Chapter Seven: The hardest part

"Are you sure about this?" I ask Charlotte one more time, "Yes Emily, I love him" I smile, "I hope Christian knows what a great woman he's taking away" I hug her. Amy, now 7 years old, hugs her Charlie too "I'm going to miss you so much Charlie!" she wipes another tear from her face "Hey, you won't get rid of me so easily…you will visit me every year right?" "Mom, we will go to Berlin to visit Charlie every year?" Amelia turns around to look at me with her eyes full of hope; I smile softly "of course Amelia, every single year". Charlotte met Christian during one of our family trips almost four years ago, I still remember the look on her face when she told me all about him, and now she's taking her with him to Berlin, he got an amazing job offer but he told us he couldn't go without her… and of course, we gave them our blessings. Aiden hugs Charlotte one last time and we watch her board her flight, Amy smiles sadly "I love you, Charlie".

"Mom?" Amelia asks, "yes sweetie?" "can we go to aunt Margaux's house?" Aiden looks at me, every time Amy is upset she runs to her best friend's house, he nods and she smiles "thank you daddy!" Aiden and I hold hands the entire way to our friends' place. "Hey, how was Charlotte?" Jack asks immediately after opening the door, we watch Amy ran past us to Simone's room, I smile sadly "she's excited, a little sad for leaving us, but we'll visit soon" we all sit on the couch; Margaux enters the room "Hi, I saw the girls upstairs, Amy seemed really upset" "yeah, we know, that's why we came straight from the airport" "poor thing, she and Charlotte are so close" I sigh, and Aiden puts his hand on my shoulder "we promised her we would go to Berlin every year but I don't want her sad the other eleven months of the year" "it's not just that" Aiden says and I try to shut him but he won't have any of it "Amy started to make questions about her biological mom, but every time we try to contact Annie… she hangs up" he finishes and Margaux and Jack don't know what to say, "I… I don't want to break my daughter's heart, we told her everything since she was old enough to understand hoping that someday Annie would see her and don't get me wrong I understand why she did what she did and I understand why she doesn't want to meet her being a rising actress you don't want that kind of attention but…" "how do you explain that to a seven year old?" Margaux finishes for me, "I think you just have to speak from the heart" she says, "when Carl started asking questions about Amanda I told him how I felt about it and then I answered everything he asked me, I think that helped him a lot" Jack adds quietly and I know they're right …

The ride back home is deadly silent, I'm so nervous for what I have to do but I know it's the best for my baby. Aiden calls her "Amy, can you sit with us for a sec?" she looks at us, curiosity making its way through her big gray eyes "sure, what's going on?" I take a deep breath and Aiden holds her hand "remember what you asked us the other day?" she frowns, "yeah, I want to meet my biological mother" "Amelia that's not going to be possible…" "how come?" I can hear the irritation in her voice and it breaks my heart "sweetie we…we did everything we could to talk with her, but…" I can't do it, I always promised to protect her and I can't break her heart "I don't think she wants to talk to us baby" Aiden hugs her but she fights and runs to her room. I can't hold the tears anymore.

I'm still in Aiden's arms, I don't know how long I've been crying, but he's asleep…I stand up carefully, this is a conversation I need to have alone with Amy. "Amelia, can I come in?" I say quietly, she doesn't say anything but her door opens, "do you remember when you were little and I explained to you that you are my daughter form the heart?" she nods and I can see the tears, "well, what I didn't told you then was that… I can't have children on my own, so your father and I met this beautiful young lady, her name is Annie" by now she's listening to every word "you see, she was a kid… she was 17 and well, she was pregnant but as much as she wanted to take care of her little girl, she realize she couldn't give her the kind of life she wanted her to have" "why? She asks almost whispering, "she was finishing high school, she wasn't prepared to be a mommy but she made one of the biggest decisions of her life and without realizing she did what every mommy does, she put her baby first… your father and I met Annie when she was five months pregnant with you" she sits closer to me and I wraps my arms around her "sometimes mommies have to make hard decisions, and for her this was so hard… so hard, that even though it's been seven years she's not ready to face it yet" "why not? I don't want to go with her I just want to meet her…" she says sadly and my heart breaks once again "I don't know baby, I think it's because maybe when she sees you for the first time, she will regret her decision and sad for what she did but you know what?" "what mommy?" "I will always thank her for it, because that's how I got you" she hugs me really tight and rub her back "I'm glad you found me mommy" "and I'm glad I found you baby… when your mother is ready to see you she will call, and I promise I won't stay in the way" "you'll always be my only mother" I smile, "I love you so much Amy" "I love you too mommy… can I go kiss daddy now?" "Of course". My heart is about to burst when I see her waking Aiden with a kiss, he hugs her tight and spins with her, "thank you for picking me daddy" she says cheerfully, Aiden kisses her forehead "thank you for picking us Amy".

A couple of days later our girl is back to her happy and bubbly self, and I let go of Annie… she'll call when she's ready, even if there's a side of me that's mad with her, the other side…the much bigger side understands her decision, If I were in her position seeing my baby all grown up would fill my heart with doubts and what if's… that's not a healthy way to live. "Hey Amy! Look who's online!" I hear Aiden yelling from the office, "CHARLIE!" I hear Amelia's excited voice. "Hi Charlotte, hi Christian" we all say "hi guys!" Charlotte answers happily and Christian smiles "how's Berlin?" Amelia takes charge of the conversation, "Oh Amy you will love it! It's beautiful…". We laugh hearing Charlotte trying to understand what Amy's saying "C'mon Charlotte, it's not that hard… I mean I'm a seven year old" "a seven year old with an IQ of 171, it's not fair" Aiden laughs "when did you learn german anyway?" Amy shrugs "when Charly told us she was moving with Christian, my tablet has an app…" "Amy that was like four months ago" Christian says surprised, "but I have to congratulate you; your german is flawless" Amy blushes, "danke Chris".

~A&E~

Short chapter but I guess you understand why, very strong feelings going on here… and about Annie, she's still very young… I mean she would be only 24 years old, and I think she's just not ready to meet her yet…

Anyway, like always I hope you like it and I know Adoption is a very delicate subject so I would love to hear what you think :)

Kisses, Cami