Dancing With Redemption (Barre To Bar Book 5)

by Summer Cooper

  “Hi,” the older man said as he came into the room, looking around nervously. “I’m Colin Fuller. Your dad.”

  “Hi,” Lincoln said and looked the man over. He was in his fifties, but his head was bald, his face lined with stress and too much sun. He looked much older than he was.

  Lincoln knew a lot more about the man than he knew about Lincoln, he was certain of that. Lincoln had him investigated and knew Colin had a record, that he’d caused a terrible accident a few years after Lincoln’s mother left him. He’d turned his life around after that, started a construction business, and had become mildly successful from it. He was involved in a lot of youth outreach programs now and spent a lot of time trying to make up for the pain he’d caused to the other driver of the car he’d hit while drunk.

  Colin brushed his hands along the seat of his blue jeans and held his hand out. Lincoln took it, accepting the man into his life. For now.

  “I don’t want anything from you, I just thought we should meet. If you want to walk out of here and never come back, that’s fine,” Lincoln offered, showing the man to a seat that he took.

  “No, I couldn’t forgive myself if I walked out of your life a second time.” The man’s lips pursed, shame crossing his features. “I’m not who I was then. I have a wife, two other boys, and a daughter too. I’ve been with them every day since I married Sheryl. I’ve wondered what happened to you, but, well, your mother made it clear I wasn’t going to be a part of your life.”

  “No, I’m sure she wouldn’t have allowed it with the way things were going. Yes, she told me the truth.” Lincoln paused, trying to come to terms with what his mother had told him and the man now before him. “I’ve had you investigated. I know what you’ve done, how you’ve tried to change who you were.”

  “I have. It was the right thing to do after that accident I caused. I nearly killed that poor man,” Colin replied, and Lincoln could see that even now, his father felt the guilt. “Your mother took you away, right after you were born. It was probably for the best. I wasn’t a good person to be around. I don’t know what she told you, but I was terrible to her. Absolutely terrible.”

  “Everything. She told me all of it. Do you still drink?” Lincoln offered him a bottle of very expensive scotch but Colin shook his head and held up his hand.

  “No. Thank you, but no. I don’t touch the stuff anymore. I haven’t in over twenty years.” Colin looked around the room, but not with greed. He was just looking around. “You’ve done well for yourself. I’m glad to see that.”

  “Thanks. I have. My soon-to-be wife is doing pretty well for herself, too.” Lincoln sat down after grabbing two bottles of water from a mini-fridge. He handed one to his father and took the other to his desk. “I’d like to ask you and your family to my wedding. I’d like to meet my siblings, if that would be alright with you. If you don’t like that idea, it’s fine too.”

  “No, I’ve told them all about you, even before your attorney contacted me. I told them all they had an older brother out there somewhere. And I told them why they didn’t know him, as well. I knew when they were born, I had to be honest with them, that all of my preaching about clean living and being a good person would just wash over them if I didn’t give them a reason as to why I’d changed my ways. They know everything.”

  “Alright. Then, I’d like to meet them. And your wife.” Lincoln watched Colin and saw when the man smiled. Good, there was no subterfuge there. The guy was being honest.

  “They’d love that.” Colin nodded, as if to emphasize the statement. “They’ve always wondered about you. And they’re all hard workers too.”

  Colin said that last part suddenly, as if to stave off any worries Lincoln might have about his siblings asking for money.

  “The oldest, Mark, he’s a foreman at my company, and John went to college. He’s in medical school now. And Janey, my daughter, she’s in the Navy. Loves it.” Colin smiled with pride for his other children and then looked up to give Lincoln a steady look. “I wish I could have been the kind of man your mother deserved, but at that point, I was barely human. I couldn’t be the father you deserved either, and I’m sorry about that, Lincoln. I really am.”

  “I’m fine, really. My mother married quite often, but I had a father figure I could depend on, even after she divorced him. He’s still a part of my life, and will be at the wedding too.” Lincoln didn’t know what else to say. He’d known this would probably be awkward, he’d talked about it with Roxie, and she’d told him if he ran out of things to say to call her and the kids in. He decided to do that now. She’d told him that kids level everything out, put people on equal footing at the whim of children. “Would you like to meet your grandchildren?”

  “You have children?” Colin looked up in wonder, his eyes full of delight.

  “I do. Michael was born in the spring and Lily turned ten this year.” Lincoln smiled with his own paternal pride. “Their mother and I had a thing when we were younger and got back together after we were separated for a long time.”

  Lincoln didn’t want to go into the full story right now, but he’d tell the man, eventually, if it got that far. It was Roxie’s story too, and he wouldn’t tell it without her permission. Lincoln got up and walked to the door. “Roxie?”

  “Yes, babe?” She asked, coming out of the living room. “Want the kids?”

  Her smile was everything he needed in that moment. Reassuring, full of love, and overflowing with kindness. “Yes, please.”

  “Okay, be there in five.” Roxie went up to get the kids from Aunt Katie and was back in just a few minutes. “This is Lily, say hello to Mr. Fuller, and this little bundle of joy is Michael.”

  Roxie kept Michael in her arms as Colin looked him over and shook his granddaughter’s hand. Lily hid behind Lincoln’s chair, her hand on his, once she’d shaken Colin’s hand, but she soon came out to smile at the stranger.

  “Would you like something to eat, Colin?” Roxie asked, rocking Michael gently to keep him quiet while she talked.

  “No, no thank you. I had a burger on the way here.” Colin smiled politely at Roxie and looked at Michael again. He wasn’t ignoring Lily, it was just that the girl was stuck to her father’s side and didn’t want to budge.

  Lincoln watched the man’s eyes as he looked at Michael, surprised when he saw tears of joy in his eyes. “He’s beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” Roxie answered with her own pride, looking over at Lincoln. Lincoln nodded at her, letting her know all was well. “He and his sister are our pride and joy. Aren’t you Lily?”

  “Yes, Mommy,” Lily answered automatically, all the fingers of her left hand around Lincoln’s fingers. She wasn’t frightened, just shy. Lincoln had done this with her dozens of times, always determined to be her protector, even if she had no reason to be afraid. He wouldn’t force her to hug the stranger or kiss him, she’d do that in her own time, if she chose to. “Are you like Papa George?”

  “Who?” Colin asked, looking over at Roxie for an answer.

  “That’s Lincoln’s former stepfather and his sister’s father. He’s still a part of Lincoln’s life. Lily calls him Papa George.” Roxie provided the information with a smile.

  “Your mother had another child?” Colin asked, surprised.

  “Yes, my sister June. She’s a doctor,” Lincoln answered with a nod. “Her father is a doctor, as is her half-brother, so it wasn’t a surprise when she went into medicine too.”

  “Your mother must be very proud of you both.” Colin nodded, his eyes bright with humor. “Especially with June being a doctor. Not that you aren’t impressive too, I just don’t understand what fintech is.”

  “Not a lot of people do, it’s alright,” Lincoln answered, smoothing over the moment that could have been awkward. “Actually, June thinks our mother prefers me and is proudest of me. I’d say Mom is an expert at getting what she wants and pushes June’s buttons a lot. June is a wonder, she really is. And Mom is very proud of her. Of us both.”<
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  It was an intimate thing to say, to reveal that his mother was a master manipulator when it came to her children, but if Lincoln was going to be frank with his father, he’d do the same with his mother. Of course, his mother had been through a lot, but still, she was very good at manipulating her children. Lincoln and June both knew it. It wasn’t a shocking thing to them anymore.

  “I hoped she’d found love and settled down,” Colin said after a long pause. “I wanted her to be happy.”

  “Oh, never doubt she’s happy. She moves on when she’s unhappy. I think she’s in Borneo this week. She’s coming to the wedding next week, but she’ll only stay for the day, then trip off to wherever her new man takes her. Or her new fancy, depending on where she’s at in relationships right now.” Lincoln smiled, trying to puzzle out which it was with his mother now. He could never keep it straight whether she was engaged, married, or single. The status between single and engaged changed too often.

  “Well, I guess happy is good,” Colin said and looked over at Michael again. “Um. Could I hold him, maybe?”

  “Sure,” Roxie said, and Lincoln knew she’d made a decision about the man. If not, he wouldn’t get anywhere near Michael. “Want me to take a picture for your family?”

  “If you don’t mind.” Colin blushed a little and then looked over at Lincoln. “Could you sit with us?”

  “Of course,” Lincoln said and got up to go to the couch. He hadn’t quite expected this, but he wasn’t unhappy to be sitting beside the man either. There was no telling if a relationship would form from this meeting, but Lincoln had made the effort to reach out. That’s all he could do.

  His mother knew about the meeting and that Lincoln would be inviting Colin to the wedding. She hadn’t looked pleased about it, but after a few moments of thinking, she’d nodded her head and agreed. “He is your father. I understand, Lincoln.”

  Lincoln had been glad to have her approval. He loved his mother, in the distant way she allowed him to, and he didn’t want to make her unhappy or uncomfortable. It was good that she’d accepted his decision. It meant they could all move on.

  “Can you take one with mine, too, Roxie?” Colin asked, handing his phone to her. “I don’t know how that blasted thing works, but I’ll figure out how to send it to my wife in a second. I just don’t know how to turn the camera on.”

  “I’ll figure it out,” Roxie assured him and was soon taking pictures of Colin cradling Michael in his arms, Lincoln watching over his shoulder, with both men smiling. It was a good picture, and she had a few good ones on her phone. She’d print them out for Lincoln later and send Colin the ones she had. “The wedding will be on the beach in the back, Colin. And we can find accommodation for your family if they want to come too.”

  “Thank you, Roxie. I know his siblings would like to come. I’ll have to talk to my wife about it. We live near Charlotte over in North Carolina now, but it’s not a massive drive. I’m sure she’ll want to come too.” Colin fiddled with his phone before he put it down. “I’ve just asked her, in case we need to make arrangements.”

  “Great. Are you staying for dinner?” Roxie asked, taking up the question Lincoln had forgotten to ask. “I know it was a long drive for you, so you’re welcome to stay the night here.”

  “No, I have a hotel booked. Sheryl stayed home, to let me have all the time I could with Lincoln in private. She didn’t want to intrude. But I’ll stay for dinner if you don’t mind.” Colin looked up at Lincoln, to make sure it wasn’t just that Roxie was being nice. “I don’t want to intrude.”

  “You aren’t intruding, Colin. You’re Lincoln’s father. He asked me to make this dinner special for the occasion. It’s his favorite roast,” Roxie said with a patient smile. “I don’t get to cook often, but I do like to when I have time. It would be great if you could stay and eat with us.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that.” Colin watched Roxie go as she went out of the room to put the roast on. She’d left Michael in Colin’s arms. That was a very trusting thing to do. Yeah, Lincoln was right there, but if she’d been worried about the guy, she’d have taken Michael back up to Aunt Katie. “He’s a handsome little fella, isn’t he?”

  “He is, and he’s my brother,” Lily said, finally coming out from behind the desk. “You can’t have him.”

  “Oh, honey, he’s not taking Michael. He’s just holding him,” Lincoln said as Lily flounced over to sit on Lincoln’s leg.

  “Are you sure?” Lily looked up at her father, her face confused. “I thought he was coming to be a daddy.”

  “Oh, Lily. You have to stop listening at doors. He’s my father, honey. He’s my dad. He came to meet me.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s alright then. Nice to meet you.” Lily stuck her hand out to Colin and Lincoln decided then and there things might just turn out alright with his father.

  If Roxie and Lily approved, then he must be a changed man. And now, he had more family than he knew what to do with, with three other half-siblings and a stepmother he hadn’t met yet. It wasn’t going to be lonely around here from now on. And that was just fine with Lincoln.

  Thank you for reading Dancing With Redemption. If you like this book, then you’ll enjoy the love stories of Roxie’s friends:

  Emily in Dark Desire

  Marie in Mafia’s Dirty Secret

  Keily in Twisted Beauty

  Turn the page for a sneak peek of Twisted Beauty.

  Twisted Beauty

  Sneak Peek

  Keily

  “Keily?” Violet’s soft voice intruded into her thoughts and Keily looked over from her seat on her sister’s spotless white couch to look at the three years younger, and three inches shorter, version of herself.

  Keily was distracted, staring out of the window behind the couch, daydreaming of what should have been, instead of what was. “What?”

  Her voice was disinterested, even a little rude. Her sister was always on her case about something and it had started to get old.

  “I need you to watch Alice, please. I’ve got a late shift and the sitter can’t come over.” Her sister’s voice came out more as a demand than a request but Keily wasn’t in the mood. She’d had nightmares all night and the terror and fear she’d felt in the dream had bled into the daytime. She knew it was stupid to let something like that make her grumpy, but she couldn’t help it. Anybody would be grumpy if they spent the entire night running from a shadowy man bent on murdering them.

  It was best to distract herself, not let anything through that wall she’d built around herself years ago. Being soft wasn’t how you got ahead in life, after all. You had to take no prisoners and act fast to stay ahead of the game.

  “Alice through the looking glass?” She teased her sister over the choice of her daughter’s name, for the millionth time.

  It was a novel, or a movie, one of the two but Keily’s amusement never ended over the phrase, even if her sister hated it. Teasing Violet was one of her favorite pastimes.

  “Stop calling her that, and pick up after yourself, why don’t you? Alice is barely a year old and she makes less of a mess than you do.” Violet picked up an empty bag of chips and a can of iced tea that Keily hadn’t bothered to throw away when she’d finished them two hours ago.

  “You know, if Joe hadn’t blown out his knee…” Keily started, stung by her sister’s disapproval. She was on the defensive immediately, ready to attack.

  “Yeah, yeah, if Joe hadn’t blown his knee out in his last year at the university you’d be living in a mansion, with maids and a small army of servants to cater to your every whim. Well, the truth is, big sister.” Violet sneered that last part, “Joe did blow his knee and you didn’t bother to get a degree. You were happy to ride on his dime, but now you’re divorced, and you live with me.”

  “Well, at least I’m not a single mother with nobody to watch her kid.” Keily sneered, her anger blasting past zero straight to a level of snark that couldn’t be counted. “I didn’t get pregnant with a
guy that moved ten states away the minute he found out I was about to have his baby. You’re just jealous of me, that’s all.”

  Keily looked away, as if that was the end of the conversation. People had always been jealous of her, throughout her 25 years of life. In fact, she was fairly certain that the first memory she had was of her mother reassuring her that people were just jealous of her and that’s why the other kids at the kiddy beauty pageants didn’t like her.

  “No, you just didn’t get pregnant at all did you? I’m so jealous.” Violet said, deadly quiet, her eyes full of tears that might have been regret at her own cruelty or hurt at the truth of what Keily had said. Violet blinked the tears away. “You divorced him, and now you live here, in abject poverty, with your single mother sister, living on my charity. If you’d stop feeling sorry for yourself and get a fucking job maybe you wouldn’t hate everyone and everything so much, Keily. Earn a living for a change instead of expecting to be the prom queen forever, why don’t you? Do you think you could do that, Keily?”

  “Get somebody else to watch your brat for you, Violet. I have shit to do.” Keily stormed up from the couch and moved to the door. She grabbed her handbag and left the two-bedroom apartment behind. She wasn’t quite willing to admit that Violet had hit a very sore spot and struck a painful blow.

  Fucking bitch, she thought to herself. Violet didn’t understand, didn’t know what it was like to be her, Keily Matthews Miller. This wasn’t supposed to be her life, she knew that as her feet pounded along the sidewalk, the hard soles of her sandals a harsh sound on the concrete. She was supposed to be sitting with other football wives over cocktails around some bar in Cancun staring at pool boys and hot tourists while their husbands earned themselves concussions and multi-million-dollar paydays.

  As the sun gleamed off her shoulders, bare to the sunlight in the pale blue sundress she wore, her tensions eased a little and she let her cares slip away. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun so even her neck got some of the sun’s attention. Relief from the heat that bounced off the concrete in nearly visible waves was in sight, just a short little walk and she’d have some peace at last.