“I have no intentions of hurting her,” I promised.
“Good. You know, she cares a lot about Margie too. I always knew she’d make a great mom one day.” He looked at me like he misspoke. “Not that I’m calling her Margie’s mom. Not at all. I’m only talking about the way she cares about Margie.”
I put my hand up. “It’s okay. You don’t need to explain yourself. I love the bond that Margie and Anna share. It happened so quickly, too. Sometimes I forget that Anna isn’t her mom,” I said with a laugh. It was true; their bond had formed so quickly. If only Tom knew that the bond he saw had only been formed a few weeks ago.
The girls returned to the table, and we ended our conversation there.
“Did you go potty?” I asked Margie.
“Yes, and Anna helped me wash my hands for dinner,” she said.
“Good,” I said.
We went back to eating our dinner, the conversation flowing easily among us. I felt at peace there with Anna and Margie and Anna’s family. I felt like Margie and I were a part of something incredible, something that had been missing for a while. A real family.
“Anna,” Margie said when she was done with her spaghetti, and we waited for the check. “Can you come to our house tonight?”
Anna looked at me as if asking if it was okay. “Do you want to come over? We could watch a movie and hang out?”
Anna nodded her head. “Yeah, sure. I’d like that.” She smiled at me, and I felt my heart melt. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on, and the love she had for my daughter showed me how amazing she was on the inside.
I didn’t know how I got so lucky.
Millie, Tom, and Ally took Margie into the game room for a few minutes on our way out the door. I pulled Anna to the side.
“Did you tell your parents about yesterday?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t think they needed to know. I have no idea how my mom figured it out.”
“You wear your heart on your sleeve, Anna,” I said.
“That’s true,” she said and then hugged me.
I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her forehead. “I don’t ever want to fight like that with you again.”
She leaned back to look up at me. “Me either, Justin. I’m sorry. I’m here to support you one hundred percent. I will be there at your next fight, cheering you on. I promise.”
We heard cheers coming from the arcade area, and we both turned to look. Margie came running out carrying a Pooh bear stuffed animal. “Look what Papa won!”
“Now you can play with him while you watch your favorite movie,” I said.
“Can we watch it when we get home?” she asked.
“You betcha,” I said.
But when we got into the car to head back to Anna’s house, she fell asleep, and I figured Pooh Bear was going to have to wait until the next day.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Anna
Spending the day with my family, Justin, and Margie was lovely. The nature walk was absolutely beautiful, and the dinner afterward was amazing. I decided to go home with Margie and Justin after we finished up. My parents dropped us off at my house, and I rode in the car with Justin and Margie. I figured I could just spend the night or call a cab if I needed to. Justin had no issues with my plan.
I felt like we needed some alone time to talk about everything from the day before. He didn’t seem upset with me though, which was good, but I knew I needed to apologize for how I acted.
When we got to Justin’s, he carried Margie to her room from the car, and she fell asleep during the story he read to her. She looked so peaceful sleeping there, and I knew I never wanted to miss any moments like this. I loved her so much, and I wanted to share their lives, but I still couldn’t figure out Justin’s exact feelings for me. I wished he would just tell me so we could figure everything out. So I could know my real place in Margie’s life.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I said as we sat on the couch together. “I guess it just makes me nervous, seeing you get hurt.”