Alyssa

“I said no.”

“Come on, Nathan. Can't she just have a chance?”

He gave me another disapproving look. I'd told Nathan that I had met with Jodie and what she wanted. It's safe to say that he was not happy.

“She does not deserve a chance. She left her son without any regard for his safety and you want me to let her back into his life? No.”

“You don't even know why she left.”

“But she left, that's all I need.”

I let out a frustrated sigh, deciding to reveal a bit of the story. “She had no choice, her whole family was going to abandon her if she didn't do what she did. What would you do in that situation?”

“Oliver was her family too. As much as I hate to say it, she is his mother. As a decent parent, in that situation, I would've chosen him just as Jodie should've.” He replied angrily.

“But…”

He cut me off. “Let's just go to sleep Alyssa.”

He turned away from me, pulling the covers over his shoulder. I decided to let it go for the time being so he'd have some time to think about it.

The next time I brought it up was three days later while Oliver was at a playdate with his friends. I paused the movie Nathan and I were watching and asked if he had thought about it.

His response was an eye roll and a hard. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I didn't say I was going to think about it. There's nothing to think about even. I'm not letting her into Oliver's life and that's that.”

“Why are you being so stubborn about this? You don't even understand what she went through.”

“I'm starting to think you don't understand what Oliver went through. It took me years before I could tell him why she wasn't in his life and he was heartbroken. Let's not forget how he was bullied because of her actions. Don't Tell me she didn't have a choice because from what I'm hearing, she had a lot of choices.”

“Well she felt like she didn't. Can't you just look at this from her point of view? I was either getting cut off from her family or let her son be raised in a stable home by his father. Don't you think it hurt her when she left?”

“If it really hurt her she would've been back four years ago.” With that, he got off the couch and started walking away.

I was beginning to think that there was more to his reasons for not letting Jodie see Oliver. It wasn't like we were going to leave her alone with him, of course, Nathan and I would be there to supervise and make sure nothing went wrong.

Maybe he just didn't want Jodie around him not Oliver.

“Do you still have feelings for her?” I dared to ask.

He stopped in his tracks, clenching his hands in an effort to calm his obvious anger. “No, I don't. I'm offended you'd even ask that.”

Maybe I'd gone too far. I took a few steps toward him, contemplating “I'm sorry, I just want to know, who don't you want to let her fix her mistakes.”

He finally turned to face me again and I could see his clear fury. “She can fix them by staying away.”

“You know she can't. What are you so afraid of?” I got closer to him and lifted his head so he could look me in the eye. “Please, tell me.”

His eyes softened considerably, so did his voice. “It wasn't fun help Oliver deal with being abandoned, I don't want him to go through that again.”

“You're afraid she'll leave again.” He nodded, dropping his eyes to the floor.

“I don't want him to get close to her only to have her leave him again.”

My arms were around him comfortingly in moments. “That won't happen. If I get even a hint that she's going to do that, I'll handle it in a way that won't hurt anyone. Just trust me on this.”

He released a breath and returned my hug. “Okay, but how do you know Oliver'll even want to talk to her?”

I didn't. “If I can convince him, will you allow it?”

He took a while before answering, separating us slightly. “Yes. But if he doesn't, you never bring this up again, understand?”

I nodded with a grin. Getting Oliver to agree was going to be an easy task, he was much more patient that his father and listened to me. All I had to do was give him some assurance that nothing was going to change between the both of us. He would still be my son and I'll forever be his mommy.

I was the one who picked him up from his playdate and used the time we had in the car to start the conversation. The idea of getting close to Jodie did not appeal to him at all, he still disliked her after the last encounter.

“She drank something bad and was sick that day.” I tried to explain being drunk to a child without being too blunt.

“Did she have some of that nasty adult juice Dad keeps in his office?” He enquired innocently.

I saw that as an opportunity to escape explaining what being drunk is and took it. He seemed to accept the excuse.

“But you're not going to leave if I like her are you? I want you to stay.” He expressed worriedly.

It warmed my heart that he still wanted me even when he had the chance to be with his birth mom. “Of course not. I'll stay with you and your dad for as long as you want me to.”

“Yay! Do I have to call her ‘mom’?”

“No, you can just call her ‘Jodie’.”

“Okay. So I'm going to have two moms now?” I nodded. “That means I get two mom gifts.”

“What are mom gifts?”

I could practically feel him rolling his eyes at me from the back seat. “They're gifts you get from your mom, duh.”

I chuckled. “Okay, I get it.”

He told me about his playdate for the rest of the ride home. Nathan wasn't surprised to know that I was able to talk Oliver into giving Jodie a chance and Jodie was ecstatic when I called. Nathan refused to talk to her so I was the one who set the next meeting up.

******

Nathan went to open the door while I served breakfast. Although it was a bit early, I had knew who it was. He came back with Jodie walking behind him.

“Hi, Jodie.” I greeted her with a friendly handshake.

“Hi, thanks for having me over, I hope I'm not too early.” She replied nervously.

“It's 8am on a Saturday, of course you're too early.” Nathan interjected.

I narrowed my eye at him momentarily before giving Jodie an apologetic look. “It's okay, you can join us for breakfast.”

“Okay. I also got some things for Oliver.”

“That's nice of you. What is it?”

“Just gifts for every Christmas and birthday I've missed. Mostly toys, they're in my car.”

Nathan once again said something unkind. “He doesn't need any more toys, his parents have given him enough.”

Her green eyes clouded with guilt and hurt while Nathan wore a satisfied smirk. I wasn't going to tolerate what he was doing, it was so unnecessary. She hurt him, sure, but that doesn't justify the fact that he was deriving pleasure from doing the same.

I played it off with a smile for Jodie's sake but inside I was fuming. “A child can never have to many toys, how about you go get them and I'll be out to help in a little bit.”

She nodded slowly and made her way out of the room. When I was sure she was out of earshot, I turned to my childish husband with a glare.

“What is your problem Nathan?” I demanded.

The man simply shrugged nonchalantly. “It's not like she doesn't deserve it.”

“She does not. You're just being petty.” He shrugged again. “If you keep acting like this, I'm going send you upstairs and lock you in our room.”

He scoffed. “What am I? A teenager?”

“I wouldn't know when you're acting like a sixteen year old on her period. Fix your attitude, Nathan and do it quick.” With that warning, I stepped outside to help Jodie get the things from her car.

There were at least ten bags in her trunk and toy boxes. It shocked me how many things she got, you'd think she was planning a birthday party and went to buy souvenirs.

I didn't comment on it and helped her calm down when she worried about how much it was. We were able to take it all up in just two trips and placed them all in the living room.

Nathan wasn't there when we returned to the kitchen so I guessed he had gone to wake Oliver up. I concentrated on putting out food for everyone all while trying to not throw up.

We found out about my pregnancy yesterday and I was still battling morning sickness. Luckily I was able to hold it down till after Nathan came down with Oliver over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes while the boy laughed.

Putting it gently, breakfast was awkward. Oliver barely said two words to Jodie and Nathan was undoubtedly loving it. Everything changed when Oliver saw all the presents waiting for him.

He gave Jodie a hug in thanks and the woman looked close to tears. She held him for a while before allowing him to play with some of the new toys he'd gotten.

Nathan and I alternated when it came to staying with them but I was there most of the time because I don't trust him to not say anything unwarranted. I was on my phone most of the time but I was still able to listen in on their conversation.

“Are you going to leave again?” I heard Oliver ask Jodie.

“No, not again. I'll be here as long as you want me.” Nathan scoffed behind me at Jodie's assurance and I dug my elbow into him stomach as a warning.

“Why did you leave? Didn't you love me?”

“Of course I loved you, and I left because I loved you.” She let out a breath, readying herself to explain on seeing Oliver's confusion. “My parents are not nice people. They didn't want me to keep you and if I did, they would've either abandoned me or taken you to a terrible place. I was so sad when I left but it meant you would have a better life and that made me happy.”

“My life is awesome.” Oliver agreed.

Jodie chuckled and ruffled his hair slightly. “It would've been less awesome if you were with me.”

“Okay, I understand. I forgive you.”

It looked like Jodie was going to cry again when they hugged. “Thank you.”

“So I was in your tummy?” Oliver asked curiously.

“Yeah, that's right.”

“So that means you did the special dance like Mommy and Dad did.” Jodie didn't have a reply do that. “Dad said when you do a special dance really well God puts a baby in your tummy to grow.”

I saw her turn to us helplessly and nodded, telling her to just go along with it. “Yes, that is how we get babies. Why do you ask?”

“Can you teach me the dance? Mommy and Dad said they won't and it's not fair, I should know it too.”

Nathan was laughing silently beside me while Jodie didn't know what to say. I intervened. “Olly, you know we said you're too young to know the dance. You'll learn when you're older.”

The boy merely groaned how unfair it was while Jodie thanked me with her eyes.

The rest of the day was good. Oliver let it slip that I was pregnant which wasn't much of a problem anyway, Jodie just congratulated us and they went back to playing.

It was well into the evening when she decided it was time to her to leave. “Thank you again for letting me see him.”

“It was nothing, next time you want to see him again, just tell us and we'll be happy to set the date.” I told her.

“Bye Jodie!” Oliver cheered from hai father's arms.

“Bye little man. I'll see you again soon.”

Nathan didn't say anything to her as expected and I didn't push him to. It was going to take a while before he would accept what was going on and I would be patient.

Author's Note:

Hi guys, hope you enjoyed this part. If I wasn't clear all this is happening within the time they found out about Alyssa's pregnancy. The meeting was the day after.

Also if you have any requests drop them here.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment ❤️❤️❤️

-E