Mason
Josie was more than proud of how her life had turned out in the past four years. She and Jade had made a good home for themselves, they moved out of the one-bedroom apartment into a two-bedroom house. Josie has no idea how she did it but she managed to graduate high school and somewhere along the way she became a successful author.
Josie was proud of Jade, the vampire had become an EMT. She was able to keep herself under control around blood. Ever since Andrea was born Josie watched Jade push herself to keep control for Andrea's sake. Not once had they had an incident.
As much as both girls acknowledged that they had a small crush on the other they agreed that it was best that they stayed friends. They agreed that if they never crossed the friends to lovers line they would be able to stay in each others' lives forever. They knew they would rather stay friends than lose each other.
Josie did find love in California, it was not what she expected or who she expected. One day she ran into her ex, Penelope, at first it was just coffee. Josie agreed to get coffee with the girl just to catch up and see where life had taken them. After coffee, Penelope confessed she still loved her and Josie admitted to still having some feelings for her. They decided to pick up where they left off when Penelope left the school.
Penelope and her had a good relationship but on some days they were walking on eggshells. Penelope asked Josie for the one thing that Josie knew she could not give her at least not at the moment. Penelope asked Josie to start a family with her. In the beginning, it was just a joke from Penelope to see Josie's reaction, eventually, she wanted to start a family with Josie. Have a child with the woman she loves.
When the argument came around again Josie was tucking Andrea into bed. She had left her daughter in her room sleeping peacefully. Penelope was going to spend the night, and Jade would be home in the morning with breakfast.
"Josie," Penelope whispered. "consider my side in this for once please."
"Okay." Josie said sitting next to Penelope on the couch of the living room.
"Why can't we have a kid together, get married, and be a real family?" Penelope explained. "It would be so much better than what we are doing now. I know we have only been back together for eight months but we have been through so much together. We would be great parents."
"I am not ready," Josie confessed. "I need time."
"You're not ready?" Penelope was more upset that she would like to admit. She couldn't understand why Josie said she wasn't ready. Yes they had just become a couple a few months ago but they were serious about each other. "What about Mason?"
"Do not bring my son into this!" Josie shouted.
"You say your not ready to have a child with me but you already have Andrea and when Jade brought home a child you agreed without a second thought to raise that child as your own."
"That's different," Josie raised her voice enough for Penelope to know she was upset but she kept it low enough that her kids would not hear her and wake up. "I am 20 years old Penelope, when Andrea was born I was 16 and wasn't ready but decided I rather raise her than give her up. When Jade came home six months ago what was I suppose to tell her after she placed a newborn baby in my arms and told me that she found him in the trash abandoned. Was I suppose to say no, I could not bring myself to let her take Mason after she placed him in my arms. I want a future Penelope and kids but not right now. I already have two and I don't want to have anymore, not until my career is stable and my kids are older."
Josie was waiting for Pebolope's response. Her and Penelope had had fights but they never went as far as halfway screaming at each other while her kids slept in their room. It would usually end around Penelope giving in and telling Josie she understood her reasoning behind her not being ready.
"Josie I can't be with someone that won't meet me halfway." Penelope found herself saying.
Josie did not stop Penelope from leaving the apartment. She stood there in tears, Josie could not understand where they went wrong. Her and Penelope use to be so good together. Josie could go as far as to say at some point in her life she thought she was going to marry Penelope but Penelope broke her heart and then left the Salvorte school.
Josie did not regret any of the choices she made. She was grateful for her daughter and her son. She only wished that Penelope could see her point of view. Josie had too much going on, she was about to go on a book tour, she was raising two kids on her own, and she was trying to write the sequel to her book that her agent gave her a deadline for.
Josie has no idea how long she sat on the couch. Eventually, Jade came home and found her crying. Jade did not ask her questions she just sat down on the couch and pulled Josie into a hug.
"I got you, my love." Jade whispered to the crying girl. Jade knew she could not make Josie's pain go away but she knew she could help by holding her as she cried. She let Josie cry until she fell asleep. When Jade was certain Josie wouldn't wake up she stood up and picked her up. Jade walked silently and placed Josie on the bed. Jade went over to the small couch in the room and grabbed a blanket. She covered Josie and walked out of the room. It was seven in the morning, usually, Josie was up at six getting Andrea ready for school. She knew that she should let Josie rest she could deal with one night of no sleep to make sure Andrea got to school on time.
When Jade finished getting Andrea prepared for school, she gave her breakfast. Jade left her eating breakfast and went to quickly change out of her EMT uniform. When Jade was done changing she grabbed the baby wrap that Josie had bought and went to get Mason. It took Jade fifteen minutes to figure out how to wrap the long cloth around her. She didn't understand how Josie made it look so easy.
"Aunty Jade. I finished with my cereal." Jade looked up to see Andrea standing by the door of the room. Jade let out a little victory hun when she got the baby in the cloth that was wrapped around her. She could not understand for the life of her why women bought these cloth wraps that were so hard to figure out.
"Okay princess, put your plate in the sink for me please." Jade said as she walked out of the room and motioned Andrea to walk.
When Jade made it back home she was surprised to see that Josie was still asleep. Jade decided to keep Mason on her considering he was just smiling at her as she walked.
"Alright buddy," Jade spoke to the six-month-old. "We are going to make breakfast for mama. What do you think she wants?" Jade smiled as Mason babbled to her. "French toast it is."
By the time Jade was finished she was surprised to see that Josie was standing there staring at her. Jade smiled at the girl; she was sure Josie was still half asleep. Jade placed the plate of food in front of her and watched happily as Josie ate the plate of food.
"Thank you," Josie told Jade after she finished eating. "I assume you took Andrea to school." Jade gave the younger girl a nod. "You are an angel, Jade. What would I do without you?"
"Cry." Jade joked. Jade was eager to see where the conversation was going to go but Josie left to answer her ringing phone. Jade waited patiently in the living room and decided it was time for her to unwrap the baby from around her. Jade looked down at the child that was giggling. "Don't laugh at me, Mason. This is harder than it looks."
Josie walked back into the room, she could not help the smile when she saw Jade talking with her son. Josie let the vampire struggle a couple more minutes until she stepped in to help her. Once Josie got Mason out she explained to Jade how to untangle herself.
"Who called?" Josie looked up at Jade then she looked back at Mason. She wanted a couple more seconds of peace before she had to crush the happiness her and Jade had built.
"It was MG. Lizzie's in trouble. We need to go back." When Josie left she told MG about her plan. Not where she was going or the fact that she was pregnant but she made sure MG wrote down her new phone number so he could give her a call if there was ever an emergency that required her to return. Josie knew going back would bring a lot of issues for her and Jade. Josie would have to face Landon, more importantly, she had to face Hope.