“The baby’s inside me?” His light brows wrinkled together, looking like a fuzzy caterpillar.
“No, silly,” I couldn’t help but laugh, “you’re the baby.”
“I’m the baby? I’m not a baby, Row.” He shook his head in disgust that I would suggest such a thing.
“Not now, but once you were a baby. My baby. I carried you in my tummy,” I touched my stomach.
Tristan reached out, his little fingers touching my now flat stomach through the soft cotton of my shirt. “I was in there?” He tilted his head.
“Mhmm,” I nodded. “I was a kid myself,” I brushed his hair out of his eyes, “and didn’t think I could take care of you. So, my mommy became your mommy. She adopted you.”
“Huh?” He questioned.
I shook my head. At his age, there was no need to go into detail. He wouldn’t understand.
“What I’m trying to say, Tristan, is that I’m your mommy.” I couldn’t hold back my sob. When had I turned into such a blubbering mess? I didn’t like this new development.
Tristan grinned, showcasing his slightly crooked little white teeth. “I always knew you were my real mommy.” He surprised me by flying at me with open arms. I wrapped mine around him, holding on tight. I never wanted to let him go. I wanted to cling to him forever.
“Does this mean you’re my mommy too?” Ivy’s soft voice spoke up.
I looked over at her, not releasing my son, and found her crying little sniffling tears.
I frowned, wanting to cry harder for my sister. “No, sweetie.”
Her face crumpled. “I want you to be my mommy too!”
I let go of Tristan with one hand, and wrapped it around her, pulling her in for a group hug. “I am, Ivy. In all the ways that count, I am your mom. It isn’t blood that makes someone a mother, it’s how they care about you,” I dotted kisses all over the top of her head.
The three of us continued to cry, clinging to each other.
I was glad Tristan knew the truth, that they both did.
Now, it would be easy to move on…I hoped.
chapter twenty
“Why do we have to go?” Tristan stomped his feet as I tried to fix him in his dress clothes.
I was losing my patience with him.
I had been trying to get him ready for my mom’s funeral for the last twenty minutes and he was being impossible.
“Because, she’s my mom and your grandma. It would be wrong not to go,” I explained, trying to get his pants on but he was wiggling too much.
“She was mean! I don’t want to go!”
“Tristan,” I warned.
Somebody knocked on the door and Tristan scampered away, courtesy of my distraction.
I groaned, rising to my feet, and striding across the small apartment to see who was there.
I wasn’t surprised to find Trace standing there in a pair of black slacks and a white button down shirt.
“Hey,” I ran my fingers through my hair to get the long strands out of my line of vision. “We’re not quite ready yet,” I pointed over my shoulder at the shrieking Tristan, who was running around in nothing but a pair of robot underwear.
“Uncle Trace!” He shrieked, running towards the door.
“Hey, buddy,” Trace bent down, scooping Tristan into his arms. “Dude,” he tickled my son’s stomach, “why are you naked?”
“I’m not naked, silly,” Tristan giggled, “I’ve got my big boy underwear on.”
“That you do,” Trace laughed, walking into the apartment. “I wish Dean wore those.”
“But Dean’s a baby!” Tristan screamed exuberantly.
“I still wish he didn’t poop himself,” Trace groaned, spinning Tristan through the air before dropping him on the couch, much to the boy’s delight.
“Mommy! Uncle Trace said poop!”
I dropped my head in my hands. I didn’t think Trace showing up was going to help things.
“Yeah, yeah,” Trace groaned, reaching for the clothes on the floor that I’d been trying to wrestle Tristan into wearing. “It’s time to get you dressed.”
“I don’t wanna!” Tristan tried to climb over the back of the couch, but Trace grabbed him.
“You don’t want to dress all fancy like me?” Trace asked him.
Tristan’s lips pursed in thought as he studied his uncle. “Well, okay.”
“That’s what I thought,” Trace chuckled, helping Tristan into his clothes.
I was already dressed and ready to go. So was Ivy.
She’d been struggling with the fact that I was really Tristan’s mother, but not hers. Seeing as how I continued to treat them exactly the same as I did before the truth came out, she was coming around.