The Best Deceptions

Butterflies flew rampant in my stomach, like roman soldiers mid-battle. I thought I was going to puke in the hedges as we waited at the door. My hand was wrapped tightly around Sarah’s.

Lauren opened the door, she wasn’t like I had expected. Her blonde hair was swept into a loose bun at the back of her neck. She wore a yellow shirt with a peace sign on it, and a pair of denim shorts. I smiled when a little girl poked her head out of the doorway.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Sarah. Ada pushed Lauren out of the way and quickly grabbed hold of Sarah. Her tiny arms wrapped around Sarah’s neck and she buried her face in her hair. I smiled, she looks a lot like Sarah, but there’s no denying that she’s mine. This girl is going too be a little heartbreaker, she’s absolutely beautiful.

Ada looked up, her green eyes locking on mine.

“Who’s that?” Ada asked, Sarah put her down on the porch then straightened out her dress.

“You remember when I called and I told you about my friend?” Sarah said, she spoke calmly as she usually does.

Ada nodded, “The one who talked to me about dogs?”

“Yeah, well, this is him.” Sarah looked up at me, I smiled.

“Hello, Ada.” I said nervously.

Ada’s face lit up and she smiled widely, “Hi!”

“How is Max?” I asked, remembering she told me about her German Shepherd.

“He’s great! Wanna meet him?” She asked eagerly.

“Sure!” I said, she took my hand and led me into the house.

-----

The sun had set long ago, we retreated into the living room. I sat beside Sarah watching Ada play in the floor. It felt strange for things to just fall into place like this.

“Come here, “ Sarah said, holding her arms open. Ada left her toys in the floor and climbed into Sarah’s lap. Ada rested her head on Sarah’s chest and played with the buttons on her shirt.

“I need to explain something to you, are you gonna listen?”

Ada nodded.

“Well, Ville isn’t just a friend. He’s your dad and that’s the reason I left for a while.” She said then kissed the top of Ada’s head.

“So he’s my daddy?” Ada asked, apparently confused. I remained silent, not exactly knowing what to say or what not to say.

“Yes and we’re going to move in with him.” She said, her maternal instincts were astounding. Ada looked up at her, with all that her first grade mind could understand she would never fail to surprise me.

“Okay.” She said simple and sweet. I wasn't sure if that meant she was perfect fine with it or she was pretending. I hoped it was the first.

“We’re leaving tomorrow so go get some sleep.” Sarah said, Ada hugged her then climbed down from her lap. She came over too me and wrapped her tiny arms around my neck. She hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back. She kissed my cheek then ran upstairs.

Sarah scooted close too me. I put my arm around her shoulder.

“I’m not exactly sure why that was so easy.” Sarah said, laughing gently.

Quite frankly, I’m not sure why any of this has been easy. After years of failure at relationships I was exhausted, my heart couldn’t take much more. And then the easiest relationship I’ve ever been in was revived in a week, and found to be as strong as it ever was. It just worked and I’m happy it did. I don’t know if I had it in me to reject her or fight to get her back. I was just running on empty.

“So you think she’s going to like me? And she’s not going to freak out once we get there?” I asked as I played with a strand of her hair.

“I don’t think so. She’s a sweet little girl.”

“Good, I don’t want her too not like me.”

She kissed the back of my hand, then my cheek, “You’re impossible not to like.”

I put my hands on either side of her face, “That’s because you’re a woman. I have been known to be a modern day Dionysus.”

She smiled and kissed my lips, “Yeah right.”