Chapter 2
Isabel was all Eddie could think about the whole day. What did she look like? Did she resemble him or Ana more? What was her personality like? The questions kept running through his head at full speed.
He decided to call Hen, one of the other artists at the shop, one of his best friends actually, the next morning. The phone rang a couple of times before Hen picked up. “Hey Eddie, what’s up?” She asks and judging by the buzzing on the other side of the phone, she was at the shop.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I forgot you had a couple of appointments today. I won’t bother you.” Eddie sighs softly, running a hand through his hair. It was about ten in the morning, and he wasn’t due to the shop for another couple of hours, but he had to talk to someone about what was happening.
The man heard shuffling on the other end and the sound of a door opening and closing, she must have gone outside. “No, it’s okay.” Hen reassures him. “I have about half an hour until my appointment comes in. What’s up, you sound stressed.”
Of course, Hen would clock that he was stressing about something. “Do you remember Ana?” He asks her.
Hen hums softly. “Yes. What about her?”
“I met up with her yesterday and she told me something.” Eddie tells her with no context.
“What’d she tell you? Do you have a kid she didn’t tell you about.” Hen teases and Eddie just goes silent. “She didn’t.” Hen gasps, making Eddie nod his head even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “You two haven’t been together in so long!” She exclaims.
Eddie just stays silent for a few moments before he finally speaks up. “She’s two, her name is Isabel, Ana says they call her Bell.” He tells her. “I don’t get why she kept it from me for this long.” He groans and runs a hand through his hair, he was grateful that Hen was listening to him. “And then before she left, she said if I wanted to see her, to let her know.” He speaks. “Like I’d even consider not seeing her.”
“Do you think she wants something from you.” Hen questions, leaning up against the wall of the building with the phone pressed against her ear. “That could be why she’s just now bringing her up.”
“I don’t know Hen. It’s just frustrating. I have to figure out how I’m going to tell my ten-year-old son that he has a sister that I didn’t know about!” Eddie groans and places his head in his hands, and maybe he won’t have to tell Chris because he heard shuffling behind him and when he looked up Chris was standing there with wide eyes. “Hen, I gotta go.” He hangs up the phone.
“I have a sister?” The boy asked, looking at his father with a frown. “I had a sister, and I didn’t know about her?” Eddie could tell by the tone in his voice that he was getting angry.
“Look Chris, I didn’t even know about her until yesterday.” He tells him, standing up from his spot at the kitchen table, fully facing Chris now.
Chris just shakes his head, tears filling his eyes. “Why didn’t you know about her?”
And wasn’t that a loaded question. Eddie also wondered why he didn’t know about her sooner. “I don’t know, Ana was just feeding me excuses.” He sighs.
Chris is silent for a moment, leaning on his crutches before he speaks again. “Can we meet her?”
Eddie purses his lips and hums softly. “I’d have to ask Ana.” He says and walks back to the kitchen table, picking his phone up off of the table. He pulls up Ana’s contact and texts her.
To Ana:
Christopher and I want to meet her
Not even a minute later his phone buzzes with a response and Christopher looks at his dad with wide eyes.
From Ana:
We can come over in about an hour if that’s okay with you?
To Ana:
Yeah sure, that works
The man pockets his phone and takes in a deep breath. “Ana and Isabel are going to come over in about an hour.” He tells his son, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants. He’d have to tidy up the house and change into decent clothes. “Go change out of your pajamas and then help me clean up the house a bit.”
“Isabel? Is that her name?” Eddie just nods. “Okay.” Chris says and makes his way out of the kitchen and to his bedroom to do as he was told.
Eddie was slightly panicking at this point. He was going to meet his daughter; Christopher was going to meet his sister. He felt like everything was going too fast but also his daughter had been in this world for two years, so it was going by extremely slow at the same time.
---
An hour later there was a knock on the door and Eddie froze, he had been scrubbing the kitchen counters for what felt like hours, but he was sure it had only been a few minutes. “Coming!” He calls out, wiping his hands on his jeans and making his way to the front door. He opens it up to reveal Ana and Isabel who seemed to be clutching onto her moms’ pant leg.
“Hey, I don’t have time to mess around so I’m just going to be upfront.” Ana says and reaches down, grabbing Isabel’s hand from her pant leg. “I need you to watch her for a couple of weeks while I travel for my job, I can’t find anyone else to do it.”
Eddie furrows his eyebrows at that. She did want something, Hen was right. “So, you didn’t really want to tell me about her, it was just convenient.” Eddie scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you.” He mutters.
Ana just shrugs and that pisses Eddie off. “Have to do what I have to do.” She tells him and bends down, looking the little girl in the eyes. “Bell, this is your daddy.” She tells her, pointing out Eddie. “You’re going to stay with him while mommy works, okay? I love you.” She kisses Bell on the top of her head before standing up, handing Eddie the girl’s hand.
Eddie gently took Bell’s hand and shook his head once again. “Did you at least bring any of her belongings?” He asks her and she just nods, making her way to her car and coming back with a couple of bags of things, not nearly enough for a couple of weeks. Oh well, he’d just have to go out and buy some things for her.
“Dad, is she here?” Chris calls out and Eddie turns around, seeing Christopher walking towards him and when he looks back to where Ana was standing, she was gone, already getting into her car and leaving.
“Mommy?” Isabel pouts, pointing at the car as Ana drove away. Eddie couldn’t believe she would just leave like that, leaving her daughter with a stranger essentially.
Bending down, Eddie picks up Bell and sighs softly, grabbing the bags that were deposited on the ground and closes the door behind him. “Yep, she’s here, and she’s staying for a few weeks.” Eddie says, and much to his surprise Chris just grins.
“I’m going to teach her so many things!” Chris exclaims and Eddie chuckles at that. Hopefully the next few weeks will go by smoothly while he gets to know his daughter.
---
“Hen, I have to go back to work, but I can’t bring a two year old to the shop” Eddie groans as he sat at Hen’s kitchen table with her while Bell was in the living room watching some Disney movie with Christopher. He thinks they were watching Beauty and the Beast but he couldn’t be too sure.
“Here’s an idea, how about you put her in daycare.” Hen tells him. “I actually know the owner of Lovebugs childcare center.” She says and pulls out her phone, sending a quick text. “She might have some room for the princess over there.” She chuckles.
Eddie runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “I can’t believe I didn’t know about her and all of a sudden, I have her for a couple of weeks. I don’t want to have to put her in daycare for just a short amount of time, but it seems like the only option.”
Hen nods her head and sighs softly. “I’m sorry Eddie, I wish I could help more but I work just as much as you do.” She looks down as her phone buzzes with a response and grins. “Looks like she has a spot open and would like to have you tour the center later today.”
“Great.” Eddie says and sighs softly. He glances over to the living room where the kids were sitting, Christopher making the girl giggle. It puts a smile on his face. “Thank you, Hen.” And maybe, just maybe everything would be okay.