My daughter had just shut her door in my face. All manner of terrible things went through my mind. Was it Jason?
Was their relationship not as I thought? Was my daughter afraid of her husband? God, how could I have missed such a thing?
Well… not anymore! I wasn’t leaving, but I knew knocking again would be fruitless. So, I moved away from her door and tucked myself around the corner of the hallway, out of sight.
Hours passed, and I couldn’t think of anything but what my daughter might be going through at the hands of her husband. Why hadn’t she said anything? She had been so afraid to even open the door.
Wait, was he inside, or was he out? Not knowing was torture. After what felt like an eternity, her door finally creaked open, and I shrank back into my little corner.
Anna stepped out, looking around nervously like before. I could see that her face was much paler. Her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying.
My stomach churned. She called the elevator, and once it closed, I rushed to her apartment. I didn’t know what I was planning, but lucky for me, my daughter had left her front door unlocked.
I slipped inside quickly. If Jason was there, I would give him a piece of my mind, and I took my phone out of my pocket, just in case I needed to call 911 urgently. But I took a look at Anna’s apartment and wrinkled my nose.
The place was a disaster. Clothes were scattered everywhere. Dishes were piled up in the sink and on almost every surface.
But some of those dishes and clothes gave me pause. They were small. I frowned, walking further inside, and suddenly, I stopped in my tracks.
There was a crib in the living room. I wanted to move, but my feet wouldn’t listen to me. My daughter had a baby and never told me about it!
I felt like dying. I blinked furiously as if this were some kind of dream. Before I could do anything else, I heard footsteps behind me.
I barely had time to turn before Anna walked back in. She froze by the door after seeing me, but after a moment, her shoulders sagged, resigned. “Mom…” she whispered thickly.
“Anna… you have a baby?” I managed to get out. If I spoke any louder, my emotions would pour out, and I would go into a full-blown scene. She looked down, and I could see the shame creeping over her.
She nodded slowly. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Tell me you’d become a mother, which is the single most important thing you can do with your life?” I asked, dangerously close to going into hysterics. Then, I glanced between her and the crib.
“Where’s Jason? Is he hurting you? The baby?
Is that why you were afraid?”
She let out a whoosh of breath and shook her head. “Hurting me? No, Mom.
You’ve got it all wrong,” Anna began, wiping her hair from her forehead and putting down some mail. That’s why she left and returned so suddenly. “He’s gone.
He left when I told him the baby wasn’t his. I was only afraid you’d found out about this.”
“What?” I asked, even more shocked, but my daughter jumped, and I lowered my voice. “Anna, I’m so confused.
Please, tell me what happened.”
Her mouth twisted, and I knew that was guilt and shame. “I made a terrible mistake, Mom. With my boss.
I thought he would give me more than what Jason and I had, and I ruined everything.”
Her boss. “Okay…”
“I asked him to leave his wife, and he said no and laughed in my face,” Anna revealed, hanging her head. “He fired me, too, and then, I found out I was pregnant.”
I kept quiet only because I wanted to hear the entire thing now.
But each word was more shocking than the next. “When I found out I was pregnant, I thought it could be Jason’s,” she continued and shrugged a little. “But once the baby was born, the difference was clear.”
She pointed towards the crib, and I finally got closer.
Yes, the baby was a completely different race than Jason. “He was so hurt,” Anna continued, starting to sniffle. “I begged him for forgiveness, but he wouldn’t budge.”
“Anna, you should’ve told me all of this as soon as it happened,” I said slowly.
“I know, but I thought I could handle it on my own. I didn’t want you to see this. You worked so hard, sacrificed so much so I could have a better life and look at me now.
I ended up in a mess even worse than anything you went through. I didn’t want you to feel like everything you did was for nothing.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I whispered, pulling her into a hug before she could back away. “Listen to me.
I didn’t work all those long hours, skip meals, and pour everything into raising you just to have you shut me out now. I did it because I love you. And I’d do it all over again, no matter where life takes you.”
She finally broke down, and her tears wet my sweater.
“I thought I could fix everything on my own, that I didn’t need to burden you. But it’s been so hard, Mom. Every day, I’ve been barely holding it together.”
“Well, Mama’s here now,” I assured her, smoothing back her hair.
“You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here for you. I’m here for both of you.”
“Her name is Stella,” Anna confessed between her cries.
My grandchild, Stella. After we separated, I told Anna I was staying with her for a while, and she was so thankful. I’m still here, two weeks later.
I didn’t think my daughter would ever be a single mother, but some blessings don’t seem so until hindsight. All babies are a gift. In any case, though, Anna had an advantage I didn’t.
She was the result of a one-night stand. Stella came from an affair, meaning a superior at a company abused his power and compromised my daughter. I was not going to let it slide.
I’ve already called a lawyer. I have some money saved and found her ex-boss’s wife’s Facebook. I guess we do have a lot of “man drama” now.
It’s just not “Gilmore Girls.”
