Page 18 of Pieces into Place (Moonflower Cove Romance #16)

Blake

A lexis’s birthday dinner was going much better than Isla’s had.

Granted, Blake had actually shown up on time to this one.

The family had eaten chicken piccata around the dining room table as they all laughed and told mildly embarrassing stories about Alexis.

Blake loved that she was still learning things about her wife’s life from before she met her.

It was like a book that Blake never wanted to end.

As the family moved into the living room for presents, Blake leaned on the kitchen archway, watching everyone.

Especially Alexis. She hadn’t looked happier in months.

She was surrounded by Harper, Archer, Reese, and Everleigh as she opened the hand-painted photo frame Harper had made her.

Blake had helped her pick out the picture inside, and she watched Alexis react to it.

It was taken the night Harper was born. Alexis was in bed, looking down at the baby in her arms and looking so insanely in love.

Alexis pulled Harper into a hug as she kissed her head. Blake watched as Alexis looked to Sophia, who had teared up over the gift just like Alexis had. She loved how close the two of them were and was so thankful Alexis had Sophia during that time in her life.

I wish I’d had that. Someone who cared that much about me back before moving here.

She’d had her dad, yes, but he was never there for her like Sophia had been for Alexis.

Or how Isla and Vera had been there for her.

Or how they had all been there for Emily while she was pregnant with Finley.

They all had each other through all their highs and lows, and it was another harsh reminder of what all Blake had missed by not growing up as a Mackenzie.

Her heart ached as she once again realized she was on the outside looking in at a family that was established without her.

It amplified the pain Blake had felt in her chest since the night before. When they couldn’t find Reese at the tree farm, Blake had spiraled into an absolute panic. Not knowing where her daughter was at was one of the most terrifying things Blake had ever experienced.

And yet it was nothing compared to what Isla felt when she lost Blake.

Blake still couldn’t imagine how Isla must have felt then.

She realized now how little control Isla must have had over the entire thing, and that shattered Blake’s heart even more.

If anyone took Harper or Archer or Reese from her, Blake didn’t know how she would ever recover.

Yet somehow Isla had picked herself up and carried on.

Not necessarily moved on , Blake was beginning to understand that more now.

She wanted to talk to Isla about it, but knew the party wasn’t the right time.

Besides, her own emotions over losing Reese were still too fresh for Blake to have the needed conversation with Isla.

At least that’s what Blake told herself as she looked across the room at Isla.

Isla was sitting in the recliner with Ellie sitting on the arm of it.

Her arm was wrapped around Ellie’s waist as Isla gently rocked the chair with her foot.

Ellie looked so happy, so safe. Blake couldn’t help but wonder if that could have been her and Isla in a different life .

Not wanting her tears to ruin the party, Blake ducked into the kitchen and walked down the small hallway to the guest bedroom.

She’d spent a few nights there when she first moved to the Cove, and Blake was surprised how it looked exactly the same.

Blake sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room.

On her first night there, she’d been worried she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

But sleep had enveloped her like a comforting hug the moment she slipped under the sheets that smelled like her mommy.

Blake ran her hand over the pillow, remembering how nervous she was about coming to the Cove.

She’d almost turned around several times before finally walking into Straight to Ale that first night.

From outside the bar, Blake had watched Isla through the window.

Watched how she interacted with the two people working, who Blake would later learn were Alexis and Emily.

Everything had changed with Blake’s decision to open the bar’s door that night.

She met Alexis, became a mama to three amazing kids, and found the family she’d always wanted.

So why did she still feel like she was on the outside of it all looking in?

As a tear fell from her eyes, there was a knock at the door as it slightly opened. Blake assumed it was Alexis, and yet wasn’t surprised when Vera poked her head around the cracked door. She smiled sweetly at Blake, but Blake could still see the concern in her eyes.

“Everything okay, sweetie?”

“Yeah,” Blake lied, although she didn’t know why. Shaking her head, Blake lowered her gaze from Vera’s. “No.”

“Oh, honey.” Vera hurried over beside her, sitting next to her on the bed as she put an arm around Blake’s shoulders.

Blake wasn’t sure why she did it, but she wrapped her arms around Vera’s waist as she buried her face in her chest. Her tears came without warning and with an intensity that surprised Blake.

Through it all, Vera held Blake tightly, as if she was the only thing keeping Blake from falling apart completely.

And at that moment, she very well might have been.

“It’s okay, Blake. I’m here.” Vera kissed her head. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Understand what, honey?”

“Why you love me so much?” Blake sat up slightly, pulling out of Vera’s embrace. But Vera kept her hand on Blake’s knee, comforting Blake more than she probably knew. “You didn’t know me until five years ago.”

“No. But I’ve known of you since the very first day I met your mom.” Tenderly, Vera tucked Blake’s hair behind her ear as she spoke. “I don’t think you know that story, do you?”

Blake shook her head.

“Well, Mom came into my office with Mason. She’d just moved here and didn’t have anyone to watch Mason.

And you know your sister. She doesn’t have a filter.

So when she blurted out that her daddy took her sister, I watched the pain on Isla’s face grow.

That nearly destroyed her, honey. Losing you…

” Vera shook her head. “That pain was so fresh, even almost a year later by the time I met her.”

Vera paused for a moment, seemingly to let Blake process what she said before continuing.

“I knew before I ever started to date Isla that her pain over losing you would stay with her forever. How could it not? You were her baby. Are her baby. I never for a second hesitated helping her carry the burden of your absence in our lives. We thought about you all the time. Every birthday, every holiday, every day. Blake, you were always on our mind. I didn’t birth you, but you’re still my daughter. Just like Harper is your daughter. ”

For the first time in the last five years, Blake realized her and Vera’s similarities.

They had each fallen in love with not only a woman, but their child as well.

Blake had taken on all of Alexis’s pain from her past, just like Vera had with Isla.

That realization sent shivers down Blake’s spine as she looked at Vera.

“I… I never thought about it that way before. I’ve always seen Harper as mine, and now I see why you always saw me as yours.”

“Always, Blake.” Vera framed her cheeks with her hands. “Always. When people asked how many kids we had, we always said five. You were never far from our minds. Never. And when you showed up here five years ago, you completed our family in ways we had only dreamed about before.”

“I guess I’ve just always struggled with feeling like an outsider. You all had lives and families without me. And that really hurt.” Blake wiped the tears from her cheeks as Vera put her hands on her thigh. “I know it’s not fair for me to say that.”

“Honey, it’s completely fair and valid that you say that.”

“Really?”

“Really. But just because we had a family didn’t mean we were trying to forget you. That’s why your pictures are all over the house and why all your siblings knew about you. Ellie used to ask about you a lot when she was younger.”

“She did?”

“Mhmm,” Vera nodded. “She had a picture of you by her bed for the longest time. She’d tell us that her sister was watching over her.”

Blake let out a sob just picturing her baby sister doing that. A sister who, at the time, had never met Blake.

“Ellie, Brayden, and Evie all knew about you. They all loved you. Mom never kept her pain hidden from them. They knew how much losing you hurt her. How much it hurt me. We tried so hard to find you, Blake. And when we did, we started sending letters. When they kept going unanswered, we assumed you didn’t want to contact us. ”

“That’s not true,” Blake defended with anger in her voice that wasn’t meant for Vera. “I didn’t know about them.”

“I know, honey. We know that now. But at the time, we thought the same thing you did about us. Or about your mom, at least. That she didn’t want to be in your life.”

“That’s what Dad always told me. I never,” her voice hitched in her throat, “thought to question it. And I was so young when he took me. I didn’t know Mom’s maiden name, so I never could find her when I searched online.

She didn’t use Calloway beyond the marriage certificate and our birth certificates. ”

“I know. She changed her last name after the divorce. Mason’s too.”

“I was never a Mackenzie,” Blake sadly stated as she looked to the ground. “Just a Calloway.”

“Oh, Blake. You were and always will be a Mackenzie. You don’t need a piece of paper with that name on it to be one. You are a Mackenzie because you are our daughter. Nothing can ever change that.”

“Not even me being a shitty daughter?” Blake sadly laughed, but Vera shook her head firmly.

“Blake Victoria Holland, you are not a shitty daughter. Don’t you ever think that.”

“I ruined Mom’s birthday.”

“Frankly, that was mostly her fault.” Vera rolled her eyes, making Blake chuckle. “That wasn’t because of you.”

“If you say so,” Blake grinned.

“I do.” Nodding firmly, Vera turned toward Blake and took hold of her hands as she looked into her eyes.

“Nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever change the way Mom or I love you. You are our daughter. Through the good times, the bad times, and everything in between. I love you, Blake, and I am so honored I get to be your mama.”

“Mama,” Blake happily cried as she smiled, “you can’t say shit like that to me while I’m pregnant. My hormones are already a mess.”

“I’m sorry, honey.”

Vera held her arms out as Blake went to them.

She loved that Vera didn’t make her feel forced into hugs, but rather invited her to be held.

It was so simple, yet something Blake desperately needed.

Knowing that Vera wanted things to be on Blake’s terms meant more to Blake than she could express.

And made staying in Vera’s tight embrace even sweeter.

“Not to add to that, but hearing you call me mama is something I’ve wanted for so long.” Vera’s voice broke as she cried, and Blake tightened her hug around Vera’s waist. “It’s something I never expected, but I’m so happy you’re comfortable with it.”

“Of course I am.” Sitting up so she could see Vera’s eyes, she smiled. “You’re my mama.”

“Yes, I am.” Vera’s smile was ear to ear as she wiped Blake’s tears away with her thumb. “Thank you for opening up with me today, Blake. I’m glad you feel comfortable enough with me to do that.”

“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long,” she grimaced. “Honestly, it wasn’t until we lost Reese for a few minutes last night that everything sank in for me. I can’t imagine how Mom felt after Dad took me. And it wasn’t just for a few minutes.”

“It was for years,” she and Vera said in unison, making them both sadly laugh.

“I don’t think I ever fully understood that until now. I knew it happened, but I only saw it from my perspective.”

“I get that, honey. I really do. It’s hard, especially when you were so young when it happened.

You were never meant to understand Isla’s pain.

She never would want you to know firsthand what she went through.

And I know Reese getting lost for a few minutes last night had to be terrifying.

But if that had to happen to bring you and your mom back together, then I’m glad it did. ”

“Me, too.”

As Blake finally felt herself relax, she also felt a flutter in her stomach that was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

She quickly put her hand to where she felt it, holding her breath as she waited for it again.

Vera must have sensed something was happening, because she gently placed a hand on Blake’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I… I don’t know. Just this weird feeling right here.

” Blake moved her hand as Vera put her hand on that spot.

As Blake felt it again, she looked at Vera, panicked, expecting to see the panic reflected in Vera’s eyes.

But all Blake saw was love as Vera looked back at her. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No, honey. No.” Tenderly, Vera picked up Blake’s hand and put it back on her belly. Vera put her cold hands on either side of Blake’s hands. “That’s your little girl moving.”

“You can feel her?” Blake happily sobbed as she realized the flutter was nothing to be worried about. Vera nodded her head, tears flowing from her eyes. “You’re the first to feel her.”

“Aww, honey.” Vera pressed her forehead into Blake’s as they felt the baby move. “This means so much to me.”

“Me, too.” Swallowing the lump in her throat, Blake smiled at Vera. “Thanks for never giving up on me, Mama.”

Vera’s lower lip quivered as she shook her head. “I never will, Blake. I’ll always be here for you. Always. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mama. ”

The two stayed sitting side by side with their hands on Blake’s stomach. After several minutes of laughing each time the baby moved, Blake looked back up at Vera.

“Mom needs to feel this.”

“Give her another minute,” Vera chuckled. “I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t been in here yet looking for us.”

“Very true,” Blake giggled as the baby fluttered under her hand again. “Hi, baby girl. I’m your Mama. And this is my mama.”

Vera kissed Blake’s cheek as Blake savored the feeling that all her years of pain and heartache and feeling like an outsider in her own family might finally be coming to an end.