by Lauren Wood
After going over the documents, I agreed to them, and I told him to give me a call when he heard something. Chris promised that he would, but it was all still up in the air. Now I had more questions than answers and I just wanted this to be over as quickly as possible.
Chapter 26
Candy
Another night I got home, and I saw my mother's car in the driveway. Like the last time she’d ambushed me in the parking lot, I wasn't ready to talk to her this time either. After finding out that she had tried to delay the divorce so that she could make some money off of it, I knew that the lawyer was going to charge a lot because of my mom’s antics and I wasn’t in the mood.
“You really should call first mom.”
“Do I really have to call my own daughter to see her?”
“Well considering that it is almost nine o'clock at night, I would if I were you.”
She was offended, but she always was so that was nothing new. I groaned inwardly and then asked her what it was that she wanted.
“Do I need to want something to see my only daughter?”
“Why do you keep answering questions with questions? I have to think that it is something that I'm not going to like, that you want.”
I opened the front door and left it open for her to follow me. I made my way to the wine, because I knew that I was going to need it. This conversation, like every other conversation with my mother, was better with a little alcohol in my system.”
“Do you want some wine?”
She told me that she did, and I found it funny that it was the only question that she actually answered without a question attached.
“And I did try to call you earlier Candy, but you didn't answer. Actually, it said that it had been disconnected and I came over here tonight to find out why. Is everything okay? Did you forget to pay your bill or something? Are you broke?”
I ignored her bombardment of questions and got to the one that I wanted to answer for myself.
“My number was disconnected?”
She said that it was, and I took her phone and called it. I had the same number for years and I didn't believe her. When I heard the sound of the operator telling me that it was a disconnected line, it started to make sense why I didn't have any calls today. I didn't really have any many calls yesterday either, so I wasn't sure how long it been like this.
“I didn't know. I wasn't avoiding you, although sometimes it may seem like it. It has just been really busy at work lately, it has nothing to do with you. I don’t know what happened to the phone. I paid my bill and no, I’m not broke.”
My words seemed to appease her a little bit and she settled down more. Cynthia sat down on the other side of the couch next to me and took a couple of sips of the wine. Whatever she said, I still did not know the real reason she was here. The reason that she gave was obviously not the case.
“So, what's up mom?”
“I don't know, I just wanted to come over and see how you were doing. You didn't come for dinner, you haven't in weeks and I don't know what's going on with you anymore. I feel like we are drifting away.”
To me, that was about the only thing that was good that had come out of all of this. I went from having a fiancé that was rich and a successful lawyer, to being alone and living in a small house. It was certainly a step down from where I was a couple of months before, but the space that I had gotten from my mom, had been a blessing in disguise.
“We aren't drifting away mom. I am just busy with my life right now.”
She mentioned something about me working too much and I wouldn't have to if I had a decent husband, but I just ignored it because I knew that she was just trying to start an argument. I don't know why my mom thought she could bully me into it, and maybe it was true at some point, but not anymore. Things had changed. I don't know why a couple of days with a random guy had changed so much, but it had.
“So, I was at the lawyers this afternoon…”
I smiled at her and took another drink my wine. This is what I was waiting for.
“Oh? Did they finally get the papers drawn up and sent through? I was hoping to have it finalized by now.”
“Yeah, I think everything is in order, though he said that there were a few things that you hadn't signed yet. I was going to come over here anyways, so I told him that I would take them to you. All you have to do is sign them and the filing will be complete. The lawyers don't think that it will have to go to court, as long as he agrees, but since he's already signed it, it shouldn't be a problem.”
I wasn't going to pretend that I understood all the legalities of it. All I knew was that I wanted this chapter of my life to end. I had toyed with the idea of calling Colt, but I didn't get past the thinking stage. We had left things in the best way and I wasn't sure enough about my feelings to mess with him. I didn't want to take him on the same rollercoaster ride that I was on.
She pulled out a stack of paperwork and I just made a disgusted sound. For a marriage that I was never really in and a husband that I hadn't remembered, Colt came with a lot of paper work. It also brought me around a lot of lawyers, and I can't say that I really liked them. I know that Jax was one, but he had never brought his work home with him.
“So, all you have to do is sign them dear and I will take him back to the lawyers in the morning. Easy enough.”
I started to read over them and she started talking about something else and I just went to sign the bottom. I didn't want to go through almost twenty pages of tiny print and the reading was rather dull. The highlight was I was getting divorced and that was really all that matter to me. It was a part of my life that I had to end, so I can start the next chapter.
When I signed all the places that had little tabs for me, I handed it back to her and thanked her for taking care of it. I didn’t want to deal with the family lawyers and I knew that mom thrived on it. She would go around telling everyone how she would help me so much, but it didn't matter, it was done now. She could say whatever she wanted to. Cynthia could live in her own little world as long as she wanted to as far as I was concerned.
She was ready to leave not too long after that. She asked about Jax, if that was ever going to happen, but I told her that it wasn't. Apparently, she was still talking to Jax, and they were plotting ways to get us back together. I told her that it wouldn't do any good, but of course, she did not want to hear that.
Mom was half way in the door and halfway out and I was trying to get her to leave. She was going on and on, making it impossible not to get rid of her without being rude.
Suddenly I had a wave of nausea and I had to run to the bathroom. It had been happening a lot the last couple of weeks and I was silently hoping that she would be gone when I came out. She wasn’t.
“Are you okay, dear?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have just been working a lot and my stomach has been screwed up for a week or two. I don’t think I have every gotten this sick, for this long, in my life.”
“You’re on the pill still, right?”
I didn’t understand what that had to do with anything. I told her that I hadn’t been for a while, me and Jax were talking about starting a family.
“Well, don’t you think that you could be pregnant?”
I told her that I didn’t because I wasn’t getting sick in the mornings. I was actually getting sick all day long and it was rather hard to deal with. It was mainly night time, so ‘morning sicknesses didn’t seem to be an option.
“Just because they call it that, doesn’t mean that it is only in the morning. When I was pregnant with you, I swear I was getting sick several times a day for almost the first trimester. You were a nightmare.”
I had heard her say that phrase before, about the nightmare part and her being sick, but I hadn’t even thought that it would be an issue. My sex life was nil now, so my mind hadn’t made the connection.
“I can’t be.”
She smiled in a mischievous way and I got a cold feeling that ran up my spine.
This wasn’t going to be good at all. Now I had to think about the main question that bothered me. Whose was it? This was just getting worse by the moment.
“We should tell your lawyer.”
“Why?”
“Because it is pertinent information.”
“Leave the lawyers out of my uterus mom. I just want this done and over with. I haven’t even wrapped my head around it and you could be wrong.”
“I’m not dear. You are pregnant, and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Dying to be a grandmother, huh?”
She gave me a disgusted look and I knew that she was never going to let my child call her that. I could barely call her mom in public. I had to wonder how the title of grandmother was going to feel. That idea made me smile to myself.
“Don't you dare start calling me that.”
I laughed a little, but at the same time I felt like crying. I didn't know if it was extra emotions or the fact that I was carrying a child that could be one of two men. The worst part was that I was talking to neither one of them and I wasn't sure what to do.
Mom didn't stay much longer after that, saying that she had some errands to run. I would have asked her for emotional support, if she was a different mom and I was a different daughter. But at the end of the day, I was glad to see the backside of her, and I was happy that I had a little bit of time to think about what was going on. Suddenly I had a weight on my shoulders that I never imagined before. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it.
Chapter 27
Colt
I was about to catch my flight to go to California, when I got a call from my lawyer. I can't say that I was so happy to hear from him, and I was less happy to hear from him when he told me that Candy’s lawyer had filed more motions. Now they wanted more it seemed and it was getting to me now. They would never get it of course, but the audacity of even asking was bothersome.
“So, what is it that they want now?”
This marriage that I had gotten into seven years ago was becoming a nightmare and everything that I thought about Candy and what I knew about her was obviously wrong. She was not the woman that I thought she was.
“Well Sir, I don't know how to tell you this.”
It was late, and airport was packed. That meant that I didn't have time to play these guessing games and I told him to just come out with it already. Sometimes he treated me like I was a child because of the way he was so delicate with me. Did I really seem that vulnerable because of Candy? Considering what it was that I was going through now, I had to think that maybe I did.
“Now she is asking for not only child support, but for medical coverage for the pregnancy. You didn't tell me that she was pregnant.”
Of all the things that I had heard from my lawyer in the last few weeks, the fact that she was pregnant was one that completely floored me. I hadn't seen that coming. The people in the airport started to twirl around me and I started getting dizzy. This is not what I expected at all.
“I didn't know she was.”
“Well, with any luck it isn't yours.”
I know that he meant well for saying that, but I didn't take his comment very well. If Candy was pregnant, a part of me wanted it to be mine. I don't know if it was because I thought that I would have a chance with her or that us together made something, but I liked the idea of it. I've never really wanted to kid before, but with Candy, I don't know. Everything about being with her was different and this was just one more thing to change my mind on.
Then I thought about the fact that she was suing me for money, but she hadn't even told me that she was pregnant. It was something that she should have told me. I don't think that I should have found out through my lawyer. There had to have been a better way than this, surely.
“So, what do you want to do Colt?”
I was standing silence for several moments and then I told him the truth, I told him that I didn't know what to do.
“This is the first that I've heard about it. I am on my way to California now to see her. I figured that I could get some answers from her.”
“That is the last thing that you want to do Colt. I know that you don't have to listen to me and I know that you're a damn good lawyer, so you know that the last thing you should be doing is going to see her. Not with what is going on right now. Anything you do, will be used against you.”
I knew that he was right. Five minutes ago, before he called, I knew that I shouldn't be going to see Candy. I knew that they could come back and say that I was trying to intimidate her or threaten her in some way. I know that I would most likely do that if I was her lawyer. So, I was just opening myself up for failure.
Now that I knew she was pregnant, I wasn't sure how to respond. I wanted to yell at her, had for a while since Chris had told me about her filings, but now I wasn't sure. Now she was possibly carrying my child and I didn't want to do anything to make it harder for. I still cared about her, even if she was trying to rob me blind.
“Promise me that you're not going to go. I just have a feeling that something is going to happen and I'm not going to be able to help you. You know that I'm just looking out for you Colt.”
I knew that he was, but I couldn't promise that I wasn’t going to go. I wanted to, even now, but as the announcement called my flight, I wasn't sure if I was going to get on the plane or not.
It was what I wanted to do, but I told him to just set up the court date for as soon as it was possible. If I couldn't go and see her and get the answers, I was going to drag ass to court so that I could get them. I didn't mind traveling to Southern California if that's what had to happen. I was willing to either way, but I knew that waiting wasn’t going to be easy. I had never been a very patient man and that hadn’t changed.
Chris got off the phone with me and I looked around the terminal. If I was going to get on the flight, it needed to be now, but I was still thinking about everything else that was going on. They called for last call to get on the plane and I didn't get up off the bench. The words of my lawyer kept running through my mind, questioning what I wanted to do. I really just didn't know.
A couple of months ago, I had been so sure of my life, but now it was crashing. I was going in a direction that I didn’t understand and the sooner I got some closure and some information, I would have a better mindset. That was all there was to it, so I hoped that Chris got a court date pretty quickly. I wanted this done and over with as soon as possible.
...
“Chris called while you were out Colt. I took down his number that you were supposed to call him back on. He sounded strange.”
I got nervous every time my lawyer called now, and I took the number and message from Ralph. He had asked a few questions, just like Chris had done. Everyone was too damn into my life at the moment and it was too much of a wreck to talk about. I wanted people to just let it be, but I knew that it wasn’t going to happen. Ralph in particular, had never been that way before.
“Thanks Ralph. You can go now.”
“Is this because of that redhead?”
I gave him a dirty look and I knew that I was going to have to come out about it eventually. He wasn’t going to let it go if I didn’t. Half of me was sure that his speculation would be worse than the truth anyways.
“I am getting divorced from her and now she wants half, alimony and child support.”
The last part got his attention, but Ralph was like me at first, not believing that she would do something like that.
“You know what they say, you never really know some people I guess.”
He agreed, but I could tell that he was thinking about it more than I had been. It was in black and white in front of me, so whether I wanted to believe it or not, the fact was that it was the truth. I didn’t need anyone to tell me otherwise or convince me. It was rather clear that she was trying to take advantage of me. I didn’t know why, but that part didn’t matter. All that mattered was what was going to happen next.
“No, I guess yo
u don’t Colt.”
“I will be out of town for a couple of days over it. We have a court date set soon, so most likely that is why he is calling about. I will let you know when and if you want, you can take some time off. It’s been a while since you have taken a vacation.”
“Do you want some company?”
I was about to say that I didn’t, but the truth was that I did want some company if he was willing. It would get me out of my head and I told him that I did.
“As soon as I know something, I will let you know.”
“Good, I will pack a bag for standby. I haven’t been to California in ages. I have a sister that lives there that I would like to see if I have a chance. I have a couple of nephews now and one of them I haven’t seen yet.”
“I didn’t know Donna moved.”
“Yes, she found her a new beau. He is in his forties and Donna is convinced that he is ‘the one’ for her. I hope so because this will be her fifth marriage.”
“I don’t think I will ever do it again.”
“You haven’t finished off the first one yet. You don’t know what is going to happen.”
“She is trying to extort from me. It’s pretty clear cut to me, don’t you think?”
Ralph said that he didn’t want to believe it. I told him about the paperwork, but he was convinced that it wasn’t enough proof for him.
“I have to see it with my own eyes. There is no way that I will be able to believe it otherwise.”
I loved that he was so optimistic about it, but I felt like he had chosen her side and I was a bit peeved about that, considering all of the drama that ended up coming out of it all.
“I don’t want to believe it either Ralph, but I guess we will see.”
Ralph agreed, but he just seemed so damn sure that something else was going on. I don’t know what it was, couldn’t imagine it, so I wasn’t going to get my hopes up. I had learned my lesson with all of that.
“So, you’re going to be a dad, huh?”
I grinned and sighed, all at the same time. This was a position that I never thought I would be in. Not only was I going to be a father, but I was also getting divorced, and getting my heart broken. All at the same time. These were all things that I wasn’t aware was possible for me. Now I knew that it was.