The next morning I woke up earlier than normal
and couldn’t sit still. I cleaned the whole house
before Brayden was even up, and when he finally
got up I was happy to busy myself in making his
breakfast. Brayden sat at the kitchen table and
watched in amusement as I ran around the kitchen
cooking him any and everything he could possibly
ask for. Brayden giggled and I finally stopped and
turned to look at him. “What?”I asked exasperated.
“What are you doing?”Brayden giggled. “I’m
cooking you breakfast silly boy.”I said as I flipped
the pancakes over. “Momma I just wanted some
cereal.”Brayden giggled as I continued to cook. “Oh
you can eat a hot meal every once in a while.”I said
dismissing his comment as I continued to cook. I
set a plate down in front of Brayden with two eggs,
hash browns, toast, a couple pieces of sausage,
some bacon, and some pancakes on it. Brayden
just looked up at me with wide eyes “Am I
supposed to eat ALL that?”Brayden asked as I
finally realized how much food I just gave him.
“No.”I laughed as there was a knock on the door. I
ran to get the door and was relieved to see Justin
standing there but also felt the tension rise to my
shoulders at the thought of what I had to do. “You
want some breakfast? I kinda went a little
overboard this morning.”I said as we walked into
the kitchen. “I’d say you did.”Justin laughed as he
looked at the mound of food on Brayden’s plate
and then looked at the all the food that was still on
the stove. “Sure.”He laughed as he sat down across
from Brayden. I gave Justin a plate that was just as
big as Brayden’s and I sat down between them and
watched them eat. “Momma I’m full.”Brayden said
even though it looked like his food hadn’t even
been touched. I laughed as I took his plate away
and sat back down as Brayden went to get up and
go into the other room. “Brayden will you wait a
second Mommy and Justin want to talk to you.”I
said as I grabbed his arm. “K.”Brayden said looking
up at me with his big baby blue eyes. I smiled as I
pulled him onto my lap. “Okay Brayden do you
remember how you asked me who your daddy was
and I told you not to worry about it because he
wasn’t around?”I asked trying to make this as easy
as possible on Brayden. “Yeah, I wondered who it
was after Jamie, who used to live next door to us,
had a mommy and a daddy, but then I got to
thinking about it and I thought it didn’t matter who
my dad was because I have the bestest mommy in
the world.’’ Brayden said reasoning with himself in
his head. Tears welled up in my eyes as I heard his
explanation and I smiled at him as I pulled him
closer and gave him a kiss. “Thanks baby.”I said
“But what if you did have a daddy?”I asked. “Well I
guess that’d be okay, but he’d have to be pretty
awesome to be as cool as you.”Brayden exclaimed
as Justin and I laughed. “Would you like to meet
you daddy?”I asked as Brayden looked up
confused. “I guess. Where’s he at?”Brayden asked.
I smiled “What if I told you that your daddy was
Justin.”I said as I pointed to Justin. Brayden looked
at Justin then looked at me confused then back to
Justin. “Justin?”Brayden asked. “Mmhmm.”I smiled
down at him. “But I thought you said that you didn’t
know how to get ahold of him when I told you that I
wanted to meet Nsync.”Brayden accused giving me
an agitated look. I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Honey its complicated Momma knew Justin a long
time ago, but I left him before you were born, and
when we moved down here it was true I didn’t know
how to get ahold of him. I never dreamt in a million
years that he would live next door to us, but since
he does I thought that everyone should know that
he’s your dad.”I said trying to make Brayden
understand. I looked at Justin who had been
surprisingly silent this whole time and he said
“Brayden look here, I know you love your momma
and I can see why, but most kids have a mom and
a dad and I think you’ll really like having both if
you give me a chance.”Justin said.
“Whatever.”Brayden shrugged as Justin and I
exchanged a glance and just kinda laughed. “Can I
go watch TV now?”Brayden asked looking up at me.
I laughed “Yeah. Have fun.”I said as I kissed him
and watched him run into the other room. “Well that
was easy.”Justin said. “He’s four Justin, everything’s
easy with him.”I said as I started to clean up the
kitchen. “I guess.”Justin said. “Why don’t you stick
around today and spend some time with him?”I
suggested as I started doing the dishes. “Uh Yeah…
Actually my mom’s in town so I was wondering if it
was okay if I maybe took him out so my mom could
meet him?”Justin asked almost sheepishly. “Oh
your mom’s here.” I said “Uh…yeah he should get
to know his Grandmother.”I said as I gave Justin a
weak smile. “I won’t have him out to late I’ll bring
him back right after dinner if that’s okay.” Justin
said. “Sure. Brayden come here for a minute.”I
yelled into the other room as I dried my hands on
the dish towel. “What Momma?”Brayden asked
grinning at me. “Do you want to go out with daddy
today and meet your other Grandma?”I asked
kneeling down to meet him at eye level. “Are you
coming to?”Brayden asked hopeful. “No baby,
momma has some stuff she has to do. You and
daddy will have fun though.”I said running my hand
through his hair. “But, I want you to come.”Brayden
whined. “Baby I can’t you’ll have fun I promise.”I
soothed “Now run upstairs and find your shoes and
come back down.”I said as Brayden nodded and ran
up the stairs. “Justin he’s a good kid he’ll listen to
anything you say, but if he’s kinda distance don’t
take it personally. He’s never spent any significant
amount of time away from me, and if he was then
he was with my mom.”I sighed. “I know you’re
worried about this, but I’m not going
anywhere.”Justin said getting up. “Fine, but don’t
tell me that, convince him of that.”I said turning
away from his as Brayden came back into the room.
“You ready?”Justin asked walking to him. “I
guess.”Brayden said running over to me and
hugging me. I smiled as I picked him up and
hugged him back. “I love you, be good today
okay?” I asked pulling back a little to look at him.
Brayden nodded as he kissed me and said “I love
you too.” I smiled as I set him back on the floor
and watched as he and Justin walked out of the
house together.