Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
It was a wrinkled-up piece of paper with one line of script on it. The handwriting I knew was my mother’s. I read it aloud.
“When two people are meant to be together, God makes it happen.”
I looked up, confused. “What is this?”
“You know that I was in the military when your mom and I met. I’d come home on leave and met her. We spent every moment we could together for two weeks, but then I had to fly back to where I was stationed overseas. I still had six months left of my tour.”
“Yeah, I knew that.”
He took the paper from my hand and smiled looking down at it. “We said goodbye the morning I had to ship out. I was crazy about her, but six months is a long time. I was afraid I’d come home and she’d have moved on.” Dad winked at me. “Your mom was quite the catch, especially for an average guy like me. Anyway, we said goodbye, and I spent the next eighteen hours traveling back to base. That night, when I got changed, this here note fell out of my jacket pocket. Your mother had shoved it in there without my knowing about it. I kept it on me every day until I could get back to her.” He paused and then looked up at me. “Then the day we brought you home, your mother was sitting in that rocking chair she loved so much, cradling you in her arms. And I couldn’t stop watching her.”
My heart squeezed. It was such a beautiful thing for him to say, but it also made me sad, too. I leaned my head on my dad’s shoulder and looked down at the paper with him.
He cleared his throat. “Anyway . . . your mom caught me staring one time too many and asked me what the heck I was doing. You know what I said?”
“What?”
“When two people are meant to be together, God makes it happen.”
I swallowed and tasted salt in my throat. “Oh, Dad . . .”
He folded the piece of paper in his hands and tucked it into my pocket. “Keep it. Share that wisdom with your child someday. Whether that turns out to be Birdie or some other lucky little kid.”
I couldn’t sleep that night. So I texted Sebastian and asked him if I could come by at almost eleven o’clock.
“Hey.” He opened the door before I even knocked.
“How did you know I was here?”
Sebastian smiled. “I was watching out the window for your Uber.”
“Oh. Okay.” I took off my coat and hung it on one of the hooks in the entranceway. “Sorry to come over so late.”
When I turned around, Sebastian immediately pulled me into a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m just hoping the urgency I felt in your text wasn’t because you needed to come dump my ass and get it over with.”
I pulled back. “What? No. Why would you think that?”
He let out a ragged breath. “I haven’t heard from you much over the last couple of days. I thought maybe you came to your senses.”
I smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. I just needed some time to think.”
“Of course. Come on, do you want some tea or something?”
I shook my head. “No thanks.” We walked into the quiet living room. “Birdie’s sleeping, I’m assuming?”
“Yeah.” He held up his wrist where there was a friendship bracelet tied on. “She made me take her to get another kit, and then she interrogated me about whether Santa Claus was real while she taught me how to weave these things. I made one for you.”
I smiled. “You did?”
“Yeah, but don’t get too excited. I suck at it.”
I laughed. “Okay. Well, it’s the thought that counts.”
“Keep thinking that when you see how lumpy your new jewelry is.”
I nodded toward his bedroom. “Why don’t we go talk in private? Just in case she gets up.”
“Good idea.”
Sebastian led me into his room before sitting up against the headboard of his bed, and I settled in facing him, tucked between his open legs. I took his hands.
“So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I don’t think we should open the envelope.”
He held my eyes. “You sure?”
I nodded. “I think at this point, it’s Birdie’s decision. When she finds out how she was conceived, she may or may not want to find out who her biological mother is. I’ve never wanted to know mine, because I have my family, and I just didn’t need anything else.” I shook my head. “Maybe my decision was born out of an allegiance to my parents. I’m not really sure. But it was my decision, and I think this is Birdie’s, not ours.”
Sebastian dragged a hand through his hair. “Okay. But do we give her that decision now?”