“She didn’t approach her. She came up to the table and yanked her away, tried to put her in her car,” Travis said, clearly still rattled.
A sense of helplessness enveloped me.I should have been there.
Nova gasped. “Someone tried to kidnap Andi?”
“She said she was my mom,” Andi said, looking up at me. “And that you and Daddy took me from her.”
Trent started to pace, a dark scowl twisting his face.
“She’s not our mom, Andi,” Travis deadpanned. “Our mom is dead.”
“Travis,” Trent snapped.
“It’s true.”
“Doesn’t mean you need to say it like that.”
“I know she’s dead, Trav,” Andi shot back. Turning confused, upset eyes on me, she asked, “But why would she say that?”
We’ve never made a secret of them being adopted. It was openly talked about and part of them, part of our story as a family. It made no sense to tiptoe around it and try to sugarcoat where they came from—especially since Travis was five when we found him. Even though Andi had been just a baby and wouldn’t remember, Trav did. Asking him not to talk about any of it around her would be like telling him he had to be ashamed of where they came from.
These kids had nothing to be ashamed of. They were survivors. Fighters. I was proud as hell of them, and I would never say otherwise.
Yes, their story was hurtful and dark, but learning to own and accept it was part of life. Knowing we loved and accepted them no matter what was something we worked hard to teach them.
However.
Trying to explain to an eleven-year-old why some batshit insane woman tried to kidnap her was not easy.
“Remember how we told you that some people might try and take advantage of us?” I asked.
“Because you’re famous and rich?”
“Yeah, because I drive race cars and am on TV sometimes. And your uncles were famous football players. Aunt Ivy is in magazines.”
“And Mom saves animals,” Lolo put in.
“That’s right, strawberry. Because your mom is an angel,” Romeo answered.
“Uncle B said I’m an angel,” Andi said.
Seriously, my girl was so angelic I could practically see her halo. My throat was too tight to swallow, so I nodded and glanced at Rim whose eyes shimmered behind her glasses. Clearing my throat, I said, “You must get that from her.”
Trent appeared, dragging back the coffee table so he could drop onto his knees in front of the couch. One of his hands fell on my knee, and the other reached for our daughter. “Some people are jealous, and they want to have the stuff we have. It makes them do things they shouldn’t. Bad things.”
“Like lie?” she asked.
Trent nodded. “That wasn’t your mom, baby. Your mom passed away not long after you were born.”
She nodded, familiar with the truth. “And Trav took care of me until you and Daddy came.”
Listen, we didn’t talk about the part where her mom was a raging drug addict and Andi was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Just because it wasn’t a secret didn’t mean we needed to divulge every detail. She was still a child.
Trav knew, though. Trav watched his mom overdose.
Trent nodded. “Yeah. And we have all the official paperwork that says you’re our daughter. We didn’t take you from anyone.”
Andi nodded. “I belong here with you and Daddy.”
