Starting Now (Blossom Street #9)(29)

“It could be Ava,” Lydia offered, and immediately felt bad for wishing it was the other girl rather than her own daughter. Casey’s motherless friend was shy and vulnerable. Lydia had been pleased when Casey befriended her and brought her to the yarn shop. Ava and her older brother were left alone all day while their grandmother waited tables at a local cafe. And at the end of her shift she apparently didn’t feel any compulsion to hurry home. From what Ava said, her grandmother spent part of each night in a neighborhood tavern, leaving Ava and her brother to their own devices.

Brad squared his shoulders and said, “We need to talk to Casey.”

Lydia agreed.

“You can talk to me now.” Casey stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen. Her face was blank and her eyes were focused on the floor.

“Come sit with us,” Lydia said. She stood and wrapped her arm around her daughter.

Casey shrugged her off and moved to the chair at the far end of the table. She lowered her head and looked down, avoiding eye contact. “I know what this is about,” she said.

Brad and Lydia exchanged looks.

“You want to get rid of me, right? Send me back to foster care.”

Lydia gasped. “Casey, no, never.”

“What would make you even think such a thing?” Brad demanded angrily. “You’re our daughter. We brought you into our family and that’s for good.”

“Casey, don’t you know how much we love you?” Lydia asked, because clearly she didn’t.

Casey’s shoulders started to shake and tears fell from her eyes, splashing onto the tabletop. Irritated, she wiped them away as though the weakness embarrassed her. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore. I thought you wanted me to leave.”

Casey so rarely cried that when Lydia saw how upset her daughter was tears formed in her own eyes. She stood and wrapped her arms around Casey’s shoulders. Leaning down, she pressed her head next to Casey’s, hands on her shoulders, and together the two of them sobbed.

It wasn’t long before Brad joined them, wrapping his arms around the two of them. He left momentarily and returned with a box of tissues.

Lydia blew her nose and so did Casey.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Lydia sat back down and scooted her chair closer to Casey and then reached for her hand. “You need to know something important,” Lydia whispered. “Brad, Cody, and I asked you to be part of our family. We made this decision together because we realized that this is where you belong. You are our daughter and nothing could ever change that.”

“What … what if I did something terrible?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Lydia repeated. “No matter what it is, we’ll deal with it together as a family. You need to understand that while I might not have given birth to you physically, you are a part of me. A part of my heart.”

Casey sniffled again.

“Don’t even think that your mother and I would make you go back into foster care,” Brad said. “It’s not going to happen.”

“I might rebel when I get older. Lots of kids do.”

“We might not always agree, Casey, but whether you share our views or not you will always remain our daughter.”

“Always and forever,” Lydia reiterated. “We’re a family.”

Casey blinked as if the concept was beyond anything she had ever imagined. “You will always love me … no matter what I do?”

Lydia heard the skepticism in her daughter’s question. “Parents love their children. We might not always approve of the things you do, we might not like your friends, and cringe at some of the choices you make, but that doesn’t change our love.”

“You’ll love me no matter what?”

Brad looked to Lydia and then answered. “No matter what.”

Casey frowned as if she found that difficult to believe. “You love me as much as Cody?”

“Without question,” Lydia said.

Casey relaxed against the back of the chair. “Wow.”

They gave her a few moments to let their words soak in before continuing the conversation.

Brad broke the silence. “Can you tell us where you were going the other night when you tried to sneak out?” he asked.

Casey stared down at the table. “I’d rather not. It wasn’t bad, though, I promise.”

Lydia felt she had to trust her daughter.

“We need to ask you something,” Brad said. He, too, had nudged his chair closer to their daughter.

Casey’s hand tightened around Lydia’s.

“Okay,” she said, looking and sounding unsure. She wiped her index finger across her upper lip and sniffled.

Lydia handed her another tissue.

“Your mother talked to a friend today,” Brad said. “She was with you and Ava when you went to the hospital.”

“You mean Libby?” Casey asked, looking up for the first time.

“Yes. She knows the doctor you saw in the elevator.”

“Dr. Stone. He’s hot.”

Brad grinned.

Lydia was grateful Casey had lightened the mood, although they had yet to broach the subject of the pregnancy, if there even was a pregnancy. Perhaps it was wishful hoping on her part, but Lydia still found it difficult to believe that either Casey or her friend Ava could possibly be pregnant.