by Lily Love
“Who doesn’t want a wedding like this?” his mother asked. She pinched her shoulders together and shifted her weight from side to side like a bird ruffling her feathers. “Cecilia is going to be beautiful. The venue is going to be the most stunning one the Hawthorn family has ever had the privilege to visit. The food is going to be talked about for years, and the photographer and videographer are among the best in Los Angeles. This is going to be a fairytale brought to life.”
For Cecilia, maybe. For Craig it was another obligation, another mask. He’d spent a good portion of his life doing everything he could to fit into his elitist family, but it had never done him any good. No matter how successful he was, no matter what he accomplished, and no matter who he sucked up to, nothing was ever good enough for them. All his life he’d lived in his Cousin Roman’s shadow, spiteful and angry that this was the hand that he’d been dealt with. All his bitterness had ever brought him was more reason to be jealous.
But since Roman had come back home from overseas and settled down with the right man, Craig was starting to come around. All Roman wanted was a simple life free from Hawthorn family drama. Craig realized that they weren’t all that dissimilar.
So Craig was doing his best to turn over a new leaf. It was a shame his family didn’t see it the same way he did.
“So you’ve finalized the seating arrangements, then?” Craig asked. He didn’t want to hurt his mother by telling her he wasn’t invested in the wedding at all. “That’s all taken care of?”
“No thanks to you,” Cecilia pouted.
Most times she was a sweet girl, but times like these she grated on Craig’s nerves to no end. “What do you want my help with, then?” Craig asked. “What else is there to be done? I know I dropped the ball on seating arrangements, but I can help with something else.”
“You can help by giving me your phone,” Cecilia said.
Craig instantly reached for it, taking hold of it before Cecilia could snatch it from his thigh. “I’ll turn it off and put it away.”
“I want to know who you’re texting,” she insisted. “All you do these days is sit on your phone, smiling and laughing behind your hand. Who are you talking to, Craig?”
“Uh. A friend.” Craig looked to his mother for support, but there was none to be found. Her eyes were hardened coals, her lips thin with her displeasure. “One of the guys I met out in North Carolina when I went to Roman’s wedding.”
“I still can’t believe you didn’t take me,” Cecilia said. She’d worked herself into a fury now, and Craig knew there would be no talking her down. He had to let her burn out. “Is it because you were meeting someone out there? Is ‘one of the guys’ actually some girl, Craig?”
Craig buried his face in his hand.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“No, Cecilia.”
“I can’t believe you’d do this.”
Craig looked at her from between parted fingers. Her cheeks were red with frustration and her brows were knitted together. Most of the time she had a beautiful face, but when she was angry it twisted. “Roman’s mother was at the ceremony. Don’t you think if she saw me so much as look at another woman the entire Hawthorn clan would know it by now?”
“I—” Cecilia frowned. She knew as well as Craig did how rumors spread like wildfire through Craig’s family. “Well, still, it’s not right. It’s not right at all.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Craig apologized. “I swear I’m just talking to a friend. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
Cecilia looked appeased for all of five seconds before Craig’s mother cut in. “He may not be a woman, but is he a gay man? Roman was gay married to that boy, Landon?”
“Lane,” Craig said. Whose side was his mother on, anyway? Definitely not his.
“Lane. Right.” She lifted her chin. “So what? Are you talking to men now, Craig? Do you even stop to think about Cecilia?”
Sometimes Craig thought it wasn’t worth it to keep fighting for a relationship he wasn’t even all that invested in. Cecilia was a nice girl. When they’d met she’d been sweet and drama free, but the longer she rubbed elbows with the Hawthorns, the more corrupt she became.
“I’m not talking to men like that,” Craig said.
“Why should I believe you?” Cecilia asked, outraged all over again. “All of this is so stressful to me and it’s like you don’t even care. If you loved me like you say you do, then you’d want to be here to help me through this stressful time. Instead you’re talking to whomever that is.”
“Jack,” Craig said.
“That’s such a fake name it’s not even funny.” Cecilia collapsed back into her chair and looked skyward. Craig saw her beauty in the curve of her slender neck and the angles of her jaw, but he was having a hard time seeing what drew him to her as a person.
Maybe he’d been too hasty to get down on one knee. He’d thought that Cecilia was a different person, but she was starting to show her true colors. Craig wondered what kind of a life it would be with her at his side.
Would he turn into the same bitter person he had been only a few months before?
“Maybe it’s a good idea if we get back to the issues at hand instead of who I’m texting,” Craig suggested. “There’s a lot still to get done, right? We shouldn’t be wasting time on unnecessary things.”
“Unnecessary to you, maybe,” Cecilia said. She folded her arms across her chest, disappointment plainly visible in her eyes. “It feels pretty necessary to me.”
Craig sighed. This was a conversation for behind closed doors — one he certainly didn’t want to have in front of his mother. He already knew she was going to spread rumors about trouble in paradise from the little she’d seen. A full-blown confrontation would only make things worse.
“Cecilia, I’m sorry,” Craig said. He really was. “There’s no one else, I promise. I was being an ass to ignore you when you needed my help. I’ll work on that. If you see me doing it again, can you correct me on it?”
Cecilia looked smug. It made Craig resent her just a little bit — but it made him resent his family even more. They’d taken a fantastic woman and molded her into one of their own. It was sickening.
“I will,” Cecilia said. “So, what else were we going to go over today? The tablecloths and centerpieces?”
That meant another few hours of total boredom. Craig looked listlessly across the room and clutched his phone a little tighter. Talking with Jack always helped the time pass, but now he was apparently banned from having fun, so that was out of the picture.
He’d have to find something else to keep him awake.
Right as he was about to have to explain his stance on lace, an unexpected noise came to his salvation.
The doorbell rang.
“Now, who could that be?” Craig’s mother asked. She stood and whisked out of the room, Craig following right behind her. A break from the monotony of wedding planning was exactly what he needed. He hoped that it was a Jehovah’s Witness he could sucker into talking to him about religion for an hour or two — long enough for his mother and Cecilia to finish up whatever details they still needed to address about the wedding.
A young woman stood in the doorway instead. Craig recognized her instantly.
It was Nadine Little, his ex-girlfriend’s younger sister. In her arms was a baby.
“Nadine?” Craig asked.
“Hi, Craig,” Nadine said. She nodded at the baby in her arms. “Meet Isaac. He’s yours.”
3
Craig
“Mine?” Craig’s heart raced. He looked between Nadine and the child, not knowing where to focus his attention. The baby was small — he had to be close to newly born. “What do you mean?”
He hadn’t slept with Nadine, not ever. Craig had been in a relationship with her sister, Synthia, for a few years, but he’d finally left when he realized that a few drinks on the weekends had turned into toxic alcoholism.
“Synthia was pregnant when you
left her,” Nadine said.
Craig bit down on his jaw and tried to process everything he was feeling. His first instinct was to deny, but the dates added up a little too well. After they’d broken up, he’d slept with Synthia one last time in some of the hottest breakup sex he’d ever had. In the heat of the moment, they hadn’t used a condom.
Shit.
“Craig?” his mother asked, incredulous.
“I…” Craig rubbed his arm. He’d met Cecilia no more than a week later, and four months into their relationship, he’d proposed. He had no clue that Synthia was pregnant. She hadn’t ever reached out to let him know. “I didn’t know.”
“You’re not denying it!” his mother squeaked.
“The dates add up,” Craig admitted with a shrug. “We’ll have DNA testing done to see, but… I think he is.”
“I don’t really have any reason to lie to you,” Nadine said. “Whatever beef you and Synthia had, that’s not on me. All I know is that I have a nephew who needs his daddy, and you’re it.”
Craig heard the click of Cecilia’s heels as she approached. This wasn’t going to end well.
“I don’t understand why you’re approaching me,” Craig admitted. “Why isn’t Synthia stepping forward?”
“She’s been in rehab,” Nadine admitted. “When she found out she was pregnant she checked herself in and she’s been sober all through her stay. Isaac is healthy. But right now she’s not at a place in her recovery where she’s ready to be released yet. She went into rehab because she knew she had to be healthy for Isaac, not because she wanted to be healthy for herself. Until that changes, she’s barred from the outside world, and Isaac needs someone to take care of him.”
“And I take it you don’t want that responsibility,” Craig murmured.
Nadine’s eyes hardened. “Listen,” she said. “I love this little boy. I might not know him very well, but I love him. If I were in any kind of position where I could keep him, I would. But why would I deprive him of the life he could have if he were to be with you? Money. A house to grow up in. Brand new baby clothes and toys instead of cheap secondhand knockoffs. I love him enough to know that he deserves to be with you because I want him to have the best life he can.”
A baby. Craig’s gaze held fast on Isaac.
He’d helped make another person.
The feeling was surreal.
Even though Isaac wasn’t planned and Craig knew that his existence was going to throw his life into chaos, he felt himself falling in love. A baby. It felt like a chance to start fresh — a shot at a new family that would love him for who he was instead of what he could offer.
Craig’s mother didn’t feel this same way.
“This is ridiculous,” she exclaimed loudly. “Utterly ridiculous. You expect us to believe that this child belongs to Craig?”
“Well… yeah,” Nadine said flatly. She hadn’t ever been one to take bullshit. “He is. Whether you like it or not, your son was dating my sister. It’s not like this is coming out of the blue. It was an established relationship.”
“This is a ploy for money,” Craig’s mother accused.
“Uh. No. Having a baby is expensive. Do you think Synthia is stupid enough that she’d forget you’d demand DNA testing? She’s not trying to con you into paying child support. All I want is for Craig to step up and be a dad while she’s in rehab. That’s all.”
A dad. He was a dad. Craig beamed.
Cecilia’s nails dug into his shoulder. “Craig?” she asked through gritted teeth. “What the hell is this?”
“This is my son,” Craig said. “Isaac.”
Isaac. Craig’s heart fluttered. He’d never thought of being a father before, but now that he’d been dragged headfirst into parenthood, he couldn’t help but be glad. In fact, the last time he was this happy he’d been out in North Carolina palling around with Lane’s friends.
Joking with Jack.
Craig shrugged away from Cecilia’s touch, stepping out onto the front step to stand beside Nadine. Isaac squirmed in her arms, his tiny eyes closed. A tuft of pale hair stuck out from beneath the blanket he was wrapped in. It looked white in the light.
“Can I hold him?” Craig asked.
“You’ll do no such thing!” Craig’s mother squawked. “You’re not to touch it until we know for sure if it’s yours!”
The downy excitement in Craig’s chest dissipated. In its place spread ice. Craig glared at his mother, hackles up. “Isaac isn’t an it,” he uttered. “He’s a little boy, and no matter who his father is, he deserves your respect. He’s a living human being, mother.”
“And you will not touch him,” she insisted. At her side, Cecilia stood tall and indignant, her eyes narrowed and threatening. Craig wasn’t going to let either of them scare him away from taking care of his child.
He had no proof other than his gut feeling, but he knew Isaac was his.
“You want to hold him?” Nadine asked, unfazed by the attitudes of the women who stood behind Craig. “He’s still little. You need to make sure you support his head.”
Craig knew nothing about babies, and as Nadine laid Isaac in his arms, he started to panic. There was so much he knew he didn’t know that he was sure he was going to make a mistake. What if he didn’t support his head enough? What if he needed to be burped? Babies needed to be burped, right? How would he know?
“Look,” Nadine said with a gentle smile. “He looks good on you. What a proud papa.”
“He is not the father,” Craig’s mother admonished.
“Well. Whatever. Not like we can’t get the receipts easily enough.” Nadine shrugged. “If you’re so sure he isn’t the father, then get a paternity test done. It’s as simple as that.”
“We will.” It was Cecilia’s shrill voice that promised it. Craig couldn’t even bring himself to look at her. He cradled Isaac in one arm and traced a finger down his little button nose. It was smaller than his pinkie. How could a person be so small?
“I have his supplies in the car,” Nadine said. She made a face. “Security wouldn’t let me bring it up to the front door. What the hell do you think I’m going to do with some jars of strained peas and a bunch of onesies? So ridiculous.”
“Let’s go get it together,” Craig said. He made sure Isaac was tucked firmly into the crook of his arm. He fit so naturally there that it nearly brought tears to Craig’s eyes. He was a dad. “Are you really giving him to me? I… I don’t have any experience. I don’t think we even have baby furniture.”
“That baby is not coming into this house,” Craig’s mother said.
Craig looked over his shoulder at the doorway. His mother blocked the entrance, her arms crossed. Behind her, Cecilia glared daggers in Craig’s direction.
“I guess I’ll go home then,” Craig said. If he stayed, then what? He’d never hear the end of it from his mother or from Cecilia, and he’d rather spend time with Isaac that either of them. “Change of plans, Nadine. I’ll meet you beyond the gates with my car and we can get Isaac settled. Do you want to take him back so I can drive up to meet you?”
“Craig!” Cecilia cried. “This is insanity! You need to stop right now! These people are trying to take you from me!”
“Right.” Nadine gave her a sarcastic look. “Because the only thing I live for is to see my sister’s ex’s relationships destroyed. What an exciting life I must lead.”
Cecilia glowered at her. Nadine rolled her eyes and shook her head. She took Isaac from Craig’s arms, and Craig was surprised to find that he missed the feeling of having Isaac close.
It had only been a few minutes, but he was already smitten.
“I’ll meet you up front, Craig,” Nadine said. She wound back down the steps and along the driveway to the front gates dividing the property from the rest of the world. “Thanks for not being a total asshat about this.”
Craig snickered. “You’re welcome.”
He followed her down the stairs, diverging to get his car from the garage. H
e’d driven Cecilia here, but she could find her own way home. Maybe his mother would drive her, since the two of them got along so well. Both of them had lost his respect after the antics they’d just pulled.
Isaac was a baby. He didn’t deserve such hostility.
Craig was vaguely aware that his mother and Cecilia were calling after him, but he didn’t stop. He let himself into the garage, opened his car door, and settled into the driver’s seat.
There were bigger things to worry about than lace tablecloths and centerpiece selections. Craig had a new life to get situated and to care for. A new life that depended on him.
And in a strange way, despite the responsibility that came with being a parent, Craig had never felt so free.
4
Jack
Lane leaned over the porch railing, squinting into the distance. Jack only half watched. His attention was largely focused on his phone. Craig hadn’t sent him a text since Jack’s morning meeting with Kenneth.
It wasn’t like him.
“Look,” Lane purred. “There he is.”
“Mm?” Jack lifted his gaze. A motorcycle was heading down their quiet street, Roman behind the handlebars. “Oh. Roman.”
“No,” Lane said, exasperated. “Look.”
Jack looked again. There was another bike in the distance. It sped up to fall in behind Roman and both drivers came to a stop right outside Lane’s place. Jack shifted his weight, the wicker of Lane’s couch groaning as he did so.
Who the hell was on the other bike? He was pretty sure Lane had mentioned him in passing, but Jack couldn’t remember.
His thoughts had been in California.
“Okay, so, what am I looking at?” Jack asked.
Lane turned on his heels, eyes wide, and put a finger to his lips. Roman and his guest were tugging off their helmets at the edge of the property.
“Don’t botch this,” Lane whispered. He made his way over to Jack and leaned in close. “Roman’s friend, Eric, is in town just for today. He’s single.”