After the guys left I made my way into the kitchen to see what Lynn was doing, and help her get a jump start on the preparations for the following day. We had started with pies, and were chatting easily, Lynn excitedly making plans for the arrival of the new baby. I was laughing at something Lynn had said when I heard someone clear their throat behind us. I turned to look to see a cute older lady standing in the doorway of the kitchen with her eyebrows raised looking directly at me. I shifted uncomfortably as Lynn brushed past me and over to the woman, “Mom.”Lynn said as she pulled her into a hug breaking the older women’s gaze.
I stood there watching awkwardly not sure what I should say, until Lynn finally broke the tension, “Mom this is Abbey, Justin’s girlfriend you’ve heard so much about, Abbey this is my mom Sadie.”Lynn introduced us pulling Sadie over to me.
“Hi, it’s very nice to meet you mam.”I said extending my hand to her shyly.
“Oh come here, don’t be shy.”Sadie said as she pulled me into a hug, taking me completely by surprise. I hugged her back shyly, before pulling away and backing up a few feet and standing there awkwardly not sure what to say.
“So, it’s my understanding that you have a son Abbey?” Sadie asked as she started to roll out pie crusts on the counter without a care in the world.
“Uh, yes, Justin and I have a four year old son.”I said nervously my eyes darting all around the room.
“Mmhmm, are we positive that it’s Justin’s son?”She asked not taking her eyes off her work. I stared on wide eyed not sure what to say and shakily leaned on the counter behind me for support.
“Mother!”Lynn said obviously surprised as well.
“What? It’s a legitimate question, you keep telling me that it is, but yet no one has taken any precautions to actually get a paternity test done.” Sadie shrugged.
“I, uhm, well….Justin is the only person I’ve ever slept with….but if you’d feel more comfortable we can have one done…”I said my voice trailing off as I stared at the floor fidgeting.
“That’s not necessary,” Lynn hurriedly said glancing at me and then back over to Sadie, “Mom, trust me he is Justin’s son, and you will be able to tell that as soon as you see him; And trust me you will instantly fall in love with him.”
“Mmhmm, so Abbey do you love Justin then?” Sadie asked continuing with her questioning as I uncomfortably continued to fidget on the other side of the kitchen. I was seriously starting to wish that I had taken Justin up on his offer to stay. I loved Lynn, and she was trying her best to help, but I just felt alone and nervous and wanted nothing more than to have Justin hold me at the moment.
“More than anything.” I whispered glancing up at her.
“Well if you love him so much, and you are so sure that it is his son, then why haven’t you two made any plans to get married yet?” Sadie asked finally getting to the point that Justin had warned me about.
“Mom stop, if you want to pester someone about why they aren’t married or engaged yet, then talk to Justin.”Lynn sighed. I glanced up and smiled at her weakly, still not sure what to say.
“You have the girl scared half to death; stop the questions, talk to her, get to know and love her like we do, and when Justin gets home you can give him the third degree.”Lynn said as she walked over and pulled me into a reassuring hug. I immediately hugged her back, and let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding, and suddenly realized where all Justin’s compassion came from.
Sadie’s face instantly softened, as she looked up and saw me clinging to Lynn fighting off tears.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you feelings, I’m just concerned about my grandson.”Sadie said as she made her way over to where Lynn and I were standing.
“I understand, but I would never do anything to hurt him, he’s my life.”I whispered looking up at her but refusing to let go of Lynn.
“Come here.”Sadie sighed as she pried me out of Lynn’s grasp and pulled me into a hug of her own. I hesitated for a moment before finally hugging her back not sure what to say.
“You seem like a very nice girl, and besides Lynn is right I should probably be on Justin’s case and not yours.” Sadie said pulling back slightly to look at me.
“It’s fine.”I stuttered shaking my head for reassurance; although I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince her or myself.
Lynn sighed, what I’m sure was a sigh of relief for the time being before interrupting our embrace, “Abbey, don’t you have some noodles to start? And mom why don’t you help me prep the turkey before I start on the deviled eggs and you start on your cobbler?”
I smiled at Lynn glad for the distraction and immediately pulled away and got the eggs out of the fridge to start my batch of noodles for the next day. After a few more tense moments, the conversation finally shifted to neutral territory and the three of us fell into comfortable small talk.
A couple hours later the three of us were still in the kitchen, finally having finished what we could for the following day, but having started on dinner preparations for later that night. “Momma! Momma!” I heard Brayden excitedly exclaim as he busted his way into the kitchen making a beeline for me, “Guess what we did?” Brayden giggled as I picked him up and kissed him as I smiled at his excited face.
“What?”I grinned looking up to see Justin and Paul make their way into the kitchen.
“Daddy let me hit these balls with this stick…”Brayden started as Justin cut him off, “Clubs….remember Bray?”
“Yeah, and they went REALLY far, well mine didn’t go as far as daddy’s or Paul.”Brayden said slightly disappointed, and I couldn’t help but giggle at him.
“Oh, it’s okay, it takes a lot of practice, I bet you hit them farther than I could of.”I said instantly lighting his face up again.
“Yeah, well daddy said that he would get me my own, sti…..clubs! and that we could play together.”Brayden squealed causing me to laugh.
“Oh yeah?”I asked glancing up at Justin who had made his way over to where we were standing.
“Hey, what can I say, the boy takes after me, he’s not too bad at it.”Justin shrugged wrapping his arm around my waist and placing a kiss on my temple, instantly causing all the stress of the last few hours to melt away.
“You alright?”Justin whispered into my ear as I just smiled up at him and slightly nodded. Justin smiled back and stepped away as I sat Brayden down on the floor.
“What is this? You haven’t seen me in months and you walk in the room and acknowledge someone else before me?”Sadie teased as Justin made his way over to her.
“Gram!”Justin said excitedly as he pulled her into a hug, “I’m sorry, you know I missed you.”Justin continued grinning at her knowing no woman could resist the power of that grin.
“Yeah well you must be in love…..Speaking of if she loves you and you love her then why is there no ring on her finger?”Sadie sternly asked looking at Justin.
“Gram.”Justin warned glancing back at me to gage my reaction.
“It’s a legitimate question.”Sadie said her voice not waving at all.
Brayden had curiously made his way over to Justin, wanting to know who the woman Justin was hugging was, but was now hiding behind Justin’s leg sensing the mood change in the room. Justin felt Brayden against his leg and reached around to pick him up, “Gram, this is my son Brayden.”Justin said softly not sure how his grandma was going to react to meeting Brayden. Brayden had wrapped his arms around Justin’s neck and was clinging to him not sure if he wanted to talk to the woman standing in front of him or not. Sadie’s stern face immediately softened at the sight of Brayden and the way Justin was holding him so protectively. “Bray, this is my grandma.”Justin whispered to Brayden, causing Brayden to once again glance up at Sadie in curiosity.
“Like I have grandma Lynn, this is your grandma?”Brayden asked slightly confused.
“Yeah, buddy.”Justin nodded.
“Hi Brayden.”Sadie softly said trying not to scare him.
“Hi.”Brayden said timidly resting his head on Justin’s shoulder. I watched nervously from behind, wanting nothing more than to walk up and take Brayden and protect him, but also knowing that he was safe and that this was Justin’s place to comfort him and make him feel at ease.
“It’s ok Bray.”Justin soothed as he rubbed Brayden’s back. Sometimes Brayden was too smart for his own good. After sensing the tension in the room from Sadie’s questioning, Brayden wasn’t sure if he wanted to warm up to her or not.
“You know I just got finished making your dads favorite dessert, would you like some?”Sadie asked Brayden.
“Hey isn’t that for tomorrow?”Justin asked defensively.
“Oh, its fine.”Sadie said shaking her head at Justin.
“Can I have some?”He asked like a child, causing Lynn to shake her head at him.
“Only if Brayden wants some.”Sadie said dismissing Justin’s whining.
“Come on Brayden, it’s really good.”Justin prompted him, now wanting some of the dessert himself.
“I don’t know…”Brayden trailed off as he looked at Justin and then glanced back at me.
“It’s okay baby.”I nodded reassuring Brayden.
“I guess.”Brayden gave in as Justin cheered and made his way over to the counter where the cobbler was sitting.
“Justin sit down, I’ll get it.”Sadie said shooing Justin away from the counter and towards the table. Justin reluctantly retreated and sat Brayden down in a chair, before pulling one up and sitting beside him. Sadie brought both the boys a plate before sitting down on the other side of Brayden waiting expectantly.
“Thank you…..uh what should I call you?”Brayden asked bewildered, causing all the adults in the room to laugh.
“Whatever you want is fine.”Sadie smiled as she patted Brayden’s hand.
“Thank you gram, this is amazing.”Justin muttered with a mouth full of food. I started to yell at him, but was interrupted when Lynn did it for me.
“Can I call you gram? Like dad?” Brayden asked shyly as he took a bite of the cobbler that was in front of him.
“I’d like that.”Sadie smiled as the two boys continued to eat their dessert.
I smiled as I watched how happy Justin was to be back home around his family, and how easily Brayden fell into the routine. As much as Sadie’s questioning had bothered me, I couldn’t help but to think that deep down she was right. This was where I was meant to be, here with Justin, and Brayden, and the new baby. We were already a family and it would be nice to at some point make it official. I was broke from my thoughts when Lynn and Sadie both started yelling at Justin who had got up and was trying to help himself to a second serving of cobbler. “Justin, why don’t you run next door and get your grandfather, dinner will be ready soon.”Lynn suggested as she took the remaining cobbler and put it away before he could get his fork into it.
“Fine.”Justin pouted as he threw his fork in the sink and started to make his way towards the door.
Dinner went smoothly, with no more talk about when Justin and I were planning on getting married. Brayden seemed to quickly warm up to Sadie, seeing how close Justin was to her, and her husband William was an easy laidback man to get along with. We had all made our way into the living room, where we were munching on the cookies Lynn and Brayden had made the day before. “I’m going to get some more coffee, anyone want a refill?”Sadie asked as she stood up.
Everyone shook their head no and continued with their conversations. “Abbey are you sure you don’t want any?”Sadie asked pointedly to me.
“No, I’m fine.”I smiled shyly and focused my attention on Brayden who was sitting on the floor in front of me, playing with his transformers. Justin grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly as he continued his conversation with his grandfather and Paul.
Sadie had made her way back into the room and was chatting with Lynn, and I kind of just sank back into the couch watching the conversations around me. I must have been off in my own little world because I didn’t realize that all the conversations had stopped and everyone was looking in my direction. “You okay?”Justin asked softly.
“Yeah, just a little queasy.” I whispered hoping only Justin would hear me.
“NO!”Brayden exclaimed as he jumped up and hit me in the stomach as hard as he could, causing me to double over.
“BRAYDEN,” Justin bellowed as he jumped up, “upstairs NOW!” Justin said thru clenched teeth.
“Jus, wait.”I said as I reached my hand out and grabbed onto Justin’s arm.
“No, he knows better.”Justin spat out.
“WAIT!” I said catching Justin’s attention. Justin just turned to look at me waiting on me to continue.
“Brayden come here and tell me why you hit Momma.”I said softly reaching my hand out to take Brayden’s and pull him to me.
“Cause.”Brayden said shyly as he looked at the floor ignoring all the eyes that were on him.
“Because why Brayden.”I asked sternly, knowing that he wasn’t one to get all worked up for no reason.
“Because I hate that baby, you’re always sick now because of him, and you don’t play with me anymore.”Brayden yelled flailing his arms around for effect.
“Brayden, upstairs now.”Justin said once again.
“Justin.”I whispered looking up at him, willing him to take it easy on Brayden.
“No, he’ll be fine, but he knows better, and he needs punished.”Justin said holding my gaze, before he turned around and pushed Brayden towards the stairs and followed closely behind him.
I heard the bedroom door from upstairs close and I let out a long sigh and finally looked at the other four faces in the room. “You’re pregnant again?”Sadie asked staring straight at me.
“Yes, mam.”I sighed not sure what else to say.
“I can maybe understand one mistake, which you should have still gotten married after, but now this too? You said you loved him. If you really loved him, you wouldn’t be doing this to him.”Sadie said almost disgusted. I stared on not sure what to say, or how to feel, and suddenly I felt my eyes well up and knew I couldn’t stop the oncoming tears.
“I….excuse me.”I stuttered as I got up and made my way towards the stairs leaving everyone else in the living room. I climbed the stairs as tears started to pour down my face, and stopped outside of Brayden’s bedroom door, to hear him crying and Justin lecturing him. That only made me sob harder, and I was debating on going into the room and comforting Brayden, but decided it probably wasn’t the best idea with me so upset as well. I started to turn and walk away when the door opened and Justin came out of the room.
Justin saw my face and immediately wrapped his arms around me, “It’s okay, he’s fine, but he needs to know that he can’t just go around hitting people when things aren’t going the way he wants them to.”Justin sighed.
I just shook my head as a hiccup escaped, as I tried to form words but couldn’t find any. “Abbey, what’s wrong?”Justin asked pulling back slightly to look at my face.
I just cried harder and wrapped my arms around his neck clinging to him. “Shh, come here.”Justin soothed as he shuffled us down the hall and into his bedroom. Justin led me over to the bed and sat down pulling me down with him. I laid down and pulled Justin with my clinging to him.
“Abbey, what’s going on?”Justin prompted, trying to figure out what had me so hysterical. I just shook my head as I clung to him not able to form any words, but not wanting him to go anywhere either. Justin sighed bewildered and just held me until I finally cried myself to sleep. He carefully untangled himself from me, and got up to make his way downstairs to see if he could figure out what had happened. He stopped to check on Brayden on his way down, only to find him on his bed asleep also.
Justin sighed making his way downstairs to find Lynn and Paul sitting in silence watching tv. “What happened with Abbey?”Justin asked confused looking around the room, “And where did gram and grandpa go?”
“Where’s Abbey?”Lynn questioned, ignoring Justin’s questions.
“She’s upstairs, asleep, after she cried so hysterically she couldn’t tell me what was wrong. So once again I’m going to ask; What happened?”Justin said staring his mother down, wanting some answers.
“After Brayden’s little outburst, gram decided to question Abbey about being pregnant again.”Lynn trailed off not wanting to get into too much detail as to what was actually said.
“Shit, what did she say to her?”Justin asked running his hand over his face.
“You know how gram is, she didn’t mean anything by it.”Lynn tried to reason.
“What’d she say?”Justin asked again getting slightly agitated.
“Watch your tone with your mother.”Paul said sternly from behind Justin.
Justin sighed and thru his hands up in the air frustrated, “I can’t fix this, if I don’t know what was said.”
“She just doesn’t understand why you two aren’t married if you want to continue your family,” Lynn sighed, “Why don’t you run next door and talk to gram, and you can talk to Abbey when she wakes up.” Lynn suggested.
“Yeah,” Justin trailed off trying to make sense of the situation, “Brayden’s asleep upstairs, can you watch him?”Justin asked as he slowly made his way towards the door.
“Of course, go talk to gram.”Lynn lightly smiled, trying to reassure Justin, but not doing much to put his mind at ease.
Story Tags: daddyj
