Charlotte

22 // beautiful inside and out.

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22 // beautiful inside and out.

There was no way that man was Wrens father, because he was mine.

The man looked at Wren for a brief second as he walked out of the house. Then, his sight turned to me. I could feel my breath catch as both of our muddy brown eyes landed on each other. He took in my appearance and then looked down at my growing stomach. He gave me a look; the same look everyone gave me once they saw that I was pregnant, that quiet 'congratulations'. There wasn't anything more after that, not even a look of recognition.

The sound of another man at the door caused all three of our heads to whip towards that direction.

"Alright now John, take it easy mate," the man at the door waved to the man beside me. With his hand on the bill of his blue baseball cap, John turned around one final time to give a small nod before descending the wooden stairs of the porch and walking away. Not a single word was uttered out of his mouth.

I blanked out for a second, feeling confused and overwhelmed at what I had just saw. That man looked like an older version of the man in the photo I kept on my dresser. They even had the same name but why would he be here? Why didn't he say anything to me? Then I thought about it. The last time he saw me was when I was three. There's no way that he would be able to still recognize me.

I slowly turned my head back to the man at the door who I was sure was Wrens father. They had the same brown hair and hazel eyes. However, his brown hair was greying at the sides and his eyes were wrinkled at the corners from age as he looked up at his son. 

"Warren," his dad greeted, his voice was deep and laced with a British accent. Wren stumbled as his dad pulled him into a surprise hug. "It's like you don't even care about your old man anymore."

"That's not true," Wren replied. His voice was muffled due to his face being hidden in the shoulder of his dads white V-neck sweater. When he was finally able to maneuver himself out of his dads hold, he took a deep breath in and out.

Wrens father chuckled at his sons struggle. It seemed that being suffocated into his dads shoulder was something Wren was used to. After sobering up, he asked, "Now where's that daughter in law of mine?" He swiftly moved Wren out of the way and opened his arms just to slowly put them down once he realized that I wasn't Shawna.

"Oh, hi," I said awkwardly. I raised my hand and gave him a small wave. He looked confused.

"Dad, Shawna didn't come with us," Wren began to explain. He placed a hand on his fathers shoulder. Using his other hand, he motioned to me. "This is Lesra. She's our surrogate."

"Right," his father said with a low chuckle. Realization had hit him and suddenly I was no longer some random stranger to him. 

I held out my hand for him to shake. It seemed weird going in for a hug since we'd just met.

He looked down at my extended hand before squeezing it and shaking. "It is nice to meet to meet you."

"You too," I replied.

"Ahh," a light womanly voice said from behind Wren and his father. "It is nice to finally place a face to a name!"

Wren stepped aside just as a short beautiful woman came closer. In her hands was a dishrag that she was using to wipe her hands dry. I would assume that she was in her early fifties since her son was thirty, but she didn't look a day past forty. Her hair, a copper brown color was let loose in soft waves that stopped at her collarbone. Her round face held large brown and thin pink lips.