Broken Hearts

by S. G. Sonysa

  “Don’t be sad, baby. Your mom loves you a lot, and she is going to love you till her last breath. And I’m sure your granddad will love you too. He will probably spoil you with so much love.” I talked to my son, making him smile.

  I chuckled at his cute smile.

  I cuddled with Noah then he fell asleep. To kill time, I read my favorite book. After that, I paced in my room when I realized it was evening.

  Chase came into my room.

  “It’s time to leave,” he said, looking at me.

  I picked up Noah while he dragged my bags downstairs.

  Chase’s dad entered the house at that time and looked at us in shock.

  “Where are you both going?” he asked Chase.

  I was suddenly tongue-tied with the emotions I had been feeling all day.

  “Hailey, go wait for me outside,” Chase said.

  I glared at his back but went out.

  Then I heard them shouting. His dad was yelling at Chase then he said something, and there was complete silence. After that, I heard the noise of something smashing.

  Chase came out. His face was red with anger. He put my bags in the trunk of the car and asked me to give him Noah. I didn’t want him to touch my son, but I had to because he was going to put him in the car seat.

  Chase put Noah in the car seat, and I helped.

  He closed the back door of the car, and at that moment his dad came out.

  “I’m leaving,” I said, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

  I knew he was a very nice man, not at all like his son. He loved me like he loved Allison and Kate.

  “I am sorry, Hailey. I am sorry for everything that happened while you were here,” he said and hugged me.

  “You don’t have to be sorry. You did everything to make me feel it’s my home.”

  “I will miss you and my grandson.”

  “You can come to meet him whenever you want. Will you tell Allison and Cameron? I am going to miss them both a lot,” I said, getting in the car and he nodded his head.

  After half an hour journey, we finally reached the airport. I was an hour early for my flight, so we went to the waiting area. I thought Chase would leave me alone to wait for the flight, but he stayed and sat beside me.

  We both stayed silent. Noah was sleeping soundly in my arms, and I was staring at his face.

  “Can I hold him for a few minutes?” Chase asked me.

  I was shocked at first and wanted to tell him no, but I did the opposite and placed Noah in his waiting arms.

  Noah instantly snuggled into his chest like he knew that it was his last chance to feel his dad’s warmth and be near him. Chase kissed his head and murmured something in his ear. My son opened his eyes and stared at his dad. He had a small smile on his lips while Chase was staring at him with tears in his eyes.

  I didn’t understand why he would feel sad when he was throwing us out himself.

  He noticed me staring and masked all his emotions.

  We heard the announcement of my flight boarding. I took my son from his arms and turned to leave when he stopped me.

  “Hailey.” I turned back to find him standing close to me.

  Without any warning, he leaned down and planted his lips on mine. He was kissing me, but I didn’t respond to him. I didn’t respond because I was too shocked. My heart was beating madly in my chest, and my hands were shaking. I tightened my hold on my son so I wouldn’t drop him.

  Chase pulled away from me, his breathing was erratic.

  “Have a safe flight,” he said, staring into my eyes.

  I turned and left him without saying anything.

  When I was inside the plane, traitorous tears rolled down from my cheeks. I furiously cleaned them with my sleeves and kissed my son’s head.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Life without Him

  Hailey

  [Three years later]

  I felt a sloppy kiss on my cheek, and it woke me up. I knew who it was from so to have a little fun, I pretended to be asleep.

  He kissed my cheek again, and when he realized I wasn’t waking up, he made a noise out of irritation. I smiled secretly and peeked at him from half-closed eyes. He had an adorable pout on his face.

  I felt bad for upsetting him, but I was enjoying it too much and didn’t want to end this charade.

  “Mommy please, wake up. I know you’re not sleeping. Mommy, you promised me today we’ll go out for breakfast. Mommy, open your eyes,” Noah said.

  He nudged my shoulder lightly a few times then he tried a new trick, which I wasn’t expecting at all from him. He took my hand in his and kissed the center of my palm. I instantly got up and caught his wrist with my hand before he could get away.

  “You cheeky brat, you know Mommy is ticklish there,” I said, pulling him closer.

  He smiled at me innocently, but I wasn’t letting him go away this time without punishment.

  “It’s time for revenge,” I said and started tickling him mercilessly on his stomach.

  He squealed and begged me to stop.

  “Stop, Mommy. Stop pwease. I’m sorry,” he said, laughing loudly.

  It was childish I know, but I tickled him a little more then stopped. I laughed at his cute face, which looked red as a tomato due to laughing so hard. His grey eyes were twinkling with happiness. He gave me a wide smile, which warmed my heart.

  I just love him so much. I leaned down and kissed his chubby cheeks.

  He launched himself into my arms and kissed me on the right cheek.

  “Mommy it’s already 9. You need to get ready. I’m starving,” he said, looking at his tummy.

  I rolled my eyes at the word “starving.” He learned that word last week from the movie we were watching and has been using it whenever he wanted to tell me that he was hungry.

  Noah was an intelligent child. He could simply memorize a new word and use it in sentences like a pro at such a young age. It shocked everyone but me.

  He talked to people confidently without feeling shy. He also knew how to eat on his own despite his young age. Sometimes, it made people curious. They would ask me if I sent him to some particular preschool.

  At the age of three, he knew how to tell time, how to read and, how to write his name. He loved reading books, going out to parks, and he loved grocery shopping with me.

  I felt him shaking my shoulder, and I looked at him.

  “Go, baby, brush your teeth and if you tried swimming in the washbasin again then forget breakfast,” I said trying to sound threatening, but he laughed at me.

  That cheeky brat was taking my threat lightly. I got up and followed him to make sure he wouldn’t do something stupid.

  After half an hour, we were both ready in matching clothes. He loved it when we dressed in the same jeans and shirts. Today, we were wearing a white shirt and blue jeans with black jackets to keep us warm.

  I picked him up in my arms and went downstairs. I found my mom and dad in the living room. They were having breakfast. I kissed my dad and mom on the cheeks.

  “Good morning,” Noah said.

  Mom picked Noah and placed him on her lap. She kissed his cheek. My parents loved him to death. They played with him, watched cartoons with him, and even read with him.

  “Where are you both off to this early?” Mom asked me.

  Before I could answer her, Noah said, “Grandma, don’t you remember today is Sunday. Mommy promised to take me to the café for pancakes.”

  Mom looked at him amused.

  “Oh, so you think that the café makes better pancakes than me,” she said to tease him.

  He glanced at me for help, but I shrugged telling him to answer himself.

  “No…No Grandma, your pancakes are the best, but the café give them out,” he said, making me and dad laugh.

  They gave them out means they served breakfast in the open near the lake, which Noah loved. My son loved nature and parks.

  We bid our goodbyes to my parents then left the house. I buc
kled Noah in the car seat and drove in the direction of the café. Light music was playing in my car, and he was bobbing his head side to side.

  After fifteen minutes of driving, we reached our destination, and I pulled him out then we went inside. I caught sight of our favorite server, Mrs. James, a cute short lady in her fifties. She liked to give me and Noah extra cookies with hot chocolate, so we both really liked her.

  We said our hellos and ordered our breakfast. I was eating and wondering how my life would have been today if Chase and I were still together.

  I still remembered the day he divorced me and sent me here to live with my parents. That day was still fresh in my memory.

  [Flashback]

  When my flight landed in Oakland, I found Melanie and my dad at the airport waiting for me. Mom took Noah from me, and my dad embraced me. I hid my face in his coat as tears were not ready to stop from flowing down anytime soon. They took me home, and I was crying all the way. I felt like my whole life ended. I didn’t know what Mom would do to me now that I was back in her house. I was scared for my son’s future, but I had nowhere to go except my parent’s house.

  I spent the whole day crying my eyes out in my old room while lying on the bed and hugging my pillow. Then Mom came into my room and sat beside me. She rubbed my back to provide me comfort, which shocked me.

  I opened my swollen eyes and looked at her. She told me to sit up.

  “Hailey, your dad is with you. I-I’m with you. Don’t worry. We will support you. You need to be strong for your son. He is the one who needs you the most right now. You have to stop crying and move on with your life. Get up and take a shower. Think about a new beginning with Noah and with your family,” she said, opening her arms.

  I hugged her and cried some more. She asked me to forgive her for the things that she had done in the past. I forgave her that day and forgot everything about my past.

  ***

  In the last three years, she supported me like a real mother would support her daughter. She told me how Emily left her for modeling and got busy chasing fame. She told me how hurt she was when her real daughter didn’t care about her wishes and wouldn’t even answer her calls.

  Melanie sacrificed her life for her daughter and stayed with my dad for her, but Emily didn’t care about her own mom.

  Mom felt ashamed of the things she did to me. I thought she took care of my son to compensate for her past sins. Dad and Mom encouraged me to continue my studies and supported me throughout high school and college.

  Last year, I graduated from high school with flying colors, which was a blessing to me. Then, I enrolled myself in the nearest best college and continued my studies. I wanted to be a psychologist because I thought it was the best way to help people. I still had to go through years of college to become a psychologist, but that didn’t dampen my spirit.

  “Mommy, is Dad coming here for Christmas?” Noah had so much hope in his beautiful eyes.

  “I don’t know, honey, but I will talk to him later tonight,” I replied, and he busied himself eating his pancakes.

  He had been asking me if he could celebrate this Christmas with his dad.

  Yes, he knew that Chase was his dad. As I said before, Noah was an intelligent boy, and one day he found my wedding pictures and asked me who the man was. He noticed Chase had the same color of eyes as his. Noah did look a lot like Chase. It wouldn’t be wrong if I said that he was a copy of his father. Even my parents said that there was no point in keeping it a secret, so I told Noah about Chase.

  He asked me why his dad didn’t live with us, and I lied to him that he lived in another city because of his business.

  Now, Christmas was two weeks away, and he wanted to know if his dad would come to celebrate this Christmas with him. But sadly, I still didn’t have an answer.

  Chase would send Noah gifts on his birthday and every Christmas. Noah asked me who sent him the gifts and I told him that the gifts were from his dad. From that day, he started loving his dad without knowing him in person.

  One month after our divorce, Chase came to meet us in Oakland at my parents’ house. I let him spent time with Noah, but when he asked to meet me, I refused to see him and talk to him. I wasn’t ready to look at him when my heart was still fragile. After losing him, I fell into depression. It was a horrific period of my life, and I didn’t want to recall the past events by meeting him.

  Chase left after spending few hours with Noah, but he gave my dad a letter and asked him to give it to me.

  I still remembered every line of that letter by heart.

  Hailey, I know I wasn’t a good husband. Believe me, I want to be a good father for Noah. I have opened an account for you in the bank near your house. I want you to use that money without hesitation. I’m not going to visit you or Noah as long as you don’t want me to. I know we both want time to heal. But please, I want you to remember me. I assure you that you can ask me for anything any day without thinking twice. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

  Now after three years, I really wanted to ask him to come and meet Noah. I couldn’t lie to my son anymore. I would have to do this for Noah.

  I hoped Chase would not refuse to come meet Noah on Christmas because Noah really wanted to see his dad.

  On the way back home, we made a little stop at the ice cream shop. Then we continued our way back home. After spending his whole day playing, he was extremely tired, so I hurriedly gave him a shower then changed him into his comfy night clothes. I laid him on the bed and kissed his forehead. He fell asleep instantly.

  I went to the balcony and glanced at my cell phone. I was contemplating my decision of calling him or not. I knew it was now or never. So before I would change my mind, I called him on the number that I took from Allison a few days ago.

  I heard the first ring, I thought of ending the call but stopped myself. At the second ring, my heart started to beat faster. At the third ring, I literally stopped breathing, and that was when he picked up.

  A whoosh of breath left my mouth. I said, “Hello.”

  “Hello,” a woman replied.

  I glanced at the screen of my cellphone to make sure that I had dialed the correct number.

  When I realized I had dialed the correct number and a female had answered Chase’s cell phone instead of him, my heart stopped beating.

  “Uh… Can I talk to Chase?” I asked her.

  “I am sorry. He is really busy at the moment.”

  “Will you please tell him to call me back at this number? I have something important to discuss.”

  “Who are you by the way?” she asked me and anger was clear in her voice.

  “I… Uh… I’m Hailey.”

  “Okay, Hailey. I really don’t care who you are but listen very carefully. Don’t call him ever again because I really hate it when his one night stands call him back,” she said, and my eyes widened in shock.

  Before I could give her answer in the same bitchy way, she said, “And just for your information, I’m Clara, his fiancée,” Then the line went dead.

  The cell phone that was pressed to my ear trembled in my hand and fell down on the floor.

  He has moved on, Hailey. He has replaced you.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Life without Her

  Chase

  [Three years later]

  I was sitting in my office, watching the view of Boston city, and thinking about Hailey. I still hadn’t moved on. Every minute, every second of every day I missed her and my son. Sometimes, I wished that I could go to Oakland and tell her the truth.

  I still loved her. My heart would call her with its every beat and reminded me that it belonged to her.

  I had been trying to become a better person for Hailey and my son. Three years ago, when I asked her to sign those divorce papers, I didn’t know I was actually killing myself. After she left, I moved out of my parents’ house without telling them anything. I went to Boston and completed my internship at Carrington Enterprises. Also, I enrolled mys
elf in the University to get a higher education, and completed Masters in Business Administration.

  Two years and eleven months ago, when I went Oakland to visit Hailey and Noah, she refused to meet me. I spent few hours with Noah and then I had to leave. I decided to write her a letter telling her I wouldn’t come back until she would ask me and I was still waiting for her to ask me.

  I worked one year for Carrington enterprises then my dad asked me to take my rightful place in Edwards Investing Company. But I refused to work in New York, so I started an office in Boston. Now, after two years, I was a very well-known businessman in Boston. My company was making billions because I worked hard every day to get here. I wanted Hailey to see me as a successful man. I wanted my dad to feel proud of me.

  Now that Christmas was fast approaching, I hoped my mother would not insist on me attending Christmas dinner this year. Every year I tried avoiding it. There was no use anyway. My dad would just ask me a few questions here and there then he stayed quiet the rest of the time.

  Cameron was a different story. From the day he found out that I had divorced Hailey and made her leave, he hated me with a passion. Now he lived in New York and studied in NYU while running his own studios. If I asked him anything, he would answer me rudely.

  Allison was just like before, polite and nice. She still talked to Hailey and told me about her and Noah. She knew everything and understood me.

  Chris and Susan loved me and treated me like before. I loved them too.

  Kate got married last year to the college bad boy, Evan Thompson and became a mommy to a cute baby two months ago. It would be her son’s first Christmas.

  At first, I was against Kate getting married to Evan, but she told me that he had changed and really loved her. I called him and had a long talk then I gave my blessing to them. But it didn’t mean that we liked each other. Our mutual hatred towards each other showed whenever we were in one room.

  Cameron and Evan had built a very good friendship, and both of them loved to gang up on me. They wouldn’t let one moment go without making me feel that I didn’t have a family and I was alone.