Together we moved toward the grassy field where Faye was already setting out the blanket and picnic lunch. I smiled at the sight of my partner looking beautiful in the sunlight.
Meanwhile, Amanda’s breath caught in her throat. “Is that her?” she asked. “It can’t be.”
“Yes, that’s Gretchen.”
“My God…” She walked toward the baby as if hypnotized. When she reached Faye and sank to her knees beside Gretchen, I was right behind her, eager to hear every word.
“Gretchen, do you know who this is?” Faye asked.
The baby shook her head. “No.”
“That’s your mother, sweetie,” I told her. “You might not remember her now, but she’s going to be around from now on. You can call her Mommy.”
“Mom…my?”
“That’s right, darling. Last time I saw you, you were about this big.” Amanda held her hands a few inches apart. “Now you’re practically all grown up.”
Gretchen crawled toward Amanda and plopped down on her lap. “Mommy… here.”
“Yes, darling, I’m here now.”
We ate lunch in the sun. Amanda barely took her eyes off Gretchen the whole time. Occasionally she’d glance briefly at Faye and murmur again, “She’s so big,” or “She’s already so smart.”
I’d had my doubts that she’d be the motherly type. Now that I saw her with Gretchen, holding her and feeding her, a weight I hadn’t realized was there began to lift off my shoulders.
Maybe, just maybe, this was all going to be okay.
Epilogue - Faye
“Ma, Ma!” Gretchen yelled, skidding to a stop in front of me. “Where’s Mama?”
Despite her unreasonable volume, I had to smile at the sight of her in the white dress she’d carefully chosen. At five, she was beginning to have a fashion sense all her own, and it showed in her dresses’ huge shoulders and lacy frills. When she was older, I hoped she’d look back at the pictures from today and laugh.
“You know Mama and I can’t see each other right now,” I said. “Not until we walk down the aisle.”
“But Mama isn’t in her dressing room.”
“All right. Why don’t you go look for Mommy?” Amanda should’ve been somewhere in the vicinity.
She’d done an amazing job of staying around for the past few years. It might’ve been a bit of a stretch to call her stable, since she still hadn’t held a job longer than a year and she’d ha
d a few minor relapses into drinking. But she was making her best effort, and generally succeeding.
She’d ended up getting back with her ex, Wesley, and he was sympathetic to her parenting situation. He was no future senator, but he was a good, kind man who worshiped the ground she walked on. He’d found a managerial position at a community center in Rosebridge, and then Amanda had moved out of our place to live with him. She still came by to spend time with Gretchen almost every day. The two of them had also agreed to look after Gretchen and the pets while Jaz and I went on our honeymoon.
We’d adopted not one, not two, but three giant German Shepherds from Jaz’s sister’s animal rescue. They’d come from a home where they were beaten and kicked around, and neither of us could deny them when we saw their scars. Of course, they’d grown quite a bit since then… but they still occasionally got new battle wounds when they came too close to the fat tabby cat we’d also taken in.
“There’s Mommy!” Gretchen exclaimed.
Amanda walked through the hall outside the dressing room door, our mother at her side. “You look so handsome,” Amanda said.
“That tuxedo is perfect,” my mom added.
She and Amanda had finally patched things up in the lead-up to this day. She’d reluctantly apologized for not being fully present when we were growing up, and Amanda had said she was sorry for the insults she’d thrown behind her back in the years since.
It might’ve been an unsteady truce, but it was holding up for the moment. And from the looks of it, both of them wanted to continue improving their relationship rather than go back to fighting and ignoring each other.
My mom scooped up the little girl. Soon she’d be too big for any of us to do that, so we took advantage of her size while we could. “Spin, Grandma!” Gretchen ordered, and she complied.