Anything For Rachel

Chapter Seventeen.

"Yeah." She said softly. "I've been very busy." She said like she was an adult who has just finished working a 40 hour week and did the laundry too.

"I have heard that." I told her. "Are you still having a lot of fun?"

"Yeah." She said. "Papa Pedro bought me a lot of new toys." She said, her energy coming back a little. "I got a pretty fairy Barbie that can fly!"

"Wow!" I said. "That's so cool, I can't wait to see it."

"I miss you, momma."

"I miss you, angel." I sighed. "So much, and I love you up to the sky the moon the sun and the stars."

"Love you to the sky, moon, sun, and stars." She repeated. "I've got to go to sleep now."

"Alright, honey, sweet dreams."

"Bye, Momma."

The line went dead and I handed the phone over to Calvin, some of the buzz of my perfect night deflating in me.

"She sounds smart." Calvin whispered, pulling me back to the present. "Like her mom."

I smiled at his compliment, but then I leaned into his chest, letting him hold me closer. "I miss her so much it hurts." I told him. "Even knowing she's having fun, it is still hard to not be near her."

"I know what you mean." Calvin whispered and I gazed up at him as he sighed. "What's she like, Rachel?"

I sat up and held his face in my hands. "She is very bright, and tough as nails, and funny, my god, that kid is funny. She has such a big heart, and I sometimes look at her and have to ask myself what on earth I could have done in my life to have deserved such a perfect little girl. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but at the same time she can be a little sensitive. Sometimes she is shy, but after she warms up she opens up more."

"What does she like to do?" He asked, the genuine curiosity about her warming my heart.

I shook my head smiling. "Everything." I sighed. "She is always excited to do anything. She loves school, reading, playing with dolls, she loves swinging at the park, and movies. She has a very extensive collection of movies."

Calvin smiled, pulling one of my hands into his and rubbing the top of it with his fingers. "How does she eat?"

"Hates Brussel sprouts." I said, making a face.

Calvin chuckled lightly. "Are you sure she hates them, and not just you?" He quipped and I smacked his arm lightly.

"You hush." I scolded him. "She doesn't like them, but literally anything else she is good with. She loves to snack on humus and veggie chips, but she also loves pizza. She is a pretty well rounded eater, always has been."

Calvin grabbed my hand back, putting it back on the side of his face and leaning into it. "What's her favorite color?"

"That would depend on when you ask her." I told him. "She goes back and forth between yellow, purple, and pink."

Calvin widened his eyes and brought a hand up to his chest and faked shock and horror. "Not pink!" He exclaimed. "Does she not know how much her mother detests the color?" He laughed, teasing me about the first time we talked and I had a crying fit about my pink room. His smile faded after a moment and he looked at me more seriously. "I'm so proud of you, Rachel."

"Thank you." I nodded.

"I mean it, you've done such an amazing job with her, and I hope to meet her one day." He sighed.

"I want that." I told him and he looked at me carefully, like he wasn't sure if I did or not. "I want you to know her, and her to know you." I said honestly. "When she is old enough to understand I want her to know the full truth. I want her to know that you are her father." Calvin ducked his face slightly so that I couldn't see him well, but I repositioned in his lap and leaned down to look into his guarded eyes that were trying to hold back tears. "She'll love you." I whispered to him. "Just like I do."