07. Mommy?

Elena's POV

Ava and I excused ourselves to my room. She pushed open the door before waddling into the room.

"Your room is so nice and clean!" She said, looking around the room.

"Thank you sweetheart." She nodded once before turning back and creasing his forehead.

"I want my room to be like this. Will you help me after you marry Daddy and come to live with us?" Her doey eyes shined with excitement.

"Done. We will decorate your room together." She nodded , satisfied at the deal and went back to the inspection of my room.

"Is this you?" She was staring at a childhood picture of me with Mom where I was sitting on the kitchen counter and Mom was kissing my cheek from behind.

"Yeah, me and Mom." I smiled remembering the times when I used to sit on the kitchen counter, watching Mom bake cookies and cakes. As a matter of fact I still do.

"What are you looking at for so long?" I asked, noticing her unmoving gaze. I lightly turned her around to see her eyes blurry with tears and lips quivering.

"Ava are you okay?" I cupped her cheeks and as if it broke the damn, tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"What happened sweetheart? Why are you crying?" Instead of saying anything she kept crying.

"Come here." I pulled her along to sit on the edge of the bed and kneeled down in front of her on the floor.

"Now tell me what happened?" Wiping away her tears, I placed my hands on her knees.

"I- My Mom- she doesn't l-love me." I inhaled deeply trying to process what she had just said. Her mother. After I had signed the contract, I had looked him up on Google for anything about Ava's mother but found nothing. Only if that asshole had told me a bit more about her mother and why she was not in Ava's life, today I would know what to say to Ava in this situation.

"Ava, who told you that?" I tried to choose my words carefully.

"No one, but I know. Everyone lives with their Mom and Dad but I live with only Dad. She left me because she didn't love me." Her words gave out the pain that was inside her. I couldn't imagine how hard it would have been for a child to think that she wasn't loved by her mother. I sighed and phrased the words in my head because this was a sensitive issue for her and to hurt her was the last of my intentions

"Don't cry sweetie. Ssh! Okay, let's say someone doesn't love you. Should it matter to you? You're such a sweet girl and you already have your family who loves you, right? What are you crying for? If someone doesn't love you, it's their loss, let them cry." She looked at me through her tears, searching for assurance in my face. I kept my expressions firm , wanting her to believe my words. Finally she gave a small nod.

"Now quickly wipe your tears and give me a kiss." I closed my eyes and leaned my face towards her with a smile. Seconds later I felt a small soft pair of lips coming in contact with my cheeks.

"I have a question." She said after some seconds.

"Okay?" I urged her to ask.

"Will you- uh.." She looked down and hesitated.

"Say it." I rubbed circles on her back to soothe her.

"Can I call you Mommy ?" She blurted out the question and my hand froze in its place. Did she really ask that or was I hearing things? I was really shocked , the question being too sudden.

"Are you upset? I thought you were going to marry Dad and so… " She trailed off. I was upset but not because she wanted to call me Mommy but at the fact that nothing of this was going to be permanent. Me marrying her Dad, us being a family, everything was to end in a year and I didn't want to raise her hopes high only to crush them but one look at her sad innocent face and my rational part of the brain refused to function.

"Sweetie, if you want, you can definitely call me Mommy. I would love to be your mother." I smiled at her.

"You are not angry?" She skeptically searched for some hidden anger or something on my face. When she found none, she was smiling again.

"No baby, not at all. I was just surprised that you said that." I squeezed her hands and her smile spread into a wide grin.

"Hug?" I asked, spreading my arms. She eagerly nodded and jumped on me causing us to land on the bed.

"I love you….. Mommy." I felt the warmth spread through me when she called me that and at that point I knew I had made a mistake. I felt guilty that I was leading her on knowing our future.

I pulled away and kissed her forehead to shut down the feeling of guilt.

"I love you too." I mumbled.

………………..

Rylan's POV

Everyone was engaged in wedding talks and meaningless conversations while I kept glancing towards the stairs up which Elena had taken Ava.

She was practically a stranger and trusting her with Ava was definitely not an option.

They were taking a really long time and as I was about to get up and find her, I saw them descending down the stairs.

Both of them were smiling and laughing and for a second I felt like I wanted to be a part of it and know what it was about. I shook away the thought as soon as it entered my mind.

Throughout the dinner my gaze was trained on Elena's face. She must have felt it as she would glance my way numerous times only to look away quickly.

By the time we were about to leave, both the families had come a lot closer. Mom and Talia were laughing and talking like they were acquainted over the years , Dad patted Joseph's back like they were some highschool friends.

What irritated me was Elena's proximity with Tyler. They were always sticking to each other. No, I wasn't jealous. I couldn't be jealous over someone I had just met. I had stopped feeling those emotions long back. I just found it inappropriate.

Finally we got up to leave. It was really boring and on top of that I had loads of work pending back at home. We were at the doorstep when Ava rushed back to Elena and hugged her legs.

"Bye Mommy!" I froze in my place trying to comprehend what just happened. All conversations had ceased and everyone's attention was just on Elena and Ava.

"Bye sweetheart." Elena's sweet smile faded into a nervous one as she saw everyone staring at her.

"Uhh … actually, he wanted to . She asked for my permission and I gave her. I didn't know if you all had any problem with it." Ava wanted to call her Mom? Why ? When did she get so close to her? And how could Elena allow that knowing that she eventually was going to leave.

"No dear, not at all." Mom smiled at her.

"If Ava sees you as his mother, she can. We don't have anything to say. We can only be happy, isn't it?" Dad looked at Mom who nodded, agreeing to his words.

"Rylan, do you mind?" Elena's voice broke my chain of thoughts. She as well as everyone was looking at me awaiting my response.

"No. If Ava wants….." I trailed off and she nodded in understanding.

I looked back at Ava who was grinning at me.A small smile crept up my face on seeing Ava's smile but that is what scared me. I was scared that her happiness won't be long lived, that she would eventually end up getting hurt.