Hope felt as if she was betraying her mother by approaching Anna instead with her problem. All her life she never really tried to hide anything from her mother because she was the most supportive person in her life.

But she wanted to protect her going forward and telling her mother about Ben would probably upset her. For the five years she had known her fiancee they never had a disagreement of this proportion. Sure they were few casual disagreements that seemed normal to all couple. She even had witnessed them between Anna and Tristan the golden couple according to her mother.

So yesterday disagreement that escalated into a fight threw her off. Ben wanted her to take a trip with him for her birthday, he had planned it as a surprise get away that he was mad when she refused to change her plans with her mother.

Ben and her mom got along pretty well and he was sure that her mom would understand if Hope skipped one birthday with her.

"Just call and ask her. If your mom didn't want you to go then I will back off " Ben argued because he wanted to spend her birthday before the wedding with just the two of us.

Hope refused to do so because she knew her mom would put her first and agree to cancel their plans. If it was any other year she would have considered but just like Ben, she wanted to spend the birthday before her wedding with her mother.

Hope had this subconscious fear that everything might change after getting married. She wanted the life with Ben and her future kids so much that she said yes to his proposal but that didn't mean she wasn't reluctant to the changing dynamic.

Her mother and Hope were a team of two for thirty years. Hope couldn't ever remember her mother dating anyone. She went on few dates when Hope was on college but she never introduced them.

Hope tried to match make her mom with her best friend Jenny's single Father. But it never materialized into more than a few weeks of dating. Hope never liked her mother being alone that she delayed moving out of her home even when she could afford it.

But she did move out for Ben because he wanted to start living together. She move out because she loves him and wanted a life shared with him. Maybe because of that she had been steadfast in not missing special occasions celebrating with her mom.

So when Ben asked her to miss one of the special occasion with her mother. The answer had been a quick no. Her always supportive fiancée didn't like her answer this time.

He said some mean things about how Hope has taken the gratitude of being adopted and went to extreme lengths to please her mother.

While he later apologized to her and compromised yet again with her by agreeing to take the trip next week. His words remained with her throughout the whole day.

Subconsciously she began to worry if Ben was right or worried if she wouldn't be able to balance between Ben and her mom. Growing up her mom had been her first priority for so long, she didn't know how to adjust and let Ben not feel like she didn't value him.

It had been the reason she went to talk with Anna instead of her mother though it felt like a betrayal. Unlike Hope and her mom who were just a tight small family. Anna's family circle included her parents, her kids, her husband and his family.

If the knock on her door surprised Anna, she didn't let it show on her face as she welcomed Hope into her room.

"Is there any problem?" Anna asked Hope once they were inside.

"Am I making a mistake in marrying Ben?. How can you be sure of marrying someone. I love Ben but I fear that we may not be able to see eye to eye about everything. I worry he might resent me later on because I just can't give up on making my mom the first priority. " Hope rushed through those words fearing he'd courage would desert her if not and waited for some advice from her birth mom.

" When Tristan asked me to marry him. You know what I asked him first. I told him that you will always be my first priority. We might not live together now and you had April as mom and didn't really needed me. But I foolishly hoped that we could be a family for you as well and for that I needed Tristan to be on board with that. His agreement was all I needed to say yes to the marriage.

Here was a man who loves me and promises to treat my child as his own. So marrying Tristan was an easy choice. But when I got pregnant with the twins that is when I got scared, panicked and even depressed to the point that I felt like I was betraying you. That I failed you. It wasn't easy for Tristan to see me like that as if I wasn't happy about your siblings.

It wasn't that, it was just the knowledge I could never be a mother to you like I would be with Grace and Austin that got me depressed. Because I felt like I was giving up on you. Not exactly true but it was how I felt back then.

It had been your mom who pulled me out of my self made guilt. The therapy and the medication didn't help much but it had been your mom who had the magic words that made everything make sense.

She told me, that every relationship got it's own life and I shouldn't compare them. She asked him if she felt bad for spending most time of day with Grace and Austin instead of Tristan.

When I said No, she asked him if that means I didn't love Tristan, I said no for that as well. That is when she said we only get limited amount of time in our life to live.

The time you spend with each other might strengthen your relationship with each other but no human can spend the same amount of time with everyone she loves or care about because that is not how life works.

Just because the time I spent with you would be less than the time I would spend with the twins doesn't mean that I didn't prioritize you.

The only thing that matters is something that can't be measured Love. She just wanted me to know my love for you and my love for the twins remained a constant that everything else doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because as human we can only learn to live every day to the best of our ability.

Time and priority goes hand in hand. You give your time to those in the top of priority list at that time but it doesn't mean you love others any less. There would be a time when Ben will take precedence over April, there would be a time when you mom will be important. I have seen your relationship with Ben, just because you had one disagreement doesn't make you the bad partner. Didn't you go visit his family for Christmas last year, didn't Ben spend the new year with us.

Just because you said no to Ben's plan one time doesn't make him your second priority Hope. It just means this weekend you prioritized spending time with your mom more, next weekend it would be him." Anna finished speaking up and Hope could finally let go of her fear that she was making a big mistake by saying no to Ben.

So Hope spent the weekend with her mom and Anna letting go of her fears that when she gets back to Ben everything would change. She called Ben as often as possible and she was happy and content even excited for her wedding.

Her birthday went by faster than she anticipated, There had been a small party which included all her family and friends. Hope didn't know how her mom and Anna managed to hide it from her.

But Ben was there on her mother's doorstep with a big smile and she rushed into his arms forgetting everything else.

She saw her half siblings and Tristan in the party and she finally understood what Anna meant by prioritizing. She choose to spend the weekend with her over them because she prioritized Hope today but tomorrow she would go back to her home and her siblings because she loved them as well.

When the party got over. Everyone else left except the three of them. When her mom hugged her good night and wished her Happy Birthday once again. Hope realized she made the right choice as she noticed the tears in her mother's eyes filled with love for her.

Hope thought those tears were only filled with love. She didn't realize they meant goodbye as well. Because when she opened her mother's door next day to bid her goodbye. Her mother was nowhere to be found.

P.S:" That is it for now. Let me know your thoughts and feedbacks. Hit the votes if you liked it"

Juanita Reid.