by Craft, Maggi
“Yep, and we’ve consummated it and everything, so no turning back,” Tate said.
I thought I was going to be sick.
I looked at Slayde, who looked pretty shocked too. He didn’t say anything. I looked at Isabelle, who was smiling, and I said, “Can I see you in the kitchen?” I walked out of the room, and she followed me.
“Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Why would you run off and get married to some guy you don’t even know?”
“Why are you freaking out? He’s your friend, isn’t he?” she asked.
“What difference does that make, Isabelle? I don’t know him that well, and neither do you. Have you told your father? He is going to freak out.”
She looked down, and when she looked back up, she had tears in her eyes. “No, and I know he will, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What do you mean? Are you pregnant?”
She didn’t say anything. She just nodded and started crying in earnest.
“Oh, Isabelle.” I grabbed her and hugged her. “It’s going to be OK. We’ll figure this out.”
Slayde stuck his head into the kitchen and saw she was crying, and said, “Tate and I are going to the batting cages.—is that OK?”
As weird as I thought that was, I told him yes. I figured he was just trying to give Isabelle some time. So much for my afternoon alone with my husband.
“You know you can get this annulled. You don’t have to do any of this.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You know what I mean, Isabelle. Don’t ruin your life over this.”
“I know this may not have been my dream life, but it won’t be a bad life.”
“You do not have to marry this guy just because you’re pregnant. That is stupid. Did you think you wanted to marry him the day before you found out you were pregnant?”
“No.”
“OK, then, that should tell you something.”
“You don’t understand!” she cried.
“What do you mean? I understand you found out you were pregnant. You freaked out, and you ran off and married him.”
Isabelle looked down at her hands, and her voice got softer. “Remember that professor I told you about? His name was Lewis. Anyway, about a year ago, I got pregnant. He told me if I didn’t have an abortion, he was going to get fired, and it would ruin his career. He promised that if I did it, he would marry me after I graduated and we could have plenty of babies together. So I did it. I was so stupid. I believed every damn lie he ever told me. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t in her shoes, and I didn’t know how she felt. My heart broke for her. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her. “Why don’t you just take a step back? You can get this marriage annulled and date each other and see how it goes. You will learn a lot about each other when you have a child together. You can learn to hate someone you totally adored just by adding a kid to the mix. Trust me, I know. Starting a new relationship with someone and adding a baby has got to be a nightmare.”
She shook her head. “No, for once in my life I’m going to do what I think is right. I’m not going to take the easy way out.”
I knew she was making a mistake, but she had already made up her mind. All I could do now was sit back and watch her run around with a lit stick of dynamite and pray I could help her put the pieces back together once it all exploded on her. Because it was going to explode at some point.
Later that night, Slayde and I were lying in bed watching TV. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. All I could think about was Isabelle and what she was going through. “Can you believe they got married? This is a time bomb waiting to go off.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it will all be OK,” he said and wrapped his arms around me. He always had a positive outlook on everything. He always thought the best of everyone, saw the good in everyone, and assumed life would be fine. Sometimes I thought it was sweet, and sometimes I wanted to kill him.
Chapter 26
Slayde
Life was going great. It wasn’t easy, but it was good. My latest movie was about to come out, and I was super excited about it. It was a suspenseful action film, and I had had the best time filming it with Tate. It seemed like Arden was working less, and she was fine, the kids were fine, and everything was rolling along like a well-oiled machine for the first time in a long time.
The twins turned one, and we were having a small family-and-friends party at our house. ’After the kids had smashed their cakes, I was inside scooping the ice cream when I heard the doorbell ring. We had left the gates open for the party. I opened the door, assuming it was just another party guest.
On the porch stood a girl I used to mess around with in Paris named Milania. We had never dated; we were just friends with benefits. We had made a rule that if either one of us met someone we were interested in dating, everything was off. So once I ran into Arden, I never saw Milania again—until today.
As soon as I recognized her, I walked out and shut the door behind me. I was shocked and starting to freak the hell out. “Milania, what are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry to show up at your house unannounced, but I needed to talk to you,” she said.
I was immediately nauseated. Whatever this was about, it wasn’t good.
“OK, talk,” I said. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I was about to have a panic attack.
“Can I come in? Or can we go somewhere else and talk?” she asked.
Milania was a totally awesome girl. She was beautiful and fun and going to make someone a great wife, but I had never had real feelings for her. I’d never pretended to, either. We had a great time together, but it wasn’t serious. Not serious enough for her to show up at my house unannounced.
“Absolutely not. I’m not leaving my kids’ birthday party to go anywhere with you, and I’m certainly not bringing you into my house.”
“You have kids?” Milania asked, looking surprised.
“Yes, and a wife. What’s this about?”
She didn’t say anything for a minute. She looked nervous.
“Milania, you came here to tell me something—now, tell me,” I demanded.
She looked me in the eyes and said, “You also have a four-year-old son.”
I wasn’t sure I had heard her right. I asked her to repeat herself, but it sounded exactly the same the second time. Then I had to sit down. My stomach was turning over, and I felt light-headed. I felt like I was watching my family and my life slip away from me right in front of my very eyes. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said.
And then I was furious. “Why are you telling me this now? Surely you knew you were pregnant before I left Paris. You didn’t tell me then. So why are you telling me now?”
“I felt like it was the right thing to do,” she said.
“Now, four years later, you’re deciding this is the right thing to do? You have got to be kidding me. I have a family. I have a son and a daughter and a wife I love more than my own life. She will never understand this. I’m sorry, but you should have told me this in Paris. I can’t do this now.” I stood up, shaking my head, and I was about to go back inside, but I knew I couldn’t send her away and hide this. She could always take me to court, and then this would be everywhere. Arden would be humiliated and leave me for sure. I had to figure out what she wanted from me. “How much?”
“How much what?” she asked, almost as if she had no idea what I was talking about.
“How much money for you to go away?” Tears were stinging my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation with somebody about a child. She looked hurt and offended. I knew I didn’t need to piss her off; she had always been sweet in the past, but there was now a kid involved. That changed people. “Milania, you show
up at my house and tell me I have a child I had no idea existed. I don’t know how to react. I don’t know what you want me to say, but I can promise you it won’t be ‘Bring him over and let me make room for him in my family.’ I can’t do that. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine you would think it would work like that.” She started crying, and I felt like shit. “Look, meet me at my attorney’s office in the morning at nine, and we will figure something out, OK?” I wrote the address down for her and went back inside.
I heard Arden calling me when I shut the door. She walked into the foyer. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel so good,” I said. “I think I need to go lie down.” That was the truth—I really didn’t feel good.
Arden came upstairs a few minutes later. “Baby, are you feeling any better?”
“No, I don’t think this is going to pass over as quickly as I’d like.” Another completely honest fact. I got up and went in the bathroom and threw up. Arden followed me in there.
“Slayde, what did you eat? You look terrible. You were fine ten minutes ago.”
“Just go back downstairs, and I will be fine. Apologize for me. I’m not going to be able to come back down there.”
About an hour later, Mom came upstairs to check on me. “What’s the matter, Slayde?”
“I don’t feel good. Can you go get Dad, please?” I asked.
“What?” She looked confused. Her look immediately grew suspicious. “Is everything OK? Should I be worried?”
“No, everything is fine. I just wanted to ask Dad something before I got sick, and now I don’t want to go back down there with all of those people. That’s all.” And there it was, lie number one.
Shortly after that, Dad walked into my room and shut the door. “What did you do?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You never want me unless you did something you don’t want your mother to know about. So, what is it?”
He was right. I didn’t, but no matter how I hated for him to be right, he was the only person I could talk to about this. He was still my dad, and he still loved me and wanted what was best for me. Even if he had a hard way of showing it sometimes. So I told him everything that had happened with Milania.
“Well, that’s the best thing you can do for now. I’ll go to the attorney’s office with you in the morning, and we will give her whatever she wants to go away. Just calm down, and whatever you do, don’t tell your mom or Arden. You don’t even know if this is your kid. No reason stirring up a hornet’s nest if you don’t have to.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. The way he was handling this made me a little nervous. It made me question if he had done this before.
“Dad,” I said as he was walking out. “What are you going to tell Mom I wanted? You know she’s going to ask.”
“I’ll tell her it was between us, and if you had wanted her to know, you would have told her,” he said and walked out.
After everyone left, I went downstairs to see the babies. I was trying to act normal, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded. I couldn’t look at my family without thinking about how everything might be about to change for all of us.
“Are you feeling better?” Arden asked, coming up behind me and rubbing my back. Any affection from her made me feel guiltier than I already did. As if that were possible.
“Not really. How did the rest of the party go? I’m sorry I missed it,” I said.
“Well, it’s not like you could help it. It’s not like you didn’t want to be here.”
I would rather have had her angry with me or something. Her kindness made me feel so much worse. Casey came in and got the babies ready for bed, and Arden and I went upstairs. I usually enjoyed every moment I got alone with her, but not tonight. I couldn’t even touch her without feeling guilty. She was lying on my chest and talking to me about how great of a day it was and things that had happened at the party. I didn’t hear a word she said. All I could think was Will she still be with me next year? Did I just miss the only birthday party with our kids as a family? I had to get up. I had to get some fresh air.
“Slayde, can I get you something? You look terrible. You probably need to drink something,” she said.
That sounded like a great idea, but I didn’t think Gatorade or water would help what was wrong with me. “I think I’m going to go downstairs. You just rest. I will be back in a little while.”
She was already asleep when I did make it back upstairs.
When I woke up the next morning, Arden was downstairs with Casey and Hannah and the babies, playing. I was planning on just sticking my head in and then getting the hell of there.
“I’m going to meet Dad. I will be back after lunch,” I said, heading for the door.
She jumped up and followed me. “Wait! Where are you going? Are you feeling better?” She put her hand on my cheek.
“A little bit. I’m going to meet Dad.”
“Where?”
I wasn’t prepared for all of these questions. I was a terrible liar, and I had never lied to her. I was proud of that fact, and I didn’t want to start today. “At the country club. We are going to play golf.” But I lied anyway.
“You aren’t dressed to play golf,” she said, looking me over.
“I know. I have clothes at the club.” That was not a lie. I did have clothes there, so I felt better about that.
“OK, have fun.” She kissed me and walked back in the living room. I watched her walk away and felt sick. I wanted to take her upstairs and tell her everything, but I couldn’t force myself to do it. I didn’t want this to be happening to us.
When I got to the attorney’s office, Dad was already there, and so was Milania. I didn’t say anything to her, but I followed my dad into a separate room with our attorney, Mitch Grubbs. Milania stayed in her seat.
“Slayde, do you know if this could be your child?” Mitch asked, once the door was shut. Mitch was another long-term employee of my father’s. He probably knew all kinds of things about my family that I had no idea about.
“I guess there is a possibility.”
“So you did have sex with her?” he asked.
This was starting off worse than I thought. “Yes,” I admitted quietly.
“Were you in a relationship with her at the time?”
I didn’t know why that mattered. “No, we just had sex.”
“Just one time?” he asked.
Dad interrupted. “Does it really matter? It only takes once. We know that already, Mitch.” Dad was becoming frustrated. I’m not sure if it was with my situation or with Mitch rehashing everything as if we didn’t know where babies come from.
“Zac, I’m just trying to get everything straight. I’m on your side, remember, but I have to know everything.”
“No, it was more than once, but I always wore a condom.”
“So you think there is a possibility that this could be someone else’s child?” Mitch asked.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t ask her that.”
“We definitely want a paternity test before this goes any further. If this is your child, do you want visitation or anything like that?” he asked.
I didn’t even hesitate. “No!” That came out easier than it should have. Dad didn’t react to my answer at all.
“Do you want to sign your rights away and pay her for child support all at once, and have her sign a confidentiality statement of some sort?”
I looked down at the floor. I was ashamed. I felt horrible for this poor kid, but I couldn’t put my kids’ future in jeopardy for his. “Yes.”
“Has she said what she wants?” Mitch asked.
“No! I don’t know what she wants from me. She didn’t say.”
“Mitch, we all know what this is about. This is about money,” Dad interrupted. “If we give in to her and
give her what she wants, every girl Slayde ever stuck his dick into can come in here and say the same thing. This is crazy. We aren’t giving in to her that easy,” Dad shouted.
I felt totally humiliated.
“Well, let’s get her in here and find out,” Mitch said.
I felt unbelievably low. I couldn’t believe I was capable of this. I couldn’t believe this was my life. I had made better choices since I had met Arden than I had before that, and now it seemed she was going to suffer for them anyway.
When Milania sat down, I immediately felt sorry for her. She was by herself on one side of the table, and Dad, Mitch, and I were on the other. It had to be extremely intimidating. Mitch asked her a few questions before I even realized he had; I was spaced out. I hadn’t heard anything either of them had said.
“You do understand that Mr. Price has a family and a reputation to uphold. We don’t want this to get out to the public,” Mitch was saying.
She didn’t say anything but nodded. I could tell she was about to cry. She looked over at me, but I looked away. I couldn’t make eye contact with her. She had done this to herself. If she had told me about this when it had happened, we could have handled this differently. She was forcing it to go down this way. At least that’s what I was telling myself. I didn’t know what I would have done then, but maybe I would have handled it better. There was a possibility that if I had I found out, Arden wouldn’t have dated me in the first place. Maybe I wouldn’t even have had this life I had now. The thought of that made me ill.
“I don’t want to hurt Slayde or his family. I just want what is best for Maddox,” she said through her tears.
Just hearing his name made me feel weird. I hadn’t said anything up to this point, but I couldn’t allow this to go on. She was definitely the underdog here. “Milania, tell me what you want me to do,” I said.
Dad and Mitch looked at me like I was crazy. She stopped crying and looked at me and said, “I just want him to have a better life. I can’t work night and day to put him through school and still have time to be with him. He is very smart, and his teacher says that he should go to private school, but I can’t afford to send him to private school. I can’t give him the life he deserves by myself.”