Page 18 of Seven Summers Ago
Charlie reaches me and hugs my leg. “Can I have a cupcake? Pleeeeease?” The word drags out and hisses because of her missing front teeth. “Miss Stella said I had to ask you.”
I sniff and wipe the traces of tears off my face before she can see them. Crouching, I take her by the hand. My heart beats wild and desperate in my chest. This moment has played in my mind countless times over the last six years.
And now, it’s finally happening.
I suck in a deep breath as my eyes dance over her angelic face. “Charlotte, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
At first, she looks annoyed. But she’s inquisitive, much like her father. She glances up at Beck, who has joined me in the grass, her big brown eyes squinting as she scrutinizes him. I can’t help but wonder if he’s looking into her eyes too. If he’s seeing the familiarity in them. If he’s putting the pieces together.
A boulder sized lump sits in my stomach. “This is my…friend, Beck. Beck, this is Charlotte, my daughter.”
In true Charlotte fashion, she sticks her little hand out. “Charlie,” she corrects me.
I almost breathe out a laugh. She always makes me laugh. But I’m too anxious about this particular introduction.
Beck shakes her hand and gives her a tight smile. “Hi, Charlie. It’s nice to meet you.”
She purses her lips and tilts her head, and I hold my breath. Does she see it? The similarities between them? Does she feel it? The connection I’m sure they hold even though they’ve never met?
But she turns and faces me. “Now can I have a cupcake, please?”
My eyes flutter closed while I exhale, relief filling me. “Yes. But only one. And stay with Stella while I finish talking with Beck.
“Okay, Mama.” She skips away happily.
It’s not the moment I had pictured in my head. But at the very least, it goes smoothly. And I really can’t ask for more.
“You’re a mom,” Beck finally says as Charlie is reaching for a chocolate cupcake off the buffet table.
It’s not really a question, more of a statement. But I answer him anyway. “Yep.”
“She looks like you.”
“Yep,” I say, wobbly. Because she does. She has my red hair, but hers is a darker strawberry blonde rather than my dark auburn. And she has my upturned nose. But her eyes are his. And so is her dimpled chin.
“Charlotte huh? As in Dorthea Charlotte?” he asks, still looking at Charlie.
He’s putting it all together, I know he is. I fear I don’t have much time before he figures it out. Stella advised me to just get it out, rip off the Band-Aid. She said it would be better for him—for everyone—to get it over with. But after holding this secret in for so long, releasing it isn’t easy.
I nod, the tears building again and threatening to spill. “I didn’t think there would be anyone better to name her after.”
“Huh.” He scratches at the back of his head before resting his fidgeting hands on his waist where his black belt is clasped, causing his suit jacket to flare backward. “I didn’t even knowyou had a kid. I’m surprised Dottie, or Jack or Stella, never said anything.” He’s studying Charlie, possibly taking notice of her features. The ones that don’t match mine. Maybe he’s even doing the math. Counting the years I’ve been gone.
I don’t speak. I can’t. My voice, my words, have vanished.
Finally, he rips his focus away from Charlie and gazes at me. “How old is she?”
The tears escape from my eyes, racing down my cheeks, and I break. My body trembles and I cross my arms to try to stop it, attempting to hold myself together.
“Rosie.” He mutters my name quietly but sternly, and it rattles me. “How old is she?”
I shake my head and quietly sob, hugging myself. This is it. The moment of truth.
7
BECK
My skin heats. It starts at the back of my neck and seeps into my face. The tips of my ears burn.
