Embracing Love (Once Broken Book 1)

by Alison Mello

  “Dude, who’s that?” Keaton slaps me on the shoulder.

  “Her ex, who has decided to make an appearance and become my competition.” I chug more of my beer.

  “Is that the issue?” Keaton asks, taking a seat next to me.

  “Nah, I don’t think so. She’s definitely keeping something from me, but I have no doubt that it has nothing to do with him. I saw her the day he appeared at her house. She was angry and bitter. She wants nothing to do with him.”

  “She does look pissed,” Keaton says as we watch the two of them. Lilly goes over to them, and Kenzie introduces Daniel to Lilly. Lilly starts screaming at the guy. He throws his hands in the air in total frustration, because now there are two women mad at him. Lilly takes Kenzie’s hand and storms off in our direction.

  “Keaton, I’m going to call it a night. Kenzie and I are going to go hang at her place and talk, but I’ll call you later this week.”

  “Sounds good, sugar,” he says, standing to give her a quick kiss before they walk off. I sat there staring at Kenzie the entire time, but all she did was look at the ground. Taking another swig of my beer, I watch them until I can’t see them any longer.

  “Have you eaten yet?” Keaton asks me. I’m not even looking at him. I’m still staring in the direction the two girls stormed off in. What the fuck is wrong with me? I’ve known this girl all of a few weeks, we’ve gone on a few dates, and she’s already under my damn skin.

  “Nah, man, I haven’t,” I tell my brother, standing from my chair.

  “Come on, let’s go get a bite to eat and another beer.”

  When we get to the food table, Mama’s there, asking, “What happened with Kenzie and her friend? I saw them leave upset.”

  “I don’t know, Mama. She still won’t talk to me.”

  Mama starts to give me an angry look for upsetting her when my brother comes to my rescue.

  “It wasn’t him, Mama. Her ex is in town, and I think he upset her. Lilly took her home so they could talk about whatever happened.”

  “Oh that poor girl, as if she doesn’t have enough going on with school starting and her nana being sick. Now this boy comes along stirring up some trouble.”

  I down the rest of my beer and toss the bottle into the recycling bin at the end of the food table before grabbing another one. Keaton and I make our plates and take the seats we had on the lawn. Music is playing, people are dancing, kids are running around barefoot with their faces painted, and it makes for a great summer night. As a matter of fact, there’s only one thing that would make it better: Kenzie sitting by my side.

  Chapter 14

  Remy

  My phone is ringing off the hook but I don’t really care to answer it. It’s Sunday morning, and we all had a late night. I roll over to look at my alarm to discover it’s already ten o’clock. “Holy shit, I can’t believe I slept so late.” I grin. Actually, I can. I was dreaming about Kenzie and her sweet pussy, and I have a hard on that would knock nails into wood to prove it. My phone rings again. Grunting as I reach for it, I see it’s Dawson.

  “Hey, man, what’s…”

  He cuts me off. “Get to the hospital, please. Kayla is in labor and we need help with Becky.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I cut the call and jump from my bed. Looking down at my cock, I say to myself, Sorry, buddy, no time for you now. I jump into the shower washing up in record time, throw some gel in my hair, and run to my room to put on some shorts and a t-shirt before I run down the stairs and out the door.

  Pulling up to the hospital’s valet parking, I toss the guy my keys, and he hands me a ticket as I run through the doors, stopping at reception to find out what floor maternity is on. The nurse chuckles at my rushing around. “The fourth floor,” she shouts as I run off to the elevators. When I hit the up button, it feels like it’s taking forever for the elevator to come, and I’ve heard nothing more from Dawson. I’m so excited to be an uncle again. The doors open, and I squeeze into a full elevator.

  I glance around nervously at all the people in this tight space. I’ve never been claustrophobic, but I’ll admit it’s a bit harder after coming home from the war. Lucky for me, I’m the first stop. As the doors open, I jump out to find my mother and sister pacing the waiting room for news. “Why didn’t y’all wake me before you left the house?”

  Mama smiles. “Because we didn’t know if it was false labor or not, and we wanted to be sure before calling you.” I look over to see little Becky coloring in the corner.

  “Hey, sweetie. What are you coloring?” I take a seat next to my niece.

  “Princess Sophia.” She shows me. Princess Sophia is her new favorite cartoon character from TV. She wears a special necklace and talks to animals. She made me watch it with her when I first got home. The show was torture, but having my niece snuggle up to me was awesome.

  “Do want to color with me, Uncle Remy?”

  I give her a warm smile. “I’d love to, sweetie,” I sit down on the floor next to her. She hands me a coloring book of my own, and places the crayons between us to share them like a good girl. I’m flicking through the pages of the coloring book to find an easy page that I can finish pretty quickly. It’s a Mickey Mouse coloring book, so I’m coming across Minnie, Daisy, Pluto, and finally, I land on Goofy. I stop there putting the book on the chair I’m using as a table.

  “Uncle Remy, are you coloring Goofy because you’re goofy?” she asks me with a big smile.

  “Yeah, I guess you can say that.” I’m a big kid when it comes to my niece, but I guess it’s also a way to let off steam. My job is intense, and after a day of dealing with that stuff, who doesn’t need to get a little silly to forget all the crap we see in a day?

  “I’m going to be a big sister today,” she says, never taking her eyes off her page.

  “Yes you are, and you’re turning three pretty soon. What do you want Uncle Remy to get you for your birthday?”

  “A Princess Sophia dress,” she shouts, shooting her hands into the air with excitement.

  “Well, okay then. Anything else?”

  “A Princess Sophia doll,” she shouts again, excited to be discussing her birthday.

  “I’m sensing a theme here,” I say as I color in Goofy’s shirt.

  “What’s a theme, Uncle Remy?” she asks, totally confused.

  “Don’t listen to Uncle Remy,” Brooke says. “He uses big words that he shouldn’t use around little kids. It’s part of him being Goofy.” Brooke makes a funny face at me.

  “Your aunt is just jealous, because at the age of twenty-seven she doesn’t know what theme means either, sweetie.”

  “Oh, will you two cut it out? You’re both supposed to be adults. How about you act like it. Set an example for my grandbaby, will you?” Mama scolds us like we’re kids.

  “Uncle Remy, do you think my mama is going to have a boy or a girl?”

  “I don’t really know, sweetie, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.”

  “I hope I have a sister. I want to play dolls and house with her.” She continues coloring with a huge smile on her face.

  My father and Dawson come walking through the doors. I jump up from the floor to find out the news. “Well, she did it. She gave me a very big, healthy, bouncing baby boy.” We all start hugging him and shaking his hand.

  “That’s awesome, bro, congrats.” I pull my brother into a hug.

  Dawson looks at my father. “Will you stay with Becky while I take Mom and Remy back? Then I can bring Becky and Brooke back?”

  “Of course, son.” He takes a seat next to Becky, complimenting her on her coloring. Of course, she’s not even three so it’s more of a scribble, but she still does better than most two-and-a-half-year-olds.

  Brooke pouts. “Why does he get to go first?”

  I stick out my tongue at her, and Dawson says, “Because it’s my kid and he’s older.”

  She slumps into a chair as we walk down the hall to Kayla’s room. She’s sitting there
, holding the baby. “Hey, you never told us his name?” I question as I walk up to my sister-in-law to hug her and congratulate her.

  Kayla says, “Beau Remington Bennett. We wanted him to have his godfather’s name as his middle name, if you’ll do us the honor.”

  My smile grows. “I would be totally honored to be this little man’s godfather.”

  “Good, because we already put his name down on the birth certificate,” Dawson says. He hands me a cigar and adds, “Please, bro, continue to be a good influence on my kids.”

  I hug my brother and say, “I’ll do my best.”

  Kayla says, “Want to hold him?”

  “Of course I do.” I scoop him up from her arms, and take the seat next to her. “Hey, little man.” I smile down at my godchild. “He looks like you, bro.” I look up at my brother.

  “Yeah, go figure. I carry the kid for nine months and he comes out the spitting image of his father.”

  Mama stands over me snapping pictures of the moment.

  “What are you doing with Becky tonight?” my mother asks them.

  “I don’t know, Mama. We haven’t gotten that far yet.”

  “Well, she can stay at our house tonight,” Mama says.

  “Yeah, I’m home tonight. I have to get my things ready for work tomorrow, but it’s all good,” I add.

  “Great, but you start school in the morning,” Dawson says, concerned.

  “The clinic doesn’t open until ten. I’m sure Brooke can bring her by the hospital on her way to work. She’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Dawson says, looking down at his wife lovingly.

  “I’m going to go out and let Becky and Brooke come in for a bit. I’ll come back with your father in a little while.” Mama kisses both Dawson and Kayla’s cheeks. I think she realizes that I’m not giving up my godchild anytime soon, and I feel slightly guilty, but not really. She’ll spend tons of time with him later, and Kayla’s family all live out of town so there’s no competing there.

  “I wonder how Becky will feel about you having a boy. She just told me how she was hoping for a girl so she could play dolls and house.” I’m still full of smiles and already in love with this little guy.

  Becky comes running into the room with Brooke. “Where’s my brother? Where’s my brother?” she shouts.

  “Becky, calm down,” her father scolds.

  “He’s right here, sweetie.” I turn to show Becky her baby brother.

  She looks up at me. “What’s his name?” She’s excited and so curious.

  “Beau Remington Bennett,” I tell her with pride.

  “Hey, he has your name.” We all start laughing.

  “That’s because Uncle Remy is his godfather,” her father tells her.

  “Cool.” She claps, jumping up and down.

  “Want to sit with Uncle Remy and help me hold him?” She looks down for a second, then looks back up at me. I can tell she’s nervous. “It’s okay, Becky. You won’t hurt the baby,” I tell her in a calm, gentle voice.

  Dawson squats down next to her. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” He puts his hand on her shoulder.

  She shrugs, and starts to climb on my other knee. “Now, listen to Uncle Remy. If you sit nice and still, I’ll switch Beau so he’s sitting on your lap, okay?” She nods, and I move the baby to her lap, but resting against my shoulder. I have one arm wrapped around both of them, and the other is resting on Beau’s belly, making sure he doesn’t slip.

  “Look at me.” Dawson snaps a picture of Becky and I holding Beau.

  “I want to get down, now,” Becky says.

  “Okay, give me one second.” I move my arm from around Becky and hold on tight to Beau. “Okay, sweetie, go ahead.” She jumps down and runs up to her mother.

  “Mommy, can I sit on the bed with you?”

  “Of course you can, sweetie.” Dawson picks her up and places her on the bed next to her mother. Becky snuggles into her side and rests with her. I hate to say it, but I think she’s a bit jealous of Beau. I’ll have to make sure we do something special with her tonight, so she sees nothing is going to change, and that she’s equally as special as he is.

  ***

  My mom, dad, and Brooke all pull up in their car, and Becky and I are in mine. Once I’m parked, I pull her seat from my car and carry it into the house, with Becky skipping along next to me. “Brooke, her car seat is by the door for the morning.”

  “Great, thanks, bro.” She walks into the kitchen to order pizza. Mama promised Becky pizza and baking for tonight, so that’s what we’re all doing.

  I put her Sophia show on while we wait for the pizza, and slowly move into the kitchen. “Mama, I think she’s jealous of Beau.” I tell her what happened at the hospital, and my parents tell me it’s quite normal at first, and that once we show her that she’s still important, she’ll come around.

  “It’s hard at first,” she says. “I remember when Brooke was born, Keaton was so mad. He had been the baby for years, and all of a sudden he was no longer the youngest in the family. To make things worse, they can’t play with them the way they think they can in the beginning. They have this vision that a baby will come along and they’ll be able to do all these things. As you know, it just doesn’t work that way.”

  I nod. “Yeah, I guess I can see that from the conversation that took place in the waiting room. I don’t think she expected him to be so small.”

  “Mama, do you guys need me? I want to go out with Amelia tonight.”

  “You go on, we’ll be fine,” Mama tells her.

  “Thanks, Mama.” She kisses her and runs to the door, texting her friend.

  “Don’t forget you need to drop Becky off in the morning,” Mama shouts.

  “I won’t,” she shouts back from the porch.

  “When you gonna kick her ass out and make her grow up?” I ask my parents.

  “She’s almost done with her degree. Once she has it, then she’s on her own,” my father says. “I already warned her.”

  I roll my eyes. “I love her dearly, but she can be so immature sometimes.”

  “Yeah, well, we went two for four on the mature kids. The other two are getting there,” Mama says with laughter.

  The doorbell rings. Becky shouts, “Pizza!” I jog into the living room to answer the door before she can. There’s a young guy at the door holding one of those pizza bags that keeps it hot.

  I open the door, taking the pizza from him.

  “My name’s Becky, and I became a big sister today.”

  The kid’s brows shoot up as he looks down at her like he has no clue what to say or how to react to this kid. He finally says, “Cool, enjoy your pizza.”

  I shut the door, and Becky skips off to the kitchen.

  After dinner, we cleaned up from the pizza and made two batches of cookies. One batch of chocolate chip and the other peanut butter. They are both Becky’s favorites. Now, Mama is upstairs giving Becky a bath. I promised her when they were done we would watch a movie together on the couch. We don’t have many kids’ movies, but I can look something up on Netflix if she’s not happy with our selection.

  “Uncle Remy, I’m all clean.” She runs down the stairs wearing her Princess Sophia night shirt, pants, and slippers.

  “Well look at you, all decked out in your Princess Sophia pajamas.”

  “Do you like them?” she questions with a smile.

  “Of course I like them. Come here, you.” I scoop her up, tickling her as I lay her across my lap. I say, “Who’s my special princess?” as I continue tickling her.

  “Me,” she squeals.

  “Okay.” I sit her up on my lap.

  “What movie should we watch?”

  She thinks for a minute, her little finger tapping her cheek. This kid cracks me up. Where the heck did she learn that?

  “Little Mermaid,” she shouts.

  “Little Mermaid it is.” I stand from the couch to grab the DVD from the stand, and get it going in the player. A few minut
es later, we’re both snuggled up on the couch watching the movie in silence.

  I look down to see her eyelids are getting heavy from her long day at the hospital. I’m hoping she’ll pass out shortly, and I won’t have to endure this entire movie, although, for her, I would do it in a heartbeat. “Uncle Remy?” she questions in barely a whisper.

  “What, princess?”

  “Will everyone still love me and want to play with me now that Beau is here?”

  “Oh, princess, of course they will. Beau may be my godchild, but he is no princess. You’re my one and only princess.”

  I look down to see a smile spreading across her face as her eyes are closing. “I love you, Uncle Remy.”

  “I love you too, princess.” It’s enough to make her happy, and in minutes, she’s sleeping on my lap with a smile on her face.

  Chapter 15

  Kenzie

  Thank god today is Friday. I swear it has been the longest first week of school since I started teaching. Don’t get me wrong, my fourth graders are great, but I’m tired and I haven’t gone for a run in a while. I really miss it, but I’m not sure I can stand to see Remy. I sigh, grabbing my bag and walking out of my classroom. I’m off to have dinner with Nana before Lilly and I go out for some drinks and dancing, but I’ve got to run home first to change.

  I pull up to the house, and there’s a bouquet of flowers sitting on my porch. So help me god, if those are from Daniel, I’m going to tear him a new one. That man is driving me crazy. He keeps texting and leaving me messages trying to explain his actions like I’m supposed to just turn around and say, “It’s okay. I forgive you.” What he fails to realize is I’m not getting back with him, not now, not ever.