I woke up the next morning and after giving
Brayden his breakfast he begged and begged me
to let him go swimming. Finally I sighed and
agreed. Brayden was playing in the shallow end of
the pool while I sat on one of the lounge chairs
watching him. “Momma! Momma! Get in with
me.”Brayden yelled giggling from the water. “Maybe
in a little bit.”I said smiling at him. “But Momma I
wanna jump in the deep end.”Brayden begged as I
laughed. “Alright .”I said as I stood up and dove in
the deep in. When I resurfaced Brayden was already
out of the pool waiting for me to catch him. I
laughed as he ran towards the pool and jumped
into my arms. He giggled wildly as I caught him
and I couldn’t help but laugh with him. “I love
you.”I smiled as I kissed his forehead. “I know
Momma I love you too.”Brayden said as he
squirmed out of my arms and back towards the
shallower end. I turned around to watch him as I
saw J.C. standing there with a very serious look on
his face. My heart stopped and I was frozen in fear
looking at him. Think Abby Think I chided myself.
“Uh Brayden why don’t you go inside and watch
some TV for a little bit.”I said. “I don’t
wanna.”Brayden protested. “Baby I don’t want you
to get too much sun go inside for a little bit and
after lunch you can come back out okay?”I said.
“Yeah.”Brayden smiled as he grabbed his towel and
made his way inside. I got out of the pool and
wrapped my towel around me sitting down avoiding
J.C.’s glance. “Abigail.”J.C. said with a reprimanding
tone. “So you figured it out?”I asked sheepishly.
“Yeah I did.”J.C. said “But what I can’t figure out is
why you didn’t tell us.” “I…I don’t know..It’s
complicated.”I stuttered looking for words. “I’d say
Mom.”J.C. said sitting next to me. “Yeah.”I said as
I smiled weakly at him. J.C. sighed “Abby I didn’t
want to notice it but after I figured out who you were
I can’t help but notice the resemblance between
Justin and Brayden.” J.C. said as I silently began to
cry not able to meet his gaze. “It is isn’t it?”J.C.
asked. “Listen J.C. you can’t tell him.”I said
between sobs. “Abby this is huge you can’t hide
this.”J.C. said getting agitated. “Stop! Just stop.”I
said crying harder “I’ve been over this a million
times. I left when I did for a reason. We’re doing
okay. Brayden is one of the most well behaved four
year olds I have ever encountered and I don’t need
anything complicating that. Not to mention Justin
has a pretty good life and he doesn’t need me
around to mess it up. I moved back here because I
missed it, but I never in a million years thought I
would even run into him let alone that he would live
next door. I tried avoiding you all, but you all made
it very clear that you weren’t going to let that
happen, and my mom has been pushing me to
hang out with you too. I think she thinks if I’m
around him again I’ll crack and tell him
everything.”I sobbed as J.C. cracked and moved
over and took me in his arms and I continued to
cry. “I’m sorry Abigail…Abby whatever…but listen to
me you cannot hide this from him. Sure it’s not the
ideal situation, but it’s not the ideal situation for
you to raise Brayden by yourself either. You know in
your heart what needs to be done. I’ll be here for
you if you need anything though okay?”J.C. said
rocking me back and forth. “You haven’t changed at
all.”I laughed through my tears. “What do you
mean.”J.C. asked pulling back to look at my face.
“You should be mad at me. Hell, you should hate
me. Yet, here you sit hugging me telling me
everything will work out and that you’re here for
me.”I sighed as J.C. just grinned. “We were close
when we were younger. You gave us all a shock
when you just left and were never to be heard from
again.”J.C. said as he brushed a piece of hair out of
my face. I smiled up at him “Thanks.”I said as I
started to calm down. “So you’re going to tell him
right?”J.C. asked. “I just need some time.”I sighed
“This is a lot to take in okay?”I said looking up at
him. J.C. nodded but said “You can’t put it off
forever but I’ll give you some time to figure it all
out.”
