by Alexa Blue
The thought of waking up one more night without her body next to mine fucking kills me. I’ve already started looking for a three-bedroom apartment. The master bedroom for my queen and me, Daxton’s room and a study for Emily to get some work done. I’ll finally be able to get some sleep, knowing that Emily is safe in my arms.
When I told Emily that I could not have kids, I was sure that would be the deal-breaker, but her love remains.
With her, I don’t even need to ‘prove’ myself; she wants me just as I am.
I managed to work through as much of my work as possible, so I leave work early and head over to Emily’s place. I plan on surprising her by waiting outside her apartment by the time she gets home.
Stopping over at a convenience store, I pick up a bunch of flowers for Emily, and a Kit-Kat for Dax, when I get an incoming call from an unknown number.
“Detective Nate speaking.”
There’s a brief silence on the other end of the line when a familiar voice speaks—a voice I haven’t heard in almost a year. “Hello, my boy.”
“Mom?”
“It’s your mom, yes. How are you, son?”
The sound of her voice startles me, almost paralyzing me with shock. For the next few moments, I stand frozen in place. My lips move, but the words don’t come out.
The last conversation I had with my mother turned sour after I told her she needs to clean up her act and get help. She cut me off and refused to talk to me since.
“How… how are you?” I stutter.
“Better now that I hear you,” she says with a warmth in her voice I almost don’t recognize. “I’ve checked myself into rehab, and have been here for two months now.”
Hearing my mom is finally off the meth has my heart skipping a few beats.
I’ve begged my mom to find help since my teens. I hated the fact that I had to watch my mom, a good person, slowly deteriorate and lose her life to fucking drugs. I hated that there was nothing I could do to help her or to stop her pain.
“Mom, are you serious?” I shout into my phone and drop the flowers to the ground. “Where are you? Can I come see you?”
“Nothing would make me happier, my son. I’m in the LifeFree addiction clinic, but visiting hours end at five.”
I glance at my wristwatch and see the time is now 16:06.
“I’m on my way, mom. I’ll see you now.”
I have a quick stop to make before seeing Emily today.
Sprinting towards my red Nissan Altima, I turn the car around and speed off to my mom’s clinic.
First, I find the woman of my dreams, a son in the process, and now I have my mother back.
Fuck, life cannot possibly get any better.
Chapter Eight
Emily
“Bye, Stacy,” Dax waves at his Valentine and runs towards my car outside the Kindergarten. I don’t even ask about her anymore, but something tells me he has a major crush on the young Stacy.
I switch off the radio and plug in Dax’s nursery rhyme CD. We sing Ol’ McDonald had a farm on the drive home, but thoughts of what to make for supper occupy my mind. I decided it’s time I showed off my cooking skills, and really seal the deal with Nate’s heart. I’m thinking Chicken Ala King, with a touch of chili; the way my granny made it.
We walk up the stairs and down the passage when an unbearable feeling of emptiness hits me. It’s the same unexplainable emptiness I felt the day my apartment was broken into.
The Queen’s guard is not outside my apartment, and I wonder if Nate’s already home. The only time that man gets off is when Nate’s around. He’s probably inside my apartment already. After he insisted, I made him a spare key for him to quickly get in and out of my apartment.
I hear movement inside my apartment, and my grip on Daxton’s hands tighten as I place my ear against the door. Hearing the sounds of pots immediately relaxes me. So much for my plans of cooking tonight; looks like he beat me to it and it’s already working on tonight’s supper.
Turning the key into my keyhole, I push my front door open. “Nate?”
There’s a brief silence, followed by “aha?”
Whew. Not sure why I’m still so on edge, especially with—
The door shuts behind me, and my clammy hands struggle to maintain my grip on Daxton. My heart races at a million miles an hour, and my lips tremble at the sight of him. “Daniel?”
He stands in front of us and doesn’t say anything. For the longest while, he just stares at his son.
“I…” The air feels so fucking heavy, as if there is not enough moisture in the air for the words to come out my mouth. “I… I think you should leave.”
Grabbing hold of Daxton’s hand again, I try running back out the door, but he stands in front of me, blocking my exit.
Bending down, he tries getting a better look at Daxton, but my son cowers behind my legs at the sight of the stranger. He has no idea who this man is, considering he refused to see his son for the first two years of his life.
Daniel stumbles forward. “Hello, little man. I’m your father.” Potent fumes of alcohol escape his breath as he speaks.
“Isn’t,” Dax says simply.
Daniel lifts his head to look at me, and my heart is beating so fast it feels as though it’s about to pump out of my chest. I take a step back to create distance between us. “Da—Daniel. Leave. Now,” I stutter, trying my hardest to sound firm.
“You lied to our son,” he barks.
Daxton begins crying at the sound of the strange man screaming at me. I try consoling him and turn back to Daniel. “Please, you’re scaring him.”
“I’m not fucking going anywhere.”
Dear God, this is not happening. My mind is working overtime right now. All I can think of is making sure my son is safe. “Okay, I’m going to put Daxton in his room, and we can have a conversation, okay?”
Without waiting for his approval, I walk Daxton towards his room and tell him to wait in the room and close the room door. I can’t even phone Nate because Daniel is right behind me.
He looks as though he hasn’t slept or bathed for days. His eyes are so red that he looks possessed, capable of murder.
“Let me make you a glass of juice,” I say, getting him as far away from Daxton as I can.
I walk away, but Daniel pulls me into him, dragging me by my hair. “Daniel, you’re hurting me,” I mutter under my breath.
He opens his mouth to speak, but his gaze shifts to my front door opening.
Nate
As I approach Emily’s front door, I hear shuffling from inside the apartment. But what raises the hairs on the back of my neck is the sound of another man’s voice.
I don’t think twice.
I turn the key and kick the door open. And then I see him, fucking holding my girl’s hair by the handful.
Seeing him touching Emily has the need for violence raging through my fucking blood.
He lifts his head to look up at me, but it’s too late. I bring my throbbing fist to his head.
I hear Daxton screaming from the bedroom, and the thought that anyone would make my little boy feel scared has my blood boiling further.
I stand and try rushing to the room to make sure Dax is okay when I feel glass breaking against the back of my head. While looking if Dax’s okay, Daniel uses the opportunity to reach for the photo frame of Emily, Daxton and me from the kitchen counter and smashes it against my head.
I push him again, and he drops to the ground. It’s hard restraining a man that looks as if the devil himself possesses him.
“Emily, go to the room,” I bark, “make sure Dax is okay.”
Daniel tries reaching for my handgun, but I swerve my body out of the way before he can pull on my 9mm and I drop on him as if we’re in a WWE wrestling match. The weight of my body dropping on his chest has him gasping for air.
I’m fucking boiling with rage at the thought that this prick made my son and my girl scared.
This thought consumes me as
I reach down and punch him repeatedly in the face until he lays on the ground, knocked out and unconscious.
I hold my hand up in the air, trembling with anger when I slowly relax my fists.
“You can fucking consider yourself a lucky man,” I snarl. If this man weren’t Daxton’s father, I would not be sparing his life right now. The only reason I’m allowing him to live is because I’m hoping he will get his shit together and try being a better father to his son. I may be Daxton’s father now, but I still want him to have the option of knowing who his birth father is when he’s bigger.
Using towing rope Emily keeps in the kitchen, I tie his hands behind his back and phone my guys to take him in.
Once the police drag him away from Emily’s house, she comes running up to me. “Thank you so much, Nate. I was so scared.” She’s in tears, and I wrap my arms around her.
“Shhh, it’s okay. He’s going to prison on three counts. He won’t be a problem anymore,” I assure her.
I see Daxton sitting with his knees up to his chin and I run over to him. Lifting him in my arms, I tell him everything is going to be okay.”
“Who is that?” Dax asks me.
Emily shakes her head in response, and I can tell she’s not ready to tell him that the man who tried harming his mother is, in fact, his father.
“That’s a bad man,” I tell him, “but he’s going away now, and hopefully he will become a good man one day.”
Chapter Nine
Nate
“Who are you, and why is this the first we hear of you?”
A girl by the name of Charlotte interrogates me after Emily’s friends agreed to meet me at a nearby coffee shop. When she said her friends are crazy, I had no idea just how insane these girls can be. They all talk over each other, and none are scared to make their opinions known. At one stage, it looks as if they forgot they’re here to interrogate me and took a brief pause to shout out their differences.
“Ladies, can we get back to the issue at hand here? I’m Nate, and I’m the man that’s going to marry your best friend.”
Sarah pulls her hands to her mouth. “So cute! I like him already.”
“Quiet, Sarah,” Charlotte barks, refusing to let me off the hook that easy.
Victoria opens her mouth to speak, but stops. She gazes into the distance, and her eyes grow large. I turn my head and see Emily approaching the coffee shop. Since she’s under the impression that she’s here to meet up with her girls for coffee. She has no idea I’m here or what I have planned.
Covering my face with my hands, I dart behind the counter with moments to spare before she enters the shop. The barista gives me a concerned look that says ‘customers aren’t allowed behind the counter.’
“Shhh, I’m planning a surprise for the girl that just walked in. I won’t be here for long.”
The girls are already loud, but as soon as Emily steps through the front door, I can only hear their voices chuckling and echoing through the coffee shop.
After hugging her friends, Emily takes a seat and has her back to me. The other girls see me approaching, but play along and don’t look my way. If anyone’s bound to give me away, it’s Sarah who has probably watched one too many romantic comedies and cannot contain her smile. I straighten out my bowtie and go down on one knee behind Emily.
I clear my throat, “ahem,” and Emily turns her head. She almost falls off her chair once she catches sight of me.
“N…Nate? What are you doing here?”
Down on one knee, I look up at my queen. God, I swear she gets more beautiful by the day. Her every breath pricks at my heart and makes me fall more and more in love with her.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the 1.20 Carat diamond ring, and hold it up to her, and now I have the attention of just about everyone in the restaurant. Thankfully I had money saved up so I could afford to get my queen the ring she deserves.
Her jaw practically drops to the ground when she realizes what’s happening.
She opens her mouth to speak, but I hold out my hand. This is my time to tell her exactly how she makes me feel.
I take in a deep gasp of air. I haven’t prepared a speech, and that’s because I wanted everything to come from the heart. “I have never believed in love at first sight until I met you. Emily, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I was head over heels in love with you. You make me a better man and love me with all my imperfections.”
Emily stares in silence, with large eyes and her hands lifted to cover her mouth.
“When I’m ninety years old and on my death bed, and there’s only one person by my side, I’d want that to be you. Emily, will you make me the happiest man and be my wife?”
“Yes, yes, YES!” She cries out loud as if there’s nothing she’d want more.
I slip the ring on her finger, and it’s a perfect fit.
An explosion of claps, sighs of happiness, and cheering follows inside the coffee shop. Her friends spend the next few moments fighting off each other to get a look at the diamond on her finger.
Once things settle down, Emily reaches for her iPhone and runs up to me. With my arms wrapped around my soon-to-be wife, she takes a selfie of us, being sure to capture the ring on her finger.
I notice her opening her Instagram app.
“I didn’t know you’re on Instagram?” I chuckle, pleased that she wants the world to know she’s mine.
She looks up at me and shoots me with a coy grin. “I haven’t been active, until now,” she says, unable to contain her excitement, “I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to upload my first pic.”
Emily reaches up, and we seal the deal with a kiss.
Epilogue
Emily
Six Months Later
“Do you take Nate Warden as your husband in the eyes of the law? To have and to hold, from this day on, for better, for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and health, to love and cherish until death do you part?
I hold onto Nate’s hand as he looks back, anxiously awaiting my response.
Today I give my life to a man I met less than a year ago. This is the biggest decision of my life, yet it’s also the easiest I’ve had to make. Since Nate stepped into my life, I can’t help but wonder how I survived this long without him. How I have managed to survive without his dog-breath morning kisses, the way he looks at me when we make love, and the little surprises he has for me whenever I get back from work late. Not to mention, he is probably the best father I have come across.
“A million times, I do.”
The priest asks him the same question, but I already know his response.
“You may now kiss the bride.”
The few people at the ceremony clap and cheer us on as he reaches down to seal our fate with a passionate kiss.
There aren’t many people, around twenty-five, give or take. It’s a small wedding—just like how I wanted it. Only those that matter to us are here. The only person I think could possibly be happier than me right now is my mom. For the longest time, I think we both thought I’d follow in her footsteps and remain a single mom.
Everyone makes their way to the reception, and I already know the tears are moments away from flowing with the speeches about to start. Perhaps the speech that has me most anxious is Daxton’s. You’d wonder what a boy his age knows about speeches, but he has insisted on saying a few words at the wedding. I tried speaking him out of it, or to at least help him prepare a speech, but he refused. I’m thinking Nate’s stubbornness is starting to rub off on him.
Victoria didn’t need much convincing when I asked her to be the MC for the night. She brings a fork to her champagne glass, meeting it with a clink.
“And finally, we’re near the end of the speeches. Yes, I see you all eyeing out the food; we’re almost there. You guys have all said some lovely things, but there’s one more person that wants to say a few words. Our next speaker is almost four years old, but already has more balls than a lot of guys I know.”
I
n the past, I would have ducked my head in shame, but everyone knows Victoria and how she says whatever’s on her mind. If anything, I’ve grown to love her brutal honesty.
She walks up to the main table and holds out the mic for my son.
“Hello,” he says shyly into the mic.
Hi, hello, people in the crowd greet back.
“My mommy met uncle Nate when a bad man came to rob our house, and then he became my daddy. Uncle Nate wasn’t always my daddy, but then he came to our house… like a lot… and that’s how he became my daddy. I am happy that my mommy found me a nice daddy, and I hope that one day I will get a brother or maybe a little sister. Thank you.”
Dax takes a seat in his chair, and his cheeks brighten when everyone begins clapping for him.
Hearing my son accept Nate as his father is like magic to my ears. I’ve wished for nothing more than to have a fatherly figure in Daxton’s life—little did I know, I would find the best father there is.
I wipe the lone tear rolling down my cheek and look at Daxton, “thank you, big boy.”
Who would have thought a girl like me could have it all? That a girl that had completely given up on the idea of finding love would find a man as amazing as Nate.
It’s the kind of love I know I must sit back and enjoy. Because, whether I believe it or not, it’s happening.
I turn to glance over at my husband. “Nate Warden, I love you.”
Epilogue
Nate
Two Years Later
“Donald, please, son, you need to eat. Oh God, Donald, come back!” Emily cries out, but it’s too late.
Donald runs off to play with Tracy and Tyron.