by Len Webster
He hoped and prayed she’d make it in time. Evan knew how upset she would be if she missed the birth. Her father had called her over twenty hours ago, and she rushed to the airport to catch the first flight she could get on.
Mrs. Parker had been in labor for close to a day now. Her husband told Evan to go home hours ago, but he couldn’t. Not until he knew that Mr. and Mrs. Parker’s daughter made it to the hospital. Suddenly, the loud rushing steps caught his attention, and he noticed a brunette rush to the desk.
Alexandra.
Evan got up from the chair. For a moment, he hesitated, remembering the last time he saw her. He should wait till he saw her face, to see if they were okay, but missing her had him walking to her.
It had been four months.
Four long, torturous months, and Evan couldn’t stand another minute away from her.
“My mother. She’s in labor and—”
“AJ,” he said, interrupting her.
She turned away from the nurse behind the desk, and the relief in her emerald eyes broke and mended his heart, turning his limbs to Jell-O. He had missed her for months. Loved her for even longer than that.
“Evan,” she breathed. “Is she okay?”
Before he could answer, Evan wrapped his arms tightly around her, feeling how right it was to hold her once more. She smelled like honey and fresh flowers. A fragrance that always reminded him of her.
When he broke their embrace, he looked down at her and nodded. “Come on. Let’s sit. Your dad is with her.”
AJ followed him over to the waiting room seats, placing her suitcase on the ground before they sat down. He watched her sigh and saw the tiredness on her face.
“How was your flight?”
She brushed her brunette curls back and sighed. “Flights. I had to fly to Dublin, which was fine, but then the weather turned bad, and they canceled all the flights because of the snow. I was stuck in Dublin for over eight hours, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m glad I’m finally here.”
Then she smiled.
It was flawless.
And beautiful.
And a smile he missed and dreamed of.
They were all right.
He had been so stupid not to realize it earlier.
That he loved her.
Still loved her.
But time got away from them again.
Realizing he had been quiet for far too long, he smiled and grasped her hand in his. “I’m just happy you’re here.”
That smile of hers softened as if a hint of sadness found a place in her heart. “Thank you for being here while I was in Zürich.”
Evan squeezed her hand. “Of course. Your mother is, and always will be, family to me.”
AJ glanced down at their hands and then looked back up at him. Her green eyes gleamed over with a flash of pain. Almost like lightning in the night sky, it was bright, beautiful, and frightening. “I don’t think we should be holding hands, Evan.”
“I know we shouldn’t,” he said in a tight voice. “But I can’t think of a reason that makes sense except for the fact that I miss you. A lot. I’ve missed you a lot, AJ.”
Her eyelids fluttered as she breathed, “Evan.”
He told his whimpering heart to stop.
To let its affections for her go.
That this wasn’t the time for his needs and desperate pleas.
He took her in and realized where they sat.
She’s in a hospital … maybe she hasn’t noticed just yet.
“Hey, AJ?”
She tilted her head at him. “Yeah?”
“You did it.”
“Did what?” Her brows furrowed.
He laughed as he squeezed her hand. “You’re in a hospital without looking like you’re going to throw up right now.”
AJ blinked at him, and her eyes scanned around the waiting room. Then her jaw dropped in awe. “I guess I was just so worried about my mum that I forgot. But now I’m totally aware of the smell and …”
Worry tumbled through him as he searched her face for any tells. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just proud of you since this is the first time you’ve been in a hospital and haven’t run out in a panic. Are you okay? Are you going to be sick?”
“I’m fine,” she said in a small voice before she inhaled a deep breath and then slowly exhaled it. “You’re right. This is the first time I haven’t run out of a hospital. I want to be here. I have to be here to support my parents. I’ll be okay. So have you just been waiting?”
Evan nodded. “Yeah. But while we wait, catch me up. How’s Dr. Rodahawe and everyone? How’s your research and your formula going?”
To his surprise, AJ reached up and pressed her palm softly against his cheek like she used to. Like he missed and dreamed of. “Zürich isn’t the same since you left.” She paused and bit her lip. “Evan, I miss you a lot, but we shouldn’t hold hands.”
She tried to pull away, but Evan tightened his grip, shaking his head at her. “I was your boyfriend for three years, Alexandra. Not holding your hand while you’re right here next to me doesn’t feel right. I shouldn’t have left Zürich. I shouldn’t have left you.” Then he took a deep breath. “I—”
And just as he was about to tell her he still loved her, her father burst through the doors, and announced, “Evan, I have a son.” Then Mr. Parker glanced over and noticed his daughter, and his tears ran down his face. “Alexandra, you’re here. You have a brother, my love.”
She pulled her hand from Evan’s and got up from the chair. “Can I see him?”
“Of course,” her father said.
Evan blinked at the chair she left vacant. He’d wait until the Parkers had their moment with the latest addition to their family before he returned home.
“You coming?”
He glanced over to find AJ smiling at him. “Can I?”
She nodded as she held out her hand. “Like you said, you were my boyfriend for three years, but you have been a part of our family for much longer. You can’t miss this.”
She was right. He couldn’t miss meeting her little brother. Evan stood, grabbed her suitcase and purse, and placed his hand in hers, feeling a sense of home envelop him. He was home. With her, he had always been home. Mr. Parker smiled as he led them through the doors, down the hall, and into a room on their right.
As he set AJ’s suitcase and purse on the floor, he saw Mrs. Parker—the woman who helped raise him—holding a baby boy in her arms. Her hair was slightly messy and sweat dotted her forehead. When she lifted her chin and smiled at them, he saw the tiredness and love on her face.
“Alexandra, you made it,” her mother said softly.
She released his hand and made her way to her mother’s side and kissed her temple. AJ smiled at her baby brother. “I’m so proud of you, Mum. He’s so cute. Did you pick a name?”
Her mother smiled. “Sebastian Marcus Parker.”
She glanced up at her mother. “Sebastian?”
“Danny’s middle name. I had to name my son after him. He was the one who inspired me to become a chef, and he continues to inspire me. Besides your father and my brother, he has been the only man in my life who has made it better. Well, that’s not true …”
“It’s not?” AJ asked, sounding confused.
Mrs. Parker lifted her chin and smiled at Evan, causing him to still under her loving gaze. “The moment you came into my life, Evan, you made it better, too.”
His heart clenched at Mrs. Parker’s words. Words she had no idea meant the world to him. He had never really known his mother, but he knew a mother’s love because of Clara Parker. She had no business loving and taking care of him, but she did. And Evan would never stop being thankful for her love.
Evan brushed his tears away as he watched AJ blink hers free. “You made my life be
tter, too, Mrs. Parker. You gave me a family I love. Thank you.”
“You’ll always have a family with us,” Mrs. Parker reminded. After his relationship with her daughter ended, Mrs. Parker had told him those very words when he returned home from Switzerland. “Alexandra?”
AJ stared at him before she pressed her lips together and glanced down at her mother. “Yes, Mum?”
“Would you like to hold your baby brother?”
She blinked in surprise, and her body tensed with uncertainty. “I wouldn’t know how.”
Her father set his hand on Evan’s shoulder, tearing his focus from the sight before him. “Thank you, Evan, for being there for Clara when her water broke and for driving her to the hospital.”
“Of course, Mr. Parker.”
Then Mr. Parker let out a soft sigh. “And thank you for being there for my daughter. You were good to her even after the end.”
His heart broke at her father’s reminder, and he focused on his ex-girlfriend. He watched as she held her brother for the first time and the wonder exploded in her eyes as she whispered to him.
And at that moment, he saw it.
He had always known she was all he had ever wanted, but seeing her cradle Sebastian was all he needed to see.
He wanted it for himself.
Someday, he wanted it.
When she was ready. When the stars and their universe collided and brought them together again, and they were bonded atoms once more. One day, he wanted it all with her. He wanted this sight for himself.
Alexandra holding our son or daughter in her arms.
The sight almost brought him to tears as determination and hope flourished in his chest. But he would have to wait. Wait until Alexandra Parker finished living her dreams in Zürich without him. Wait until the day she was ready.
And wait until her heart was ready for him once again.
The soft knocks on his front door had Evan glancing up from his laptop. After Evan left Zürich, Mr. Parker had helped him find some small marketing and management consultation jobs while he applied for bigger firms. Evan’s current client was a small stationery company that needed advice on a new business model. It had been countless nights of working through the model so he could a draft a report with his findings and recommendations. Just as Evan was about to ignore the late-night visitor, he heard several more knocks. Sighing, he saved his report and got up from the kitchen table where he was working.
Rubbing the kink in his shoulder, Evan made his way out of the kitchen, down the hall, and to the front door. Once he reached it, he flicked on the porch light and then opened the door, surprised to see his ex-girlfriend in pjs and a thick coat.
“Alexandra,” he breathed, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. “It’s late. Are you okay? Is Seb okay?”
She smiled and then nodded. “It’s stupid, me being here. But …” She sighed. “I have a flight back to Zürich in the morning, and I love Seb, but he keeps crying every two hours. And that would be okay, but Dr. Rodahawe has me on assignment as soon as I land. I’m so sorry, but can I sleep on your couch tonight?”
“Wait,” he said, confused. “You just got here.”
“Yeah, four days ago.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “And you’re already leaving?”
She chewed her bottom lip before she said, “Yeah. They need me back at the institute. Plus, I’m almost done with my formula.”
And for the first time in their entire relationship, he asked, “Can’t you stay?”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t, Evan. I can’t stay.”
“So this is your last night?”
She nodded.
His heart broke into fragments that would never heal the right way ever again.
He was lost without her.
He’d somehow managed to survive four months without her.
Evan stepped forward, throwing his heart, reason, and restraint in the wind as he cupped her face in his palms. “I love you,” he whispered. “I still love you. Please say you love me, too.”
Her eyes glazed over. “I do love you, Evan.”
It was all he needed as he crashed his lips to hers.
His ex-girlfriend threaded her fingers through his hair as he walked them back into his warm house, kissing her as if his life depended on it. And in sweet relief, she kissed him back with as much urgency, love, passion, and want.
“Evan,” she moaned as she kicked the door closed.
“Stay,” he begged as he pressed her body against the door. “Please, God, please stay.”
His hands left her cheeks and gripped her coat, ripping it open. Once she shrugged it off, AJ grasped the hem of his T-shirt and lifted it over his head, dropping it on the floor.
He panted as he ended their kiss and stared into her beautiful green eyes. “Please, Alexandra. Please stay with me,” he begged one last time.
She reached up and cupped his face, gently brushing her thumb across his cheek. “Just tonight, Evan. I can only stay for tonight.”
His heart ached. But it was all he could have. All she’d let him have.
He slipped his hand under her tank top and grasped her hip, pressing her body against him. “Just tonight,” he agreed in a tight voice. Then his forehead met hers. “But just know I’ll still love you after tonight.”
Waking up to an empty bed hadn’t been what Evan expected. Sure, he knew deep down that she’d leave, but he had hoped some time during their night together she would change her mind. He had hoped as he made love to her, she would realize that it was him. That she had to stay with him.
Be with him.
Have the life they had worked so hard to have.
But it was evident when he woke up alone that he hadn’t done enough.
When he woke up, he sat on his bed and thought about their night over and over again. What he could have done to make her stay. What he could have said to change her mind. But it didn’t matter. She was leaving. She was returning to Zürich and taking his heart with her. Taking in a deep breath of the cold morning air, he walked across the Parker’s driveway and approached the front door to find AJ hugging her crying mother.
“I’ll be home again soon,” AJ promised as she wiped her mother’s tears away, her father looking on as he held her baby brother.
“Hey, Evan,” Mr. Parker greeted.
His ex-girlfriend turned and faced him, her sad smile crippling his heart. “Hey,” she said in a soft voice. The horn from a cab echoed, and she glanced over at the car. “I better get going. Traffic to Logan is gonna be insane.” Then she bent down and kissed her brother. “I’ll see you soon, Seb. Don’t grow too much while I’m away.”
“Christmas?” her father asked.
She nodded. “Christmas.” She glanced back at Evan and stepped toward him. The sadness in her eyes was so hard to look away from. She reached up and pressed her palm against his cheek like she did last night when he made love to her. “I love you, Evan. And I don’t think I ever told you enough how much I loved you being my boyfriend. How much I appreciated you coming to Zürich for a year to be with me. I don’t know when I’ll be home again. I took the job.”
He stilled. “Three more years …?”
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “Three more years in Zürich at the institute. I won’t be an assistant anymore but a researcher.”
Broken.
Her news broke him.
But she was achieving her dreams.
And that was all he had ever wanted for her.
Suddenly, the horn from the cab erupted once more. This time, it rang longer and louder. At that moment, he saw the flash of the future in her eyes.
It’s still there.
He’d seen it as he made love to her.
Saw the hope for their future together.
She got on her toes and pre
ssed her lips against his. “I’ll still love you after I leave.” AJ pulled her hand away and then smiled at her family. “I’ll call you both once I land in Zürich. I love you all.”
Evan watched as the love of his life wheeled her small suitcase to the cab. The driver got out, then lifted the trunk and placed it inside. She made her way to the car, pulled on the door handle, and slipped inside. Once the door closed, he watched the cab drive away, taking her with it.
He stood there long after the cab had disappeared from his sight.
So did her parents.
Evan spun around and took in the sadness on Alexandra’s father’s face.
He cleared his throat and straightened his spine, ready to finally ask him.
“Mr. Parker, I think we need to have that talk.”
82 Pb
lead
ALEX
Now
“Y-you’re pregnant?” her best friend uttered. Her piercing blue eyes were wide with shock, amazement, and wonder. Savannah shook her head in disbelief, her lip trembling as if she were coming to terms with the news.
Alex nodded. “Yes. I am.”
Savannah tensed. “Oh, my God!”
“Yeah?”
“It’s Landon’s, isn’t it? You’ve been so tight-lipped about what happened between you and him while you were in England. I can’t believe he’s—”
“Savannah,” Alex said, interrupting her best friend’s quick assumptions. “It’s not Landon’s.”
Alex didn’t think it was possible, but Savannah’s eyes widened even farther as her mouth gaped. “It’s not …” She leaned forward and whispered, “Brandon’s, is it?”
To her surprise, Alex let out a light, amused laugh. “It’s not Brandon’s. We’re friends. You know that.”
“Your baby could have had an English accent, and a nice one, too.” Savannah leaned back against her chair. “So if it’s not Landon’s, and it’s not Brandon’s …” She pressed her lips tightly together as hope resonated in her eyes. “You know who I’d want, but I’ll let you tell me.”