Leo and Ivy

Chapter 5 (Ivy): Get Out

I'd asked Ana to stay after Leo came home from work so she could watch Sam and Savannah. I suspected we'd need to get through the upcoming conversation with no interruptions from either of our girls.

He walked in through the door at five thirty, his eyes concerned because even though he'd texted me several more times after I'd told him we'd talk when he got home, I never responded. And that wasn't what we did. If he texted, I answered and vice versa. He came right to me and gave me a kiss and a hug, then looked at me.

"What happened today, sweetheart? Mom was talking crazy, and I figured if she was flipping out then you were, too. What happened? Are you OK?"

"Let's sit down, Leo," I said and tugged him to the couch.

Then with his focus on me, I explained everything his mother and father had said when they'd come over, asking Sam to call them Georgia and Roger again, not wanting Sam to touch Savannah's presents, saying they loved her but didn't want her to have the same rights and privileges with them as Savannah because she wasn't their real granddaughter.

"And basically, they said Samantha could be treated like their granddaughter when they thought you couldn't father any children, but now that you did have a real child, Samantha was being kicked to the curb essentially. I mean, Leo, your mom didn't even hug Sam when she came running up to her today. She just...patted her on the head like she was a dog."

"I'm sorry, Ivy," he said. "I'll talk to them. I won't let them treat Samantha as anything less than their own grandchild. You are I are getting married, and the four of us are going to be a family. I won't let them treat Samantha any differently than Savannah. It's not right."

"I told them that we were getting married and that you were going to be adopting Samantha and that you saw her as your daughter just as much as Savannah is."

A strange look passed over his face. A look I couldn't interpret because I'd never seen it before on Leo's gorgeous face.

He grabbed my hands. "Ivy, I do love Samantha like she's my own. The first time she called me Daddy is something I will always treasure, and in that moment, she became mine, one hundred percent. I look at my girls and they're the same to me."

My eyes narrowed because he was avoiding the issue of adoption.

"But?" I prompted. "It sounds like there's a but coming."

"I want you to listen to me before reacting. I want to hold off on adopting Samantha for a while so I can think it through, so you can think it through and so we can talk about it."

That vaulted me to my feet. "Are you kidding me right now, Leo? You're getting cold feet about adopting my daughter?"

"Our daughter," he corrected me, getting to his feet. "Whether I adopt her or not, Samantha's my daughter. I'm the man she calls Daddy and that's important to me."

"Apparently not important enough to adopt her. I can see your parents really did a number on you when you stayed to talk with them the night I had Savvy."

"They gave me some things to think about, but I do not agree with their reasons for pulling back as Samantha's grandparents."

"And were you ever going to share this decision not to adopt her with me? Or just let me go on thinking you were all in?"

"I am all in," he shot back at me, his temper firing just like mine. "And I wanted to discuss it with you but first Savannah was in the NICU and then we were just enjoying all those weeks at home as a family so I didn't want to get into anything that would upset you."

"So you'd already made the decision without consulting me since you knew it would upset me."

"I haven't decided one way or the other, Ivy."