Tough Love

PROLOGUE

Never would I have pictured myself dating an older man with a child. At 19, guys that interested me, were my own age. Even the thought of an older man, made me cringe. That was until Ashton walked into the salon, and changed my perspective completely.

It wasn't as if he was twenty, or even thirty years older. We had a seven-year gap, which wasn't too bad. The age wasn't the deal breaker, the fact he had an eight-year-old daughter wasn't even a problem. There was something about him, the moment we locked eyes.

I knew from then, that he was the one I wanted to spend my life loving. The man who I had all my babies with.

Sure, I wasn't going to be the only woman he shared a child with, but I could overlook that as she wasn't around anymore. She passed away when Jenna was just a tiny newborn. Let's just say, there was no love lost there between him and her. He never spoke of her, only once confiding the truth about how Jenna came into his life. Jenna never asked, so he never told.

Ashton never acted 26, and I guess what they say about women being more mature than men is true. We just clicked, getting along as if we had known each other for years. Maybe that's what happens when you meet your soul mate. You just fit together, like the missing piece to a puzzle that you finally find.

With Jenna, it was nice to be able to go and do all the things that I wouldn't normally do. Dates at first were just the two of us, until things grew more serious, and we dragged ourselves away from the bedroom for me to meet his daughter. Our weekends we would go to the park, or visit the zoo. Jenna loved animals, and finding out I had a cat, we soon bonded.

I began to cherish the simple, small things. Like when Jenna would ask for me to read her a book before bedtime, and then Sundays were spend baking cookies for Ashton to take to work the next day. He would let her paint his fingernails, and join us for tea parties. It was a fun love we all shared together. We were our own little family.

Ashton and I learned about each other more, falling deeper in love. He also, was the first person I ever opened to, about my past, the troubles with my father growing up. There was never any judgement from him, he only held me tighter that night and promised to never hurt me.

My favourite time, was when we were all shopping and the beautiful little girl, who I adored like my own had reached up, grasped my hand, and called me mum. She became my own daughter, a girl who I loved as my own child.

That was a day I would never forget. It's just a pity she didn't stay that wonderful.