|12| See, You Are My Mommy

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Brooke's POV

    Are you my mommy, Miss Brooke? Because I really wish you were my mommy.

    Her words repeated themselves over and over in my head. That is by far the cutest thing she's ever said to me.

    But how does one respond to something like that. I can't just straight up tell her that's not how the whole parent thing works. Or that kids don't have the option of picking and choosing their mommies.

    Hell, I don't even know who her mother is or what happened to her. For all I know, Cayden and Theo stole her from the hospital as a prank and was too afraid to return her.

    Note to self: look up Amber Alerts from four years ago.

    The only thing I know about Cayleigh's mother is that she isn't in the picture. And in all honesty, I know that really bothers Cayleigh.

    She's never actually said anything to me but I can just tell it makes her sad by the way she stares at the other kids when their mom, specifically, comes to pick them up. And let's not forget how her favorite book for the last few months has been 'Are You My Mother?'

    She's the only child at TAP that has a single parent raising her. All of her friends and classmates have both parents living in their household. She also has the youngest parent out of all the other children. Let's just say, the families in this neighborhood are as close to perfect as it could get.

    "Umm, look baby girl," I said while squatting down to be at eye level with her. I paused, trying to put my words together.

    "Cayleigh, daddy's here," Liv shouted from the entrance. I looked over at the front door while standing up. Low and behold, there was Cayden, strutting over to us like the Greek God that he was. As soon as our eyes met, he smirked at me, making half of me want to slap him and the other half kiss him.

    "Look what we have here," he said as he reached us. "It's my two favorite girls. Hey, Princess!" He leaned down and kissed Cayleigh on her forehead. "Hey, baby," he told me before leaning in and kissing me on my cheek.

    "SEE, YOU ARE MY MOMMY," Cayleigh screamed. I paused for a second, still in shock that Cayden just kissed me in front of a couple of my coworkers and a room full of little kids. Then I saw a smile appear on his face. How can he be smiling at a moment like this? He needed to wipe that smile off his damn face and help me the hell out here.

    I looked around the classroom to see if anyone was paying attention to the three of us. Thankfully, no one was watching us but Liv, of course. She gave me a thumbs up when she saw me looking at her. I shook my head and turned my attention to Cayleigh.

    "Cayleigh, why don't you go get your things while I talk to daddy for a second," I told her.

    "Okay, mommy," she responded then walked off to her cubby.

    As soon as she busied herself with grabbing all her things, I looked over at Cayden to see that he still had that stupid smile on his face. It was about time I wiped that thing off for him. "First off dude, don't do that," I whisper shouted at him.

    "Do what? Kiss you? You didn't mind me kissing you the other night," he challenged me with one of his eyebrows raised. He was just begging me to hit him.

    "You mean the other night when we weren't standing in the middle of my place of employment," I answered back.

    The smug look on his face disappeared and it began to soften, showing me the sweet, handsome guy that appeared outside my door last Friday night. He reached forward and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

    Up until this point, I never understood why girls liked it when guys tucked a strand of hair behind their ear. I personally don't mind my hair framing my face. But the moment his hand grazed the edge of my ear, I just wanted him to do it over and over again.

    "Is that the only reason why you don't want me kissing you right now?"

    I just stared at him with the best poker face I could come up with. I was trying not to show him how much my body was just yearning for our bodies to touch again or how my lips were just itching to be pressed against his.

    "Miss Brooke, come look at my picture frame," Nathan yelled from his seat at the art table, pulling me out of Cayden's trance.

    "Hold on, Nathan. I'll be right there after I finish talking to Cayleigh's dad," I told him.

    "Okay, but hurry up!" Don't mind him. He can be a demanding little thing sometimes. He's definitely one of those kids who keeps the staff at TAP on our toes.

    I turned my head back to Cayden and told him, "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

    "Okay," he said with a smirk once again. That seems to be his go to facial expression when he's about to say something that he knows I'm not going to like hearing. "So tell me, what's got my baby all worked up?"

    I knew it.

    I shook my head at him. "I need to talk to you about Cayleigh."

    The smirk from his face fell and a worried look appeared in its place. "Why? What's wrong with her? Did something happen to her? Did she do something wrong," he questioned while scanning the room for her.

    "No, no. It's none of that. And she's fine. It's just — hello — you heard what she just called me. She even asked me if I was her mother?"

    "Okay," he replied like it was no big deal and I was making something out of nothing. "So what'd you end up telling her?"

    "I didn't say anything. She sort of caught me off guard. Then you walked up to us when I was just about to say something."

    "You mean she just told you that. Like, just now?"

    "No kidding she told me that just now. I wouldn't keep something like that from you, dummy."

    "Aww, thanks baby." He bopped his finger on the tip of my nose. "Look at us, Parents of the Year. High five!" He lifted his hand up.

    I looked over at Mrs. Ryan to make sure she wasn't looking at me before lifting up my own hand. I pretended to give him a high five but instead landed the palm of my hand on his forehead. Hard. "Cayden, this isn't a joke."

    "Geez, baby, you don't have to be so violent."

    "Then can you be serious for a minute?"

    "Okay, okay," he said while wrapping his arms around my waist. I shoved him back then waved my hand around reminding him where we were. "Sorry, sorry." He lifted his hands up in surrender. "So what do you want to do?"

    "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

    "Would it bother you if she called you mom?"

    "I mean, no. But eventually she gonna find out how a person really becomes a child's mom. Then we're gonna have to explain to her how I'm not the person who gave birth to her and she's gonna want to know who her real mom is and where she's at and all these other things about her."

    "I would have had to explain all of those things to her eventually, anyways."

    "Okay, and what about me? I don't know anything about her mom either."

    "I'll tell you anything you wanna know," he shrugged.

    "What about when I go back home after graduation," I asked him. I was starting to speed up my talking. It was something that I always did when I was put in stressful situations. "That's in less than two years. She's only gonna be six. How are we gonna explain to her why I have to leave and live a whole five hour plane ride away? What are we gonna do then? Huh? Let her visit me during breaks?"

    "Babe, calm down. Any second now, your head is gonna explode."

    "I am NOT going to calm down. This is important shit," I said a little louder than necessary.

    Okay, I guess I do need to calm down, considering I just swore at work.

    Luckily, I don't think anyone heard me. I took in a deep breath and exhaled, trying to keep myself under control. "Cayden, if you're really serious about me filling in the mother role for her, I'm going to be an actual mother. That includes being able to spend time with her outside of here. After graduation, we spilt having her during breaks, holidays, birthdays. EVERYTHING. No matter where I move to. We are both gonna make the decisions when it comes to her. I also want physical rights to her. Legally. Meaning I'm gonna adopt her. Are those things you're okay with? Like, really okay with? Because I'm not just gonna be her pretend mom, Cayden. I'm gonna be her 100 percent real and legal mom. The last thing I wanna do is hurt that little girl and if we do this any other way, she's gonna end up getting hurt."

    Cayden took hold of my hands and interlocked our fingers and looked me in the eyes. "Yes, Brooke. I'm okay with that. Fuck, I'll even pay all the fees for you to legally adopt her. That's how okay I am with all of this. You see, I don't want you to be her pretend mother either, baby. I know how much the two of you mean to each other and how happy you guys make each other. I also know how much the two of you love each other. No other person in this world has the type of connection with her that you do. Not even me. I believe in faith and I honestly think you guys were made to be mother and daughter. Even if you didn't help me bring her into this world."

    I scoffed at him, still not believing he was okay with all of this. "Oh my gosh! Are we seriously entertaining this ridiculous idea right now? How are you even okay with all of this? Why are you okay with all of this?"

    He shook his head at me with a smile on his face. "Brooke, you're everything a guy would want the mother of his child to be. You're everything I want the mother of my child to be. That's why I'm entertaining this idea. Because you're it for me, Brooke. Never in my life have I ever wanted a girlfriend. But the second I meet you, I all of a sudden get all possessive over you. I never cared about a female besides my mom and Cay. But here you are, always on my damn mind. Do you know how much times a day I have to talk myself out of texting you. Too fucking much to count. And I'm okay with all of this because one of these days, you're going to realize that I belong to you just as much as you belong to me. And you do belong to me, baby," he smirked at me. "When that day comes, it's gonna be one of the happiest days of my life. That's why I'm not worried about where you go after graduation. Because I know it'll be wherever Cay and I are. So, by all means, keep fighting this attraction that we have between us. It's only gonna make me that much more happier when the day comes."

    I smiled at him while shaking my head. "You know, you're something else Cayden Jourdan. If the whole pro football thing doesn't work out for you, you should definitely consider becoming a motivational speaker."

    "I'm only good at making speeches on something that I'm passionate about. And trust me baby, I'm fucking passionate when it comes to you. Now," he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear again. "As much as I'd love to stand here and continue telling you reasons on why you belong with Cay and I, I have to run to the store for my mom before I go to her house and help her make dinner. But if you wanna continue having this conversation later on tonight, I'd be more than happy to call you when you get off of work. And while we're on the subject of dinner, Cay and I are taking you to dinner Thursday night after I finish practice. And we're taking you to the airport on Friday for your flight back home, too. So don't even think about looking for a ride. If you already have one, cancel it."

    Just as I was about to open my mouth to respond, he put his index finger over it. "I'm not taking no for an answer, so I'm just gonna head out before you get the opportunity to." He leaned in and pecked me on the lips, causing a million butterflies to fly around in my stomach. "Bye, baby," he said then walked towards the door.

    "Cayden," I subtly yelled after him.

    I swear to God, he's unbelievable.

    Cayleigh ran up to me and wrapped herself around my legs. "Bye, mommy. See you tomorrow," she said looking up at me with her huge, beautiful eyes.

    I kneeled down on the floor so I could be face to face with her and grabbed ahold of her hands. "How about when we're at school, you call me Miss Brooke. Okay?" She frowned, showing me that she wasn't very happy with my request. "But, when we're not at school, you can call me mommy. What do you say?"

    Her frown disappeared from her face and a beautiful, teeth showing smile appeared instead. "Okay! Deal," she squealed.

    I grabbed her by the hand and walked her to the door where Cayden was standing. When we got to him, he reached for my face and slid the back of his fingers up and down my left cheek. Once again, I felt little tingles where his skin made contact with mine. "Bye, baby," he told me while grabbing Cayleigh's other hand that I wasn't holding.

    "Bye," I said while he dropped his hand from my face then turned and walked away.

    I watched them through the door as they walked away from me. When they were about a good 15 feet in front of me, Cayden turned around and looked back at me, as if he already knew I was standing there, staring at them. "And for the record," he shouted in my direction, "I'm more than okay with you taking her out. It would be a great help to my parents and I. And I'm sure Cay would be more than happy to spend some one on one time with you."

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net