Mistakes

Chapter 14

Mike had figured it would be a rough night for Hannah, but once she settled, she never moved a muscle. As far as Mike could tell, the sleep was deep and refreshing. She did let him leave the door open, which surprised Mike. He only wished that he slept as well as she did, but it was what it was. He was fixing pancakes when she came downstairs that morning, a little after nine.

"You were sleeping good when I looked in." Mike remarked.

"Yeah." Hannah answered. She had sat down at the kitchen island and was fidgeting with her hand.

"I'll have breakfast in just a few minutes. Happy Birthday!" Mike said. Hannah just gave him an odd look.

"Its my birthday? How old am I?" Hannah asked. Mike concentrated back on the pancakes in an effort to rein in his emotions.

"Yeah. You're fourteen today, honey." Mike said.

"Oh." Hannah said.

"So, I did have something else I needed to talk to you about. Maddie and I…we're friends now, but about a year ago we kind of dated. Things ended kind of roughly, but she was pregnant with my baby. Molly's my daughter, honey." Mike said, knowing he wasn't being quite so eloquent in explaining it.

"Why doesn't she live here? And Maddie?" Hannah asked. Her forehead was suddenly furrowed.

"Well, as I said, things ended a bit badly. And honestly, I was scared to let her in. Scared I would lose her too." Mike admitted.

"But you and Maddie are friends now?" Hannah asked.

"Sort of. She and Molly and her mother, Teresa are coming over tonight for dinner." Mike answered.

"She should be living here." Hannah lamented.

"Hannah; things were going on and I am still figuring things out. I just wanted to be honest with you." Mike said.

"Thanks. There's just so many scary people out there and Molly is just little. She should be where you can protect her." Hannah remarked. Mike sat the plate of pancakes in front of her and handed her a fork. He sat down at the island with his own plate, but kept a seat between them. The irony of her comment caught him by surprise.

"I didn't do a very good job protecting you." Mike remarked. Hannah just shrugged.

"But you can protect her now and you should." Hannah insisted.

"I'll see what I can do." Mike said. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to do what Hannah was suggesting. Of course, he could work a visitation schedule out with Maddie, but Maddie would never live separately from her infant daughter. And he had burnt a lot of bridges with Maddie. There was no go back on their relationship. Especially, since it had barely existed beyond sex before.

Hannah remained quiet throughout the rest of the meal and on throughout the day. Mike caught her napping several times through the day and knew that she would slowly recover by resting. It just didn't take the psychological scars away though. It would only make her physically stronger. At least she had reacted fairly well to Molly.