"He's six."
"That's a young age, but still old enough to experience trauma if you start a war involving him."
"She has to suffer for what she did, Mom. She would have denied me access to my son for who knows how long?"
"The most important thing is that you know now; what you do from here will shape your relationship with your son forever. You can't rip a six-year-old from his mother's arms into a stranger's."
My jaw ticked at that word again. Stranger. It wasn't by choice that I was a stranger, but she had a point there. I had to tread carefully and not traumatize the son I wanted to get to know now.
"You're right."
"I'm always right. I raised you, didn't I?"
"And now you'll get to do it again with your grandson."
She laughed. "No, I'm done with the serious parts. Now I get to be the fun grandma and leave you to deal with the consequences."
That made me smile since it hadn't been my experience with grandparents at all. My grandfather was the serious one and still was, whereas I had always considered my mother to be the fun parent. Maybe she had eased up on me because I had lost my father, or maybe that was just her personality. I would never know.
"Don't do anything crazy. More heart and less brain, okay?"
I chuckled. "Don't let Grandfather hear you say that."
My grandfather's motto in life was more brain, less heart, and he swore by it. But this wasn't business; this was family, and my mother was right. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my son. It felt strange finally thinking about how I had a son now, having never given much thought to starting a family. I had always felt like I had all the time in the world to do that, but life had other plans for me.
"You now have to start living for someone else, which means making new rules," my mother replied. "And if you need anything, you know I'm just a phone call away."
"Thank you. Once I figure everything out, I'll let you know how it goes."
"I can't wait to meet him," she said, switching to excited grandmother again. "What's his name?"
"Robin," I replied with a smile.
I couldn't wait to get to know my son and for him to meet the rest of my family. I already knew my mother would spoil him rotten, and it would be a lifelong battle trying to get her to stop, but Robin deserved it all. He had been denied his family for so long, and we all had much catching up to do.
"Robin Fletcher has a nice ring to it," my mother replied.
I laughed. "Don't go getting his name engraved on everything just yet, grandma."
"I do know restraint, Michael," she scoffed. "But don't keep me in suspense for long."
"I won't. I have to go now. Talk to you later."
"Yet I'm always the one calling," she muttered. "Now that you are a parent, you'll see how much that hurts."
I laughed again and shook my head. "Love you, Mom."
"Love you, too."
I hung up and took a second to let what she had said sink in. I was a parent now, and I had to see what my next steps would be. I put my phone away, deciding to call my lawyer when I was in a more forgiving mood. I had no idea if I would ever get to that point, but I would listen to my mother's advice and try to solve this quietly.
Key word beingtry.
15
Jade
My stomach was in knots as I left Michael's hotel, and I could barely breathe without feeling pain in my chest. Michael had this way of bulldozing through my emotions and reducing me to atoms, and it was a painful process to try and put myself together again. Even if I managed to do it, I would never be the same again. My peaceful life was about to change drastically, and I hadn't seen it coming.