The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection

by Natasha L. Black

  Part of me was afraid if I said anything about it, it would all go up in smoke. As if somehow Grant had manufactured the entire thing and was just testing me. Instead of commenting on it, I helped get everything ready to discharge Remy so Grant could bring him back to his house.

  “Can Mommy come?” my little boy asked through the fog of his medication when we woke him gently to tell him it was time to leave.

  “Yes,” Grant said. “If she can.”

  “Of course,” I said without hesitation. “Of course I’ll come with you.”

  Remy offered a hint of a smile before fading back off to sleep. I instantly looked over at Vince. He hovered across the room, looking out of place and unsure of what he was supposed to do. My stomach sank just a little. But I was happy he was there. It felt good just to be able to hold his hand or give him a hug when I needed it. I walked over to him and took his hand.

  “Will you come?” I asked.

  “Do you want me there?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. I’m going to ride with Grant so I can be with Remy, but please follow us.”

  Something flickered across his eyes, but he nodded his agreement. That had to be enough for me. I was in survival mode right then. It was minute to minute, just getting to the next second and making sure my son was okay. I would deal with everything else later.

  A wheelchair got Remy out to the car, but it was a challenge getting him in. He grimaced and whimpered but didn’t cry out or protest. I was so proud of him, but it also made my heart ache to see. He was so little. He shouldn’t have to go through something like this.

  The ride to Grant’s house was silent and tense. I sat in the back seat with Remy, my arm wrapped around my little boy as he rested his head on my chest. Every now and then, I looked up in the rearview mirror to see the look on Grant’s face. He focused in front of him, his expression unchanging. A couple of times during the trip, his eyes flickered up into the mirror. But they weren’t looking at me. Instead, they glanced through the back window to see Vince’s truck following close behind.

  That was the first moment I wondered what he was thinking about Vince. He obviously knew the family Vince came from. Not just because Nick was my best friend, but because the two wealthy families inevitably knew many of the same people. The Freeman family tended to avoid the wealthy social circles. That was one thing I’d quickly learned about Nick. They didn’t have much patience for the pageantry and exclusivity their wealth and influence provided them.

  But that didn’t mean their acquaintances didn’t overlap. Especially in the realm of business. The Freemans were well-known, both for their racing company and for the other businesses they dabbled in. I wasn’t too surprised they didn’t know the Waters family. Grant and his parents were far from the type of people Vince associated with most of the time. But they knew who he was.

  I could still remember the first time I mentioned Nick to Grant. We weren’t even that close at the time. He and I were in the same friend groups growing up and had gotten closer in high school. Then he headed off to college. We had just really started reconnecting and building our friendship when I got my wild hair and ventured off into the world… and found Grant.

  Grant and I were still in that dreamy early phase when I mentioned Nick. That phase was very short in my relationship with Grant. In fact, the conversation about Nick and his family was one of the first indications things were already starting to go downhill. He was immediately suspicious and wanted to know how well I knew Nick and the other Freeman brothers. He talked about their business ventures and the times when his father and theirs came up against each other.

  It was obvious there was tension between the families, but not from the Freeman angle. Instead, the Waters family looked at them in a strange combination of envy and disdain. That was probably when Grant started wondering about my designs on Nick. Now that I was linked with Vince, I wondered what kinds of thoughts were running through Grant’s head and how it might affect the situation we were in.

  At the same time, maybe it wouldn’t have a negative impact. After all, he had defended Vince just like he defended me. And he hadn’t said anything negative. It could have just been because of the stress and emotion of standing there looking at our son in the hospital bed. But part of me hoped it was something kinder.

  When we got to Grant’s house, we carefully brought him inside. As I settled him into bed and pulled the blankets up over him, he woke up. The medication had worn off, and now he didn’t want to go back to sleep. I went into the kitchen and got him a Popsicle, then turned on his favorite cartoons so the sound could keep him company.

  “Can we talk?” Grant asked.

  I nodded and Vince took a step back.

  “I’ll hang out in here with Remy. I haven’t seen this episode before,” he said.

  The comment made my heart warm. He had probably never even seen the show but saying that made Remy feel important. Grant and I went into the living room and sat down. I drew in a breath, preparing myself for whatever it was he had to say. Maybe this was it. This was the moment when all the good energy he seemed to have felt throughout the day disappeared and things got nasty again. Instead, he moved to the edge of the couch cushion and looked at me with more emotion in his expression than I had ever seen.

  “Thank you for coming today,” he said.

  “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t?” I asked. “There’s nothing that would have kept me from him. Not even your mother, even if she did try her damnedest.”

  He nodded. “I deserve that. To be honest, I wasn’t planning on calling you. I’m not going to lie about that. When it first happened, I just wanted to get him to the hospital and take care of him myself. Mom convinced me it would just complicate things having you there. But when Remy asked for you, there was nothing I could do. It made me realize just how much my parents had gotten under my skin.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Grant let out a breath and shook his head. “You can come visit him whenever you want to. And take him for outings or over to your house, too.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Grant said. “I never wanted to stop you from seeing him completely, Lindsey.”

  I wasn’t sure I really believed him. After all, the papers clearly said that he wanted to have full custody without any visitation. But the admission that his parents got to him spoke volumes.

  “If you really mean that, then I’ll be back in the morning,” I said. “I was actually planning to visit every morning if I could.”

  “I’ll see you then,” he said. “Remy will be really happy.”

  The conversation was brief but civil, and I felt like that was all I could really ask for. I got up and went back into Remy’s room. Brushing my hand over his forehead, I leaned down and kissed him.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, baby,” I said. “Rest well. I love you.”

  “Love you, Mommy. Bye, Vince,” Remy said.

  I smiled at Vince.

  “Bye, buddy,” he said. “Have good dreams.”

  He cringed slightly, and when we got out to his truck, I looked over at him with a questioning expression. “What was that look?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “When you told Remy bye, you got a really weird look on your face,” I said.

  “I told him to have good dreams,” he said. “Was that okay?”

  “What do you mean was it okay? Isn’t that what you say to people before they go to bed? Especially children?” I asked.

  “Well, yes, but… does he dream?” he asked.

  The tone in his voice and look on his face said Vince thought I would be offended by the question. The reality was, it wasn’t the first time I’d been asked that, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last. It didn’t bother me. I would much rather people ask and find out more about Remy than to make assumptions about him.

  “Don’t worry. I wondered things like that, too, when he was born. I had no idea
what to think or what was alright to say and what wasn’t. In a lot of ways, I still don’t know. The thing is, everybody’s different. And that applies to blind people, too. That isn’t a taboo, you know. It’s not a bad word. It’s his reality. It’s how he was born. It’s all right to talk about it. And, yes, he dreams. Doctors said he dreams just like we do, only he uses the senses he has. So, he doesn’t see visual images. But he can hear and taste and smell and touch. All those things that you do in your dreams, he can do them, too.”

  Vince started driving and within seconds, all the adrenaline drained out of my body. I realized just how exhausted I actually was. Then I realized he wasn’t driving toward my apartment, but rather headed toward his house. I didn’t argue. I didn’t want to have to say good night to him yet. And I would have to go back to the hospital to get my car in the morning, anyway.

  For now, I just wanted to sleep.

  We got to his place, and I went straight to his bedroom. Vince stayed in the front of the house for a little while, leaving me with my thoughts. I sent a quick text to Nick, filling him in on what happened and thanking him for taking over checking in on the event at the bar. He already told me he’d let the crew know I wouldn’t be in Saturday night, and I thanked him for being there to help me keep my bar running.

  But there was even more important gratitude I needed to show. I hadn’t thanked Vince for being there, and he deserved to hear it over and over again.

  A few minutes later he came into the room with a glass of water, a bottle of acetaminophen, and a plate of crackers and cheese. His giant cat followed him, his tail up in the air like he was part of a processional. I waited for Vince to put everything down on the nightstand, then went and wrapped myself around him.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Just… so much. Thank you, so much.”

  He didn’t say anything but wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I closed my eyes, breathing in the smell of Vince and letting the rhythm of his breaths and the beat of his heart wash the day off me. We both probably needed to actually wash, but a shower was my lowest priority right then. I was too exhausted to stand for a lot longer, much less take a shower.

  Instead, I stripped out of my clothes and dropped one of Vince’s fresh white T-shirts over my head. We crawled into bed, and I took some of the painkillers, drank the water, and nibbled on the snack while Vince flipped through channels on the TV. My eyes were heavy, and I barely even registered the show he chose before my head dropped to Vince’s chest and I fell asleep.

  29

  Vince

  All of our plans for our big weekend together had pretty much gone out the window. But I still woke up with Lindsey pressed against my back, her arm around my waist and her leg slung up over my hip. It was exactly the way I wanted to wake up—beside her and enveloped in her warmth and smell. At least that hadn’t been completely derailed by the events of the day before.

  But it still wasn’t exactly the way it should have been. We should have woken up without a thought in our minds. Without a care to drag us down. We should have woken up naked, having fallen asleep exhausted from each other rather than drained from fear and stress.

  I immediately knew this wasn’t going to be the day we had planned. Carefully extracting myself from her hold on me, I got my phone and shot off a quick text to Nick. I wanted him to know Lindsey was at my house and reconfirmed she wouldn’t be going into the bar that night. Even if she thought she might want to, I fully planned on discouraging.

  After what she went through the night before and Remy still in a delicate condition, she didn’t need the added stress of being at work. Besides, I thought it was about time she and I had a talk.

  I didn’t bother to wait for a response from my brother before setting the phone aside again. In all honesty, I didn’t need to hear anything he had to say. Instead, I climbed back in bed with Lindsey. She murmured something in her sleep and curled over onto her other side. I slipped in behind her and cuddled up close so her body molded against mine.

  I lay there with her for a while, just enjoying the calm of being together. I knew once she woke up, things were going to start to change. There was really no way around it. They had already changed, and it was just a matter of time before we found out how much.

  A kiss on the side of her neck brought Lindsey up out of her sleep several minutes later, and she smiled as she rolled onto her back to look up at me.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  I brushed the tip of my nose against hers and kissed her. “Good morning. Did you sleep alright?”

  “About as well as to be expected,” she said. “But definitely much better than I would have if I was at my apartment. Sleeping beside you always has that effect on me.”

  I brushed the hair out of her face and stroked her cheek with the tops of my fingers as I let my eyes sweep over her features. She was so familiar, yet I felt like I was trying to memorize every bit of her. She sighed and tilted her face against my touch. We stayed that way for a few minutes before she rolled over and got her phone off the nightstand. My body immediately tensed.

  “I already messaged Nick,” I said.

  The words just kind of blurted out of me, and Lindsey gave me an odd look.

  “Alright,” she said. “That’s not who I was messaging. I was letting Grant know I’m up so he has an idea of when I’m going to get there.”

  “When you’re going to get there?” I asked. “You’re going back over to his house today?”

  “Yeah,” she said, setting her phone back down. “You heard me tell Remy last night I’d see him this morning.”

  As soon as she said it, I realized she was right. Right before we left, she told the little boy she would see him in the morning. It didn’t process then, but it hit me now.

  “So, Grant has decided to just let you come and see him?”

  Lindsey nodded. “That’s what he wanted to talk to me about last night when you were hanging out with Remy. He said I could come visit Remy whenever I wanted and could start having him on outings and at my house and stuff more.”

  “That seems like a departure from what he’s been fighting for,” I said.

  “It definitely is. And he admitted he wasn’t going to call me when he brought Remy to the hospital and wasn’t going to let me visit, but that Remy asked for me. It made him realize he needs me and that his parents have been manipulating him. He doesn’t want to take him from me completely.”

  I didn’t know how to feel about that revelation. When Grant and his parents first filed the papers, it sent Lindsey into crisis mode. And I went right along with her. That was when we tumbled into each other, when we really faced up to what we were feeling. It only got stronger the more intensely his family fought. Now the sudden shift felt too convenient.

  “Do you trust him?” I asked.

  My stomach was rolling, my heart pounding in my chest. From everything I’d heard about Grant, he was a master at manipulation and getting his way. Maybe this was just another ploy. A traumatic situation like their son getting injured could be just the thing to make him realize what he was missing without Lindsey. Or how much work it was going to be to handle his healing while listening to him asking for his mother.

  Either way, it wasn’t a leap to think this was an opportunity for him to control her again. He could be playing on her emotions and just working to get her back in his web.

  “Honestly? I really don’t know. He seemed sincere enough. But this is Grant we’re talking about. Right now, all I really care about is getting to see my son again. I’ll take it one step at a time and just keep showing up until he tells me to stop. And if he does, then I start fighting again.”

  I started to ask her about everything that had been bothering me but stopped myself. Instead, I touched a kiss to the end of her nose.

  “I’ll make breakfast,” I said. “Why don’t you hop in the shower?”

  “Go ahead and get one first,” Lindsey said. “I’m going to doze here for a litt
le bit longer.”

  I chuckled. “You’ll take any opportunity you can to sleep more, huh?”

  She grinned at me, and I headed for the shower. When I got out, I went into the kitchen and started breakfast. I was working on omelets when I felt her arms slip around my waist and a kiss pressed to the middle of my back. I leaned into her, and Lindsey put her head over my shoulder to look down into the frying pan. The smell of soap and shampoo rose up from her wet hair, and I wished I’d just brought her into the shower with me.

  The thought kept me from asking the questions waiting on my tongue. I served up the omelets I cooked alongside roasted tomatoes and hash browns. We sat in the breakfast nook and ate, then got ready to go over to Grant’s house. Lindsey had left some of her clothes at my place to make overnight visits easier, so it didn’t take long for her to be ready to go.

  I still didn’t start up the conversation I knew we needed to have as I got dressed. Every time the words came to me, I couldn’t say them. We needed to talk about everything. It would just get bigger and more impactful if we didn’t. But suddenly every moment felt more important. Something was tugging on us. I couldn’t really put words to it yet, but I felt it. Lindsey was right here with me right now, and I didn’t want to lose a minute I had with her.

  By the time we were driving away from my neighborhood, I knew it was too late to start up the conversation. I didn’t want to work her up before getting to Grant’s house or upset her before she saw her son. I put it aside, knowing I would have to go back to it at some point soon.

  Lindsey looked more and more nervous the closer we got to Grant’s house. Her fingers tugged and twisted at each other in her lap, and she kept looking over at me, then ahead through the windshield, then out the window like she didn’t know where to look or what to do. I reached over and squeezed her thigh to encourage her.