Letting Go, The End
Page 8
Chapter 8
Granger and Beth saw Carly and Allie walking toward them from a distance. He noticed that although Allie was holding her mother’s hand she seemed shy even reluctant to walk toward them when Carly waved her hello. Granger felt pride and fear when Allie timidly waved. He grabbed Beth’s stiff hand and squeezed it more for himself than her. His fears were rising.
What if she doesn’t like me? What if she cries and doesn’t want anything to do with us? What if she does want to come home with us and she gets hurt? What if….
“Hi. It’s a beautiful day for a picnic.” Carly said smiling at Beth and then Granger. “Say hello, Allie.”
A small timid hello came from her little mouth but she still stood behind her mother’s legs clutching her teddy bear.
Granger smiled and took a knee to get to her level. “Hello Allie. My name is Granger and this is Beth. We are hoping to get to know you better. We got a gift for you.” That got her little dark head to peek around. Her beautiful eyes that was so much like his own, looked straight into Granger’s and he felt and all encompassing love overtake his fears and he vowed to himself then and there that he would be the best father he could be.
Allie finally came around from behind her mother and accepted the gift with a polite thank you. She squeezed the pink hippopotamus as well as her teddy bear. It was clear she already loved the gift and it went along way in getting her to come out of her shell. She smiled at them both and walked hand in hand with her mother to the spot that Beth had picked out for the picnic.
After they ate, Allie started to do barefooted twirls in the sand nearby singing to her bear and hippo. “Are you two ready for us to talk to her about being her parents too?” Carly asked looking both of us in the eyes. “I have told her about you Granger but we haven’t discussed Beth. I would like her opinion on how she would like to go forward.”
Beth stiffened and Granger smiled and looked to Beth. “Well honey, what do you think?”
“I…I don’t know.” She said.
Carly looked at Beth. “I know this is a lot and if you aren’t ready to talk to her about it that is fine. I will leave that up to you and Granger.”
Beth looked at Carly in shock as if she didn’t think she had a choice. After a few minutes she said, “We can tell her that I am her step mother… if that is alright?”
“Of course. She is very level headed and we can tell her while we are all here. That way you, Granger and I can answer any questions she may think of.” Carly smiled encouragingly at Beth and turned to her twirling daughter. “Allie, sweetie, come here. We need to talk to you.”
“Ok mommy.” Allie said as she came to sit between Carly and Granger smiling all the way.
Granger held his breath as Carly started the conversation. “Allie, do you remember when I told you about your father.”
“My real daddy? The one in the pictures?”
“Yes sweetie. That is why we are meeting Mr. Granger and Mrs. Beth today. Mr. Granger is your daddy and since Mrs. Beth is his wife that makes her your step mother.”
Granger’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed Allie’s brows lower and her little dark head turn to look at him and Beth. Her head turned sideways and her eyes told him that she had many questions.
“Do you understand sweetie? You can ask them anything you want. They will answer the best they can.” Carly added.
Allie still looked them up at them for a moment and then asked. “He does look like the pictures but fatter.” That made them all laugh, even Beth. Allie looked deep into Granger’s eyes and asked. “Are you are my daddy?”
Granger didn’t know he was holding his breath until it came out in a whoosh and it took a moment for him to answer with the emotion clogging his throat.
“Yes.” He noticed that Beth said nothing. She just sat there doing nothing and saying nothing.
Allie turned looked at Beth, “So you are my step mom?”
Beth took a deep breath, “Yes.”
Allie looked from Granger to Beth then back to her mother. “You are my mother still right?”
That got a laugh from the adults. “Of course. I will always be your mother.”
“Oh okay.”
The air lightened with the laugh but the intensity still was there. Granger stood and helped Beth up and then Carly and held his hand out to Allie. “How about we go get some ice cream?”
Allie squealed and grabbed Granger’s hand pulling him to her favorite ice cream stand that happened to be nearby. His heart squeezed as the little hand pulled and tugged him trying to make him go faster. The whole walk was filled with her chattering about how much she liked chocolate ice cream with sprinkles. It was a perfect ending to the day. He couldn’t imagine it going better.