Love, Again: A Second Chance Romance Collection

by Nicole Casey

  “Yeah, of course,” she muttered, turning away. “See you at work.”

  She was gone, leaving me to stare at Blake in shock.

  “Family reunion?”

  Blake wouldn’t meet my eyes but there was misery written on her face.

  “What was she talking about, Blake?”

  “I’ve been trying to tell you this for weeks, Mal but every time…” She paused and blinked.

  “Tell me what?” I growled but I already had a feeling I knew what she was going to say.

  “Mal, you have to understand, I knew when it happened that Jake was bound to be put in a bad situation if the truth came out. Everything that was happening with Gray and Ella—”

  “He’s mine?” I gasped, the wind knocked entirely from my lungs. “Jake is my son?”

  She nodded, biting on her lower lip. Her eyes were filled with tears and she shook her head.

  “I didn’t want to bring a kid into the madness between our families and—”

  “ENOUGH ABOUT OUR FAMILIES!” I screamed, pounding my fists against the table. “That’s been your excuse for everything! EVERYTHING!”

  The tables around us stopped to stare at us but I didn’t notice. I was furious with Blake, furious with myself.

  “No!” I said suddenly, laughing. “It can’t be. You were only a few months pregnant when I found out about him…”

  “I lied to everyone,” she muttered. “I told everyone that I was less pregnant than I was. I told my family he was premature and no one saw him for months because I was here. They had no way of knowing any different.”

  “You kept my son from me for six years!” I howled, unable to control myself. “How could you do that, Blake? That’s my kid! I had every right to be with him, to see his first steps—”

  “Is everything okay here, Miss?”

  A manager appeared at the table and gave me a disapproving look. Tears had begun to fall down Blake’s face as she nodded.

  “It’s fine. We’re leaving.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “She said she’s fine!” I roared. “Get us the bill!”

  The man seemed unsure but when Blake nodded at him he pivoted and left us alone.

  “I want to meet him. Right now!”

  Blake’s spine stiffened and she shook her head.

  “Not when you’re like this. It’s late and—”

  “I don’t give a shit! I’m not spending one more minute away from him, Blake and you can’t keep me from him!”

  Blake’s jaw tightened.

  “You will meet him, Malcolm, when the time is right.”

  I don’t think I’d ever been so angry. I wanted to flip the table, to grab her and shake her, demand to know what she was thinking, why she would rather be a single parent than tell me about my own kid.

  And then it struck me; she thought I’d be a bad father.

  I recalled all the times she’d called me out on being a man-whore. She thought I would be a poor role model for a kid.

  Just like a switch had been flipped, I felt all the rage deplete and melt away into a puddle of sorrow.

  “Shit,” I muttered, burying my hands in my face. “Shit, I’m sorry, Blake.”

  She was stunned by my about-face—I didn’t need to look at her to know that.

  “No,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I should have told you…I wanted to tell you…”

  She trailed off and collected her thoughts.

  “Mal, I was so confused and our parents were complicating matters. You had just started your master’s. I wasn’t going to pull you out of school to raise a baby. I thought…I thought after Ella and Grayson got divorced then maybe we could…I don’t know, I just thought that at some point, I’d get the balls to tell you but the years just went by and I…it just was never the right time. It’s no excuse and I deserve your anger but it wasn’t done maliciously. I only ever wanted to do right by Jake.”

  I stared at her mournfully.

  “And you thought Jake being fatherless was doing right by him?”

  Blake looked as miserable as I felt but I could see she did regret her decision even though it was too late for that.

  I’d never be able to trust her again, not after this. How could I?

  The server slipped the bill onto the table and she reached for it. I let her. I didn’t have the energy to fight her on anything anymore.

  I had a son, a fully-grown child who knew nothing about me. The woman I had been pining for had betrayed my trust and kept him from me for years.

  Everything I thought I knew was an illusion and I was devastated.

  “Mal, go home,” Blake told me softly. “I will arrange for you to meet Jake but you need to go home and process this right now.”

  I couldn’t look at her, my heart filled with disappointment.

  I should have listened to my parents. The Mavises were all trouble, every last one of them.

  And now I’d procreated with them.

  Blake was right about one thing—we’d never hear the end of this from our parents.

  I didn’t go to work the next day and I was sure Blake was relieved I didn’t show but I also didn’t hear a word from her.

  I spent the day envisioning what it would be like to meet my son for the first time.

  There were a dozen scenarios that played out in my head but I knew in my heart that none of them would apply. It was going to be so much different than I could imagine. I couldn’t exactly introduce myself as his father, not when Blake hadn’t told him anything about me.

  Or had she?

  Around noon, the front desk rang.

  “Mr. Laurier, you have a Miss Mavis downstairs asking to come up.”

  My impulse was to refuse her but of course I didn’t.

  “Send her up.”

  I hadn’t bothered to change out of my pajamas but I didn’t care. It was Blake after all. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress her.

  She rang the bell and I inhaled sharply, determined not to lose my temper with her as I stalked toward the door.

  But when I opened it, I stood, stunned. She had a little boy with her, one which I would have known was my kid if I’d ever seen him before.

  He looked exactly like me at his age.

  “Hi,” Blake said quietly. “This is Jake.”

  Jake cocked his head to the side, another trait I recognized at my own, his dark hair a little too long and falling over his ear as he eyed me curiously.

  “Do I know you?” Jake asked and I almost sobbed.

  “Can we come in?” Blake asked and I realized they still stood in the hallway.

  “Yeah,” I managed to say as I held the door open for them.

  “Hi Jake.” I turned my attention fully to him and he smiled at me lopsidedly. “No, we haven’t met yet. I’m…”

  I gulped back what I wanted to say.

  “I’m—”

  “This is your dad, Jake,” Blake told him gently. “You remember I told you that you’d get to meet him one day soon.”

  Jake’s eyes lit up and he stared at me in wonderment.

  “Are you really as smart as Mommy says you are? She says you’re a scientist!”

  My chest filled with an emotion so strong, it almost knocked me to my knees.

  “I’m a scientist, yes,” I breathed. “Does your mom tell you about me?”

  “Of course,” Jake replied, making himself comfortable on my suede leather couch. “She talks about you all the time. She says you do important work which is why I haven’t met you yet.”

  He looked around the condo.

  “You have some cool stuff.”

  I nodded, chewing on the insides of my cheeks. So Blake had told him about me. She hadn’t tried to keep him from me entirely. Still, could I trust her?

  “Do you like video games?” I asked. “I have an Xbox One X if you want.”

  I looked at Blake worriedly.

  “If your mom says it’s okay.”

  “Oh Mommy, pleas
e?”

  “He’s your dad, Jake. He has just as much say in what you do as I do.”

  Jake’s face was bright with happiness.

  “Cool!”

  “Let me set him up and I’ll be right back,” I told Blake. “Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge.”

  I hurried toward the bedroom with Jake in tow.

  “You’re cool,” Jake told me when I turned to leave. “I’m glad you’re my dad. I had a different picture of you in my head.”

  “Oh yeah?” I chuckled. “How so?”

  “I dunno. I thought you were going to be a nerd like Mommy.”

  I didn’t mean to laugh but I couldn’t help it.

  “Your mom is a special lady, Jake,” I told him. “Even if she is a nerd.”

  He nodded before turning back to his game.

  “I know. She’s the best.”

  Yeah. She really is.

  I made my way back out to the living room where Blake was sipping on a glass of water.

  “He’s a great kid,” I told her gruffly. “You did good.”

  She pursed her lips together as if she was waiting for the caveat but there wasn’t one.

  “I know you thought you were doing the right thing, Blake but that doesn’t change the fact that what you did was so wrong, no matter your reasons.”

  “I know, Mal. You think I don’t know that?”

  I sighed and looked down at my hands.

  “I’m not sure what to do or say from here. Obviously, I want to be a part of Jake’s life.”

  “And you will be—as much as you want to be.”

  “I want to be fully in his life. Every day, picking him up from school, taking him to karate—”

  “Soccer.”

  “Whatever,” I grunted. “I want to be his father. I want to make up for lost time.”

  She nodded.

  “We can work out a schedule,” she murmured. “He can spend alternate nights here or whatever. We’ll figure it out.”

  I raised my head and grunted again.

  “You’re such an ass, you know that?” I snapped and surprise registered on her face.

  “I wasn’t being sarcastic. You can see him any time you want!” she protested.

  “No, Blake, I’m saying I want us to be a family. I don’t want to share custody with you. I want us to be together under the same roof, not dodging our parents or co-workers. I want us to not give a shit for once in our lives and give our son the stability he deserves.”

  Relief flooded Blake’s face and she nodded vehemently, stepping toward me tentatively.

  “I want that too,” she whispered. “I think I’ve always wanted that.”

  I took the water from her hands and drew her toward me, embracing her.

  “I’m still madder than hell at you,” I told her truthfully. “But I can’t spend another six years chasing you. I’m just getting too old for that shit.”

  She laughed and returned my hug.

  “You are getting old,” she agreed but there was a sob in her voice.

  “I love you, Blake Mavis,” I told her softly, kissing the top of her head. “Even if we aren’t even friends.”

  Epilogue

  BLAKE

  Three Months Later

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Mal asked and I whooped with laughter.

  “Are you kidding?” I replied, looking into the backseat where Jake was fast asleep. “I’d rather dissect my own spleen today.”

  “You’ll do great,” he lied. “Just follow my lead.”

  “Or you can follow mine.”

  I wiped my palms nervously over my skirt and flipped down the visor to look at myself. My makeup had held somehow and I took that as a good sign even though it really wasn’t. I was just seeking out omens where I could.

  We were heading back to Sterling, together, as a family.

  No one had told either of our families anything and we had decided, Mal and I, that we were going to spring the news on them in person.

  It was Thanksgiving and for some reason, Mal seemed to think that was a good a time as any to do this so I had just agreed.

  “What do you want to bet my mom insists on a DNA test?” Mal joked and I balked at the idea.

  “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  “Of course,” he replied quickly but I wasn’t sure he was. I knew I had to be prepared for anything the Lauriers threw at me, no matter how unpleasant but I had also made it abundantly clear to Mal that I would not stand for Jake being abused in any way whatsoever.

  “Neither will I,” he replied firmly. “Trust me, if anything inappropriate is said to him, we’re out of there. That’s why we’re driving.”

  “Oh. And I thought we were driving to settle my already raw nerves.”

  Mal cast me a sidelong look and grinned.

  “You’re doing fine,” he insisted. “We both are.”

  He pulled the car in front of his house and stopped, looking at me wryly.

  “You want to start at your place or mine?” he asked and I shrugged.

  “Let’s do yours first. My mom’s shrieking is not something I’m ready to hear right now. Let’s break Jake in kindly.”

  “I like your scientific approach.”

  We moved from the car and I reached in the back to collect Jake in my arms as Mal strode up the front walk, presumably to forewarn his parents. He rang the bell and turned back to me as I made my way up with Jake still sleeping in my arms.

  Ella answered the door, her face streaked with tears. She gaped at us in surprise.

  “M-Mal, what are you doing here?”

  Mal looked at me and I gritted my teeth. Tears could only mean more drama and I wondered what we’d walked into.

  “It’s Thanksgiving, Ella,” he reminded her, pushing his way into the foyer. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

  “In the living room with Grayson and her parents.”

  She paused and stared at Jake, a strange expression crossing over her face. I almost felt the need to hide him from her but I didn’t.

  “Hi Ella,” I said when she didn’t acknowledge me at all and then I realized what she’d said. “Wait—Grayson and my parents are here?”

  She nodded.

  “We have an announcement.”

  “Of course you do,” Mal and I chorused. Ella scowled and turned to move back toward the back room.

  “Not to be outdone by Ella and Grayson,” Mal muttered and I snickered but my pulse was racing. Whatever they were doing there could only mean trouble for Mal and I but I wasn’t going anywhere. We’d made a pact to see this through and if they wanted to fight with us about our choices, well, what did we care? We were in California. We could ignore Skype calls and emails until we were drunk enough to deal with them.

  Or so we told ourselves.

  “Malcolm! Blake!”

  All of the parents cried out to us in surprise. My mom rushed to kiss Jake on the forehead and he stirred but he didn’t wake.

  “What are you doing here?”

  I caught Grayson’s eye but to my surprise, he looked away almost guiltily.

  “We came to talk to you guys,” I replied, gently laying my son on the sofa next to my dad. Instantly, my father, embraced the boy and smiled warmly at me.

  “No! We need to talk to you first!” Ella insisted. “We called ahead!”

  “Go ahead,” Mal sighed. “God forbid we steal your thunder.”

  “Gray and I have an announcement to make,” Ella declared, rising from her spot.

  “Let us guess—you two are back together!” Mal chortled and Ella glared at him.

  “Well yes…but we’re also having a baby.”

  The uproar did cause Jake to wake and I groaned to myself. I hadn’t wanted him to be awake for the drama to unfold but I really should have thought it through better. Of course there was always going to be drama where these people were involved.

  “A baby! In your relationship? Are you flipping crazy?” My mom
howled. There it was, that shrill tone I loathed with every fiber of my being.

  “You guys fight constantly! Do you know what that will do to a child’s development?” Victor howled and Carmen nodded in agreement.

  “Really?” Ella whined. “You can’t be happy for us? I thought you always wanted a grandchild!”

  “They have a grandchild,” Mal interjected and I paled. I had almost been enjoying the show, forgetting why we came.

  All eyes were on him now.

  “What?”

  “Jake is my son. They have a grandchild.”

  “What?”

  I had no idea who kept asking but Jake stretched and yawned, looking around sleepily.

  “Mom? Dad? Where are we?”

  His timing couldn’t have been better.

  “You just came here to steal our thunder!” Ella moaned. “You told them we were pregnant, didn’t you?”

  Grayson shook his head and stared at me in shock.

  “You know what, Ella?” Mal hissed. “It’s not always about you and Grayson even though our entire lives you’ve made it about you. But because we want to give you a present on this joyous occasion, we’re giving it to you while our family, our real, drama-free family, goes out for Chinese food on this Thanksgiving because we have so much to be thankful for.”

  He reached for my hand and Jake slipped off the couch and looked at Mal with wide eyes.

  “Really?” Jake asked. “Are we going for Chinese food?”

  “NO!” All four parents yelled but Malcolm was already grabbing Jake by the hand and leading him out of the house.

  “Yes,” he replied, glancing over his shoulder at me. “Because from now on, we don’t adhere to traditions, we don’t let people tell us how to live and we don’t deal with theatrics. And if that means going out for Chinese food on Thanksgiving, so be it.”

  They disappeared out the front door and I looked at the stunned family with some embarrassment.

  “Sorry. Gotta go. Oh, one more thing,” I said before I turned to follow Mal and my son. “Mal and I eloped and we’re expecting another baby.”

  I scurried from the room as pandemonium broke out and managed to get into the passenger side.

  “Drive! Drive!” I urged him as half a dozen faces appeared in the doorway.