miracle | tayley

cant look back, cant look too far ahead

Over the next couple of weeks, they add new Yorks at each visit.

Taylor's brothers and their kids first, then a few different aunts and uncles and grandparents. They even started phasing in their friends too- and even after all this time they didn't feel like just Taylor's friends now. They were hers too, and she nearly cried every time.

Really, for Hayley, the most emotional visit was the one where they'd met up with Zac. It was a long night filled with tears and hugs and watching two of her favorite guys beckoning to her child's every request. Seeing Zac again had felt her feeling beyond nervous. She left him too, not just Taylor when she moved away. He didn't deserve that and while she was scared he was going to be mad, he just wrapped her in a tight hug.

Rowan had taken it all in stride and been over the moon with all of the attention. She'd been positively beside herself with glee over all of the cousins she'd suddenly acquired and had developed a particular affinity for one of Justin's kids, who's only about six months older than her.

After the dinner at Michelle and Peter's to introduce Justin and his family to Rowan, Justin had pulled Hayley aside at the first opportunity to apologize profusely for encouraging her to "give Taylor some time" three years ago.

She'd assured him that when he'd given her that particular piece of advice she hadn't known about Rowan yet, and that he was in no way responsible for the miscommunication between her and Taylor and their subsequent lack of communication about their daughter. He'd looked so relieved she'd wanted to hug him, but she'd held back- once upon a time, she would have, but too much time had passed, and she simply didn't feel that level of comfort with him anymore.

In the end, her hesitation had been unfounded, though, because in the next instant she'd found herself swept up into a tight Justin York hug.

"It hasn't been the same without you, kid," he'd said, fondly, against the crown of her head. "I've missed you." Then, pulling back, he'd added, "We all have." Nodding his head toward Rowan, he'd muttered, "And I still can't believe you and Taylory did that." She'd laughed out loud then at his obvious mix of awe, pride, and distinct discomfort.

And just like that, it'd felt like old times again.

It'd been the same with all the others. Everyone just seemed to accept Rowan's existence and keep right on going as if she'd always been there, as if Hayley herself had never been away. She suspects Michelle and Peter have something to do with that, and she appreciates whatever conversations they're having with people before she and Rowan arrive for each round of hi-this-is-your-niece/great niece/cousin. Each meeting has gone surprisingly smoothly, and she's extremely grateful to the Yorks for that.

It's due to these regular trips, Hayley assumes, that she finds Rowan peering up at her from the bath, expectantly, having just uttered, "Bye bye Daddy house?" Followed closely by, some gibberish that included the words "Nana" and "Papa" and something that sounded remarkably like "turkey leg" though she doubts that whatever her daughter was actually trying to articulate had anything to do with the anatomy of poultry.

"We're gonna see Daddy tomorrow, baby," Hayley says, lifting her daughter's wriggling, wet body from the bath and standing her on the bath mat. Wrapping her in a plush, fresh-smelling towel, she tells her, "We're picking him up from the airport. We're going to see the airplanes."

"Airpanes?" Rowan asks, seriously, her little brow furrowed.

"Mmmhmm," Hayley confirms as she dries her daughter's hair gently, before toweling off the rest of her body and scooping her up into her arms to take her to dress her in her pajamas.