Thirtyone

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Bailey's POV

Today has been quite the hectic day and it's not even 2pm.

Hayden ended up getting a cold from playing out in the snow all weekend long. I kept telling her to wear gloves and wear more layers, but she just wouldn't listen to me. And there was that time she went out to take Nugget outside in shorts and a hoodie while it was snowing. I'm surprised that she hasn't gotten sick earlier if this is how she is in the winter.

Since she's sick, she stayed home. She should be back to work tomorrow, but she couldn't work in her condition. I've been calling to check in on her throughout the day, but she's just been resting in bed with Nugget.

Maggie has her after school class and then Jordan is going to get her and bring her home. I think she's gonna hang out at the house until I get home so that Hayden doesn't have to be responsible for Maggie while she's sick.

I've also just been hounded at work. It's like today everyone decided to throw their work onto me and leave me to fend for myself. I had been hoping to get out of work about an hour early, but the chances of that happening now are slim to none.

The good thing is that I was able to get Hayden's birthday present ordered during my lunch break, and I made us a reservation at her favorite restaurant for the night before since her family is gonna want to spend her birthday with her.

I'm definitely a little nervous to meet her family, mainly because I have a kid and sometimes parents get weird about their significant other dating a mother. She says she's told them about me and about Maggie though, and that they're excited to meet us.

I just want Maggie to grow up with a good family. Yes, Reese's parents love Maggie, but they definitely enable Reese and hate me. They think I'm the one messing up Maggie because he told them I dumped him. Of course he didn't mention the abuse and how he wasn't even there when Maggie was born. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones who put kidnapping Maggie into his head.

I want Maggie to be able to spend the holidays with a big family. I wouldn't be opposed to one year spending the holidays in London with Hayden and her family. And I'd love to be able to host a big Christmas celebration one year with both of our families together. Maybe in the future if we get married or have a kid. But thinking about that makes me excited.

Maggie deserves a normal life. No kid should have to deal with an abusive father, and I just want her life to be happy from now on. That is going to be my main goal.

My phone rings and I smile when I see it's Hayden. I quickly answer it, putting the phone between my ear and shoulder so I could keep typing an email. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, just missed you. Being home all day is boring." She complains, but she definitely sounds sick. She keeps sniffling.

"Aww, I missed you too. Did you have the soup that I left for you? Did you like it?"

"Yes I did have the soup, but I must say, it's strange having chicken noodle soup without the chicken. So I guess it was just noodle soup. But it was amazing love, thank you for making it for me."

I laugh slightly. "Can't feed my vegan meat. She might die."

"Got that right. I don't even want to know how I would react to having meat again. Or dairy."

We both laugh, "Well, I'm glad you liked it. And I already warned Maggie that there will be no playing in the snow today. You two snow bunnies could stay inside today and enjoy the warmth."

"Okay, fine we'll stay in. You said Jordan's gonna be here right? It'll be nice getting to hang out with her."

It's actually nice that my best friend gets along great with my girlfriend. Jordan was definitely right when it came to Hayden, and I wish I would have been a little more open to her sooner, but we're together now and that's all that matters. Jordan cannot stop gushing about how amazing Hayden is for me and how she better be my maid of honor for setting us up. As if I have any other friends who would take over that role.

          

"Yeah, Maggie has her after school lesson today, so she should get there a little later. I think she said she's staying for dinner, so that should be nice. I know Mags is gonna love that."

Hayden groans on the other line, "I forgot she had that today. Damn, an extra hour by myself. You're sure she has to go to that?"

I laugh slightly, "Hayden, I'm not pulling my kid out of school early just so you could have someone to play with. I know you're missing your kids and you probably want to play with them so badly, but right now you need rest and to get better. There is always tomorrow."

"I know, I know. I definitely wouldn't have been able to get through today feeling like crap. But I'm very excited to have my favorite mum come nurse me back to health." Her voice is very charming and I could just tell she's smirking.

"I hated that by the way. You do not call me mom. That's just too fucking weird." She laughs on the other end, obviously finding this exchange very amusing. "Look, I know you are super bored right now, but I'm working. And don't call the school to check in, it's your day off and you're like addicted to those kids. It's sweet of you to care, but rest!" I remind her, not wanting her to worry herself with school stuff.

She groans, but sighs. "I know, I haven't called. I will talk to you later when Maggie gets home so she could say hi. I love you, Bales."

"Stop calling me Bales, you know I don't like that one. But I love you too, I'll talk to you later."

Hayden chuckles, "Bye Bales." She hangs up the phone before I could tell her for the millionth time that I don't like that nickname. But I guess it's stuck so I should get used to it.

Another few hours fly by while I'm working, and I'm just trying to get everything done before I go home today. My phone rings at 3:15 and it's Jordan, so I pick it up.

"Hey J, what's up?"

"Nothing, just killing time before going in to get Maggie. I'm already in the parking lot. How's work? How's your girl?"

I laugh softly, "Work is stressful and my girl is hopefully sick in bed. That's what she gets for thinking she's invincible to the weather. And it shows Maggie to listen to me when I say to bundle up."

"You two are so married already. Like, come on I'm gonna vomit at how cute you are." She teased. I shake my head and smile a bit to myself. She always says that whenever I say something about Hayden.

"Or, I'm a mother and tend to mother everyone around me." I remind her. She's been on the receiving end of my mothering plenty of times since Maggie was born.

"Would you though? Marry her?"

I smile to myself, "Yeah I would. We've already talked about us and the future and we definitely want to be a little family. We're just taking our time with it, and trying to figure out our lives and the Reese thing."

"They still haven't found him, huh?"

"Nope." I sigh, running a hand through my hair, "He's gone and I just try to remind myself that we're safe and doing everything we can to keep protocols in place for the time being. But the cops said they might have found a lead on him so we're hoping that means they'll find him soon. His parent's have been talking and claim they had no idea why he would kidnap Maggie and they're saying I'm lying to get his rights taken away."

"Assholes. Hayden was literally a witness!"

"Yeah, well the attempted kidnapping and the domestic violence were two separate police reports, so they probably went to them asking about the domestic violence and when they mentioned the kidnapping they probably didn't say Hayden was the witness in that. I don't know, it's all confusing. All I care about is Reese getting caught and put in jail so I can move on with Hayden and Maggie."

Jordan sighs, "I'm gonna kill that fucker myself if I see him, I swear."

"I'd be right there with you."

We talk for a few more minutes before she hangs up to go pick up Maggie. I have a meeting now, which sucks since I won't get to talk to Maggie when she gets out of school. But I get up and go to the conference room, leaving my phone at my desk so I don't get too distracted.

The meeting was so boring. I definitely found myself wishing more and more I sucked it up and made grad school work as a single mom, just so that I could have gotten a job I liked. I've always wanted to work in publishing, but that's just a dream. At this point I know I wouldn't have the patience to sit through college courses and study. I'm definitely past that point in my life, but as boring as my job is, I'm happy here.

I get to be close to Maggie, my bosses are nice and really flexible when Maggie's schedule requires me to be somewhere during work hours. Plus I've made some friends here and I don't want to start all over. Maggie and Hayden make me happy, and they make up for the boring job I have.

My mind wanders all throughout the meeting to a future with Hayden. What our wedding would look like. If it would be big or small, and who would attend? Will we get married right away, or will we have our kids first and then get married because we've always meant to, but life got too busy. What will our kids be like? Will we get more dogs?

Those thoughts help pass the time in the meeting a lot faster.

After the meeting I just have a few more questions, so I run them by my boss as we walk over to the coffee station to each get another cup. Once I'm done with my questions, we stay for a little while, talking about the kids and how life is going. I tell her a little bit about Hayden, who she knows from her little one going to school at Little Valley. Of course I get to hear how lucky I am that I got to land Principal Young, Salt Lake Elementary School's resident hottie. I must hear that every time someone finds out I'm dating her.

When I finally get back to my desk, I sit down, checking my emails first. Since nothing came in and I only have a couple little things left to do, I pick up my phone to see if I could call Hayden and Maggie. My brows furrow a bit when I see how popular I've been.

27 missed calls from Jordan. 34 missed calls from Hayden. My heart starts to sink.

Jordan
Bailey, please pick up.

Bailey , it's an emergency. I need you to get the phone.

Bailey please.

ANSWER THE PHONE BAILEY

Hayden
Bailey , please. I need to talk to you, it's an emergency.

You have to get the phone.

At least come home. You need to come home.

Immediately I call Hayden, my heart racing and my hands starting to shake. What happened? What emergency? Is Maggie okay?

"Bailey, what the hell took so long?" She asks, her voice is loud, but shaky. She's scared.

"Hayden, is Maggie okay? Please tell me, Maggie's okay." My eyes are already tearing up because I could just feel something is wrong. My heart is telling me something happened and I was in a fucking meeting instead of by the phone.

She's quiet for a minute, but I could almost picture her in my mind. It sounds like she's pacing quickly and her breathing is a bit heavy. Listening closely, I can hear Jordan panicking on the phone just shouting 'I don't know' over and over again.

"Fuck, I should have called to check in. I should have fucking gone in, I'm so fucking sorry Bailey."

My heart keeps sinking and I shake my head, "Hayden, what's happening? Where's Maggie, I need to speak to Maggie. Put my daughter on the phone now." I am definitely panicking and causing a scene at work, but I don't give a single shit. I need to know my daughter is safe.

"Bailey... Maggie... Fuck-" she takes a breath and it sounds like she's crying. "Maggie, um... Maggie got signed out at eleven this morning to Reese."

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