Disclaimer: Ok, I do not own the characters, only the story. The events are fictitious and out of my own mind. They do not necessarily represent anything that happens on the show.
A/N: Yes, I have updated.
Jessica and I would like to thank the following people for reviews:
jelly-belly-babe- I'm Glad you like it, I wasn't so sure if it was going to be in character. This one is very much made up.
meggie-moo-has-fun- Well, I wrote Bom's letter next, but I'm leaving it til last. But it is half written.
Southern Son- hands her tissue I have written more, but I'm not sure its classified as 'soon'
Jessica and I liked them, it helped with our differences, and we hope that you guys will write more for this chapter. We have 6 chapters left to write, not including the half-written chapter of Bom's letter (its probably longer than any of the other chaps I've written, but I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll all enjoy it.) On that note, ON WITH THE STORY!!!
Chapter Three-Stevie
My dearest friend Stevie,
It had been so long since I last saw you that I was not sure whether or not I was dreaming when you arrived here yesterday, but as you are aware, I was not. It has been too long my friend. I hope that you stick around here and we can catch up on old times at the rodeo, because they were wonderful times.
This brings something else to mind. There is something I need you to do. You need to tell Alex about his daughter. Yes, I remember about Rosie. Alex may not immediately embrace the fact he has a daughter, but he deserves to know and will be overjoyed by the fact if you give him time.
And you need to tell Rosie about who you really are. She needs to know, because how would you feel if someone told you when you were 12 that you're mother wasn't you mum, you're aunt was? Bad, I know, but not as bad as if you found out when you were older and needed to get a licence or passport. She has a right to know. Don't be discouraged if she doesn't jump into your arms and start calling you "Mum" straight away. It's going to be a lot for her to process. And she's been someone else's little girl too for a long time. Remember that, and give her time to adjust.
I know you've been worried about how you can support her and so she went to live with Michelle. But please so check out my accounts. There is a trust for Bom of course, but if you look further you will see that there is also a small trust for Rosie, just a little bit of savings I started when I first found out about her. I haven't looked at it recently, but it is a basis for you to start on.
I am sorry that this is not as long as the other letters (but hopefully I'll get to write you a new one before you receive this to make up for how short this is), but Bom is being a bit of a nuisance tonight, she refuses to sleep and Alex is busy. He's wonderful at getting her to sleep. I don't know how you managed all on your own with Rose for the year that you did. I always admired you for it, but now I have more reasons to because of what I know about raising a child.
You are, and will always remain my best female friend. I hope you're life brings you more love and stability in the years to come. I also hope that you and Rosie will once more be able be the family you were so long ago.
Take care,
Claire.
Stevie walked back to the house, in her hand a photograph and her letter from Claire. The photo depicted a small girl sitting on a horse, smiling at the camera. She walked into the kitchen, clutching the photo to her. she had been crying, her cheeks stained and her eyes red.
"What insight did my wonderful sister have for you?" Tess was concerned, but had still not gotten over all of the hostilities. She noticed the photo that had been shown to her not that long ago. "She knew about Rose?" Tess guessed.
Stevie nodded, and then noticed the confused looking bunch sitting at the kitchen table. "My daughter." she informed them.
The looks changed from confused to surprised then back to confused again.
"Your daughter?" Jodi queeried.
"Yeah, my daughter. She's twelve. Lives with my sister Michelle. That's why she was so worried."
"You must have been very young." Meg was worried about how she would have coped and what could have led a girl to give up her daughter to her sister.
"Yeah, fifteen."
A silence surrounded the room at this revelation.
Alex found Stevie upstairs. She had gone up to check on Charlotte. Stevie had had more of an involvement with Charlotte since she had told Tess about Rosie. Tess had felt sorry that Stevie hadn't been involved in her daughter's raising, so she had offered to let Stevie be more involved in that of her niece.
Alex startled Stevie by speaking. "You were fifteen when you had her." She nodded. "Makes you fourteen when you were pregnant." when Stevie nodded again, Alex continued. "Which was while you were on the Rodeo circuit." When Stevie had nodded for the third time, he shocked her with a simple sentence. "Is she mine?"
Stevie was shocked to say the least. but she was glad that he had figured it out and she didn't have to come up with some way to tell him. "Yes, she's your daughter."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Alex was surprisingly calm for a man who had just found out that his one-time girlfriend had given birth to his daughter twelve years ago and never told him.
"What was I going to say. 'Hi Alex, long time no see. I forgot to tell you but you have a daughter.'" was stevie's sarcastic response. "Because I'm sure that it would have gone down well with you and everyone here."
"Were you ever going to tell me?"
"When I first came back and saw you again, I was going to tell you, but then I saw how in-love you and Claire were and I wasn't going to be the one to reck the happiness of my best friend. So I put it off. And it seems that was in vain. She knew all along."
"What do you mean she knew all along?" Stevie showed him the letter.
He read the bit where his name was. "How could she keep something like that from me?" Now Alex was upset.
"She probably wanted me to tell you myself. wouldn't you have preferred it that way?"
The impending argument was broken by Tess walking into the room to see what all the fuss was about. "What's going on?"
Stevie opened her mouth to answer, but Alex shook his head. He wanted to get it through his head that he was a biological father first, then tell everyone else.
"We're just discussing something that Claire said in her letter. Don't worry, we're finished." Stevie smiled a some-what fake smile. "Why don't we go downstairs and read the next letter?"
With that, they turned off the light, and left baby Bom in the nursery, not unlike the way that Stevie had left her daughter eleven years ago.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Please tell me what you thought about it. Jessica and I will be able to use your comment in our relationship counselling session.
