Page 76 of Claiming What's Mine

That wasn't exactly true, but a little fib about bugs wouldn't hurt. The truth was that I had caught most of those bugs, and the few he had caught I decided to hold onto for myself. I did a little jar switch, giving her mine and saying it was from him.

Jayden was so proud of the ones he caught and wanted to share them with my daughter, I just wanted to put him on a pedestal for her.

It gave me butterflies to know he was thinking about my daughter. I loved that it wasn't just me that was on his mind, but Bliss was there too.

Her face was frozen on the glass jar, watching the tiny bugs. I stood smiling as little green explosions jumped across Bliss's skin, and the grin on her face just kept getting bigger and bigger as she pressed her nose against it.

“Alright, time for bed.” Flipping her light off, I stood in her doorway. “I don't want you up too long watching those, and don't open the jar.”

“Wait. . . I can keep these? You're not making me let them go?”

“Nah, not these. These were caught for you.”

Tapping the door frame, I went back to my room. Changing into yoga pants and a soft pink t-shirt, I climbed under my blankets. Laying awake, I was staring at the ceiling when I heard small feet coming down the hall.

Watching my door, I could see her shadow as it stretched down the hall. Bliss poked her head in and asked, “Hey, Mom?”

“Yeah, Honey?”

“I just want you to know, I like Jayden too.”

“You do? But you don't even know him.”

“Yeah, I know, but I don't feel like I need to. I can tell already, I like him.”

“Is this what you got out of bed to tell me?”

Glancing at the floor, she watched her feet. “No.”

“Then what?”

“I opened it.” Bringing out the empty glass jar from behind her back, Bliss looked at me with panic in her eyes. “They escaped.”

Shaking my head, I looked behind Bliss to see a firefly blink and disappear, blink and disappear as it flew in the dimly lit hall.

Following my eyes, she lifted her shoulders to her ears and held her hands out. “What did you expect? I'm a kid.”

I couldn't be mad at her, she was so much like her father, and I loved when that piece of her came through.

Bliss had only asked me once about her father, but I saw him in that girl every day of her life since birth.

And now, now I had another choice to make.

I just wasn't sure I was ready for it.

* * * *

Knock Knock Knock

Twisting the ring on my finger around and around, I waited for someone to answer the door. I wasn't sure if anyone was even there, but when I woke up that morning, I knew I couldn't hold this in anymore.

Knock Knock Knock

The door creaked open and a tired set of eyes peeked out at me. “Can I help you?” the girl's voice asked.

“Uh, hi, yeah, I'm Betty-Sue. Is your brother around?”

“Which one?”

---