She nodded slowly. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Tell me you’d become a mother, which is the single most important thing you can do with your life?” I asked, dangerously close to going into hysterics. Then, I glanced between her and the crib.
“Where’s Jason? Is he hurting you? The baby?
Is that why you were afraid?”
She let out a whoosh of breath and shook her head. “Hurting me? No, Mom.
You’ve got it all wrong,” Anna began, wiping her hair from her forehead and putting down some mail. That’s why she left and returned so suddenly. “He’s gone.
He left when I told him the baby wasn’t his. I was only afraid you’d found out about this.”
“What?” I asked, even more shocked, but my daughter jumped, and I lowered my voice. “Anna, I’m so confused.
Please, tell me what happened.”
Her mouth twisted, and I knew that was guilt and shame. “I made a terrible mistake, Mom. With my boss.
I thought he would give me more than what Jason and I had, and I ruined everything.”
Her boss. “Okay…”
“I asked him to leave his wife, and he said no and laughed in my face,” Anna revealed, hanging her head. “He fired me, too, and then, I found out I was pregnant.”
I kept quiet only because I wanted to hear the entire thing now.
But each word was more shocking than the next. “When I found out I was pregnant, I thought it could be Jason’s,” she continued and shrugged a little. “But once the baby was born, the difference was clear.”
She pointed towards the crib, and I finally got closer.
Yes, the baby was a completely different race than Jason. “He was so hurt,” Anna continued, starting to sniffle. “I begged him for forgiveness, but he wouldn’t budge.”
“Anna, you should’ve told me all of this as soon as it happened,” I said slowly.
“I know, but I thought I could handle it on my own. I didn’t want you to see this. You worked so hard, sacrificed so much so I could have a better life and look at me now.
I ended up in a mess even worse than anything you went through. I didn’t want you to feel like everything you did was for nothing.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I whispered, pulling her into a hug before she could back away. “Listen to me.
I didn’t work all those long hours, skip meals, and pour everything into raising you just to have you shut me out now. I did it because I love you. And I’d do it all over again, no matter where life takes you.”
She finally broke down, and her tears wet my sweater.
“I thought I could fix everything on my own, that I didn’t need to burden you. But it’s been so hard, Mom. Every day, I’ve been barely holding it together.”
“Well, Mama’s here now,” I assured her, smoothing back her hair.
“You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here for you. I’m here for both of you.”
“Her name is Stella,” Anna confessed between her cries.
My grandchild, Stella. After we separated, I told Anna I was staying with her for a while, and she was so thankful. I’m still here, two weeks later.
I didn’t think my daughter would ever be a single mother, but some blessings don’t seem so until hindsight. All babies are a gift. In any case, though, Anna had an advantage I didn’t.
She was the result of a one-night stand. Stella came from an affair, meaning a superior at a company abused his power and compromised my daughter. I was not going to let it slide.
I’ve already called a lawyer. I have some money saved and found her ex-boss’s wife’s Facebook. I guess we do have a lot of “man drama” now.
It’s just not “Gilmore Girls.”
