i can't want you (i'm taking you anyway)

part 26

Taylor's POV

I chatted with Kelsey for a while before we took Ronan home; all of us were a little tired. Even though she was tired from her sleepover, Ronan was buzzing, chattering like a monkey all the way home. Travis didn't hold my hand on the way back, for which I was a little glad. I needed to talk to our daughter about the change that was going to happen, that Travis and I were going to be a different kind of parents to her now than what she'd just gotten used to. But I knew it'd be okay. Ronan adored Travis; already called him Daddy.

"I'm going to talk to her." I murmured as Ronan ran inside ahead of us. 

"Want me to come?" Travis asked, and I nodded as he closed the door behind us. "Okay." He rested a hand on my lower back, rubbing gently. I smiled nervously; even though Ronan was barely two, this was still a little scary.

"Ronan, baby?" I called for her.

"Mommy play dolls?" She climbed up onto the couch, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"In a minute. Mommy and Daddy want to talk to you first." I glanced at Travis. We went to go sit on the couch, Ronan standing between us. She looked at me, lip trembling.

"I twouble?" She asked.

"No baby, no trouble." I shook my head. "I promise." Ronan smiled. "Okay, you remember how we moved here with Daddy?" She nodded. "And how I sleep with you in a different room than Daddy?" Ronan nodded again. "Do you know why?"

"Uh." Ronan wrinkled her nose. "Cos...." She thought very hard about it but didn't say anything.

"Because Mommy and Daddy are friends." I told her, trying to figure out the best way to make her understand. "You know friends?"

"Fwiends like Jazz!" Ronan exclaimed, grinning in excitement that she knew that. Jazz was Kelsey's daughter, the one Ronan had just had a sleepover with.

"Yes baby, friends like Jazz." I nodded. "Do you know what a boyfriend or a girlfriend is?" That was the simplest term to explain what Travis and I were to each other, but she was a toddler. I had to make this simple. Ronan shook her head. "It's what Mommy and Drew used to be." I hated mentioning him, especially in front of Travis, but he'd understand. 

"Like kiss!" Ronan pursed her lips and tapped them. 

"Yes, like that." I exchanged a look with Travis. "And now, Mommy and Daddy are not quite friends anymore."

"You and Daddy yell?" Ronan didn't look very pleased at the idea.

"No baby, not like that." I shook my head. "Daddy is..." God this sounded a little ridiculous for some reason. "Daddy is Mommy's boyfriend now." 

Ronan frowned. I waited for her to put the pieces together, knowing it'd take her a few seconds. She looked at me for a long moment, considering.

"Like kiss?" She asked. I nodded, and she looked at Travis. "Daddy are you...are you marry Mommy?"

"Not at the moment kiddo." Travis told her. "Maybe one day."

"So Mommy is going to stay with Daddy now." I stroked some hair off her forehead. "And you get your very own room." She'd had her own room at Drew's apartment too, but had only shifted there from our room a year ago and didn't sleep in there every single night. Often, she'd come to sleep with me. Drew hated having her in our bed so made me take her out sometimes, but sometimes he'd been asleep before she came in and she'd stay.

"My room?" Ronan lit up, delighted. "For all me?"

"Yes baby." I smiled as I nodded. 

"We can decorate it for you if you want." Travis told her. "We can paint it your favorite color and get you some things to make it pretty."