The agreement

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Phillip's POV:
I smile at Anne, so happy that she likes the party. Suddenly, W.D walks over to us and pulls Anne away. I stood there, confused as to what he needed her for. I see Anne's eyes widen, and she only says one word, but I couldn't tell what it was.

I quickly hand Amelia to Lettie, and I speed walk over to Anne.

"Hey, what's going on-"

"You ABANDONED your own children when they were no more than ten years old, and you think that you can just waltz right in like you've done NOTHING wrong? Well too bad, because that will NEVER happen"!

"Hey, hey. What is going on right now"?

I turn towards Anne, and I see a woman who looks to be about sixty with brown hair, and the same skin tone as W.D.

"Wait, is that"?

"Yes, Phillip. That is my mother. Mother, this is my husband, Phillip Carlyle".

I feel Anne tense up when she says her mom's name, and I feel her arm tightly wrap around mine.

"Anne, all I was trying to say was that I was sorry, and when I had heard that you had joined a circus and had gotten married, I just had to come see you. I didn't mean any harm".

"Yeah, well you should've at least given me a warning".

"Hey, hey. Anne, can I talk to you for a second? In private"?

"Ugh, fine."

I took Anne's smaller hand in mine and pulled her over to a more deserted part of the room. I knew she wasn't okay, so there was no point in asking.

"What happened?" I asked her calmly, realizing I hadn't heard the full interaction.
"I was ready to have a nice conversation with my brother, and then I turned around and saw my mother who I haven't seen in years and years." I could sense she was getting more upset, so I just wrapped my arms around her.

"Shh, it's okay. You'll be fine."

"I don't want to see her, Phillip." She cried.

"You don't have to. It's our daughter's birthday, and I won't let her ruin this for you."

"Alright. Thank you, Phillip."

"You want me to get her out of here?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to do, Phillip."

"Well, do you want our daughter to know her?"

"No...yes? If she ever were to come back in my life, I didn't want it to be like this."

"Then why don't we get her out of here, and plan to meet up some other time?"

"Okay. That's better."

"Let's go talk to her."

She sighed. "Let's go."

I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me. I could tell she was still very tense and nervous. We walked back over to W.D. and their mom, Anne, going as slow as humanly possible, but I get it.

"Finally, your back." Her mother rolled her eyes.

"You don't get to stroll into my daughter's first birthday party and decide where I should be when, Mother." Anne snapped.

"I'm your mom-"

"And I pretty much raised myself, so just stop!" Anne took a breath, remembering the task at hand. "Phillip and I don't want to do this now, not here. Can we meet up in a few days when we've had time to process everything?"

"...yes. I'll be going now."
"Thank you..." I started.

"Elizabeth. Elizabeth Wheeler."

Anne's POV:(a few days later)
I can't believe that I'm actually dressing up for this. Phillip and I are going to speak with my mother at the circus after we drop Amelia off at P.T and Charity's, and Phillip told me to "dress nice". I honestly didn't even want to be near my mom, but here we are.

"Ugh, I don't see why we can't just forget this whole incident ever happened".

"Oh come on, she's your mom. Let's just see how this goes, and if it's a disaster, then we'll forget about it".

"Ok...".

"By the way, have I told you that you are beautiful today"?

"Yes, like fifty thousand times".

Phillip comes closer and gives me a quick kiss, and then we leave.

We drop Amelia off at P.T and Charity's, and we make our way to the circus, and my mother is already waiting there when we arrive.

"Oh good, you're here. I was starting to think that you weren't coming."

"Well if we wanted to talk this out, then we obviously had to".

"Let's take this conversation up to my office".

I cling on to Phillip's arm as we go upstairs to his office.

"So, mother, please tell us the whole reason you decided to come back after all of these years".

"Ok, so as I said before, I had heard that you and your brother had joined a circus, but I didn't think too much of it. Then about a year and a half ago, I had heard that you had gotten married, and I thought that I had to come and see how my kids were doing".

"Ok, that sounds somewhat believable".

Phillip suddenly chimes in. "Now, the whole reason we wanted to talk with you is so we could come up with some sort of agreement".

"What about"?

"Well, several things really. As you know, we have a daughter, and the main thing we would like to know is how often you get to see her".

"Well, if it's fine with you, I would like to see her every other week. I know that this sounds foolish to ask, but what is her name"?

I speak up at this. "Her name is Amelia Catherine Carlyle".

"Oh that's such a lovely name".

"And on seeing her every other week, that should be fine, as long as Anne agrees"? Phillip asks.

I hesitantly respond. "I mean, I guess that it would be fine".

"Ok, is that all"? My mother asks.

"There are two other things. One, you will not be coming to every show. And two, just because you are coming back into my life doesn't mean you can act like nothing happened, so don't act like it".

"I wouldn't dream of it. Thank you two for sitting down with me to discuss this".

My mother then walks out of the room and out of the tent, and I immediately relax.

"That was by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do". I say as I fall into Phillip's arms.

"What matters is that you did it".

"Barely". I smile a little bit.

"I know what'll make you feel better". Phillip says before giving me a much needed kiss.

"That did make me feel better. Thanks".

I then think that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

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