time or two when they needed something.
She got up from the island and sighed as she walked over and plopped on the couch with the girls, pulling them to her side as she covered the three of them with a throw blanket.
“She mad at me?” I whispered to Sophia.
Sophia glanced past me to Kacie and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think you probably told her what she was already thinking and she didn’t like it.”
“You think so?”
“I meant it when I told her that I’d made peace with him leaving me, but that didn’t mean my anger toward Don walking out on her ever went away. He could’ve still taken her on weekends and been involved in her life. I would’ve encouraged it.” She nervously spun her wedding ring. “It was a struggle at times, but I really concentrated on never saying anything bad about him to her or around her. Still, I think even with me keeping my mouth shut, she knew he wasn’t a good man. I’m sure this letter is a big red flag for her, but she’s so desperate to mend fences, she’s just not seeing it.”
“You okay?” I looked up at Fred, who was sitting next to Sophia.
He nodded quickly, taken aback by my question. “I’m fine.”
“I know that was hard to hear—that part about wanting a dad. I think she’s just stressed right now. She didn’t mean it,” I offered, trying to justify Kacie’s choice of words.
“It’s the truth. I’m not her dad and I can’t take it personally that she wants to get to know him.” He reached up and swiped at his eye, clearing his throat. “Doesn’t change the way I feel about her.”
A small smile crept across Sophia’s face as she squeezed Fred’s bicep and rested her head on his shoulder.
I turned around to peek at the couch. The girls were reciting the movie word for word. Kacie stared off into space, clearly distracted. I turned back to Fred and Sophia, tilting my head quickly toward the family room. “We have our cake tasting tomorrow. I hope she’s talking to me by then. I’m as excited about that as she was about dress shopping.”
Sophia chuckled and shook her head. “Oh, Brody, you’re too much.”
“Too much what?” Kacie came up behind me and hugged my waist.
I put my hands over hers and squeezed back. “I was just telling your mom how I’m skipping breakfast in the morning so I can eat as much Oreo cake as I want at Pearl’s tomorrow.”
Kacie gasped and flew around to the front of me, a huge grin displayed on her face. “Oh my God! I forgot we have our cake tasting tomorrow.”
“Yep.” I bent down and kissed her adorable crinkled nose. “I’ve already decided I’m voting for the Oreo one, but I’m still going along for all the free samples.”
“Mom,”—Kacie turned around to face Sophia—“I totally forgot. Are you able to watch the girls tomorrow?”
“We could always ask Uncle V?” I joked.
“No.” Fred frowned.
“Yes, I’m free.” Sophia kissed Fred’s forehead, right on the pink and white Hello Kitty. “Just bring me back some free samples, okay?”
I never thought I’d say this, but I couldn’t get to work fast enough. The last couple months of wedding planning had been so hectic that the chaos of the hospital actually calmed me. Plus, I’d accepted a position in the Labor & Delivery unit, and this job definitely came with some perks. Something about holding a brand new, minutes-old baby as his tiny pink body squirmed in my arms, and watching him open his eyes for the first time ever, just made all the problems outside of those four walls seem trivial.