by Toni Aleo
“So you let one mistake keep me away from my child?”
“That one mistake was sorta big. Hello, it broke my heart,” Fallon answered.
“So you did it to hurt me? I find that hard to believe,” Lucas said as he continued to look deep into her eyes.
“Because I didn’t do it to hurt you. I had every intention of telling you. I mean, I named him after you and your dad. I gave him your last name. But every time I went to call and tell you, I couldn’t. I was scared that you would reject us. You had already rejected me.”
Lucas shook his head, getting madder by the minute. “I didn’t reject you, and I would never reject our child. I loved you. I wanted to be with you. You are the one that left without even giving me a chance to explain.”
“I left because you cheated.”
“I didn’t mean to! I was drunk and high, Fallon! I was fucked up.”
“So that’s a good excuse?!”
Lucas stood up and started pacing the kitchen. “I know it isn’t, but you have to know I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t. Allison came on to me, and I was so horny and I missed you. I was so drunk that when she kissed me, I kissed her back. After that I don’t remember anything. All I remember from that night is waking up and seeing you look at me the way you are now.”
Fallon’s eyes filled with tears as she began breathing hard. Guilt washed over Lucas as he started to feel the exact same way he did the day everything went down. He never wanted any of this to happen. He thought he had lost everything when she left, and in all reality he did. He lost his love, and his baby.
He could never get those years back.
“I’m sorry Fallon, really I am. I never meant to hurt you, and I’m sorry it took so long for me to tell you that. But you have to believe that I’m not going anywhere now that I know Aiden is here. You and I may never see eye to eye, or may never get back what we had, but I will have a relationship with my son.”
A tear leaked over Fallon’s face and it killed Lucas to watch. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and kiss the pain away. He just wanted to hold her, be her rock again, but he knew she wouldn’t let him.
He watched as Fallon cried silently, not knowing what to do or say. After a few minutes, Fallon looked over at him as the tears dried against her cheeks and said, “I hope you know that what you’re asking for is for forever. ‘Cause I’ll be damned if you gonna come into my baby’s life and twine yourself into his life and then just rip yourself away. I won’t let you do it to him.”
“I know that and I won’t.”
“Yeah, well you did it to me.”
“And I regret it every day,” Lucas answered wholeheartedly. Fallon looked down at her hands, moving her fingers along the inside of her wrist.
“And you still want him?” she asked quietly.
“Fallon I still want you, and when you are ready to let go of what I did to you, I’ll be standing here waiting. And, yes, I want him like I want to breathe. I love him already.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered, “I just don’t trust you.”
Lucas took in a deep breath, “Then I’ll have to prove it to you,” he said before letting out a whoosh of breath. “But that’s not the question.”
“What is?” she asked sadly. It pulled at his heart strings, but he had to know.
“When are you going to tell Aiden I’m his dad?”
Chapter 12
Fallon’s heart banged against her chest as Lucas looked down at her. She hadn’t even thought about that. When was she gonna tell Aiden Lucas was his dad? How does one go about doing that? Is there a book or a movie that she could watch that would help her tell Aiden?
Would he be mad?
Would he hate her?
Would he understand?
Would he want to live with Lucas?
Would he love Lucas more than her?
Fallon’s heart hurt. She was so scared, so afraid of the unknown that she was seriously thinking of running. She never ran from a problem, she had learned not to after leaving Lucas. She always stood up to it by being the biggest bitch in the world, but right now Lucas scared the living shit out of her.
“I don’t know,” she answered sadly as she leaned against the back of her kitchen chair.
She felt like she was going to cry. His apology hurt because it wasn’t closure. He couldn’t give her a reason — except for the fact that he was drunk — for why he had cheated on her. Fallon wanted to know what she did wrong, how she could have kept him from cheating on her. Was she not good in bed? Did she not please him? Did she not love him the way he needed to be loved? What? What did she do wrong?
“I haven’t thought that far,” she added after moment when she felt his gaze on hers.
“Well maybe you should, because I have to tell my mom, and you can only imagine how that’s going to go,” he answered with a nervous smile.
Fallon smiled. She had loved Molly Brooks like she was her own mother. The woman was a saint, and the most beautiful person inside and out. She believed in true love, and knew that there was only one man for every woman. Hers was James, and she always said Lucas was Fallon’s.
Fallon used to believe her.
“Can we give it a week or so? Maybe after his birthday?”
Lucas shook his head. “I want my mom to come to his birthday party.”
Fallon nodded. Was she really ready for the wrath of Molly Brooks? Molly was fiercely protective over Lucas, which after losing her husband who could blame her? Fallon was the same way over Aiden and totally understood Molly’s love for her son, but could she really handle how Molly would act towards her? She wasn’t bound to be nice to Fallon, hell, Fallon was surprised Lucas was being as nice as he was. She was sure he would be furious, throwing things, cussing her out, everything short of knocking her out was what she expected from him. Maybe Molly would surprise her, and not try to kill Fallon, but who would blame her if she did. Fallon’s mom would kill anyone that took Aiden from her…
Fallon took in a sharp breath.
She had to tell her family.
Oh no, her dad was gonna kill Lucas and her mother was gonna be so upset. Oh shit, this was gonna be bad.
“What’s wrong?”
Fallon looked up at Lucas, horror all over her face. “My dad is gonna murder you.”
Lucas laughed. “I doubt after seven years he would want to kill me. I mean come on, people do get over things after a couple years. Oh, but wait, he is your father.”
“Oh shut up, I’m serious. He almost killed me for not telling him who got me pregnant. This could be bad. Are you sure about this?”
Lucas rolled his eyes as he leaned against the counter. “Your father will not keep me from my kid, so get that out of your head.”
Fallon shrugged her shoulders. “Just letting you know. You’re the one that brought up your momma.”
“Mom won’t want to kill you. Smack you maybe, but I’ll protect you.”
When Fallon looked up at him, he had a sexy little smirk on his face and she glared as she looked away. “I don’t need your protection.”
“Okay, whatever. Anyways, a week?”
Fallon swallowed loudly. “A week?”
“Yeah.”
“Um, okay.”
“We’ll do it together. I wanna get to know him this week, and we’ll tell him at the end of it.”
“Um okay? He’s on spring break, he was gonna stay at the office with me.”
Lucas thought for a moment. “Can I take him during the day?”
“Don’t you have to play?”
“I’m practicing all week, but I won’t be playing. Elli wants me to take some time off.”
“Oh,” Fallon gulped. So, Elli knew.
“Yeah, so I’ll practice early in the morning and if it’s okay, I’ll come get him from the office and we’ll get to know each other.”
Fallon nodded. “Okay.”
“Cool, do you guys have plans tomorrow?”
Fal
lon shook her head. “I have to work, and Audrey was going to keep him.”
“Can I take him tomorrow?”
Fallon looked down at the table. “Sure,” she answered sadly.
And so it starts.
“Hey, I’m not going to let anything happen to him.”
“I hope not, I usually don’t let anyone take him.”
“He’ll be fine.” Lucas pulled his phone out of his pocket, sliding it over to her. “Put your phone number in my phone, and call your phone so you have my number when you need call me.”
Fallon caught the phone before it slid off the table before looking up at him. “So you’re still having problems with the dyslexia?”
Lucas looked away, his cheeks warming as he shrugged his shoulders. “Sometimes…yeah.”
Fallon nodded, hating that he was still suffering with the condition. Couldn’t he get help? Wasn’t there something they could do for him?
Fallon programmed her number into his phone. She then took a quick picture of herself, noticing that there was flour all over her face. Great, she was a mess. Fallon set the phone up so he could find her by her picture. After that, she called her phone and it rang, giving her his number. She handed Lucas back his phone before programming her phone just as he said, “I thought you would be living somewhere bigger.”
She looked up quickly. “What does that mean?”
Lucas looked down at her. “The house is small, there’s no backyard.”
“There’s a park right across the street, and we sacrifice living somewhere bigger so that Aiden can go to the top private school in Nashville. New Life is expensive.”
“Let me help then,” he answered, “so my kid can live somewhere nicer.”
“Whoa, screw you! My house is nice, thank you.”
“It’s small, a boy needs room.”
“Aiden is fine, and I don’t need anything from you for the fifth time. You want time with Aiden? I’ll give it to you even though I don’t feel right about it. But don’t you dare think I’m gonna start taking money from you so that when you’re ready to go, you’ll think your dues are paid,” she snapped.
“I wouldn’t do that, for the hundredth time, I am just trying to make sure Aiden has the best of the best.”
“He has lived without it for seven years, so he doesn’t need it now!”
“I will make sure he does, like it or not, I really don’t give a…”
The door flew open and Aiden came barreling into the house with Audrey and Levi coming in behind him. He grinned up at the two of them and put his hands on his hips. “I had ice cream, lots of it, but there wasn’t a movie I wanted to see so we came home. Did I say the ice cream was good?”
Lucas and Fallon were both breathing hard as they looked down at the cute little bundle of sugar they had made together. Fallon put aside her emotional issues with Lucas and smiled at her precious boy. “Did you have fun?”
“Loads, what are y’all doing?”
Lucas smiled as Fallon said, “Just talking. Lucas is gonna hang with you tomorrow, if you want.”
Aiden’s head bobbled like a bobblehead as he looked up at Lucas. “Sure! That would be awesome.”
“Awesome, I’ll pick you up at …” Lucas looked up at Fallon, but she just shrugged her shoulders.
“I go to work at 10 tomorrow, but Audrey will be here all day, right?” Fallon asked Audrey.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod.
Lucas looked down at Aiden. “Do you want to sleep in?”
“No, I’ll be ready by nine, all my shows will be over by then. Maybe you could come over and watch ‘em with me. Mommy could make us pancakes and we’ll watch my shows then go,” Aiden said excitedly. “Is Levi coming?”
“No bud, just you and Lucas tomorrow. I got work to do,” Levi answered.
“Cool, so are you gonna come over early?” Aiden asked, basically bouncing as he looked up at Lucas. When Fallon saw him put on his sad eyes, she couldn’t help but smile. Lucas was about to be putty in Aiden’s hands.
“Is that okay?” Lucas asked Fallon. She nodded. She liked that he asked, that he didn’t just assume or tried to overstep. “What time bud?”
“Seven.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Cool!”
Lucas smiled widely at him before looking over at Fallon. “Well since I got to be up early, I need to go home and get some sleep.”
“Okay, well Aiden honey, say goodnight to everyone, it’s time for bed,” Fallon said, moving her hand along Aiden’s back.
“Goodnight! See you tomorrow Lucas,” he said with a big grin as he headed for the stairs.
“Can't wait,” Lucas said with a wave. Fallon watched as Aiden waved and started up the stairs.
“I’m gonna go get him settled. Lucas, always nice seeing you. Levi,” Audrey said giving Levi a pointed look as she started for the stairs.
“Audrey,” Levi said as he watched her walk away.
Okay, that’s creepy. Fallon would have to warn Audrey about Levi. He was the epitome of a man whore.
“Goodnight Audrey. Thanks,” Lucas said as she walked by him. They shared a smile before Audrey disappeared up the stairs. Fallon went to the door, opening it as she waited them to leave.
“Fallon,” Levi said as he passed by with nothing more than a nod. Fallon stuck her tongue out at him just as Lucas stopped in front of her. Fallon looked up at him and froze as he reached his hand up, cupping her face in his hand. Fallon lost all sense of time as she basked in the warmth of his hand on her cheek. He moved his thumb along her cheek and down her lip before looking deep down into her eyes.
“Thank you Fallon,” Lucas said, and all Fallon could do was nod.
Oh, how she had dreamed countless nights of his hand on her cheek, and it felt just the way she remember it. Gosh, she missed it.
A cocky grin came across his face before he leaned in, pressing his lips against her nose. Her eyes slowly closed at the whisper touch of his warm, thin lips on her nose. She took a deep breath in and when she opened her eyes, Lucas was moving away from her with only a grin on his face. She watched as he walked confidently to his truck and climbed in before giving her one last look.
With that one look, Fallon knew she was in big trouble because Lucas Brooks was on a mission.
And she was the target.
*************************************
Lucas sat on the bed, his phone in his hand as he tried to get the balls to call his mom.
The night had been crazy.
Fallon was just like he knew she would be — mean, bitchy, and scared out of her mind. He didn’t understand why she was scared, he would never take Aiden away from her, but he would make sure Aiden was taken care of. He hated to fight with her. He didn’t like to watch her cry either, and that was all they did the whole night. When she wasn’t being a bitch, she was crying, and when she wasn’t crying, she was grinning at him. It was like she was bipolar when he knew she wasn’t. He hated that he drove her to the point of bipolar behavior, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let his kid run around with a father.
Wasn’t going to happen. Lucas had too much pride and too much love in his heart to let a child go without his father.
Lucas leaned his head down in his open hand, begging his fingers to find his mom’s number so he could tell her about her grandson. He knew that she was going to freak and want to jump on the first plane to Nashville, but he would beg her not to. He needed his time with Aiden — he needed to get to know the little person that was walking around looking just like him.
Lucas scrolled through his phone, looking for his mom’s picture. When he found it, he pressed the green button and waited for her to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mom,” Lucas said, his face still in his hand.
“Sweetheart, are you okay? It’s late.”
“I’m fine, but I need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay, at midnight? What’s wrong?”
Lucas had forgotten the time difference and felt bad for calling his mother so late. For worrying her, but what else was he supposed to do? He had already gone three days without telling her about Aiden. He had to tell her.
“Mom, um, I don’t know how else to tell you but to just say it,” Lucas began.
“You’re scaring me sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“I have a son, mom.”
Lucas closed his eyes as he tried to breathe evenly. Saying that he had a son always knocked the breath out of him. It was such a shock that he had made someone. It just blew his mind, and broke his heart at the same time because Aiden had to live without him for so long.
“I’m sorry sweetheart, I must have heard you wrong. Did you say you got some sun?” Molly asked. He could tell her breathing had picked up and that she was getting out of her bed.
“No, Mom, I have a son. As in a little kid that looks like me.”
Molly took in a deep breath. “You are messing with me, right?”
“No, I just found out.”
“What! With who!? Are you sure he is yours?”
Lucas nodded even though Molly couldn’t see him. “Yeah, he looks just like me — one look was all I needed to know he was mine.”
“Oh my God,” Molly gasped as Lucas stood up and started pacing his bedroom. “I’ll be on a plane tomorrow.”
Lucas smiled. “No Mom, not yet. Let me get to know him before you come.”
She was quiet for a moment before saying, “How old is he?”
“Six.”
“Six! Oh my god. I’m coming down there.”
“Mom, no. Give me some time with him.”
“Oh, I’m not coming for you or to meet the boy, I’m coming to beat the living crap out of the woman that had him and didn’t think to tell anyone! Who is it?”
Lucas was actually scared to tell her. She was going to be furious when he said Fallon’s name but he had no choice. He couldn’t lie to her. Lucas let out the breath he was holding and said, “Fallon.”
It was as if Molly took in the breath he let out, before saying, “No, I don’t believe it. Fallon would never keep a child from someone.”