Chapter 12

ANNA

Jessica’s eyes widen in shock as she looks at her son, while David’s gaze burns into me. I can see the wheels turning in his lawyer-brain. They both want answers, and I can’t blame them. But this isn’t a conversation for the front porch.

“Let’s go inside, it’s a bit cold out here,” I suggest.

They’re still trying to process everything, but eventually, they follow us into the house.

“Let’s sit in the living room,” James suggests.

He sets Olivia down so she can take off her shoes, and she dashes into the living room.

“Here, Lovebug,” I say, handing her the toy she brought from the car. She can play with it while we talk.

Olivia hops onto the couch. “Momma, the couch is so soft.”

I nod, playing along.

“Is it? Let me see.” I sit down next to her, sinking into the plush cushions. “You’re right, it is,” I agree.

~Just like I remember.~

James chuckles at our antics and sits down next to me. His parents take the couch across from us.

I can feel James trembling next to me. I take his hands in mine.

“Just breathe.” He does as I say, and his body relaxes a bit.

“I’m trying to stay calm, but I need a f-,” Jessica starts, then stops herself, “explanation,” she finishes, struggling to keep her composure.

I take a deep breath. “Before you get angry, you should know this situation is complicated. And, I guess, it was my fault.”

“No it wasn’t,” James interjects, coming to my defense.

“In the end, it was.”

He shakes his head, disagreeing.

“Okay, so no one’s to blame. Why are you here, Anna? Money…?” David asks, surprising me.

Before I can respond, Jessica smacks him on the chest.

“Hit not nice!” Olivia scolds her, pointing a tiny finger at Jessica.

Jessica drops her hand, staring at it as if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world. David laughs.

Jessica is a force to be reckoned with, and it’s clear why James is so intimidated by her. She would castrate him.

~She really would~…

“You heard the little girl, hitting is not nice,” David teases. Jessica shoots him a death glare, and his smirk disappears. He raises his hands in surrender.

“Fine.”

“So as you can see, I had a baby girl. James didn’t know—he couldn’t know. So he didn’t abandon me, or her,” I explain. They both seem to relax a bit.

I understand their concern. When James and I were together, they always told him to face the consequences if anything like this happened—and to always use protection. Which we did. He had a great support system...one I wish I had.

All my parents ever said was, “No sex before marriage,” “Sex is bad,” and “Don’t you want to go to heaven?”

It was hypocritical, especially considering my dad’s promiscuous past. They just didn’t know I knew.

“When we broke up, he promised to stay in touch, but he didn’t. I found out I was pregnant two weeks after the breakup,” I continue.

Their eyes are filled with worry, remembering our past and how it ended.

“Why didn’t you call him?” David asks.

“I did, but he changed his number, so I couldn’t reach him.”

His parents shake their heads.

“James, why would you do that? You made a promise,” Jessica scolds him.

He lowers his head, avoiding his mother’s gaze. The disappointment in her voice is clear.

“If I know James, I’m guessing it was too painful,” I interject. James nods, so I continue.

“He needed a fresh start. We didn’t break up because of infidelity, or a big fight. We didn’t fall out of love. He got an amazing opportunity and I told him to take it.

If we had stayed in touch, he would have been held back—maybe not physically, but emotionally. I know how much he loved me, just like I loved him.”

“We thought that was very kind of you, Anna,” David says. His words bring me some relief. I nod in thanks, unsure of what else to say.

“But when I couldn’t reach him, I was on my own. My parents found out and kicked me out.”

They gasp in shock.

“Oh my God, you can’t be serious,” Jessica says.

“It gets worse,” James adds, finding his voice again.

“Oh no.”

I nod and sigh before continuing.

“They called me all sorts of names, like W-H-O-R-E, and called my baby Satan’s child.”

David’s face turns a deep shade of red, his anger palpable.

“So I had to leave. I was five months pregnant with nowhere to go. I went to my aunt, who helped me get to the right facilities for teen moms.

“But as soon as I had enough money to start a new life, she also kicked me out. After that, I moved to Seattle and started my life there.”

I sigh before continuing. I can see the pity in their eyes, but I don’t want it. I’ve made it this far on my own, and that’s not something to pity.

“I don’t need money,” I assure David. He avoids my gaze, realizing now that if I wanted money, I would’ve come here years ago.

“I’ve been juggling two jobs for the past four years, trying to create a life for us. I’ve managed to do it. I’m in college now, but I still work those jobs to keep us afloat.

“Now that I’ve got some savings, I don’t have to work all day and night.”

“So how did you find out about her?” Jessica asks James, gesturing towards Olivia, who’s happily playing with her music toy, oblivious to our conversation.

“Her name is Olivia,” I tell Jessica, and she smiles in response.

“Beautiful.”

James clears his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. He’s ready to share his side of the story. I lean back on the couch, ready to listen.

“That’s why we’re here. I knew something was off when I saw Anna at the college in Seattle. She was supposed to be at Stanford, thanks to her scholarship. It didn’t add up.

“I know how smart she is, and I was there when she received her acceptance letter from Stanford.”

He takes a deep breath, shaking his head as if trying to shake off the memory. But when he looks at me, he realizes this is our reality. And that’s okay, we’ll figure it out.

“I was giving a lecture in one of Anna’s classes when a daycare teacher came and pulled her out. Anna looked so pale, I was instantly worried.

“I knew something was wrong, but I had no clue what it could be.

“Then Anna came back into the classroom and asked me to drive her to the hospital. Anna hates hospitals—I knew something was seriously wrong.

“I stepped out into the hallway and saw her standing there with Olivia in her arms. Olivia’s temperature had spiked and she needed to go to the ER.

“I drove them, and when she looked at me through the rearview mirror, I just knew. She was mine.”

“Oh, God. What happened?” David asks. Jessica switches into doctor mode.

I jump in to fill them in.

“She had another bout of pneumonia, the sixth one in half a year. The last one was just two months ago. The antibiotics aren’t working, and they needed to do an MRI, but I needed to save the money.

“I can’t just drop two-thousand dollars, even if I wanted to. By the second time, though, I could. I’d been working double shifts to save up. But they still didn’t find anything.

“They asked us to get a full family history, so I’m here to talk to my parents.”

Jessica nods, looking thoughtful. “Four bouts of pneumonia in two months?”

“Yes,” I continue. “She had another one a couple of months ago, but they didn’t think much of it until they became more frequent and more severe.

“So this is what we have to do. And James wouldn’t let me do it alone.”

“Hell no, I won’t!” he exclaims a bit too loudly.

Olivia covers her ears. “Daddy, ow.”

James calms down and takes Olivia in his lap. He kisses her cheek, making her giggle.

“Sorry, princess.”

Now David is in lawyer mode. This house can be a battlefield on a normal day since they are all experts in their fields. There’s always a debate going on, but now it’s about a family member.

Family means everything to them. And things just got very, very real.

“You need to go and talk to your parents?”

I swallow hard, dreading the conversation I’ll have to have with them. “Yes, I told the doctors our history and it doesn’t match up with Livvy’s condition, so here we are.”

“How old were you when they kicked you out?” he asks me.

“Seventeen,” I tell him.

“So she’s three?” I nod.

“Well, I’ll go with you. If they don’t want to talk to you I’ll throw some papers on the table and threaten them with the cops. It’s illegal to kick out an underage child.”

He jumps off the couch and starts pacing, running his hands through his hair.

“I can’t believe they did that. And I have a feeling there’s more to this story than they’re letting on. I just feel it in my bones.”

“Thank you, but we’ll be okay. James is coming with me, and if they do anything I’ll call the cops—or you.

“I don’t want to intimidate them right off the bat. I want to see if they can do their Christian duty for their granddaughter.”

“I respect that. But if anything happens, James, you call me,” he says sternly.

James nods and says, “We’ll go tomorrow, we’ve been driving for five hours. Olivia needs to eat and we all need a bath.

“Would you guys mind watching her for a bit tomorrow? We don’t want to bring her to the Johnsons,” he asks his parents.

“Of course. We’d love to.”

“But I want to know more about her medical history,” Jessica says.

I nod at her, understanding that this is her way of coping. I have to cut her some slack—she just found out she has a three-year-old granddaughter who is sick.

She also just found out that I’ve been struggling. That might not seem like a big deal, but Jessica and I were close when I was with James.

“Cancer has been ruled out, they tested her blood for tumor markers. They’re considering chronic diseases like Alpha 1 or CF, but I don’t think anyone in my family has anything like that.

“And I know these things tend to run in families. They just don’t know, Jessica. They also want to bring in another doctor.” I sigh, rubbing my temple where a headache is starting to form.

~I can’t afford any of this.~

“You promised!” James says to me with a warning tone.

“Promised what?” I ask him, wondering if I had just said that out loud.

“That she’ll let me help her.”

“Oops, my bad. I was just lost in thought—guess I was thinking out loud. I remember I made a promise.”

“Good girl,” he replies, planting a kiss on my cheek, which sends Olivia into a fit of giggles.

“Why don't you tell us about this little girl while we whip up dinner,” David suggests.