The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection

by Natasha L. Black

  That didn’t last long. Far too quickly I learned who Grant really was and knew I had to get out of it. But by then I was pregnant, and it snowballed into chaos. It was all so much, and before I could even take a breath, my father died. I always knew I would be the one to follow in his footsteps. I just had no idea it would come so soon. And just like that, my world fell apart. Every moment was survival mode, and I did what I had to do to get to the next one.

  Now Grant was doing his best to destroy me again.

  I was angry and devastated. On top of it, I was embarrassed as hell for the pity etched all over Vince’s face.

  “Let Vince look over the papers,” Nick offered. “He might be able to give you some more insight.”

  I nudged the papers over to Vince, and Nick wrapped his arms around me again. It was like he was doing his best to hug my worries away, and I couldn’t help but love him for it. Nick never judged me. Not from the very beginning when I told him what was going on, or when I told him about Grant and Remy, or when I had my moments of hopelessness as I tried to piece the bar back together. We weren’t as close then, but he was still there for me. And as our friendship grew deeper, I leaned more and more into his support. He was the one person who could always make me feel better.

  Until that day, as hard as he was trying, I couldn’t let go of my worries. The papers now in Vince’s hands made my stomach drop and my heart fall down to my feet when I saw them. They were complicated, and I wasn’t completely sure what everything in them meant. But I got the basic gist of them. Grant wanted not just full custody, but a court order establishing no visitation rights for me. I couldn’t be calm when I was oscillating between abject misery and homicidal rage.

  Vince put the papers down. “From what I can tell, a lot of this is more puff and drama than it is actual binding cause. More bark than bite, so to speak. But, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t have a complete understanding of all the legal language and everything. But that’s why I emailed my attorney. He’s willing to look everything over for you. Let’s go to his office and we’ll see what he says about being able to fight this. Okay?”

  All I could do was nod. I got down from the barstool, and we headed out to the truck. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Nick looking at me. The expression on his face was like he was seconds away from saying he told me so. Even if I deserved it, I didn’t want to hear it. Now was not the time. I locked the bar behind me, sharply aware that I didn’t know if I would even get back there that day. I wanted to just go back to the way everything was, to have it be a normal day and not be thinking of any of this. But depending on what the lawyer said and what I needed to do next, I might have to depend on my staff to handle running the bar that night.

  We drove for longer than I expected us to, but I recognized the part of town when Vince pulled into a small parking lot and stopped the truck. Grant only lived a few blocks away. In fact, I had seen this legal office many times before. My stomach twisted again, and I immediately felt on edge. But I did my best to let it go as I opened the door and climbed out. Vince and Nick were going out of their way to help me, and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. I had already disrupted both of their workdays and was taking up their time and energy. The least I could do was not complain about the location of the office. Even if it did make my spine feel tight and my eyes slick back and forth waiting to see either Grant or his parents. There was no way in hell I could afford a lawyer in this part of town.

  We made it into the office, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Almost as soon as we walked into the building, a short, somewhat round older man stepped out of an office in the middle of a short hallway and waved us in. We walked into the luxuriously decorated office, and Vince reached out his hand to the older man.

  “Thank you for seeing us so quickly. This is Lindsey. Lindsey, this is Charlie.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “When Vince said he needed help with a friend, I didn’t hesitate,” Charlie said. “Let me see the papers and explain what’s going on.”

  There was a presence about him that made me feel confident. I sat at the chair across the desk from him and briefly explained the situation as he read over the papers. Vince kept his arms crossed, looking for all the world like an enforcer or my bodyguard. Finally, the lawyer looked up at me and gave a nod.

  “I can understand why receiving these papers was upsetting to you. Unfortunately, that was the intention. The whole purpose behind these documents was to rattle you,” he said.

  “So, they aren’t real?” I asked, confused.

  “Oh, no. They are very much real. But they aren’t the end all be all. What it looks like to me is they are trying to bully you with legal jargon. Don’t be afraid. We can fight this,” he said.

  We talked for a little while longer before getting back in the truck. I still felt stunned when Nick and Vince dropped me back off at the bar. We all climbed out, and Nick gave me a hug.

  “We’ve got your back,” he said. “Anything you need. You let me know. And no more arguing about taking my help.”

  “I know,” I said. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.”

  “Charlie and I will be here for you in any way we can,” Vince said. “Whatever we can do, you’ve got it.”

  11

  Vince

  Lindsey was going through enough right then. She didn’t need anyone around her ranting and raving to add more drama to her situation. Which was why I fought with everything in me to stay calm as we drove her back to the bar. Visiting the lawyer was obviously tough. It wasn’t something anybody would be able to just breeze through and not experience emotion over it. Hell, I experienced emotion myself, and I didn’t even have a real stake in the game.

  Not that I didn’t want to. In my heart, I was absolutely involved in what was going on. Lindsey might not realize it, but when I promised her I would be there for her, it wasn’t just because she was my brother’s best friend. Of course, she was important to Nick. That made her important to me. But it was far more than that. Seeing her hurt was awful. I couldn’t even describe it any way other than that. It cut me deep to the bone and stoked a fire in my belly like nothing I’d ever faced.

  Sitting there in the lawyer’s office was a test of my self-control. What I wanted to do was completely lash out. Charlie had been my lawyer for years, and while most people saw a quiet old man, I knew him differently. I knew the intense side of him, the side that latched onto cases and causes he was passionate about and wouldn’t let them go. That made me want to just let it all out. But I held it back. I let Lindsey talk and gave them space. My jaw ached with how hard I clenched my teeth to keep from talking, and I could feel my pulse in the vein along the side of my neck.

  It didn’t get any better on the way to the bar. Charlie was calmly optimistic, but I could still see the fear and anxiety on Lindsey’s face. She had some relief in her eyes, but it looked like she was guarded. She was trying to protect herself from getting too hopeful and being hurt again.

  When we dropped her off, I promised to help her. I made sure she understood I was there for her, no matter what she needed. I wanted to do anything I could for her, anything that would make this situation easier. No matter what it took, I wanted to get that pain out of her eyes. I wanted the fear gone.

  Honestly, I was proud of myself for how well I held my temper as we made our way back to the Freeman Racing compound. No matter how angry I was, letting my emotions get the best of me didn’t mix well with being in a moving vehicle. I kept everything inside until we pulled into the parking lot at the complex. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, everything exploded out of me. Before Nick was even out of the car and the driver’s door shut, I blew.

  “What kind of fucking asshole does something like that?” I asked. “How could somebody call themselves a man and then be that slimy? He didn’t even give her the respect and dignity of talking to her face. He’s so spineless he couldn’t even pick up the p
hone. Even that would have been unacceptable. Even that would have shown how much of a coward he is. He should have met with her, looked her in the face, and told her he wanted to take her son away from her.”

  “I know,” Nick said.

  “And speaking of which, how did I not know Lindsey had a son? I know you explained she kept it close to the vest and didn’t really want to talk about it, but that’s a big deal. Having a child is a huge thing. Why did she hide it? Why did she keep him a secret from everybody? Is she ashamed of him? She can’t possibly. That’s just not her. She’s not the type of woman who would be ashamed of her own child. Besides, if she was, she wouldn’t be so upset about this guy at trying to take him from her.”

  “She’s not ashamed of him,” Nick said.

  “Exactly. She’s not ashamed, so why didn’t you talk about him? Why didn’t she let the people around her know about this huge part of her life? This completely changes who she is. She’s not just Lindsey behind the bar. She’s somebody’s mother. Why doesn’t she know people would be willing to step up and help her? There are so many people throughout this entire town who would do anything they could to make things easier for her. All she would have to do is ask. But she kept it a secret and didn’t tell anybody. And now she’s going through this and feels like she doesn’t have a support system around her.”

  “But she does,” Nick said.

  “Of course she does. She’s not doing any of this on her own. I just can’t believe she even has to face the situation at all. Who does this guy think he is? How dare he try to take her ability to see her child away from her? That little boy needs his mother. Every child needs their mother. She works so hard. Up until all this bullshit unfolded, she was the happiest, most optimistic person I’ve ever known in my life.”

  “She’s an amazing person,” Nick agreed, nodding.

  I paced back and forth, letting all my frustration and anger spew out of me. Luckily, Nick was a patient person. He was able to stand there calmly and listen, only responding when he needed to. He knew I just needed the time to get everything out and then would be able to have a rational, calm conversation.

  When I finally petered out, he took me by the arm and dragged me inside to the break room. Opening the refrigerator, he pulled out two cold bottles of water and put them both in front of me. I sat down on one of the barstools at the large island in the middle of the kitchen space and opened the first bottle. As soon as the water rushed into my mouth, I realized how parched I was. I flushed it down and moved on to the second bottle.

  “I already told you about Grant,” he said. “His relationship with Lindsey wasn’t long, and by all reports, it was never particularly serious. I think for a while, she wanted to believe it would be. When we first started getting close again and she was telling me about him, there was something in her expression that was really hard to explain. It wasn’t exactly hopeful. Not like she wanted to be with him again. But like she thought it would all turn out differently.”

  “I don’t know how she could,” I said. “Someone like him isn’t just going to spontaneously change. She had to have known from the beginning what he was capable of.”

  “Does anybody at the beginning of a relationship really recognize the faults in the other person? You have to remember, it was just her. Out in the world for the first time, just trying to figure out who she was and what her life was going to be like. She already knew she was going to end up back here. She knew the bar was going to be hers and that this was going to be life. She just wanted to see what else was out there. Grant was charming. He comes from an extremely wealthy family, and she talked about the dramatic, impressive stories he told about everything he’d done. It’s enough to woo anybody.”

  “Lindsey never struck me as the type of girl who could be wooed,” I said sarcastically.

  “The point is, she lost custody of Remy because they were able to manipulate her. They convinced her that she didn’t have enough money to take care of her son’s special needs. In reality, it was just because they didn’t think she was good enough because she worked in a bar,” Nick said.

  The comment struck me, and I set the bottle down, narrowing my eyes at Nick. “Her son’s special needs? What do you mean?”

  “Remy’s blind,” Nick said. “He has been since birth. It was a complete shock, and as any mother would, Lindsey wants what’s best for him. She wants him to have the best life and every opportunity that could be afforded to him. Grant’s family took advantage of that. They saw her desperation and exploited it. They convinced her that she needed to give him up so that they could use their money and influence to give him everything he needed.”

  I stared at my brother for a few seconds, trying to process it all. If he thought telling me that would make me any less mad, he was delusional. Now I was even more infuriated. This guy wasn’t just trying to take Lindsey’s son away from her completely. He was denying a child who already faced the world at a disadvantage of a mother who loved him. He was low enough to take advantage of his child’s disability in order to get what he wanted. The thought made me sick.

  There was nothing I could do about the situation right then. As much as I wanted to resolve it for her and make everything go away, the reality was we had to wait. We had to figure out exactly what was going on and decide how to move forward. Most of that was on her, leaving me in a frustrating holding pattern. All I could do was focus on the work I had in front of me. I did my best to put my anger aside for the rest of the workday. Fortunately, everybody left me alone and I was able to just disappear into my preparations for the upcoming race exhibition.

  I managed to hold it together until I got home. As soon as I walked in the door, I heard Frankie’s paws hit the floor and he rushed toward me. I grabbed a bag of treats from the drawer in the entryway table and tossed a few down to him. While he was eating, I opened up about everything. I ranted and paced, spilling everything out again and adding my further disgust and frustration on top of it. It was even more cathartic than the spiel in the parking lot. By the time I was done, I felt like I had really gotten it out of my system.

  When I’d managed to get ahold of myself, I flopped down on the couch and called Charlie. Frankie came and curled up in my lap, purring his commiseration. Without mincing words, I made sure the lawyer knew that whatever it took, I was paying for this battle. It wasn’t fair for Lindsey to be at such a disadvantage just because she didn’t have a wealthy family behind her. She deserved to have money on her side, too. And with me, she did.

  Charlie picked at me a bit about being a white knight, but I wouldn’t let it dissuade me. It was all in fun, and it probably wasn’t too far from accurate. I would do anything to defend Lindsey and ensure she was protected.

  Exhausted from the day, I crawled into bed that night far earlier than I usually did. I couldn’t turn off my brain, and I fell asleep with my mind full of Lindsey.

  12

  Lindsey

  I woke up that Tuesday morning feeling hungover even though I hadn’t had a single drop to drink. Not that I hadn’t wanted to. With as angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed as I was, all I wanted to do was pour myself a drink and drown my worries in it. The idea of guzzling down enough alcohol to dull the edges of the pain and make all my thoughts fuzzy was extremely appealing.

  But I knew myself. I knew the family I came from and how alcohol affected us. I was worried that with as angry as I was and as close to the edge as I already felt, alcohol was the last thing I needed. It wouldn’t be a smart idea to drink and then be left alone to my own devices. All that could possibly result in was making more of a mess of my life than it already was. The last thing I needed was to make the situation more complicated and nastier. Or for Grant to have anything else he could put in front of the judge as proof I wasn’t fit to be Remy’s mother.

  Instead, I forced myself to be responsible. That night had to be the first in my battle. I didn’t want it to be. I never wanted it to be. From the very beginning, I did
n’t want there to be a fight. Remy didn’t deserve to be put in the middle and treated like a commodity. He had enough in his life he was going to have to adapt to and cope with. It was my duty as his mother to give him every chance he could have. To make sure he knew just because he was living with a disability didn’t mean he was any less than anyone else, or that he wasn’t going to be able to have a good life.

  That started with not causing him pain and stress by being torn between his parents. Grant wasn’t who I ever would have chosen to be the father of my child. He wasn’t the kind of person I wanted to share that journey with or would want that unbreakable link with for the rest of my life. But it was the way it happened. I would never describe Remy as a mistake. He wasn’t. There was no regret about Remy, no part of me that wished he didn’t exist.

  From the very moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew I didn’t want Grant to be the father of my child. I didn’t want to share that experience with him. But I wanted my child. That meant it wasn’t really a choice. As soon as I knew Remy was coming, he was my baby, I was his mother, and we were going to be a family. That made me want to be hopeful and optimistic. Maybe my relationship with Grant was over. Maybe he was far from the person I would want to share a child with. But we could work it out. For the baby’s sake, we could figure it out. It didn’t have to turn into a battle.

  I never would have imagined something like this would happen. But there was nothing I could do about it. That night was the first night of my fight, and I had to remember that in every decision that I made. Including not picking up the beer I really wanted and instead brewing a pot of coffee and sitting down to consider my options.

  Monday night, Nick called me to talk over everything that happened. He made me promise not to contact Grant at all. He said I shouldn’t speak to him, text him, try to see him, anything. When I saw the papers saying Grant was trying to take away any visitation right at all and completely exclude me from my son’s life, all I wanted was to scoop my baby boy up in my arms and cradle him.