Incredible Beauty (So Many Reasons 2)

“Yeah, just trying to get my head around the cases I’ll be dealing with next week,” I apologized. As much as I hated lying to her, I knew this was one surprise she was going to love.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Emma

As I placed Mirabella back in her crib, the doorbell rang.

“Can you get it Em?” Simon called out. Rolling my eyes, I made my way to the front door, wondering who it was. Cass hadn’t called, neither had mom and dad. Swinging open the door, my mouth dropped open in shock, so much so that I didn’t even react to Simon threading his arms around my waist.

“Surprise,” he whispered in my ear. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Maria and my two sisters Layla and Natalie, were standing in front of me.

“Holy shit you guys are here?!” I screeched, hugging Maria first and then the girls. Mirabella began to wail in the background.

Shit.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get her,” Simon said, running his fingers over my back, “Invite them in,” he added, laughing.

“Oh, come inside,” I gushed, moving aside to let them in. My hands on my head, I struggled to figure out how this had happened without me knowing a thing.

“How long are you staying for?” I asked, leading them into the kitchen.

“A year? Maybe longer?” Maria laughed, hugging me again.

“What? How? I demanded.

“Phillip has a contract at the hospital where Mirabella was born, actually. We’re moving here. In fact, our new house is about a five minute drive from here, over on Lakeside.”

“Holy shit,” I mumbled. I clapped my hand over my mouth and blushed. “Sorry girls,” I said to my sisters who both laughed.

“Would you like to meet your granddaughter?” Simon walked into the kitchen nursing Mirabella. Maria gasped, rushing over to them.

“She’s beautiful,” she breathed. She turned to me, tears in her eyes, “she looks just like you did when you were born,” she added, holding my hand.

“You remember?” I whispered, wiping my own eyes.

“I could never forget, Emma. I remember holding you after your birth every single day. I could never forget that moment.”

“How do you two feel about helping me shop for a five year old?” Simon asked the girls. Layla laughed.

“Well I love shopping. Nat here would probably prefer to read a book or something boring like that,” she added. Natalie nudged her sister.

“Shut up, just because I don’t spend all my time shopping for slutty clothes,” she retorted. Simon widened his eyes at me as I giggled, knowing he was probably regretting his offer.

“Have fun,” I said sweetly, “hey why don’t you take Mirabella too?” I suggested, ignoring his deathly glare. The girls agreed excitedly and Simon, knowing he was locked into this finally nodded.

“So I was sixteen when I fell pregnant with you. I was very troubled back then. At fifteen, I was doing heroin, sleeping around, regularly running away from home. My life was a mess. When I found out I was pregnant I didn’t know what to do,” Maria paused, using the time to take a breath. “I eventually went back home. Mom was always going to be there for me and I knew that, so going home wasn’t a hard decision. Your…Garry, my brother, and Leslie had been trying for years to have a baby. They convinced me that you would be better off with them.

“So rather than help you they took me off you?” I said harshly.

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“They were right though, Em. I couldn’t even care for myself, let alone a child. Garry offered me money to have the baby and give you up to them.”

“So you took the money and spent it on what? Drugs?” I asked.

“I spent the money on drugs,” Maria admitted, weeping softly. I reached out and touched her hand. “I still remember the day I hit bottom. I had overdosed on a bad hit in an alleyway. As I was dying, I thought of you. Was this really how I wanted everything to end? Someone called in the paramedics and I decided that was my second chance. With the help of a refuge I booked myself into a rehab clinic and got myself clean. I waited two years after that overdose to contact Garry because I wanted to be sure I was clean before I re-entered your life.”

“So what did you do after mom and dad said no? Dad threatened to call the police?” I asked.