Ben (The Sherwood)

“Sometimes, Mommies and Daddies need to go away, and they leave us behind.”

“Do you have a Mommy and a Daddy?” Justin asked.

“I don’t,” she replied. “And that’s okay Justin. You will be okay too because like Asia, you are surrounded by so many people who love you.” I was right, she knew exactly what to say to him.

“I have my daddy.” Disa nodded. “He promised he wouldn’t leave me ever.”

“Yes sir,” she replied. “Your Daddy will never leave you.”

He laid he his head against my chest and I squeezed him. “Ben,” he said.

“Yes, Justin?”

“You love Asia like my daddy loves me.” It wasn’t a question. It was a command.

“I will Justin.”

Then I looked over his head and saw my mother standing there holding my plate. She had tears in her eyes. “You boys go watch your football game,” she told them.

They made a lot of noise, but they cleared the room. Danni and Walker took plates with them. “Thank you, Dan,” Mom said to her. “Walker,” she added as he stepped around her leaving the dining room too.

When the room was clear, Mom said, “I didn’t know Justin was feeling that way.”

“I was twenty-one when I know longer had my parents,” I knew Disa was choosing her words carefully because Justin was in the room with us. She didn’t want to give him too much information that might scare him. “It was hard on me. I can’t imagine how Justin feels.” She looked down on Asia. “Or how she will feel one day.”

Mom sat my plate down in front of me. Justin didn’t seem to want to move so since I was getting good at this, I ate around him. Rachel sat near us instead of her usual place and we talked.

“You aren’t upset about me dating Disa, are you?” I asked Mom. Dad sitting at the end of the table laughed at me. She gave him a dirty look

“Are you kidding me?” She declared. “She’s a sweetheart. I just wanted to be sure she was the real deal for you, so you didn’t hurt her. Upstairs, I told your father in no uncertain terms to butt out of your relationship this time.”

She gave him a look and Dad sighed throwing his hands in the air. I almost felt sorry for him.

Then, I glanced at the woman sitting beside me and I knew she was the real deal. I didn’t know what the future held for us but whatever it was I wanted to explore it with her. So far, she was willing to give it a try even though I had made a mess of things before, twice.

“She’s the real deal,” I replied.

Disa smiled at me.

Chapter 12

Asia wasn’t as small as I thought. I just didn’t know anything about newborns. She was average in size. Fiftieth percentile in height and weight. She got shots too which I didn’t like at all. They made my baby cry. The important thing was that Asia was healthy.

I called Mom on the way home to tell her how Asia’s appointment went. Again, she was hounding me about seeing a lawyer. She promised to text me her attorney’s number. Hers and Dads. The one who settled their divorce for them. The same one who settled Matt’s dissolution for him. Samson Hallows. The man that Jenny worked for too.

I swung by Matt’s farm. My brother worked hard at what he did and for what he owned. He and Layla had been together for a long time. He was worth a lot of money on paper. She could have asked for some of it, but she didn’t. She walked away with a dissolution taking only a suitcase of clothes with her, he had said. I wondered if he had removed the rest of her belongings from the house.

The rooms I could see were different. He had removed her picture from every room where she had once existed. The tiny things that reminded him of Layla were gone too. Things from high school. A gift that he had gotten her, or she had gotten him were packed away in a box. I didn’t know, but I could assume safely that her remaining clothes were gone now too. It was like Layla Hatfield had been wiped from our lives and only occasionally when Justin mentioned her was she even brought up.

I climbed out of the truck in the driveway. Matt stepped out of the barn where I knew acres of tobacco dried on sticks hanging in row after row. He had three barns like this one. He waved and motioned towards the house. I waved back acknowledging him.

I unlatched Asia’s seat and lifted her out of the car and headed towards the house. I went in the side door of the two- story farmhouse where my brother lived with his son. Justin was at pre-school right now. Matt thought it would be good for him to be with other kids since Layla had left them.

My brother stomped his feet and came in a few minutes after I did. He stopped by the carrier and peeked in at Asia. “How was the doctor’s appointment?” He asked.

“Shots, I don’t like shots,” I told him.

“Me neither.” He went to the sink and scrubbed his hands good then he returned to the carrier sitting on his kitchen table. He unbuckled Asia and lifted her out of her seat. “Come to Uncle Matt.” His voice was