1 Finding Blake

"MOMMYYYYY!!!! Where's daddy?! Why haven't you found him yet?" McKenna Adams held her head in her hands as the now age old question was asked yet again by her daughter Amber. Jasmine, her twin sister, was also on the scene, looking at her mother with her sapphire blue eyes, tears threatening to spill out.

"Girls, you know I've been looking for him as hard as I can. Auntie Jess is still out there searching." She didn't have to wonder what had brought it up this time. They had gotten into yet Another fight at school with Stephanie Miller, Again, over the fact that they were still without the one thing they'd been asking for since finding out that dad's were a thing other kids had. 

"You work too much to find him though, you're not looking!" Jasmine piped up. This would also be true but poor McKenna didn't even know where to start looking, hence the reason she had a long standing account with her private investigator friend Jessica Hopkins that was regularly paid for in baked goods. 

"That meanie Stephanie at school said that we don't have a dad because he doesn't want us. She said we're too ugly for him to stick around and love us." Amber said angrily. "But you always tell us how beautiful we are so we know she's liering! He just doesn't know about us yet, right momma? So you gotsta find him!" McKenna grabbed her girls into a big hug. 

"I promise you that we'll find him soon my sweets, just give momma some more time please." She didn't know how long it would take but she was definitely going to be praying hard that Jessica found him soon because she didn't know how much longer she could handle Mrs. Millers attitude or her daughters snotty remarks towards her own daughters. She was always acting like she was better than her because she was married and stayed home with her kids, unlike McKenna, who worked full time at her shop, (that she owned herself thank you very much), and was an unwed single mother of twins. 

The teachers weren't of the same mindset, it was 2023 after all, and they did what they could to keep the girls from fighting but they couldn't always monitor everything that the girls said and did to each other.

Hence the black eye that Stephanie was now sporting from the toy sauce pan that had been tossed at her by Jasmine with a very angry Mrs. Miller threatening to sue her for physical and emotional damage to her precious angel, ignoring the emotional damage done to her girls by Stephanie's unkind words. 

The teachers had reassured her that there wasn't any basis for a case, they're just six years old after all, but it was still one more headache to have to listen to her go on about it for half an hour. McKenna could only hope for a miracle, because being 2 months into school and dealing with yet another fight was not what she could handle right now.

 ****2 weeks later****

McKenna could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"McKenna? Did you hear me? I'm like 98% sure I found him! He has the same mouth and eyes as the girls, a younger half brother named Jackson, 2 full siblings, Gunner and Sophia, grandparents Elijah and Grace, divorced but remarried after 6 months in his younger years. He's a perfect fit! And nearly impossible to find, his family keeps their information locked up tighter than area 51."

Jessica Hopkins, the private investigator who had been helping McKenna look for Blake, tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and laughed mockingly. "Only took me seven Years, but I did it! The girls are going to be so excited!"

McKenna clutched the phone harder and said "Yeah, lets not tell the girls Just yet. Thank you Jess, I can't believe...wow. I need time to process this. Can you reach out to him for me still?" she asked nervously.

"Of course! We're just asking for a paternity test? To make sure he's the right guy?"

"Yeah, just that. And again, don't tell the girls yet. Consoling two six year old's isn't on my list of things I want to do this week."

"Yeah, you need to perfect your pumpkin scones recipe before the fall season comes" Jessica said excitedly. "I can't wait for you to get it right so I can eat some!"

McKenna giggled softly "Well actually I just perfected it this morning so I'll be able to bake a fresh batch just for you when you come with Blake."

Jessica squealed, her blue eyes twinkling. "Well that does it! I'm off to make a call and multiple emails! The sooner I get him there in New York, the sooner I get to have your delicious pumpkin scones! Love ya girly!"

The call ended just as abruptly as it had begun. McKenna looked up around her shop as she sat down on the stool behind the counter. It was still early morning so the shop wasn't opened yet, the night sky lost to the lights of New York City.

The full glass walls at the front of the shop gave her a clear view of the street outside. She looked out at the shop with its light teal walls and cushy white booths that looked and felt like clouds. The shelves lined with pastries, the coffee machine behind the counter. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the counter. Her hazel green eyes were tired but excited, her messy black curls up in a bun and covered by a hair net.

McKenna had worked so hard to build this shop up to help her provide for her two girls, Jasmine and Amber. She had multiple offers to set up a second shop in downtown NYC but she had her hands full enough with her girls and the shop.

The black, curly haired, blue sapphire eyed girls were her whole world and a small part of her was worried that she would lose them once Blake found out about them. An even bigger part was excited to know that the girls just might have a family now. The only thing that an orphan like her had been unable to provide for them.

McKenna thought back on the summer she knew Blake. Their desperate search to find his missing brother, the times they took a break to enjoy the summer together, their last night together that resulted in the biggest miracle of McKenna's life, who had been told she'd never have kids.

McKenna only hoped that Blake would see them for the miracle that they were, the same way she saw her two darling daughters.