And sometimes, she fascinated me with wise words.
Two years ago, I wouldn’t have thought she would ever open up like this, but I’m glad she did.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, which was covered in that yellow beanie.
She still wouldn’t get rid of it, but I didn’t mind.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yes. Let’s go see mommy.”
I stood back up and grabbed her hand, then walked up to the guard and told him why we were here.
After showing him the invitation papers, he let us in and another man did a quick security check on us before bringing us to the visitor’s room.
We sat on one of the round tables, but instead of sitting next to me, Genesis climbed onto my lap.
I wrapped my arms around her, kissing the back of her head before she pulled off the beanie and unzipped her jacket.
I kept mine on, knowing that this wouldn’t take too long.
Her mother didn’t want to see me.
At least that’s what she told me the last time I saw her.
“It smells very bad in here,” Genesis whispered into my ear by leaning back.
I chuckled, looking around the room and then back into her eyes.
“A little bit. Just don’t think about it.” I smiled at her.
I was nervous.
I had no idea how she could take it this easy when the woman we’d see soon was the one who didn’t care about her when she was a baby.
There was no hate I felt toward her mother, but it didn’t feel right to come face to face with her again after all those years.
Genesis tensed in my arms as her mother walked into the room with a guard walking right behind her.
I looked up, taking in the woman who had changed a lot after being in prison for three years.
Fuck me.
She looked like shit.
She was thin, pale, and the circles under her eyes were insanely dark.
I hoped she didn’t scare Genesis.
“I should’ve known it was you,” were her first words as she sat down in front of us.
“Hey,” I said, feeling Genesis grip both my hands tightly.
“Why are you here?”
Her mother didn’t look at her.
As if Genesis wasn’t right there on my lap.
“She wanted to visit you. We got an invitation and after talking to her, she decided to come here to see you.”
But just as I said those words, all her confidence was gone, and to my surprise, Genesis turned in my lap, straddling it and wrapping her arms around my neck tightly.
Shit.
That’s not how I hoped this would go.
“You okay, Genesis?” I whispered into her ear, as I looked straight into her mother’s eyes.
“I wanna go home,” she whispered back.
Fuck.
“Genesis? You changed her name?”
“I did. I didn’t want her to walk around being called the same name as you.”
I didn’t even wanna mention it.
It would only leave a bad taste on my tongue.
“You’re an asshole. First, you take her away from me, and then you change her damn name? Why the hell are you here, Otis? Isn’t it enough that I’m in here? Why would you wanna rub it in my face in front of my daughter?”
I rubbed Genesis’s back to calm her.
She was trembling in my arms, and I hated that I ever opened that damn envelope.
“It was her decision, and I wasn’t going to hold her back. But I think it’s clear that she’s done seeing you,” I muttered.
“I wanna go home,” she repeated, whispering into my neck. I pressed her tighter against my body, letting her know that she was safe with me.
“This was a mistake. I’m sorry I wasted your time. I guess I was hoping that she could get at least some type of closure, seeing as you’ll be spending many more years in here.”
There were multiple reasons why she was in jail.
Drugs.
Drunk driving.
Robbery.
Child neglect, which was the biggest reason why I called the cops on her.
“So that’s it, huh? You’ll just leave again and take her away. Did you come here to show me how much she hates me now? What did you tell her I did to her to make her think I’m a monster?”
I didn’t want Genesis to hear all that.
She deserved so much better.
I placed one hand on her ear and pressed her head against my shoulder so she couldn’t hear what I was saying.
At least I hoped she wouldn’t hear.
“I didn’t tell her shit. She made her own decision, and I’m proud of her for wanting to come here. Again, this was a mistake on my end.”
I got up from the bench and looked over at the guard who had been keeping an eye on us for those short minutes.
“Leaving already?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah. Thought it would take a little longer. Guess I was wrong.”
“I’ll show you out,” he said, gesturing to the exit.
As we passed her, I heard Genesis whisper something under her breath, but I didn’t understand what it was.
I didn’t take another look at her mother, and left with Genesis in my arms.
Fuck.
I felt bad.
But then, I had no idea what I had expected from this.
As we were back outside, I walked up to the next bench and sat down on it with Genesis still straddling me.
I made her look into my eyes with my hands on her shoulders.
“You okay?” I asked, searching her face for a sign of her being all right.
The hurt in her eyes was not to miss.
She shrugged and placed her hands on my chest, her fingers playing with the buttons of my coat.
“This wasn’t how you imagined it to go, hmm? I’m sorry.”
“Is Mommy mad at me?”
Her soft voice almost broke my damn heart.
“No, of course not, kiddo. She’s not mad at you. Don’t ever think that.”
I needed to fix this.
Make her day better.
“We still got some time to go play somewhere. We can go to the park. What do you think?”
She shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip.
“Can we go home?”
I eyed her for a while before nodding.
“Of course. Come here.”
I pulled her into a hug one more time, caressing the back of her head gently before kissing her temple.
She was hurt, although she wouldn’t admit to it.
Something inside of her changed as she saw her mother, but I knew the second we’d step into our home, she’d go back to being herself.
Strong and happy.
My Genesis.
She seemed to have gotten over it already.
No words about her mother had been said since we left, and now she was sitting silently on the couch, watching her favorite show.
It was getting late, and although she didn’t seem tired, she needed to get some sleep.
And so did I.
I walked over to the couch to sit next to her, brushing back her long hair and looking at her.
“Let’s go to bed, Genesis.”
It got easier each day to get her to come to bed, and she reached for the remote to turn it off.
Without hesitation, she got up from the couch and took my hand, pulling me up and toward the bedroom.
I went willingly.
Our nights together were my favorite.
If people knew we slept in one bed, they probably would call the damn cops on me.