Piper came up shortly after. “Hey, Mom, why are you out of your car?”
“Hi, guys. Um, actually, I met Aston—you know, from the other day? We had coffee and we ran late, so he brought me over here.”
“Aston?” Piper waggled her eyebrows at me.
It was a little startling. I didn’t think she’d be doing that until she was much older.
“What kind of car does he have?” Typical Tyler.
“You know what? I don’t even know. It’s an SUV, but I don’t know what kind.”
Tyler gave me an annoyed look. “Mom, you need to pay attention to these things.”
“You’re right. Totally right,” I said as I slung my arm around him. When we stopped next to the black beast, I said, “Here it is.”
“Mom, it’s a Range Rover,” Piper whispered. “That’s a fancy car.”
I nodded, letting her know I heard her.
Was I shocked it was fancy? Of course not.
“Hi,” Tyler said, jumping in the back seat.
“Mr. Prescott,” I said quickly, correcting my son, and Aston gave me a quick glare.
“It’s Aston, just Aston.”
“Hi,” Piper said with less excitement, sliding in next to her brother.
As soon as I was seated, Aston pulled away from the curb and drove toward my house.
“What about your car, Mom?” Piper asked, never one to miss out on details.
“I’m going to send someone to get it,” Aston said, answering for me.
I watched Piper’s brow furrow in the rearview.
“Who?” she asked. “Who would do that? Get our car?”
“One of my guys, someone who works for me,” Aston said matter-of-factly. He was going to have to adjust to the way my kids had been raised. I hoped he didn’t expect to turn “Pipe” into a spoiled brat.
“Well, I can make them cookies,” Piper said. “I’m going to bake when I get home.”
That’s my girl. She’ll never be a brat.
Aston glanced at the kids in the rearview mirror. “I’m sure they’d like that. Baking sounds like fun. Since you’re busy, Tyler, do you want to come with me to the arcade? I need to take Little A there, but he’s a handful, and I need some help chasing him around.”
“Mom! Can I, Mom?”
I could feel Tyler’s excitement vibrating all the way from the back seat. “As long as you do your homework as soon as you’re back.”
“Yes! Yes, I will.”
With that, we pulled up in front of my house, and both kids bolted inside to grab a snack. By the time I got out of the car, Aston was in front of me. His warm palm came to my hip, steadying me.
“It’s going to be fine.” His lips tickled my ear as he whispered his words just for me. With his index finger, he pushed a stray hair behind my ear, then kissed my cheek as he said again, “Bex, it’s going to be fine.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “This is like some weird dream I’m living in, and now it feels like it’s turning into a nightmare.”
“It’s not. I’m here for you. And like I told you, my dad isn’t an innocent party in this, and you can tell Piper what you want on that. And yeah, I listened to him, and so neither am I. But first and foremost, you need to protect yourself . You did what you thought you had to, and I stand behind that.”
His thumb caressed my hip over my jumpsuit, making me wish I was wearing a regular shirt and pants so I could feel his skin on mine.
“Where did this all come from?” I asked. “One minute I’m so in love with you, and then poof, you’re gone for what I thought was forever. And now you’re back.”
“Hey, let’s not dwell on it,” he said softly. “Today’s about Piper.”
I nodded, and he tipped my chin up so my gaze met his. His lips brushed across my eyelid, then made their way to mine. On a closed-mouth kiss, he mumbled, “It’s always been you, Bex.”
“I don’t think we should do this here. For anyone to see.”
He stepped back from me. “You’re right. Soon,” he said, making it sound like a promise. “Soon you’re going to be fine. More than fine.”
“I’ve done a lot of reading the last two nights. Hours of reading on the best way to talk with Piper. Apparently, honesty is the best policy. I need to own my actions without seeming defensive. I had my reasons, and they weren’t to hurt her.”
“Exactly,” Aston said from next to his car, which felt like too far away.
Sadly, I already missed his touch. I’d made this mistake once before. When it came to Aston, I couldn’t stop myself.
“I’m going to go. Time to do this,” I said, more to myself than to him.
He nodded. “I’ll text when we’re on our way back. Tyler doesn’t have a phone?”
“Not yet . . . and don’t get any ideas.”
“We’ll see. Send him on out. Little A’s going to be ecstatic,” Aston said.
But Piper certainly wasn’t going to be.
I turned toward the house without another word.
Bexley
“Piper, can we talk?” I said, interrupting her as she pulled down ingredients to bake cookies.
“Mom, I should do this. Aston said the car would be here later.”
My heart cracked in two over what I was about to do.
Piper’s world had already been destroyed once because of the divorce, and here I was about to shatter it all over again. Funny that Seth asked about her period; Piper and I had the talk about eight months ago. What to expect, what it meant, and all of that. She knew how babies were made and where they came from, but this conversation would be on a whole different level.
Fuck.
Out loud, I said, “Piper, honey, we’ll get it done. I promise. We need to talk for a few.”
She turned toward me, her face pinched with concern. “Is everything okay? Are you okay?” Running over to me, she took my hand in hers. “Mom? Say something.”
I hated how much worry she was filled with—how she felt she had to mother me.
“I’m fine, sweetie. This is good news, I swear. Come on, let’s sit.”
With my arm wrapped around her, I guided her to the window seat. Seemed appropriate, considering how much time I’d spent thinking about Aston in that exact spot.
“Piper, this isn’t easy for me to tell you,” I said. “But it’s good stuff. It may not seem that way, but it is.”
“Are you and dad getting back together?”
Drawing on every bit of my self-control, I kept my expression schooled. That wasn’t where I thought her head would go, but I should have expected it. “No, we aren’t getting back together, sweetie. But this is sort of what I wanted to talk with you about. Your dad and me, and you. There’s some stuff that you need to know.”
“Oh.” She dropped her gaze to our hands, our fingers entwined.
I had to get on with it. Period.
“First off, I love you. So much. You’re my whole world. And Dad loves you, and what I’m about to tell you doesn’t change that,” I said, taking some liberties when it came to Seth and his feelings for Piper. “Here’s the thing. I knew Aston a long time ago, before I met your dad. And at one point, we were really in love.”
“So, you can be in love again now. You’re divorced, and you said you and Dad aren’t getting back together. I get it. I watch TV.”
I tried not to squeeze my eyes shut in pain. Piper wasn’t making this easy on me.
“Well, yes. That’s true. We could love each other now . . . maybe we never stopped. But there’s something else. When we loved each other a long time ago, we couldn’t be together. There were reasons . . .”
“What reasons?” she said. Of course my smart little cookie would ask all the right questions.
“Well, Aston’s dad didn’t care for me. We were from two different worlds. As you know, he’s very rich, and that doesn’t make him a bad person, but . . . not Aston . . .” I started to stumble over my words. “Not Aston, but his dad f
elt as though wealthy people should fall in love with other wealthy people, and he forbid us to be together.”
“Oh.” Piper squeezed my hand, and the small gesture made me feel like I could continue.
“It hurt a lot back then, and I was really sad. Then I met your dad and thought I could love someone else. And I did. I cared for your dad, Seth, very much. But you know how we talked about how babies are made?”
She nodded, her cheeks pinking a bit.
“Before I met Seth, Aston and I were very much in love—so much so, that we made love. Like I told you adults do. We—Aston and me—shared something very beautiful, and that’s how we created you, my beautiful girl. Aston is actually your father, but he didn’t know. I never told him. Seth and I raised you because I thought it was right. It’s not Aston’s fault.”
“What?” She jumped up from the seat, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. “Mom!”
“I didn’t want to risk Aston losing his company. His father would have taken it away from him. And I didn’t want to risk losing you . . . his father could have taken you too. Money makes people do all kinds of crazy things. Seth was, is, a good man, and he loves you. There were too many risks in telling the truth. But things have a way of twisting around, and now Aston is here and back, and he met you, and, well . . .” I stopped ranting and took a breath.
“Well what? I have two dads! Who is my dad?” Piper fell to her knees at my feet and laid her head in my lap. “I’m so confused.”
“I know,” I said, running my hand over her hair. “And that’s the last thing I want you to be. I want you to know this is my fault. Not yours, or anyone else’s. I decided to keep you from Aston. That was a choice I made as your mother. What I thought was best. Aston says he’s not mad at me for it, because he understands why. I’m not saying you have to understand. I just want you to know that Aston wants to be in your life. Now, no matter what happened before.”
She lifted her head. “He has his own kids now. He loves them. Why does he want me?”
“He has a big heart, and there’s room for him to love you. I promise.”
At least, I prayed it was true.
“What about Tyler? So, he’s not really my brother?”
“Of course he’s your brother. Always has been, and always will be. Little A and Mara are your brother and sister too. I didn’t think about that; I’ve just been wanting to tell you this. I hope you understand . . . someday . . . why I had to do this. Your grandfather isn’t always the nicest man, especially when it comes to me. I wanted to protect you from that. But I can see it was a mistake.”
Her head fell heavy back on my lap.
“I love you, Piper. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“So, who do you love, Mom? Aston? Did you ever love my dad? Not my dad-dad, but Dad. Seth. Do I still call him Dad?” She raised her head and looked at me with sad eyes.
My heart split into shards over the pain I was causing her.
“Honey,” I said, pushing her damp hair off her face. “You can call him Dad. Seth helped raise you and loved doing it, and I’m grateful for that. He’s still going to love you. At one time, I cared for Seth very much. I loved him, but it wasn’t the kind of love I had with Aston—your biological father. I do still love Aston, but we need to get to know each other as adults. We haven’t spent much time together over the years.”
Suddenly, Piper’s eyes widened. “Wait! Am I rich?”
“Piper!”
“What? You said Aston was really rich, and he’s sending your car here with some guy. If he’s my father, does that make me rich?”
“I don’t know. But that’s not a reason to reconcile all this. Money doesn’t make everything better. Look what happened with me. And you. Money made things worse.”
“Reconcile?” she asked, staring at me.
“Make sense of it all. That everything checks out. Money doesn’t make this better. What I did, or what’s ahead of us now.”
“Aston does seem cool,” she said, tilting her head to the side, taking me in. “You know, he looked familiar to me the other day. Probably because we look so much alike, now that I think about it.”
I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, firing off questions like neurons.
“I’m going to get to know him,” she said slowly. “He’s not going to replace Dad. But he’s also my dad, I guess. So, yeah. But . . . I don’t think I want to tell anyone at school.”
“That’s fine, sweetie.” It wasn’t until now I realized the nape of my neck was damp from sweat. Taking a deep breath, I said, “You don’t have to tell anyone anything you don’t want to. We’ll explain this to Tyler. That it’s your choice.”
“Aaack, Tyler, what if he doesn’t think of me as his sister anymore? Or he thinks I’m different because I’m rich?”
“Piper, stop with the rich stuff. And that’s impossible. You’ll always be Tyler’s sister.”
“Okay. You know what? I’m going to make Aston some cookies too.”
And just like that, my baby girl stood up and walked into the kitchen, leaving me a jumbled mess of feelings and tears while she digested this all with grace.
“Mom! They’re back!”
My car had been returned an hour earlier. With cookies in hand, the delivery guy made his way out to a Ford pickup waiting for him, and Piper settled in the window seat. She’d been waiting for Aston to pull up, and truthfully, I’d been hiding.
“Oh, look, they’re in a sports car. Tyler must be excited!”
Piper ran to the front door and yanked it open before they even made it up the walkway.
“Hi,” she said quietly, shyness replacing her exuberance from earlier.
“Move, I want to show Mom this,” Tyler said as he pushed past her, and I frowned at him.
“Tyler, say it nicely.”
“Excuse me,” he said automatically, and then held up a video game. “Look!”
“Oh, I’m looking. Where did you get that?”
“Little A and I won enough tickets for us each to get a game! Can you believe it?”
“Oh, I can believe you probably spent a fortune in tokens to get those tickets.” I shot Aston a dagger-filled look, and he rolled his eyes.
“Mom, don’t ruin it,” Piper said. “They had fun. Plus, you know . . . you didn’t pay for it.”
“She’s right,” Aston said with a smug grin. “This was my treat. We went for a good time.”
Freaking Aston, spoiling everyone already.
“Where’s Little A? And Mara?” Piper asked.
“We dropped Little A at home with Mara, who stayed home with Denise to do her nails.”
“Oh, is Denise your wife?”
Freaking Piper, pumping for information.
“I’m going to get some water. I’ll be right back,” Tyler said, oblivious to the tension.
“Denise is my nanny. Well, not mine, but the kids’,” Aston said, looking directly at Piper.
“Oh. I bet she’s nice. We don’t have a nanny, but my friend Ashley does. She does all their laundry and cooking. Mom does that here.”
Smoothing my hand down the front of my shirt and clearing my throat, hoping to buy myself an hour, I only got ten seconds. “Piper, sweetie, calm down. No need to ramble.”
“It’s okay,” Aston said, bending a little to see eye to eye with her. “You can ramble, and I’ll answer all of your questions.”
Piper nodded, studying Aston’s face. “We have the same eye color.”
“Yes. Yes, we do.” He reached out to touch her, maybe to stroke her cheek or hair, but he pulled back with a slight tremor in his fingers.
Now my already shattered heart was dust. I’d done this, caused this pain.
“Can I give you a hug, Piper?”
His voice didn’t waver, but I knew it took a lot for him to be so hesitant. Gone was the cocky attitude, and in its place was a nervous dad meeting his daughter for the first time, thirteen years too late.
&
nbsp; Piper nodded, and Aston pulled her in.
Tyler took that moment to reappear. “What’s going on? Piper! What’s wrong with you?” When no one answered, he turned to me. “Mom? Why is she hugging Aston?”
“Tyler, let’s give them a moment, and I’ll take you in the other room and explain.”
Aston looked up and mouthed, “Thank you.”
I led Tyler to the kitchen. I wished I could report he took the news as well as Piper.
“What? You mean, he’s her dad? Why don’t I get him? He would take me to the arcade. Dad never takes me to the arcade.”
My son was young, immature, and bruised from the divorce. I didn’t know why I expected him to react any other way.
“Tyler, listen. You can be close with Aston,” I said calmly. “He’s going to be spending time with Piper, so you can see him too.”
“Whatever.” He slid down in the kitchen chair, sulking, his video game forgotten on the counter.
“Tyler,” Aston said from the doorway. “Your mom’s right. She didn’t have a choice in how this all happened. But you’re Piper’s brother, so guess what? You’re going to be part of my world too.”
Tyler eyed him warily, and I couldn’t blame him. This was a lot for me, let alone an eleven-year-old kid.
“Yeah. Dad always says he’s going to do stuff with us too, and then he never does. Now Piper doesn’t have to be upset with him because she has you. And I’m stuck . . . and Mom gets upset. She doesn’t think we know, but we do. Right, Piper?”
Tyler glanced at his sister, who looked up and nodded. Then they both turned to look at Aston. Up until this moment, they’d only seen jovial Aston, but now they saw his hard-as-stone expression. He didn’t try to hide it, even when I gave him a death glare.
“Now, that doesn’t work for me. I don’t like to hear your mom was hurting.”
“Well, what about when your dad hurt her?” Obviously, Piper couldn’t help herself. Then again, I’d always encouraged her to speak her mind.
“Piper, I don’t think this is the time for that—”
“No,” Aston said sharply, interrupting me.
Sweat once again lined the nape of my neck, and I wished the air was blowing a bit harder.
“Piper, you’re right. My dad did hurt your mom, as did I. I hate to admit it, but this was before I knew what being a man meant. I thought I was a man, all grown up, but I wasn’t. Now, as adults, I don’t want to hear of another adult hurting your mom.”
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