The Pieces

Chapter 7

November 15, 2033

I knocked on his door I could feel the lump in my throat grow even bigger when I saw him and Thea, who was confused why I was visiting on this day. “I got the test results back” I looked up at him his expression was steeled “it’s yours” and suddenly tears started rolling down my face and I hugged him. At first his body went rigid but he hugged me back and Thea came and joined in on the hug.

He pulled out of the hug and knelt down to Thea’s height “Thea do any of your friends have younger siblings?”

“Yes Olivia has 2 younger brothers and Vivian has a younger sister and Lily has an older brother and a younger brother.”

“Well how would you like a younger sibling?”

“Really!” her face lit up “I get a younger sister!”

“We don’t know if it’s going to be a sister or a brother” I replied.

“I want a sister!” she yelled then stomped her feet

“Well we can’t control that sweetie” he said

“Or ourselves” I mutter

“Thea get your stuff together you’re going to grandma Kennedy” Peyton called to her “We tell my mother and then we are going somewhere to talk about what this means” suddenly I was even more nervous than before since I’d never really thought about it before I was worried about money.

“Ready” Thea said coming out of the hallway with a backpack.

“We’ll all take my vehicle” he said and I just nodded my mind going a mile a minute.

October 2028

I waited at the table for more than half an hour just managing my email and texting my mother how she hasn’t arrived yet. I decided to text Emily just in case she would give me an excuse so that I could leave and get back to my day. Just then Emily walks up holding a cup of coffee and sat across from me “Sorry I’m late my meeting was ran long” she set her purse down on the table which had E.J.K. monogrammed on it. When I looked at it she butted in “since me and Peyton are getting married I got my future initials put on my bag” she smiled at me again.

“Well wouldn’t you wait until you actually got married to do that?”

“Well me and Peyton are getting married so why not just get it done now” she pauses “or do you not think it’s going to work out?”

“I think you and Peyton work well together”

“Yeah we do” she smiles at me again “so how are you going to be able to afford a lawyer for court”

“I have some money in savings I’ll use it”

“I personally don’t want this to go to court I think if you guys are civil and reasonable you can come to a good conclusion without spending all that money.” She takes a sip of her coffee and looks like a model while doing it. “Don’t you feel the same way?”

“Yeah to avoid major expenses would be preferable but he wants full custody and that’s not something I can agre…” her phone started ringing and she answered it and then said an excuse and left.

… … …

“Thea do you want to go to your dads house or grandma’s?” I ask as she puts things in her backpack.

“Manma’s” she replies and walks towards me at the door I hug her “You know your dad also wants to see you” she nods “but manma gives me ice cream.”

“What if I made sure he bought you ice cream” I giggled and booped her on the nose and she nodded and smiled and I loaded her in my SUV and called Peyton before leaving “Hey it’s Kenzie.”

“Hello Kenzie” he responded

“Thea wanted to go over to your house are you still available to hang out with her tonight?”

“Yes, I am”

“I also kinda promised her you’d give her ice cream so I was wondering if you actually could or if I should pick some up before going to your house so she still got her ice cream”

“I can take her to ice cream I just don’t have a car seat yet”

“So you can borrow mine or I can just get her ice cream and drop her off”

“Why don’t you pick me up and we can both take her to get ice cream”

“Sure I’ll be there in about 10 minutes and should I make room for Emily?”

“No Emily is at work”

“Okay be there soon, buh-bye” I hung up and drove to his house. When we arrived there he was waiting on the porch and hopped into the car and sat in the back seat next to Thea. They chatted together all the way to the Ice Cream Shoppe. “We are here” I proclaimed with vibrato.

We unloaded out of my SUV and into the Shoppe Thea held both our hands and to the outside world we looked like a picturesque family. “What flavor of icecream do you want?” I asked as I showed her all the flavors “I will have a strawberry shake and she would like…”

“Birday cake”she said with pure excitement

“I’ll take a strawberry shake as well” when we came to the payment counter I offered my card but so did Peyton and after a battle of gestures and facial expressions I let him pay. We sat down in the corner booth Thea l*****g her ice cream cone.

“Is today her birthday?” he asked

“No her birthday is February 7” I replied laughing slightly “I think she knows the sprinkles are made of sugar and just wants the sweets.”

“How rough was it?”

“Was what?”

“Raising a child on your own, how difficult was it?”

“Well people will judge when you don’t have the father with you or don’t even know who it is but I’m going to be honest it was really hard lots of ups and downs mostly downs but we made it this far and ‘we didn’t come this far just to get this far, we didn’t shoot for the moon just to hit the stars, we didn’t work this hard to fade to black’ Icon for Hire.” I take a sip of my shake “but me and my mom worked really hard to make sure Thea felt that even if she didn’t have a father she was still well loved and my parents worked hard to make sure I knew I wasn’t alone.”

“I’m so-”

“For what saying you want to take my child away from me.” I shook my head and laughed a little “Why did you go straight to full custody knowing she has a mother who loves her?”

“Well I don't want the back and forth for Thea but I want Thea and it's not like you're going to move into my house and even if you would it would be a little awkward."

“Yeah but I’d do anything for m-our daughter and y-you’ve” I start tearing up “got more money and connections so you’re probably going to win” he pulled me closer to himself and let me cry on his shoulder “I want you to be in Thea’s life but I also want to in it as well”

He pulled me away from him slightly so we could see each others faces “I want you to be in Thea’s life as well it’s just the back and f…”

“Please, can we atleast discuss joint custody? It’s best if we are both in her life” I smile slightly and he wipes a tear from eye and it felt as if I was in a romantic movie as we went closer together our lips a centimeter apart.

“I’m all done!” Thea yelled

“And if I moved in that would be awkward when you marry Emily” I said as a reminder that he was still engaged and that this shouldn’t happen.

“Yeah our wedding is in about 9 months so…”

“You could have a child in that time, but congratulations” I look away from him more of me wanting to cry what had I nearly done. “Sorry about that I should drop you 2 off now” I grab my bag, my shake, and my keys out my purse and head out to my vehicle. Thea and Peyton are close behind and I apologize again to Peyton.