Cherished by You: A Found by You Finale Novella

by Victoria H. Smith

  I got the expected kisses upon coming further into the room, handshakes of congratulations and tears, and I noticed my Pop’s hug went on a little longer than everyone else’s exchanges with me. I hadn’t been surprised. He’d been that way when Hayden’s kids were born too.

  “Proud of you,” he said to me, his smile tight before dipping his head and I noticed something in his eyes, a sheen before he hid it and placed his hand behind my stepmom’s back. Always close to him, Ann allowed him to guide her away, and the pair went toward Roxie’s room, my Gram and aunt in tow after I gave them both hugs. My siblings and their girls and the young ones remained out in the waiting room, waiting their turn.

  And then there was Roxie’s friend Clare.

  “She’s doing okay, Griff?” she asked me, standing. Apparently, she’d been on pins and needles from what I’d been told, the first to be here.

  And boy did she look different.

  I’d seen lots of transformations on her end over the years, and today, she’d come with half of her head shaven, the buzzed down hairs tinted blue. She’d always been the adventurous one since I’d known her.

  “Perfect,” I told her. “She did so well.”

  Her face flooded with relief, but hiking up on her toes, she whispered something to me.

  “And she’s out of the doghouse? She’d been giving you a hard time.”

  I laughed at how she said that, that Roxie had been the one in the doghouse and not me for once.

  I told her yes, and she gave me a hug. I swear, I’d be all hugged out by the end of everything, and I knew it, so much love in the room. My brothers got me next, as did their significant others, Alexa and Brody last.

  “Tiger,” Brody said, gripping me in a bear hug hard after Alexa’s soft one. Hers had to be soft. She was pregnant as well.

  Brody held her after and seeing the two together, I definitely couldn’t wait for Jackson to have another cousin.

  Alexa put her hand on her stomach. “We can’t wait to meet Jackson.”

  I got that a lot, throughout the whole room in fact. I couldn’t wait for them to meet him as well.

  I only allowed myself to break away from my family to head over to the man by the window. He stayed to himself for some reason, Roxie’s dad Greg I supposed not knowing what to do. He’d folded his paper under his arm, sitting quietly to himself with his hands in his lap.

  I decided he didn’t have to make the first move or anything else. I went over to him myself, inviting him to see his grandchild first along with the people who raised me.

  “There’s room for one more,” I told him. There’d always be room for him.

  Reaching out, I went for his hand and standing, he took it, taking the extra step and pulling me into a hug. Like I said, I sure would be hugged out.

  But wasn’t that the most wonderful thing?

  After patting my back, he pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

  “It’s Cuban,” he said, the thick cigar looking so fine. He scratched his graying, short beard a little. “And one of my favorites.”

  He didn’t know how much I appreciated that, that he was acceptant of me so humbly as the father of his grandchild.

  I accepted the cigar, thanking him profusely.

  He patted my back, leaving, but I had one more thing.

  “Is Cassidy here?” I asked, noticing she wasn’t in the room. In fact, she was the only one.

  My wife had told me a lot in the quiet of our room, our new baby between us, and I wanted to see Cassidy, thank the woman who helped my wife.

  As well as extended an olive branch.

  “She was here,” Mr. Peterson said, nodding. “But she received a call and went to take it. Maybe five minutes ago? I don’t know who it was. I didn’t speak to her really when she was here. She sat to herself.”

  She’d gotten lost in the fray of all this, Cassidy. I noticed her when I got to the hospital, went inside Roxie’s room, but after that my focus veered somewhere else. It went to my wife and future child, but I hadn’t forgotten who called me and alerted me to Roxie being in labor in the first place. I hadn’t forgotten it at all.

  Mr. Peterson’s hand came down on my arm.

  “Is everything all right, Griffin? Should Cassidy have not been here? I wondered why she was, but as I said, I didn’t talk to her.”

  The reason I was sure had been for Roxie’s benefit. He didn’t know the whole story, though, and my wife had given me the rundown. Not everything was what it seemed with Cassidy and even her sister Radha from what I understood. I was sure Roxie would tell him everything in due time, though.

  After assuring Roxie’s dad everything was fine, that Cassidy being here was okay, I excused myself so he could go see his grandkid and I could do my own mission.

  “Everything okay, Griff—”

  “Fine,” I answered Hayden. He had stood up, watching me as I exited our private waiting room.

  I met little resistance in doing so coming in the form of two people I worked with quite often, my bodyguards Frank and Joe. They blocked the door from the outside, but when they turned and realized it was me coming out, I only got smiles.

  “Congratulations, Mr. Chandler,” they both said, then mentioned the calls they’d been receiving from my agent. Deanna had apparently been blowing up their phones for updates on everything. Of course, she was. She cared about my family and me.

  “Tell her the baby is healthy and Roxie is fine,” I told them, patting their shoulders as I went through their human wall. I thought to ask them if they’d seen Cassidy, give them a description or something for a hint to where she’d gone, but it turned out I didn’t need one. Down the hall, she was on the phone like Mr. Peterson said.

  And whoever she spoke to wasn’t happy.

  I knew because the person was speaking just that loud through the device pressed hard to Cassidy’s ear and with our private section of the hospital, a tiny cricket could be heard.

  “You’ve embarrassed us,” a woman said, very much shouting. The volume actually caused Cassidy to pull the receiver away from her ear, her long, dark hair covering her face. She took the call in a corner, probably thinking the location was remote.

  Pulling her hair out of her face, Cassidy returned the phone to her ear. “Mom, come on.”

  Mom?

  Mom.

  As in…

  “You need to come home,” the woman went on. “We saw you all over the television looking a mess.”

  “We had to rush over,” Cassidy said. “Roxie was in labor and—”

  “I know she was. Like I said, we saw you, Radha and me. You looked disgusting, hair unkempt and clothed messily. And why are you all over Roxie? I wouldn’t give you help, but are you really that pathetic enough to ask her? Your ex-step-sister you haven’t seen in years?”

  My first thought had been damn, but then my second traveled into the world of that sounded about right. Everything coming out of this woman’s mouth, this woman who I knew to be Roxie’s ex-stepmom was consistent with everything my wife told me about her. She’d been mean. She’d been cruel, and as it turned out, not much had changed even with time.

  I thought that remained consistent with Cassidy, but now that I knew the whole story my heart was a little more open. Her past discretions weren’t excused at all, not by a long shot but I truly believed there was a decent person in there.

  Sometimes they just need the opportunity to be one.

  I headed Cassidy’s way and so swept up in her call; she didn’t turn around.

  She cringed. “I wasn’t thinking about how I looked. I didn’t even see the cameras. Roxie needed—”

  “Not you,” the woman said. “No one needs you. Now come home.”

  The call ended without a closing, no “goodbyes” or “I love yous’ and never would I have ended a call that way had it been my child.

  I guess that made us different people.

  Cassidy gripped the phone in her hand, moving her hands on it. When she
looked up, she found me and I had to say that I doubted that’s who she expected with the width of her eyes.

  “Griffin?” she said and actually tried to fix her messy, dark hair up, messing with her shirt. That was the home she came from I guess, that she felt she had to do that.

  She dropped her hands. “Is Roxie, okay? I mean, she… the baby…”

  “Need you,” I said, smiling at her, then gestured toward the door my men guarded. “They both do, so if you’d like to go to them, meet your new nephew?”

  I guess people weren’t so simple, life wasn’t so simple. Folks in general tended to make mistakes, but I had never been a guy not to give second chances.

  Cassidy watched me, her eyes narrowed like she didn’t know what to do with the information she was given, but falling into stride with me, turning back, she decided to roll with it and go with me.

  She was on her way to meet Jackson, another member added to this boy’s family. He’d have a lot that little guy.

  He could never have enough.

  A few months later…

  Roxie

  “You call me the moment you get there, okay? I don’t want to worry about you.”

  I would if she didn’t. Cassidy was in upstate New York, able to do that after my friend had done the impossible for her.

  Cassidy’s court case had been tedious and would have been drawn out longer if not for Kerry Donavan’s amazing ace attorney skills. Kerry put the pressure on Cassidy’s ex-husband, so much that he actually ended up withdrawing his pursuit of their child entirely and actually gave in to a pretty sizable sentiment to boot. This money meant he’d stay away and he signed off on that. As it turned out, he didn’t even want the baby and cared less about the money. He just wanted Cassidy. He wanted to own her and have power over her like he had before, and he admitted the fact foolishly. He cornered Cassidy one day, revealed it all, and smart as a whip, she recorded the conversation on a smartphone Kerry gave her to use when they started working with each other. It had been that piece of evidence that finally made him stay away and well, give my former step-sister her life back.

  Former…

  Referring to her that way felt so weird after how far we’d come. She’d been very much a part of my life in the last few months, Jackson’s. She was his aunt. Even if not legally.

  I could almost hear Cassidy’s smile through the phone, and even though, I couldn’t see her, I knew how much different she looked. She brightened with the day, a glow of a future mama and a huge tummy. She was well on track to be bigger than me at my largest, nearly to her third trimester.

  “It’s something I gotta do, Roxie,” she said, content in her voice I was so happy to hear. “But I will call you. Don’t worry about me.”

  I knew it was something she had to do and I wished her well. In fact, I wanted nothing but for her to succeed in her journey.

  She was going to see Radha, her intent to try to get her to come around. Apparently, her sister was in a similar situation, a world of physical and mental abuse from her own arranged marriage their mom had set up for her. It was Cassidy’s hope she could offer her an alternative and even come back here. Cassidy had a means to take care of them both with her large settlement, and I hoped Radha would take her up on her offer.

  She’d already been through enough already.

  We all had a lot of growing still, and I was aware of that, but if Cassidy managed to get Radha to come around, one day we might even be able to get some of what we had back.

  I never gave up hope.

  “You take care of yourself,” I told Cassidy. “And safe travels. Jackson wants to meet his cousin on time, so you better get back to continue your doctor's appointments.”

  She had all kinds, both for physical and mental, and she’d been making great waves. She was getting healthy, on the road to no longer being hollow.

  Cassidy stayed quiet for a long time on the line, and I wasn’t sure she heard me. But then…

  “I love you, Roxie, and thank you.”

  I loved her, too. I didn’t think I ever stopped.

  I said as much then hung up the line in my make-shift office. We’d transformed the guest room Cassidy had been staying in before she moved out into a beautiful space with scones and floral wallpaper. It brought the sunshine in, made me happy, and allowed me to get some work done when the baby was sleeping. I wouldn’t be working here forever, but I would be during the rest of my maternity leave.

  Cassidy had actually moved closer to where Kerry lived, needing her own space, and the baby, Griffin, and I had been frequent visitors.

  Speaking of…

  Upon leaving my office, I stepped gingerly through the halls of our house, but that didn’t seem to matter once I cracked open the door to the nursery.

  The sight was… extraordinary, my son and his father. Griffin had taken charge of Jackson while I took time for my phone call, and bless his heart for trying to get our boy to sleep.

  Jackson was very much not sleeping, his little arms and stubby legs wiggling on his daddy’s chest.

  And my man…

  He was a mass of body, his long limbs spread out on the expanse of a tiny love seat we stationed in the nursery. Griffin covered it entirely and then some, his sleep pants hanging low on his hips and his muscled chest rising and falling with his breaths. Ankles crossed and what looked to be his t-shirt rolled and propped under his neck, Griffin had his eyes closed, his hand gingerly moving across our child’s back in small circles. He was no doubt trying not to fall asleep himself, but our little guy wasn’t making it easy for him. He kept wiggling on Griffin’s bare chest, and every time he did, blond lashes flew open.

  Laughter at the situation, as well as Jackson and Griffin’s cuteness bubbling in my chest, I couldn’t help letting out. I used my hand to muffle it, but I still had Griffin’s blond tendrils moving, as he shifted his head in the direction of my position of the door frame.

  He frowned at me. “You’re amused by this I’m assuming?”

  He said it oh-so serious but ended up licking his full lips after his smile. Shaking his head, he lifted his large body with a heave, taking care to hold Jackson tight to him. He waved me over with the tips of his fingers and who was I to say no to an invitation like that?

  I came further into the room. “I guess I just find you two adorable.”

  More than. I could look at these two together all day and have done a lot of it. Griffin was home a lot since Jackson had been born, so much more than he’d ever been. He was by my side, taking care of him nearly as much as I had. We both had to pull together since we’d opted out of formal childcare for the time being.

  I knew it wouldn’t be our forever. I eventually would need to go back to work, but I’d make it work for as long as I could. We’d been making it work so far.

  Griffin’s expression danced with amusement after what I said, and he reached up to scratch his fingers against a little bit of the blond shadow he developed under his chiseled jaw. The joys of being a new parent I suppose, but I didn’t mind it.

  It only made him sexier.

  “I’m glad you find us adorable,” he said. He pushed a long arm behind the back of the love seat and I took up space right there, the perfect place.

  His body warm, I let him engulf me, reaching over to adjust Jackson’s little blue onesie. He wriggled, little, chubby brown limbs moving every, which way and Griffin sighed.

  He brought a hand down Jackson’s back, covering mine and most of our child’s small body with his expansive digits.

  “I’d be happy if I could just get him to sleep,” he said, but he did so with a smile. “He always fusses with me.”

  “Because he wants to spend more time with you,” I told him, pushing my arms around them both. Griffin moved so I could.

  I shrugged. “He falls asleep on me, and I can’t spend as much time.”

  Griffin dropped his lips on the crown of my head, making me warm.

  “Still, I wish I had his mom
ma’s touch,” he said, that Texan drawl taking my thoughts to impure places. He made me hot any time he touched me, but his voice.

  Knowing we at least had to get our son to sleep, I rose up a little, picking a book from the shelf behind the loveseat.

  I came back with it, showing it to Griffin. “You read him this, and we’ll both be golden.”

  I knew for a fact this little boy loved his daddy’s voice as much as I did and his eyes were already starting to hang heavy, little lids closing.

  Griffin traded off with me, the baby for the book.

  I got settled in after that, laying against Griffin with the small bundle in my arms, but my husband didn’t read immediately.

  He eyed me, flashing a cover with tiny fawn on it at me.

  I shrugged. “What? Bambi is his favorite story.”

  We’d knock him out in two minutes flat with this for sure.

  Chuckling, Griffin turned it around.

  “It’s a bit graphic, isn’t it?” he questioned, scratching his head. “His momma like dies.”

  I laughed. “He’s a baby, and believe me, he’ll love it.”

  Griffin looked unsure, but he did roll with it. Pulling me in close, he let me rest against his chest while he read and I got an even better vantage point, hearing that deep, thick accent from within the confines of his strong chest.

  We both stared into a bedroom what seemed like only moments later, a small child sleeping in his crib. His room ended up being beautiful, my former wedding planner making sure our son’s digs fared well.

  Jackson had a canopy above, opening up and sheltering him like royalty. His mobile of owls, bunny rabbits, and other woodland animals painted shapes on the walls already filled with whimsical designs, his room a wonderland pulled right from a Disney film.

  The area was so sweet, like him, and Griffin and I watched from afar at the door at our baby’s small body breathing in and out. Having him here was definitely a switch, but never again would I have it any other way.

  I leaned back into his father, my man’s arms coming in a long expanse of limbs around me. After closing Jackson’s door, muscled biceps closed in on me, and at the heat of Griffin’s lips on my neck, I sighed, falling back.