Page 12 of Single Dad at Mountain Creek Ranch
“Where are the girls?”
“They’re eating breakfast inside.”
“You let them see her.” I start for the door, but Willow steps in front to stop me.
“Nash, she’s their mother. Besides, they already saw her sitting on the front steps when we pulled in.
“She hasn’t been their mother in over a year.” I snarl, and sidestep Willow and jog to the door.
It took months for the three of us to recover from the destruction Rona left behind when she abandoned us. And now here she is again, ready to destroy all the progress we made.
I burst into the kitchen door, making all three of them jump in surprise. I stop abruptly at the sight of them sitting there, a once familiar sight, punching me in the gut. Willow runs into my back, but I barely feel her.
"Hi, Honey." Rona smiles up at me.
Sophie’s grin, so much like Rona’s, is spread wide across her face. Abbie’s expression is mirroring my own. A scowl. The wall that I spent months trying to get her to tear down is up again. My heart breaks for her. I take a deep breath through my nose, my nostrils flaring. I'm doing everything in my power to keep my composure.
"Mommy's home," Sophie tells me like I don't already see her.
“I see that, sweetheart.” I look over at Abbie. “Will you take your sister outside? You both can show Aunt Willow the new calf.”
Abbie nods once and pushes back from the table, her chair scraping against the hardwood floor. Sophie tries to resist, but Willow convinces her to go with them. Neither one of us speak until we can't hear their voices outside. I don't want them to hear us fighting, because I know it will turn into one.
“You didn’t have to send them away,” Rona finally says.
“Yes, I did. I didn’t want them to hear this.”
She rolls her eyes as if I'm the unreasonable person right now. “You weren’t home with the girls. Do you often pawn off the girls on your siblings so that you can stay out all night?”
I clench my fists at my side, anger building inside me. “Are you actually giving me parenting advice? This coming from the woman that abandoned her daughters for her drug addiction.”
She flinches at my words. I ready myself for her to lash out, but I actually can see her compose herself with a deep breath. That is definitely something new.
“I don’t want to fight, Nash.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want us to be a family again.”
I run my fingers through my hair. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“I’ve changed.”
"Last, I saw you. You were too preoccupied with getting your next fix than to be a wife and mother. I paid for the drug treatment program so that you could get better, and you stayed four days before checking yourself out."
“I’m sorry about that. I really am. And I will pay you back every penny.”
“It’s not about the money. I wanted you to be there for our girls, but you couldn’t. I can’t just let you walk back into our lives.”
Rona closes the distance between us and tries to kiss me, but I turn away from her. She can’t hide the hurt in her eyes, but I’m a different man than the one she left. He’s gone, and with him, he took my love for her. Rona is the mother of my children, but nothing more than that. I love Eden.
Sophie bursts in the door so fast she skids into the table, knocking Rona’s purse to the ground. Half the contents fall out, including a pearl necklace and a small gold frame that used to hold the wedding photo of my great-grandparents standing in front of this house.
Rona drops to the ground to try and grab it before I can see it, but I’m quicker. I open her purse and find a few other pieces of my mother’s jewelry and the bank envelope filled with cash that I withdrew yesterday.
Willow appears in the doorway, looking out of breath. She sees me holding Rona's purse and the jewelry. Her eyes narrow on Rona, but she has enough sense not to say anything. She knows I have this handled. She takes Sophie back outside again.
“It’s not what you think.”
