Chapter 24
Bella
“You can never tell which way the apple’s gonna roll.”
~ Papa Duke
“Colton McCord is my dad.” Sadie repeated the same five words she’d been saying for the past half hour.
I really couldn’t get a read at how she was taking the news. She was just staring at me and every time I tried to explain the situation, she would interrupt me with her new mantra.
“Yes,” I confirmed once more. “He is. He didn’t know until yesterday. I thought he didn’t want to be a part of your life. But, his parents—”
“Colton McCord is my dad.”
Well, I’d gotten three sentences out that time. That was one more than I’d managed before. A thought hit me that maybe Sadie wasn’t ready to hear the specifics about what had happened. I’d worked myself up, practiced a speech, and was ready and willing to tell her everything, but maybe I should simply wait for her to ask questions and then I would answer them.
“Yes.” I left it at that. I would sit here all day, all week, all month if that’s what it took for her to process this news.
“And you knew this whole time?” she questioned me.
I was happy that she’d stopped repeating the same thing, but I wasn’t so sure I appreciated where she was going with this. Of course I knew who her father was.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? If you knew this whole time?”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. “When you were a few months old I received these papers.” I handed them to her and gave her time to read them. I’d mentioned them already but I honestly didn’t think she’d heard a word I said past “Colton is your father.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t he want me?”
This letting her ask the questions was working out much better than trying to force-feed her the information.
“He did want you. He does want you. He never knew I was pregnant. His parents had him sign those thinking that he was signing papers to be his sister’s legal guardian. His sister had—”
“Leukemia.” Sadie said, much happier than anyone should say leukemia. “I know. She’s the reason that he went on Fairytale Love.”
“Right. So he thought he was signing those documents. His parents told him that because they didn’t want him to have anything to do with me.”
“Why?” Her face contorted.
“Remember I told you that your grandpa died and then your grandma got sick?”
“Yeah, but actually she was on drugs.”
“How do you know that?” I was genuinely shocked.
“I heard you talking to dad…or um…Owen…or…what do I call him now?”
“Whatever you want.” There was plenty of time to figure that out.
“Anyway, I heard you guys talking in your room about it. You told him that was why you were sad on Mother’s Day sometimes and he asked why you would be sad if she was a shitty mom.”
“Sadie Jade.”
“What?” She lifted her hands. “That’s what he said.”
I remembered that conversation. He had found me crying in the bathroom. “Is that why you cleaned out the fridge, vacuumed and washed all the baseboards?” I asked.
That year Sadie started what she called Mother’s Day Cleaning Service and every year since, she had me write down the chores I didn’t want to do that week and she would do them.
“Yeah, I thought that was mean that he said that and I wanted to make you feel better. You love when things are clean, so I figured that’s what I would do. I was only five, I could come up with something better now.”
I reached out and pulled her into a hug. “I love you so much, ladybug.”
“I love you, too, mama.”
She didn’t pull away and instead let me hug her for as long as I wanted. When I let her go, I tried to get back to what she’d originally asked me. “So, yeah. Your grandma was on drugs and Colton’s parents didn’t want him to be involved with me.
So when I mailed pictures of you, after you were born, they never told him. Then, so I would never try to contact him again they tricked him into signing away his rights. And it worked.
“And then you met dad…or…Owen…”
“You can call him dad,” I said. “He was your dad for eight years.”
“Okay, good. I have to get used to this. So then you met dad when he was going to operate on me and you married him.”
“Right.” Sadie had always known that Owen was her stepdad, but whenever she’d asked who her “real” dad was, I’d just told her that he was a kid that didn’t know how to be a dad. She’d never been satisfied with that explanation, but I’d stuck to it.
“And then he left and you didn’t have anywhere else to go so you came down here. But you didn’t want me to come with you because you thought that Colton didn’t want me, so you had me stay with Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Right.” I hadn’t even explained that to her, she’d just put it together. “My Papa Duke left me this house and I wanted to come down and get it ready to sell so we’d have money to start our new life.”
“How did his show end up being filmed here?”
Yesterday, when she’d recognized that this was the house they’d used for Claiming Colton, she’d been furious at me for not telling her they were filming here and for not going and getting her so she could’ve met all the girls and Colton. Since I hadn’t told her that he was her dad yet, I’d just let her be mad.
“I needed money and the production company’s offer was too good to pass up. Plus, the backhouse wasn’t rented out so I stayed there.”
“Was that awkward?” She furrowed her brow.
“It was fine.” I shrugged.
“Probably not as awkward as me showing up on the porch,” she chuckled. Then she let her head fall back and she really started laughing.
“What?”
“It’s just, if you could’ve seen your guys’ faces. It all makes so much sense now. You were so mad because you thought he knew this whole time and he was so shocked because he didn’t. It’s not funny, but it kind of is.”
I smiled, at least she was laughing. It was better than crying.
“So what happens next? Does he want to see me or…” she bit the inside of her lip. The way she always did when she was nervous at the doctor’s office or before a big test at school.
My throat clogged with emotion. “Yes! He wants to see you. He wanted to tell you yesterday as soon as he found out, but I made him wait. I told him that I wanted to tell you by myself.”
“Good! Do you know how embarrassing that would’ve been if I’d just kept saying over and over Colton McCord is my dad to Colton McCord?”
“I don’t think you would’ve done that,” I wagered.
She gave me a “come on” look and we both started laughing.
“You’re right. That’s probably exactly what you would’ve done.”
“But, now that that’s out of my system, when can I see him?” Her eyes shimmered with excitement.
“Now,” I was happy to finally give her some good news. “He’s just waiting for my call.”
“Oh my gosh, I have to go get ready!” She jumped out of the chair and started running for the stairs.
“Sadie, wait. Cara wanted to come meet you, too. Is that okay or do you want to do that another—”
“Leukemia Cara?! Yes that’s okay! I’ve always wanted to meet her!”
“Okay, but probably don’t call her that. Just stick with Aunt Cara.”
Her eyes bulged even wider. “Leukemia Cara is my aunt! I have to tell Natalie!”
She started running again and I called after her. “Sadie, you can tell Natalie, but tell her not to tell anyone.”
“Why?!” She spun back to me and there was pain in her eyes. “Does he not want anyone to know about me?”
“No,” I corrected her as I stood up. “No, he wants to take out a front-page ad in the newspaper.”
She looked at me sideways.
“He wants to post it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.” I adjusted my references and she grinned. “I just think, right now, with all the attention on him from the show. I don’t want…I just don’t think it’s a good idea if the entire world knows just yet.”
She considered it for a moment, then clarified, “But I can tell Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“Okay!” She started running up the stairs but then turned and gasped in horror. “Mom!”
“What?” I had no idea why she looked like she’d just seen a ghost.
“I’m so glad that I never had a crush on Colton, like Natalie. How disgusting would that have been?!” She made a grossed out face.
I laughed and she continued back upstairs. I heard her squealing as she shut her bedroom door and it was music to my ears. She deserved some happy. She deserved all the happy.