Arranged love

press conferance

Juliet's Pov

There is a knock on my bedroom door before Lilly comes skipping in "Willy told me to come get you. Grandma, Grandpa, and the other two that said they are my new grandma and grandpa all left" Of course his parents already introduced themself as her new grandparents. Not that a kid doesn't need a village to grow up in, but it's all happening so fast. I do enjoy the nickname she gave Will, he will hate it, so I love it.

She is right, it's just the three of us left in the apartment.

"Lilly. How about you go play in your new playroom? It looked like you can have a lot of fun in there" I tell her, and she nods before skipping down the hall to her playroom. She is always skipping or twirling around. Her bubbly personality makes me want to be more like her, more outgoing, but that's easier said than done. 

She closes the door to her playroom, which I wait for before I turn to Will. "Just so we are clear. She is my daughter, and I do not intend to consent to adoption. She is the apple of my eye, and I won't let a stranger interfere with her life. I hope you get to know her and get along, but you are not her parent" It's not like me to have outbursts, but sometimes they can't be avoided. When it comes to my daughter, I'm a real mamma bear. I've raised her on my own her whole life,  and I don't want that to change anytime soon. We are doing just fine on our own.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Juliet. Did I say that I wanted to adopt her? No. I don't know her, and I don't know you. I'm not going to be legally tied to a kid that her mother doesn't want me to. With I'm not going to be an ass to her either, I'm not heartless. I imagine already I will get along better with your six-year-old than with you" he groans back at me, and I huff. Already this man brings out sides of me that don't match with who I am regularly before this marriage. But at least we agree on something. My daughter is mine, and it's going to stay that way.

"Where is her father anyway? You said he wasn't on paper or whatever. But there is someone" he asks, and I get a ball in my stomach. Her bio dad has been a sore subject ever since she came into the world. I've made a point to never speak of him to anyone, so I'm certainly not going to start now with this stranger.

"That's none of your business. He isn't in our lives and is never going to be. He isn't her father; he might have gotten me pregnant but that doesn't make him her father. You are never to talk about him again, especially when she is around. She doesn't have a father and that's all you need to know" I state before walking off to find her. 

Getting a girl pregnant doesn't give you a right to be a father. A father is more than just genes because they are supposed to care for and support the child. The man that got me pregnant isn't worthy of the dad title, especially after how he was an ass to me regularly. Lilly doesn't know anything about the things he did or who he is. I've simply said that he isn't in our lives and will never be again. One time I let it slip that he was mean, that she is better off without him, but that's the only time I've let anything like that slip. I'm not in the habit of bashing her bio dad to her, there is no point. Anyway, she is too little to hear the stories about him, and I don't know if I will ever be in the right state of mind to tell her. How do I even tell my daughter about the things he did, I just can't.

"Mommy," she says when I walk into the room, and she is on the swing having fun. It's a nice playroom, our mothers did a good job. There is space for her to chill and watch TV or play. And there is space for physical activity on the climbing wall and swing. "It looks fun in here," I say and sit down on the floor in front of her. 

I'm a hands-on mom, and I've always been that so spending time with her makes me happy. Being a single parent I've had to put in the extra effort to support her in every way I can, to fill the void of a second parent.