Trapped by Love

12: "And who is this little one?

 “Mom, I can go to the store by myself!” I cried once more as we both exited the car in the grocery store parking lot.

It had been almost three weeks since the almost accident, but she wouldn't let me forget it. She tried to come everywhere with me. Even work. I could watch out for myself, it was that one time, but try telling a protective mother that. It doesn't work, I speak from experience. I had looked down for a second and the cars are supposed to yield to pedestrians, but he didn't. So is it really all my fault?

“I would believe you Kayla, if it wasn’t three weeks ago that you were almost hit by a speeding vehicle.” She stated starkly as I leaned down to retrieve Tessa from her car seat.

“I didn’t get hit though! I’m completely fine.” I said as I lifted Tessa into my arms and followed after my mom while she choose a cart.

She placed a blanket in the carts seat to protect Tessa from whatever germs where present while we were walking through the store. Tessa was in the phase of putting everything in her mouth and I was worried about her getting sick because of it. Mom said she was starting early; normally it wouldn’t happen until she was eight months. Tessa seemed to be growing up faster than most in our eyes.

“Do you need me to drive the cart this time Kayla?”

“No mom, I can handle it.” I whined as we walked into the store. She had been treating me like I was six for the last three weeks. Even when I went to work she would drive me and pick me up as if I was attending the daycare instead of working at it.

Tessa loved the daycare children she was with and it made me feel better to help out my mom then just living with them again. I didn’t like feeling like I was imposing on them.  Being able to get out of the house and pay for the things that Tessa and I needed made me feel a little bit better until my mom decided that I was still too much of a child to handle it.

“Let’s get the meat first.” My mom said as I pushed the cart through the store and picked up other products along the way.

There wasn’t much to get but because of my almost accident my mom didn’t trust me to go to the store with Tessa by myself. She also hadn’t stopped talking about finding the man that saved me and thanking him. She didn’t let it drop ever, she wanted to come every day and find Christian and pray that she could thank him properly somehow.

Frankly, I didn’t think it was possible to do. I highly doubted he was going to be here whenever we came again.

“Kayla, be careful you almost ran into that cart.”

“Mom, I’m fine.” I stated just as my cart collided with another. I glanced to see my mom giving me a face that said, you were saying? “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. It’s my fault.” I stammered as I looked over to see a familiar and handsome face.

“Hello again Kayla. I always seem to find you when you aren’t paying attention.” He smiled as his magnificent blue eyes hit mine. I could stop the blush that was forming on my cheeks so I looked down at Tessa in the baby seat.

“And who is this little one?” Christian asked as he smiled at Tessa.

I felt a lump grow in my throat, I had let myself believe that such an attractive man could like me, but what would he think when he knew I had a kid. There was no way someone I had just met would be able to wrap his mind around another man’s son who I wasn’t even married to.

“She’s mine,” I said as Tessa reached for my hand to hold.

“Oh,” Christian stated in surprise. “So you’re married then?”

I hesitated for a moment, “no, I’m not.” Let the judgment of an underage, unmarried mother begin, I thought to myself.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Mistakes happen, but sometimes they make our lives better. Just look at this little one, she is just beautiful and shows that something precious can come out of a mistake.” He said with a smile as he reached his finger out to Tessa so she could hold his finger like she was doing to me.

Normally Tessa shied away from strange men, since she only has one man in her life. She typically pushed closer to me for an okay, but this time she took her attention from me to Christian. I glanced at my mother in shock while Tessa and Christian were busy.

“Children are like animals, they have a way of knowing how a person is.” My mom whispered as she glanced back and forth between Christian and I.

I decided at that moment to take a chance and use my mom’s desire to thank Christian for saving me. What’s the worse he could do? Say no?

“Would you like to come to dinner at our house? We want to thank you for helping, I mean saving, me the other day.” I said, as he suddenly looked nervous. I may have over stepped the boundary, even if it was my mom’s idea. “You don’t have to, we just wanted to thank you but you’re able to decline. Please don’t feel pressured!” I emphasized as he put his hand up to stop me.

“It’s not that. I actually was going to ask you out on a date, but how about this, I will come to dinner, on one condition,” he said as he looked to me for the okay to continue. “You let me take you out on a proper date sometime.”

I felt my jaw drop at his words. He had just asked me out on a date in front of my mother after learning that I had a child and we invited him to dinner. I can’t imagine a stranger time to ask, but then again I had never met someone in such an unorthodox way before either.

“Can I ask why?” I questioned curiously.

“I had a feeling about you when we first met, and I just want to see if it’s right.” Christian stated as he flashed me a soft nervous smile.

“I would love to.”