by Lily Love
And only if Synthia was fit to be a parent.
He’d doubled-checked on what Nadine had told him and found out that Synthia was checked into rehab for alcoholism. He’d also taken the time to make sure he signed Isaac’s birth certificate, listing him as Isaac’s official father. If there was a continued problem with Synthia’s addiction, he would fight for custody, but he hoped it didn’t go that far. Isaac deserved to have his mother in his life. Craig never wanted to take that chance away from his son unless he absolutely needed to.
He believed that Synthia could get back on track. With someone like Isaac to inspire her, how couldn’t she?
All that was left to do was figure out what he was going to do until she was stable enough to check out of rehab and continue with her life.
Craig sucked in a breath and looked around his bare condo. Before he could do anything else, he needed to figure out what matters to tend to before Isaac could come home. That meant research.
Next to the bedroom was a home office that had been abandoned for quite some time. Craig settled at the computer desk and fired up the desktop. The computer was current despite how seldom he used the room. It booted quickly and quietly. As the startup programs loaded, he leaned back in his office chair and gave the room some thought. It would make a good nursery. With a little fresh paint and fewer office supplies, Isaac could be happy there.
One day, if Craig decided to stay in the condo, it would make a fine bedroom for a young man. There was enough space for a single bed and ample room for a dresser and a desk. The closet was spacious. There was only a single window but with the right lighting it didn’t need to be drab.
Craig was startled by how much he enjoyed planning for Isaac’s arrival.
Once the computer was loaded, Craig launched a web browser and opened a few different tabs. In one he researched what he’d need to take care of a baby. In the others he searched for the items he’d need. A crib. A changing station. A diaper bag. Wipes. Diapers.
As Craig squinted scrupulously at his screen, attempting to figure out if he was in favor of cloth or disposable diapers, a notification popped up in the bottom right corner of his screen. It was an incoming Skype call from Jack.
Jack.
Craig sat up a little straighter. He felt guilty. Since he’d left North Carolina, he’d been in constant contact with Jack. Jack had to be worried since Craig had left him hanging abruptly.
Still, Craig’s hand hesitated on the mouse, cursor over the video chat button. Anxiety prickled down the back of his neck and clotted in his lungs. It was uncomfortable.
Why was he so nervous?
It must have had to do with Cecilia leaving and the way his life had so suddenly been plunged into chaos. Jack was a constant — something good when everything else was either bad or uncertain. Craig didn’t want to upset him.
Just press the button. It’s not like he’s going to eat me alive, after all.
Craig sucked in a breath, squeezed his eyes shut to find courage, then breathed out and answered the call.
6
Jack
Jack drummed his fingers on his thigh, his laptop open and balanced on his tented legs. He reclined on his living room couch, a little too anxious to fully relax. His back was stiff. He clenched his toes.
He was nervous.
It’d taken a lot of courage to call Craig — a lot more than Jack was willing to admit. Even when he found the courage to place the call, Jack battled with second thoughts. If Craig wasn’t answering his texts, it was likely because he was busy. It was wrong to bother him. Clingy. Obsessive. Jack didn’t want to be any of those things.
But here he was, calling anyway.
The call rang and rang. Just as Jack was about to hang up, the ringing stopped. A video feed started. Craig sat in an office chair in a room with drab gray paint. Jack couldn’t see much more.
He didn’t need to — seeing Craig was enough to make him smile.
“Hey,” Craig said.
“Hey.” Jack snapped back to reality. “I, um, sorry that I’m calling so abruptly. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Oh.” The connection lagged. The video feed froze, but Craig kept speaking. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry to worry you. When you called I realized how long it’d been since I was last in touch. My bad.”
The video unfroze. Craig’s body jerked unnaturally into a new position, and Jack found himself eye to eye with the man of his dreams. Craig had leaned toward the camera. He shot Jack a toothy grin.
“I guess it must be something good if you’re smiling like that,” Jack commented. His heart was beating way faster than it should have been. Craig was getting him hot without even trying to.
“Yeah. It… it’s a really big something good,” Craig said. “Something that probably a lot of people wouldn’t find good at all, but that I’m excited for.”
“Okay.” Jack furrowed his brow. “So, what are we talking about here? Are you starting a new company? Taking on additional responsibilities with the wedding…?”
“The wedding’s off.”
Jack’s lips parted in shock. He was glad he could play it off as simple disbelief, because on the inside his heart was doing somersaults. “The wedding’s off?”
“Cecilia left me.” Craig was beaming like it was the best news he’d had all week.
“… All right. I’m starting to understand why you would say it’s something a lot of people wouldn’t find good at all.”
Craig laughed. “No. No, the broken engagement isn’t what the news is. The engagement was ended because of what I found out just the other day.”
“You’re killing me here,” Jack said. His pulse wouldn’t slow and he fought hard to keep a grin off his face. “What’s going on that’s so important it overshadows you and Cecilia breaking up?”
“I just found out that I’m a father.” Craig’s whole face lit up and Jack was drawn in by his radiance. A shiver raced down his spine. To see Craig so happy made Jack happy. “I have a beautiful son. His name is Isaac.”
“That’s fantastic. I, um, guess it isn’t Cecilia’s?”
Craig laughed. “No. He’s from a previous relationship of mine that ended right before Cecilia and I met. She couldn’t accept the fact that I wanted a part in my son’s life, so she left.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Craig leaned back in his chair. The footage was a little grainy, but Jack still saw the consideration on his face. “Yeah. To be honest, I was starting to see a different side of her, and it made me less than enthusiastic about having her legally bound to me. I think I’m going to be a lot happier this way. Me and Isaac against the world, you know?”
“Well, maybe the world is taking it a little far.” Jack picked at a seam on the outside of his thigh. His jeans were getting a little old. “I’m on your side, and I’m sure Isaac’s mom is, too, right? Or else she wouldn’t have reached out to you.”
“You’re right.”
“And your family?” Jack asked hopefully. “Are they supporting you?”
“I—”
A startling noise disrupted the conversation. It came through Jack’s laptop speakers so he knew it was coming from Craig’s end of the call, but it didn’t stop him from jumping. The crash was so loud that it distorted through the microphone.
Craig jumped out of his chair. All Jack could see was his stomach.
“Are you okay?” Craig asked. His heart raced with fear. “What the hell was that?”
“It sounded like my front door, but—”
“CRAIG!”
Craig staggered a few steps away from the computer. Jack watched, helpless, as the door behind him was swung open and an older man entered. Thin, graying hair crowned his head. He wore a suit, but there was nothing professional about his appearance. The red in his cheeks and the anger in his eyes was exaggerated.
“Father?” Craig asked, uncertain. “What are you doing here?”
“Do you think t
his is a game, Craig?” Craig’s father asked. Craig took another few steps away from the camera, approaching his father. “Do you think the life you’re setting up for yourself is going to work out? You’re throwing away everything that’s good for what?”
“For my son,” Craig replied, voice cool and crisp. Jack had no idea how he kept his composure.
“For a son you didn’t even know existed until the other day. Who you’ve now thrown your whole future away for.”
“I’d rather thrown mine away for his expense than force him to throw his away for mine.”
Jack knew he shouldn’t be watching. Craig and his father were fighting, and it was only by coincidence that he was in their midst. Whatever family trouble had sprung up because of this change in family dynamic were private, but at the same time, Jack didn’t want to hang up in case things turned physical.
He didn’t have any digital recording equipment, but he did have his print screen button. If things went bad and Craig’s father started throwing punches, Jack could at least capture the moment to provide evidence.
He hoped it didn’t go that far.
“Is that really what you think?” Craig’s father demanded. “You really think that this bastard deserves to live the kind of life you’re accustomed to because you happened to make a mistake?”
“He’s my son,” Craig repeated. Jack could tell by his tone of voice that he was poorly controlling his anger. It sounded like he spoke through a sieve, words strained and difficult to force through his teeth. “When you talk about him in my presence, you’re going to use some respect. He’s not a bastard. His name is Isaac.”
“By definition he is a bastard,” Craig’s father snarled. “The title is apt, Craig, even though you might not want to admit it.”
“I don’t care. As long as I’m around I’m not going to let you call him anything like that. He’s a person. A baby. He’s innocent.”
“He destroyed your marriage.”
“That’s not his fault. That was Cecilia’s decision.”
The back and forth was emotionally charged. The closer Craig stepped to his father, the more Jack got nervous. He was a witness, but there was nothing he could do from North Carolina. He knew that Craig lived in downtown Los Angeles, but he didn’t know exactly where. It wasn’t like he could call the police.
“You sided with a child you don’t know over a woman you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with. A good woman from good stock. What does that baby have to offer you? Its mother has nothing to offer.”
“Isaac is a he, not an it.” Craig didn’t back down. The longer the conversation went on, the more nervous Jack became. “And I don’t care what his mother has to offer the family or not. All that I care about is that he’s looked after, that he’s happy, and that he’s healthy. I’m going to be in his life whether you think it’s a good idea or not. Wouldn’t you do the same if you were in my shoes? What if I was born to some other woman than mother?”
The conversation stopped. The silence was telling. Jack’s heart broke for Craig. He knew that Craig’s family wasn’t very supportive, but he hadn’t realized how twisted the family dynamic was. In Jack’s day-to-day life he met plenty of greedy individuals, but never had he imagined that there were people like this — people who were so obsessed with their wealth and the family name that they would disown their own blood over it.
I’m so glad that Craig is standing up for what’s right.
“You know what?” Craig asked. He sounded defeated. “It’s not worth it. Arguing with you isn’t worth it. You can storm in here if you want and try to tear me down, but now that I’m a father, that’s not going to fly. Not anymore. You and mother controlled me through so much of my life, and I’m sick of it. I’m done. I’m not giving up Isaac. I’m not going to entertain your hostility. If you don’t want to be in my son’s life, that’s fine… but I’m going to be there for him no matter what.”
The camera’s grainy quality didn’t capture all of the finer detail in Craig’s face, but Jack could read in his posture that he was miserable. Craig’s shoulders were slumped. There was a kind of melancholy behind the steel in his voice that suggested the fight was over.
Craig was going to hold firm to his position, even if it meant he had to give up his family.
Jack glanced at Craig’s father. A lot of the hostility had faded from his features. It looked like a fistfight wasn’t about to break out anymore.
Now that he wasn’t needed, Jack felt like it was no longer his place to stay. He cast a final look at Craig, then ended the call. The video feed blinked out of existence. The call time popped up on the screen. Jack took a deep breath and held it, then let it all out to get rid of his stress.
He hoped he’d made the right decision.
He now understood why Craig had stopped texting. With a new baby to think of and a psychotic family to deal with, he had a full plate. Jack wished there was something he could do to take some of the pressure off.
He supposed that keeping quiet unless Craig approached him first would be a good start. The last thing Craig needed was more stress. It would be as good a time as any to start getting over his crush.
Jack closed his laptop and set it aside. With a shake of his head, he left the living room and grabbed a beer from the fridge. From the kitchen window he eyed his deck and the barbecue on it. Maybe it’d be a good time to have the guys over for a grill out and beers.
Jack needed a distraction. His body was in North Carolina, but his heart and his mind were in California.
7
Craig
Craig’s father wasn’t the only one waiting to lay into him. Once the initial argument was over, Craig was dismayed to see his mother breeze in through the door to his condo like she owned the place. She approached the office door and peeked through it, then scrunched her nose in distaste.
“I thought that you would repaint this room after the purchase, Craig.”
“Mother,” Craig said, strained. “I’m not interested in talking about my interior design choices right now. In fact, I’m not interested in talking at all. I’d appreciate it if you and father both left.”
Craig’s father, William Palmer, stood resolute by the office door. Craig’s mother, Catherine, peeked in over his shoulder. Neither of them looked very impressed, but at least the screaming had stopped.
Craig didn’t think he could have been more embarrassed if he tried.
Jack had seen everything. Craig heard when the call cut out, and he knew that Jack had witnessed the fight, the harsh words, and the disgrace that Craig called his family. It pained him. For so long he’d been a typical Hawthorn, modeled in the image of his mother’s side of the family. Uptight, obsessed with appearances, and focused on financial and social wealth at the expense of everything else.
Craig wasn’t like that anymore.
“Please go?” Craig asked again when he was met with silence. He looked between the two of them, expecting them to start moving. “This is my private property.”
“And we’re your parents,” Catherine said.
“We’re not going to go until we work this thing out,” William agreed.
“There’s nothing to work out,” Craig said. “I have a son. I’m going to take care of my son. I’m going to be involved in my son’s life. That’s everything you need to know.”
Catherine shook her head. She took William by the shoulder and moved him aside so that she had unblocked access to Craig. Craig waited for the other shoe to drop.
“It’s not that simple,” Catherine said. “There are so many other details to tend to when you have a child with a woman you’re not married to. What about child support?”
“I’ll pay whatever I need to,” Craig said. “I’m prepared to do that. I have substantial savings and I generate tremendous passive income thanks to—”
“No, no.” She sighed. “That’s beside the point.”
“Then what is the point?” Craig asked. He was starting to
get frustrated. As much as his parents didn’t want this life for him, it was his life, and he was willing to embrace it.
And really, having a son was probably the best thing that ever could have happened to him. It was a chance to break away from the toxicity of his family. Craig didn’t want Isaac to be subjected to the twisted mind games the Hawthorns and those connected to them played.
“The point is, how much child support are you willing to pay her so she’ll take full custody?” Catherine asked. Craig stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “There must be some amount you can throw at her so that she doesn’t bother you again. Your father and I are willing to help you pay it if it means this little problem goes away.”
They were insane. They had to be. Craig found enough wits to close his mouth, then shook his head. Who did they think they were?
“I think all of us are on different pages,” Craig said. “You don’t seem to understand that I’m Isaac’s parent, not you. Or is it just that you don’t understand I’m an adult? I’m thirty, mother. Thirty years old. I am a grown man capable of making his own decisions and leading his own life.”
William scoffed. “Evidently not if you’re making the choices it looks like you’re making.”
“You know what? I’m tired of this.” Craig gestured toward the door. “You’re damn lucky that my son isn’t here right now, or I’d be a lot more vocal about what just happened. Get out. I’m not going to give Isaac away, I’m not going to throw money at Synthia until she disappears, and I’m not going to listen to anything you have to say. I’m capable of living my own life my own way without outside influence. I’m successful and capable, no matter what you think.”
The conversation was over. Craig stood his ground.
“You can’t be serious,” Catherine said. “It’s not proper.”
“Even if it wasn’t proper, I wouldn’t care.” Craig narrowed his eyes. “Please go. This is my home and right now you’re not welcome here.”