"Oh, Stephanie, you're here?" Linda pushed the front door open and pulled her keys from the lock, "its good to see you, how was the wedding? Your father and I got to see some pictures on Facebook and it looked absolutely beautiful."
"It was beautiful, Maryse was beautiful," the events that followed the ceremony replayed over and over in Stephanie's mind, "I really need to talk to you and dad,"
"Is everything okay? What's going on?" She dropped her purse and everything else she was carrying onto an ottoman in front of her daughter and peeked around the living room, "have you been staying here?"
"Yes," she put her head in her hands as tears began flowing, "I'm not sure where I should start, there's so much I need to get off my chest…" She stopped as soon as her father walked through the front door with Sofia in tow, "hi sweetheart! I missed you so much!"
"Mommy!" Sofia ran to her mother's arms, "I missed you!" She quickly saw the tears on Stephanie's face and pulled away, "mommy why are you crying?"
"Oh, it's nothing baby, I'm just so happy to see you!"
Linda and Vince exchanged an uncomfortable glance, "Vince, honey, can you put on the TV in the den for Sofia and then come back out here? We can just unpack the car later."
A few minutes passed before he came back into the living room and sat down, "what's going on?"
"I'm just going to start with this, I know I haven't been completely honest with everyone in my life, and because of that, I've hurt a few people as of lately as well as put myself and my daughter into some crappy and totally avoidable situations. I do know who Sofia's father is, Paul Levesque is her father," tears burned the backs of her eyes but didn't fall, "some things happened at the wedding, and I wanted to be sure that you learned that from me."
Her parents stared at her in silence, then at each other, "honey, why did you keep this a secret for so long?" Linda reached out and tightly hugged her, "why didn't you just tell us when it happened? I hope you didn't feel like you had to hide it from us."
"I didn't tell anyone, I'm sorry," Stephanie sobbed into her mom's shoulder, "I was so scared when it happened and then I lied to you guys, and Maryse and then I just couldn't take it back. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I regret everything that's happened,"
"What happened at the wedding?" Vince sat with his hand rubbing her shoulder, "does Paul know he's her father?"
"He's always known," she wiped her face with her sleeve, "Maryse caught Paul and I in a terrible position at her wedding and everything since then has been really rough, and I mean really, really rough," the vision of her own wedding night came to her, "after we got kicked out of Maryse and Mike's wedding, Paul and I drove to Vegas and had a wedding of our own,"
"WHAT?" Her parents shrieked in unison, glaring at each other over their daughter, "Stephanie, you got married?"
"Don't worry, you guys didn't miss anything. It's not working out so we're getting it annulled as soon as possible. I packed up everything at Paul's house into a storage unit for now and I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but we'll just stay here for a little bit." She continued to use her sleeve to wipe her face.
"Mommy, can we go home?" Sofia came dancing into the room, once again no "are you still happy to see me?"
"We are home sweetie, we're going to stay here with grandma and grandpa for a little while until mommy can find us a house for just the two of us,"
"What about Uncle Paul?" Sofia's innocence struck like a dagger through Stephanie's already broken heart, "I want to go home,"
"I know Sofia, I know you want to go home. I want to go home too, but mommy made a mistake and now we're going to stay with grandma and grandpa," Stephanie hoped her daughter would accept that answer without any further questions, "I have all your toys upstairs in our room if you want to go play,"
Sofia didn't cry, she only hung her head and started for the stairs, "okay mommy,"
The three of them waited until she was out of earshot, "what do you mean it isn't working out? Why did you marry him if it wasn't working out?"
"It just felt like the right thing to do after we were seen together at the wedding. I thought it was the right thing to do for Sofia, and us, but I realize now it was just an impulsive mistake," she stood up defeatedly, "I'm just going to go upstairs with Sofia, thank you for taking her for the week."
"Of course honey," Linda jumped up, "please talk to us if you need anything, you know you're welcome here for as long as you need," she watched as she walked up the stairs, then turned to her husband, "I can't believe this, Vince, what just happened? She's married and now she's back here living with us? What was that?!"
"Don't ask me!" He threw his arms up, "how did we not see that coming? Sofia looks just like him, how did we not see that? What I really don't understand is what could have happened at that wedding that would make her push him away like this."
"Stay here with her, I'm going to find out," with one swift motion, Linda grabbed her purse and bolted for the door.