𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴 [✔]

chapter one hundred forty three.

claudiadonovan: esme barnes. thank you to aunt lucy for the balloons!

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benbarnes: esme loves being outside

lucyrdz: did she tell you that herself?🤨

amberroserevah: those little hands!!

•••

claudiadonovan: fatherhood.

lucyrdz: yes ma'am! make him work! hurry up ben jeez my abuela walks faster than you and she has a cane.

•••

claudiadonovan: beach baby 🌺

•••

"And this is the best album ever made. Don't listen to other people, they don't know what they're talking about, I do." Janis spoke to the baby, who was asleep in her mother's arms. Janis took the vinyl out of it's sleeve.

"Believe it or not, she loves when Ben plays music. He plays Sinatra to help her fall asleep." Claudia said.

"At least we have that in common. I would also fall asleep if someone played Sinatra, no offense to your English man, but Jeff Buckley is my type."

"Play Grace-"

"Of course, always."

As the intro to Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' started, Janis lowered the volume a bit so Esme wouldn't wake up. Even if she did wake up, Esme wouldn't cry. Esme was a quiet, but happy baby that loved her stuffed rabbit plushie that Ben's parents got her and loved the how her grandma Janis would dramatically recite the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody.

"I got the chance to talk to Edward in the hospital, you know when I almost," Janis stuck her tounge out playing dead. "Yeah, that. We talked and we agreed that we can be friends."

"That's great. Is that what you want?"
Janis just wanted Edward to be happy. If Edward was happy with being just friends then Janis was too.

"I'm okay with what I have now."

Then Esme reached for her mom's necklace to try to get her attention. It worked. The baby girl had enough of sleep and all she wanted was to play with whatever she could get her little hands on.

"Hey you, let's not break mommy's necklace off okay? Come on, grandma Janis has a room full of toys for you." Claudia stood up from her chair and told her mom that she was going to be in her old room. Janis had somewhat made it into a playroom for Esme even though Claudia's old stuff still occupied it.

"Want something to eat? I can make sandwiches." Janis suggested.

"Yeah, that'll be good. Thanks mom."

Claudia walked upstairs to her old room. Once she opened the door, she felt a sense of deja vu. Her room was her safe space, bringing a sense of comfort that she loved. Her walls had posters, some framed other had small rips and old tape holding them up. She had fake plants on her desk because she could never take care of a real one. She even had a favorite corner, it being where her bookshelf was. It was small, but it was her space where she could feel the most alive in. A bit dramatic, but that's always how Claudia explained it.

"This is mommy's room, Esme, you like it?" Claudia talked lowly as she entered the room. She walked around a bit, showing her daughter all the posters and magazines cut outs she collected over the years. "This woman is Stevie Nicks. She's grandma's favorite singer. And this . . ." Claudia turned her attention to a small Michael Myers poster she had next to her Stevie Nicks poster.

"Yeah, let's just skip over that one. We'll come back to it in a few years." She walked away, covering Esme's view from the horror poster she forgot she had.

"And this is a picture of your dad and me. He looks okay, I guess." Claudia smiled at a framed photograph of Ben and her during their trip to London.

To entertain her daughter, Claudia told her stories about her life from her high school graduation, her first time driving to meeting Ben and eventually meeting Nate. She wondered if he was taking care of himself. Claudia talked a bit about Nate to Esme. She didn't talk bad about him, but she didn't praise him either.

Claudia thought about one day surprising Nate in Detroit and introducing him to Esme, but she really didn't know where he even was. She really wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, she was too conflicted.