All That Matters

01 | Rebirth

She stood there, a delicate tremor running through her, her eyes clouding as she clutched the court document in her quivering hand. It felt like a rebirth, a weight lifting from her soul.

It was official: she was divorced. The papers had severed the legal ties to him, and she was free to reclaim the name her father had bestowed upon her at birth. Joey's presence or influence no longer haunted her, and she yearned never to speak to him again. Yet, she couldn't escape the biological bond they'd created that bound her to him.

Leaning against her kitchen counter, the sizzle of butter in the skillet seemed distant, drowned out by her racing thoughts and the whirlwind of emotions churning in her gut. Louisiana's absurd divorce laws and Joey's relentless pursuit had stretched this ordeal over two grueling years, and the finality of it now weighed upon her. The burden had been lifted, and she could breathe again.

Her mind flickered back to the good times she and Joey had shared, even though they were buried beneath layers of pain and argument scars. Those scars ran deep, just like the unconditional love she held for their daughter, Dylan, who was the reason she couldn't wholly regret the years of her early adulthood she had wasted as his wife.

The sound of childlike chuckles and toddler tunes brought her back down to their house, a piece of the world that only belonged to the two of them.

"Dylan! I know you're not on that iPad!" Mila slid the papers back into the manila folder before turning to the stove to check on the pancakes. She flipped them, wincing a little at the burned marks against the golden brownness, but figured a little darkness wouldn't hurt anybody.

"I'm not, Mommy!" She ran into the living area that was conjoined with the kitchen, her little tennis shoes twinkling with each step. After taking the pancakes off of the heat, Mila went around to help Dylan into one of the tall chairs so she could continue to get her ready for her day. Untying her rainbow satin headscarf, Mila touched up Dylan's curly baby hairs and clipped khaki hair bows to her ponytails.

"What do you want on your pancakes?" She asked, giving her the option since she'd burned her breakfast a little bit.

"Ooh, strawberries, chocolate, and..." Dylan put her finger on her chin with a smile, excited since this wasn't a daily occurrence, "pineapples." 

"What?" Mila chuckled, her face construed in disgust as she plated the cooled pancakes. She drizzled chocolate syrup over the pancakes and used chopped strawberries to cover up the dark marks. She put the pineapples on the side so they wouldn't make the pancakes soggy.

"Chocolate-pineapple-strawberry pancakes it is." Mila put the plate in front of Dylan who wore a smile like Mila's but it was hard to tell since she didn't do it often.

The annoying ringtone of Dylan's iPad went off, leading Mila to see if it was who she believed it to be. Her curiosity faded as she picked up the tablet with a 3D butterfly case, seeing it was Dylan's father, not who she was expecting. She swiped her finger across the screen to prevent it from hanging up.

"One second." Mila spoke as soon as the line connected, hurriedly getting the thing to Dylan so she could talk to Joey. Or 'Daddy' how he'd saved himself in there when he'd bought it as Dylan's last year's Christmas gift. A way for him and Mila to avoid the awkwardness they were faced with right now.

He was lucky that Mila didn't purchase it, since Dylan wouldn't be as accessible to him if she did. She felt like she had the right to be selfish with her daughter since she was Dylan's sole caretaker from day one. Joey couldn't pretend to be an active father now that they were four hundred miles away in Atlanta. He was just an occasional FaceTime and materialistic gift giver that she'd grown to know him as, just unfortunately after they'd created a life together.