by Sydney Logan
“I’m doing him a favor. You know it, and so do I. You’ll let him play. You’ll let him color outside the lines. You’ll love him unconditionally. Please . . .” her voice breaks. “Please be the mother I could never be. Please let me at least give him that.”
Natasha rests her hand on her still-flat stomach. Sympathy for her unborn baby almost suffocates me. This child will have an abusive father, a selfish mother, and zero chance of growing up in a loving home.
But I can’t worry about that child.
I have a beautiful boy waiting for me at home.
A boy whose biological mother just gave him away.
To me.
Suddenly, I’m thankful that Natasha has no interest in being a mother to her son. The woman is either certifiably insane or the stupidest woman on the planet. Either way, she won’t be hurting my kid anymore.
“No more custody battle?”
Natasha shakes her head.
“And you’ll stop fighting the divorce?”
“I’ll call my lawyer tomorrow. I see no reason to delay now that I’m engaged. David and I will want to get married soon.”
With a heavy sigh, I rise from the couch, and Natasha follows me to the foyer. Before I go, I turn around and offer her a sad smile. I feel like I should say something, but words fail me. Instead, I give her a hug.
“I promise to take care of Ryder.”
“I know you will. Thank you.”
I want to say more. I want to say to call if she needs help . . . because she’s going to need help someday. But our help won’t matter if she chooses to stay.
Still, I want to try.
“Natasha, if you ever need anything—”
“I won’t. Goodnight, Olivia.”
And with that, she closes the door in my face.
It’s after midnight when I arrive back at the penthouse. The apartment is quiet except for Jackson’s voice echoing from the balcony. I find him there, pacing back and forth, while he talks on the phone. I clear my throat, and his eyes find mine.
“Never mind, she’s home.” Jackson sighs heavily and thanks the person on the line before ending his call. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I’d be gone so long.” I slide my arms around his neck, hoping to ease the tension. Jackson melts against me and holds me tight. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“You went to see her, didn’t you?”
“Yes. And it was a heavy conversation, so I’ve been driving around for a few hours. Just trying to make sense of it all.”
Jackson pulls me over to the patio bench and takes my hand in his.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, she really is sick.”
“Okay . . .”
“At first, she thought it was the flu. It’s not.”
He studies my face, waiting for more. Then realization dawns.
“She’s pregnant.”
I nod.
He laughs darkly. “I bet David’s loving that.”
“He’s not.” I take a deep breath. “Jackson, she has bruises on her face. And a black eye. I went over there to kick her ass for breaking Ryder’s heart. But her fiancé beat me to it.”
“Fiancé?”
“Yes. An abusive fiancé.”
Jackson sighs heavily and closes his eyes.
“I tried to talk to her, Jackson. I tried to make her see reason. The idea of her bringing another baby into the world makes my heart ache. But bringing a baby into an abusive relationship absolutely makes my skin crawl. But she wouldn’t listen. She just kept saying that this baby was her clean slate . . . a chance to get it right this time. And that she basically deserves David’s abuse because she’s difficult to live with.”
“Well, she’s not wrong.”
“Jackson!”
“I mean about the difficult part. She’s a nightmare to live with, no question.”
“That doesn’t mean she deserves to be abused!”
“Of course it doesn’t.” Jackson sighs softly and kisses my temple. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant at all. I’m just so tired of her hurting my son.”
“Well, that’s another thing . . . she made me promise to take care of Ryder. She basically gave me her son. She won’t contest the divorce, and she wants you to draw up whatever papers she needs to sign in order to give me legal custody. She wants you and Ryder out of her life, for good, so that she can have a fresh start with her new baby and her abusive husband-to-be. What kind of mother does that?”
Jackson grows quiet.
“I honestly don’t get it,” I continue, since he’s obviously speechless. “Doesn’t she realize that Ryder is the most amazing little boy in the world? How could she just give him away?”
With a soft smile, Jackson wraps his arms around me.
“But she didn’t just give him away. She gave him to you. For the first time in his life, Natasha did the right thing for her son. The best thing. She gave him you.”
Tears fill my eyes at the enormity of his words.
“But you didn’t need her to tell you that,” he says softly. “You realize he’s always been yours, don’t you? Since the day you walked through our door, Ryder has been yours. And honestly, so have I.”
He kisses me then, sweet and tender, under the sparkling stars in the sky. Tears trickle down my cheeks, and I cling to him, letting his sweet scent and strong arms anchor me as my emotions finally bubble over.
“Come here,” he says softly, pulling me into his lap.
I nestle myself in his arms and bury my face against his neck.
“Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Just overwhelmed, I think. It’s a lot, I know.” Jackson plays with a tendril of my hair. “But I need to ask you something, Olivia. And I need you to be honest with me.”
“I’m always honest with you.”
“I know.” He smiles. “I just want you to be sure.”
“About what?”
“About everything,” he says. “Dana told me about the job offer.”
“She shouldn’t have done that.”
“I know, but she was just worried about you.”
“There’s no reason for her to worry. I turned it down.”
Jackson gazes at me tenderly. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I want to be here. My life is here.”
“We would’ve made it work, Olivia. You should use your degree.”
“I will . . . someday. But Ryder needs me, maybe now more than ever. I have no regrets, Jackson. This is what I want. We’re a family . . . I mean, if you want to be.”
Jackson smiles and kisses me tenderly.
“Of course I want to be. I love you, Olivia, and my son loves you.”
“I love you both, too.”
Jackson reaches for my hand.
“In that case, I guess it’s time for me to make some plans.”
I nod. “You should definitely call Marcus. Natasha said she wants the divorce finalized as soon as possible.”
“I’ll call him first thing tomorrow, but I was thinking of more personal plans . . . something to make all this a little more official for all of us.”
Official?
“If you’re going to make my son the happiest boy in the world by being his mother . . .”
He whispers mother so reverently that it makes my skin tingle with joy.
“Then I think it’s only fair that you make his father the happiest man in the world, too.”
I slide my arms around his neck. “I would love to do that. Tell me how.”
His crystal blue eyes gaze at me with so much love that I think my heart might burst.
“Marry me, Olivia.”
The proposal is out of my mouth before I can stop it, but I don’t regret it. I love her. She loves me. For the first time in my life, I’m truly happy. Why wouldn’t I want to marry this woman as soon as humanly possible?
But if her shoc
ked gasp and wide, green eyes are any indication, perhaps tonight wasn’t the best time to bring it up.
“Olivia, I . . .”
She blinks rapidly and climbs out of my lap.
“Just . . . give me a minute.”
I nod. Olivia starts to pace the length of the balcony. Back and forth.
Okay, tonight really wasn’t the night.
She abruptly stops and gazes at me. I thought I was a pro at reading her face. One of the many things I love about this woman is that she doesn’t hide her emotions well. I never have to wonder what she’s really thinking because it’s always etched across her beautiful face. And in this moment, it’s obvious that she’s . . . angry?
She places her hands on her hips.
“Did you seriously just propose to me?”
Yep. She’s mad.
I clear my throat.
“I did. Maybe tonight wasn’t the—”
“Jackson, you can’t be serious.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?”
She starts to pace again. I slowly stand from my chair.
“Seriously, Olivia, why not? I mean, if you’re going to be my son’s mother, doesn’t it make sense that we—”
“A thousand things have to happen before I can be his mother! You’re a lawyer. You know this! And I don’t even know that she was serious. Or sane. As if that conversation wasn’t emotional enough, and now you . . . you propose to me?”
Olivia walks over to the edge of the balcony. With a heavy sigh, I follow her, sliding my arms around her waist and holding her close to my chest. Maybe the proposal wasn’t romantic enough. Maybe I needed flowers. Candles. Music. A ring. But I don’t have any of those things. Not tonight. All I have is me.
“Olivia Stuart, I love you.”
She exhales a shaky sigh and turns around in my arms.
“I love you, too. Love isn’t the problem.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Jackson,” she says, her voice breathless with emotion, “It’s too fast and way too soon. I’ve known you for just a few months. I don’t know your family. You don’t know mine. We haven’t even gone out on a real date.”
“You’ve met my family, and you and my sister have been best friends for years. And, if memory serves, we went to the gala.”
“Okay, we’ve had one date. But none of those things are the actual problem.”
“What’s the actual problem?”
“You’re still a married man.”
“That’s a problem that will be resolved very soon.”
Olivia smiles sadly and shakes her head.
“Jackson, I understand that our love story has been very . . . out of the ordinary so far. But I think that, when it comes to a marriage proposal, we girls dream of this moment all our lives. We have certain expectations. Maybe they’re silly, but we do.”
“So I have gone about this all wrong.”
“You have.” Olivia smiles up at me. “I want the bended knee. I want the ring you’ve chosen just for me. But most importantly, I want the man I love, the man who’s asking me to spend the rest of our lives together . . . I want to be able to say yes when he asks. And I can’t say yes tonight.”
“Because I’m still married.”
She nods and buries her face against my chest while I hold her close to me. Of course, I knew we couldn’t get married anytime soon. I just wanted her to know that this is my intention—to make her mine in every sense of the word and promise my whole heart to her. It was hers already. Maybe I just wanted a symbolic gesture to prove it.
Maybe I should have explained all that before I popped the question.
“I’m sorry, Olivia,” I murmur gently. “I just love you. And I promise, once the dust settles and I get my life in order, I will give you the proposal of your dreams.”
She smiles up at me then, and my heart beats a little faster when I see the love reflected in her eyes.
“I don’t need the proposal of my dreams. I just need you. But I need all of you.”
“The next time I propose . . . you’ll have all of me. I promise.”
The next morning, I offer to let Olivia sleep in and take Ryder to school myself. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, and I find that I love these extra moments with my son. He talks nonstop about anything and everything, and I find myself hanging on to every single word.
He’s so happy now.
So am I.
After dropping Ryder off at school, I head to my law office. My secretary meets me at the door with a cup of coffee and tells me my first appointment had to reschedule. Since I’m not due in court until after lunch, I use the free time to study some briefs. After a while, I find that my focus is on everything but the case, so I finally close the folder and toss it on my desk.
All I can think about is last night . . . and not just my ill-timed proposal.
I think about my wife. My future ex-wife.
I call Marcus and fill him in on everything that’s happened over the past few days. As much as Natasha hurt me and my son, I can’t just ignore the fact that she and her baby are in danger. Marcus offers to do some digging and promises to stop by later today.
Then, I grab a legal pad and make a list in random order.
*Have Marcus check into Natasha's allegations of abuse
*Finalize my divorce petition and custody agreement
*Prepare the Termination of Parental Rights petition
*Make Natasha sign everything!
*First Real Date with Olivia
*Meet her parents
*Give her the proposal she deserves
*Live happily ever after with my family
I smile as I gaze at the last item on the list.
Living happily ever after isn’t something I ever envisioned for myself. I’d made my choice a long time ago, not realizing I was relinquishing any hopes of having a happy life with my wife and child.
But sometimes, life gives you a second chance to make things right.
“He’s beating her, all right,” Marcus says as he makes his way into my office later that afternoon. He tosses his briefcase on my couch and loosens his tie before helping himself to a drink at the mini bar. “He bought her a mansion in Green Hills. Four domestic calls during the past two months.”
I groan and lean back in my chair. “Charges filed?”
“Of course not. Cops show up. He didn’t mean to. She forgives him. Blah blah.” Marcus takes a sip of his drink. “She’s probably getting a break now, though. He’s out of town on business, supposedly.”
“Probably cheating on her.”
“Most likely. And she is pregnant. About eight weeks along.”
“How did you find . . . never mind, I don’t want to know how you found out.” I tiredly rub my face. “You realize I have to try to help her. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.”
“I figured,” Marcus replies with a sigh. “But you know the drill, Jackson. Victims of abuse are hard to reach. Not to mention, you have a divorce and a custody battle that need your attention.”
“Those things are no longer an issue.”
“Oh?”
I tell him about Olivia and Natasha’s conversation from last night. While I talk, he’s on his laptop, looking for the Termination of Parental Rights petition. He types furiously before emailing the document to me.
“Print that TPR and make her sign it.”
“I will.”
“Do it now. You know how flaky she can be.”
“Flaky or not, I have to try to help her and her baby.”
“And we will try. Just as soon as she signs that petition, relinquishing her parental rights.” Marcus closes his laptop and snaps his briefcase. “You’re a good man, Jackson. Better than me. Let me get to work. You get that petition signed. Protect your kid. Then we’ll work on protecting hers. In the meantime, I’ll call her lawyer. Let’s get you divorced.”
Divorced. I always thought it was such an ugly word. But it
’s not. Not when it’s the best thing for everyone involved.
“So, ninety days from the day we sign the papers, right?”
“For the divorce to be final?” Marcus asks. “Yes. Three more months.”
With newfound determination, I grab the petition and my briefcase. Ninety days sounds like a long time, but when you’ve been waiting for almost nine months, ninety days doesn’t sound all that bad.
Finally, there’s a light at the end of this very long tunnel.
“I miss you.”
Olivia’s soft laugh fills the air as I drive down Natasha’s street.
“Is that why you’re breaking the law by calling me on your cell?”
“I’m not breaking any laws. I’m handsfree. And stop changing the subject.”
She laughs again. “Fine. I miss you, too. You shouldn’t have let me sleep in.”
“You needed the rest. Besides, I like taking him to school.”
“He likes it, too.”
“But I miss you. And I haven’t kissed you today. That’s entirely unacceptable.”
“Probably for the best,” she says softly. “It’s hard to form a coherent thought when you’re kissing me. If you’d unleashed those kisses when you proposed, we’d probably be in Vegas by now.”
Now she tells me.
“Jackson, are you sure we’re doing the right thing?”
“It was her idea, sweetheart.”
“I know, but . . . what if she didn’t mean it.”
As I pull into the driveway, I gaze darkly at the million-dollar mansion. One thing’s for certain about Natasha. She always gets what she wants—one way or another.
“I’m here. We’re about to find out.”
“And we’re going to help her and her baby, right?”
“We’re going to try.”
“I hope she listens. Good luck.”
I promise to call as soon as I’m back in the car. Grabbing my briefcase, I head to the front door and ring the bell. I’m surprised when Natasha quickly opens it.
“Oh. I expected a messenger. Or Marcus.”
Olivia had warned me, but I’m still unprepared for the black eye and bruised cheek.
I take a deep breath.
“Special circumstances. May I come in?”