Page 17 of Coming Home for Fall 2
Mallory chuckled and the baby smiled in response, which melted her heart a bit. She brushed some of Dot’s soft, dark hair out of her face. “She really is a beautiful baby. I know people say that about every baby, but I actually mean it with her.”
Sasha nodded. “It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Even when she was just a day old, she looked cute. She didn’t ever have that stagewhere she was all pink and weird looking like most babies have when they are brand new.”
“They really do!” Mallory snorted. “You can never tell Ariel I said this, but when her first baby was born, I was in the hospital with her, and I had to pretend like I’d never seen anything more adorable, even though Hannah looked like a shriveled up old man.”
Sasha threw her head back and howled with laughter, causing Mallory to start laughing too.
“She grew into her looks though!” Mallory felt the need to add. “It just took a month or so. Oh god, I feel terrible for having said that out loud.”
“I promise, my lips are sealed.” Sasha made a motion to zip her mouth closed.
“Thank you.”
“What about your brother? Does he have any kids?”
Mallory shook her head. “No, not yet. I’m not sure if he and his wife want to have kids or not. They are both lawyers and they have such busy lives. It would probably be really difficult for them to balance everything if they were also raising a family. Then again, if anyone could manage it, it would be the two of them. They’ve always been so on top of things.”
“Right, I remember your mom saying something similar now that you mention it,” Sasha admitted. “She said Taylor went through a bit of a rebellious phase when he was younger, but ever since college, he’s been ‘the responsible one’.”
“Is that what she said?” Mallory raised a brow. “Hm. I guess I don’t disagree. Taylor fell in with the wrong crowd in high school, and there was a year that he fought with my dad nearly every night. He was smoking pot and drinking, and my parents were afraid he was going to throw his life away.”
“Instead, he started a law firm?”
Mallory laughed. “Ironic, huh? He ended up graduating high school with a great GPA, went to one of the best schools in the country for English literature, and then pivoted to studying law. Not that I would admit it to his face, because he can already be a little smug, but he’s probably the smartest person I know.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Which I guess makes him the responsible oneandthe smart one. Then you’ve got Ariel, who I think my parents would describe as the sweet one. Or the caretaker one. When we were growing up, she used to take care of me like I was her baby and not her sister.”
“Cute.” Sasha put a hand to her chest. “I don’t plan on having more kids, but if I did have another baby, I’d want to have another girl so Dot could have a sister. I always wanted a sister myself growing up.”
“It was nice having my siblings around,” Mallory said. “But it wasn’t always a walk in the park. Ariel and I fought a lot when we got older. And I know for a fact I drove my parents crazy. They probably should’ve stopped at two. It would’ve saved them a lot of trouble, because I’m sure they refer to me as the immature one. Or the reckless one. Or did my mom try to dress it up with nicer language?”
“I don’t remember her giving you any specific labels,” Sasha said, looking away awkwardly. “It was just Taylor who got one I think.”
“Mm. I’m not sure if I should be more or less insulted then.”
“Don’t be insulted at all!” Sasha gasped. “I didn’t mean to—”
Mallory put up her free hand, the other one busy keeping Dot secure. “I was joking. I know my mother would never say anything bad about any of her children, no matter how much itwould be warranted. I just feel bad sometimes because I know I’ve put my parents through a lot of ups and downs.”
“Most kids do.”
“Maybe. But not like I have.”
Sasha didn’t say anything for a moment. She seemed to be letting this sink in. Mallory shifted Dot around a little bit so she could rest her head facing the other way, and soon the baby was falling asleep again. “If Taylor and Erica are still on the fence about having kids, then I’m sure meeting Dot will really push them over the edge. She’s such a sweet little thing.”
“Thanks.” Sasha beamed. “I wish I could take credit for her calmness, but she was just born that way. I don’t think I had anything to do with it. Sometimes—you just get a good one, I suppose.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Yes, she’s calm, but I’m sure a big part of that is because she feels safe, and that’s all you, right? Even in situations where it would be really normal for a baby to freak out, she doesn’t, and I think that’s probably because she trusts you to protect her.”
Sasha’s eyes widened and before she looked away, Mallory could’ve sworn she saw them begin to water. “I’ve—” Sasha had to clear her throat. “I’ve never thought about it that way before. Do you really think that’s true?”
“Sure I do.” Mallory smiled. “But I’m not an expert and I don’t have kids of my own, so you should probably take what I say with a grain of salt.”
“Still—it’s good to hear that I’ve been doingsomethingright. Sometimes, when I think about the life that I brought Dot into, I wonder if keeping her was a mistake. Like maybe I should’ve given her up for adoption so she’d have had more opportunities.”
Mallory was quiet a moment. She knew whatever she said next, it had to be well thought out. Though Sasha wasn’t exactlyopening up to her about the things Mallory still wanted to know about, she was still being vulnerable, and Mallory knew this wasn’t any easy thing for Sasha to say out loud. “I don’t know if in these situations there’s a wrong choice or a right choice,” she said after a while. “You could’ve given her up for adoption and the family who took her in could’ve been really awful. Or maybe they started out being stable, but then someone loses their job and Dot ends up living in a shelter regardless…” She drew in a sharp inhale, not sure if she was explaining herself well.
