by Force, Marie
“Brianna wanted to see the sugaring facility. Are you up for a tour?”
“I’d love to.”
They spent the next hour in the building across the yard while Colton walked her through every step of the complex process of making maple syrup. Lucy begged off, saying she needed to keep her feet up so they wouldn’t swell.
“I had no idea what was involved in making syrup,” Brianna said. “This was truly fascinating, Colton. Thanks for sharing your incredible knowledge with me.”
“It’s always a pleasure to share our place with new people. Everyone says the same thing—that they had no clue what it took to turn sap into syrup.”
“Are you and Lucy coming down to town before her due date?” Noah asked.
“That’s the plan. She’s due in two weeks, so we’ll move in with Mom and Dad next weekend until Bruiser arrives.”
“Bruiser,” Noah said. “Tell me that’s not really his name.”
“That’s what we’re calling him, but my beloved tells me there’ll be a different name on the birth certificate. I defer to her as the birther of the baby.”
“Wise move,” Noah said. “Speaking of babies…”
Brianna had wondered if he planned to share his news with Colton.
“It seems I had one about two and a half years ago.”
“What?”
“Melinda was pregnant when we split and didn’t think I needed to know that.”
“Christ have mercy! How’d you find out?”
Noah shared the story with Colton. “She’s bringing him here to meet me tomorrow.”
“Holy shit, Noah. I’m so sorry that happened but glad you found out about him.”
“Yeah, same.”
“What the fuck is wrong with people?” Colton asked.
“That’s an excellent question,” Noah said.
Brianna curled her hand around his, wanting him to know she was there for him, no matter what. At some point, his problems and his pain had become hers, and there was nothing she wouldn’t do to soothe him. The realization made her feel weightless, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. She’d been down there once before, so gone with love over Rem, she hadn’t seen the forest for the trees, even when they were smacking her in the face with the truth about him.
Noah wasn’t Rem. She had to keep reminding herself of that. He knew what it was like to be hurt.
That made him about the best risk she could ever take.
If he disappointed her, she’d never get over that.
* * *
Twenty-four hours never went by so slowly. Every minute felt like a year. Why hadn’t he just gotten in his truck and driven to Burlington yesterday to see his son? Because Gray had determined how this would play out, and Noah needed to follow his brother/lawyer’s lead. But he was losing his shit waiting for four o’clock.
Brianna had been close by all day, but she’d given him space to brood and pace and think.
“Do you want to eat something?” she asked around three.
“Don’t think I could. My stomach is in knots.”
“He’s going to love you, Noah.”
At her suggestion, they’d driven to Rutland that morning to buy some toys to have at the house. They’d gotten a barn with little people and animals, a race car track and some trucks, hoping they were things the little guy would like. How did he know what his son liked or didn’t like? He was flying blind where Elliott was concerned, and that made him so fucking angry.
But there was no place in this day for anger. This day was about meeting his son and beginning a lifelong relationship with the boy.
And it was about seeing Melinda for the first time since he caught her in bed with his friend. That was the part he was dreading.
While they were out yesterday afternoon, they’d gone by the abandoned horse barn. At first glance, he could see it would be ideal for the sort of projects they wanted to take on. They’d also enjoyed a fun visit with Hannah, her family and Dexter, the puppy moose.
He wanted to be thinking about their plans for the business and the fun day they’d had visiting family, but he couldn’t focus on anything substantial until he’d met his son. He’d asked the others to clear out and his mother to hold off until next time so as not to overwhelm the little boy with Colemans at their first meeting.
Noah sat on the floor and fiddled with the barn animals, examining each of them and wondering which one his son would prefer. He was a cow guy himself. They fascinated him and always had. He wanted to know everything his son liked and disliked. He wanted to know what made him happy and what upset him. He wanted to know about his birth and what he’d looked like the second he was born.
He would never forgive her for denying him those memories. A soft knock on the door had him shooting up from the floor a short time later and race walking to open the back door.
There they were. Melinda holding a child.
Noah barely glanced at her as his gaze devoured the adorable little boy with pudgy cheeks and big gray eyes, the same color as Noah’s. He stepped back to let them into the house.
“Th-this is Elliott,” Melinda said.
Noah held out his hands to take the boy from her.
She handed him over to him, seeming reluctant, but that was too damned bad.
“Hi, Elliott.” Noah took off the boy’s knit hat so he could see his blond hair. It was like looking at himself at the same age, which was why Melinda couldn’t deny who his father was. But Gray had insisted a paternity test still be done so there could be no doubt.
Elliott studied him with a serious expression on his cute face.
“Do you like trucks?” Noah took him into the living room to sit on the floor with the toys. “How about we take off your coat before you play?”
Elliott’s chubby little hand went to the zipper on his coat, his brows furrowing with indignation when he couldn’t operate the zipper himself.
“Let me help with that.” As he unzipped and removed the coat, it was all he could do not to reach for the child and hug him tightly. He didn’t want to scare him, though, so he refrained, but his heart was in his throat as he watched his little boy check out the toys he and Brianna had chosen for him. He wore a red and blue plaid flannel shirt, jeans and cute little work boots.
Elliott picked up the cow and held it up for Noah to see. “Cow.”
“Yes, that’s right. I love cows. Do you?”
Elliott nodded. “Moo.”
Noah blinked back tears. “You’re so smart.”
“He knows all the animal names and sounds they make.”
Noah ignored her. He didn’t want to hear all the things his son had learned that he knew nothing about. He didn’t want her in his house or raising his child. When the anger threatened to overtake him, he choked it back, determined to keep his focus on Elliott.
They played for an hour, with every one of the toys getting Elliott’s attention. He loved the trucks Noah had chosen for him, and the race car track was a huge hit.
“Cookie?” Elliott asked Noah.
“Is he allergic to anything?” Noah asked without looking up at Melinda.
“Not that we know of.”
Her use of the word we infuriated Noah. Fuck her, and fuck Miguel.
Brianna brought him a plate of cookies and the apple juice boxes they’d bought at the store earlier in the day.
Noah held out a hand to her, and she joined them on the floor, the three of them sipping from juice boxes and eating cookies.
“This is my friend Brianna,” Noah said to Elliott. “Can you say hi?”
“Hi,” Elliott said.
“Hi, Elliott,” Brianna said. “We’re so happy to meet you.”
“Juice,” Elliott said.
“You like juice?” Bri asked.
Elliott nodded.
While Noah watched them together, he pretended the three of them were a little family and that Melinda wasn’t standing watch over them, her coat still on.
“H
e’ll spend every other weekend here,” Noah said without looking up at Melinda. “As well as a week at Christmas and three weeks in the summer. They don’t have to be three weeks in a row, but I want three full weeks. When he gets older, we’ll let him decide where he wants to spend most of his time.”
She didn’t say anything for a full minute, and then she said, “Okay.”
“And he’ll call me, and only me, Dad.”
“He… he calls Miguel Miggy.”
Noah was enormously relieved to hear that his son didn’t call Miguel Daddy. That might’ve been too much for Noah. “He’ll also have my name. That’s nonnegotiable. If it’s not on his birth certificate, you’ll have it amended, and you’ll provide me with a copy.”
“Okay.”
“I want pictures of him from every part of his life, from birth to now.”
“I… I can get them for you.”
“Thank you.” Noah forced himself to look directly at Melinda. “I’ll never understand why you did this to me, but I’ll do my best to treat you with respect as his mother, which is way more than you’ve given me by keeping him from me for all this time.”
“I’m sorry, Noah. I didn’t know what to do after everything that happened. When I realized I was pregnant—”
“You should’ve told me! You knew I would’ve wanted him.”
“I’m sorry. That’s all I can say.”
It would never be enough, but he had no choice but to accept her apology and move on—for Elliott’s sake.
Noah reached for his son, who came willingly to him after playing with him and sharing cookies with him. “I’m your dad, pal. And do you know what that means? It means I’ll love you and protect you and play with you and be there for you for the rest of my life. If you need anything, you come to me, and I’ll make sure you get it.”
Brianna sniffled next to him.
When the boy started to squirm, Noah released him. He kissed the top of the child’s head. “I’ll see you again soon, okay?”
“‘Kay,” Elliott said.
Noah got up off the floor and brought the child’s hat and coat with him to the kitchen. He helped him into the coat and zipped it up before plopping the hat on his head. The last thing he wanted to do was let him go, but he knew he had to. For now, anyway.
“You can bring him here on Friday after work. I’ll bring him back on Sunday night.”
“I, um, okay. Noah, I just want to say—”
“Don’t. There’s nothing you can say that will fix this, so don’t even try.” He’d thought he might feel something for her, some of the old feelings, but there was nothing but anger and resentment for what she’d denied him—and Elliott. Eventually, he’d have to talk to her about things involving their son, but not now. Not yet.
“I’ll see you on Friday, buddy. We’ll play trucks some more, and I’ll take you to see the big trucks at work.”
“Trucks!” Elliott said.
“We’ll see all the trucks.” Noah smiled and waved to him as Melinda carried him out of the house. “Bye-bye.”
Elliott waved back to him. “Bye.”
He needed to get a car seat and a toddler bed, and what else did he need? How did he even know what he needed? What did he know about taking care of a toddler? His mind raced until he forced himself to take a deep, calming breath. His mother and aunt had raised eighteen children. They’d tell him what he needed, and he’d get it before Friday. He’d make sure Elliott had everything he needed going forward. He couldn’t rewrite the past, but he’d do whatever he could to make up for lost time with his son.
“He’s adorable,” Brianna said after Melinda had driven off.
“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce you to her—”
“Don’t be sorry. I didn’t want to meet her. It was all I could do not to punch her.”
Noah laughed softly and wrapped his arms around her. “So that was my son.”
“That was your son, and he’s beautiful. He looks so much like you! I can’t wait to get to know him.”
“Me, too. I’m going to need help… So much help. I have to get a car seat and a bed for him and more toys and—”
Brianna pulled back to place her hand on his face. “Take a breath. We’ve got this. We’ll get everything he needs and make sure he feels at home here.”
“I want you to feel at home here, too.”
“I already do.”
“When your lease is up at your place, do you think you might want to move in here?”
“I believe I would.”
“And the business… You might be into that, too?”
“Absolutely.
“Does that mean you’re going to give notice to your job in Boston?”
“That means I already have. I called the office on Friday to let them know I wouldn’t be coming back to Boston after I finish the project here.”
“What did they say?”
“They weren’t happy and tried to offer me a raise, but I told them ‘no, thanks.’”
Noah’s heart, already full to overflowing after the time with his son, felt like it might explode after hearing she was making definite plans to stay with him. “The horse barn… Do we think that might be our first project?”
“Other than meeting Elliott, it’s all I’ve thought about since we saw it yesterday. I’ve even roughed up some sketches.”
Noah released a deep breath. “We’re going to do this, then.”
“We’re going to do it, but only if it’s what you want, too.”
He gazed down at her sweet, gorgeous face, memorizing every detail. “Before I met you, I would’ve sworn I was done with love and relationships and everything that goes with them.”
“I was right there with you. All set, thank you very much.”
Smiling, he kissed her. “But then there you were, shaking that finger at me and firing me up with your smart sexiness, and suddenly, there I was, right back in the place I swore I’d never go again. But it feels different this time. It feels good and safe and right.”
“For me, too, Noah. I swear to you I’ll never hurt you the way she did.”
“And I’ll never hurt you the way he did.”
She curled her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He believed that when she said those words to him, she truly meant them. He had faith in her, and he trusted her to keep her word to him. “How about you show me those sketches?”
“I’d love to.”
Epilogue
Ten minutes after Linc slid into the booth across from Elmer at the diner, they were still waiting for Butch to bring them coffee. Linc was thinking about getting it himself.
“He said he doesn’t need us to hire someone to cover for Megan,” Elmer said, “but he seems overwhelmed. How can one person wait on the tables and cook the food, too?”
“I hate to say it, but I think you’re going to have to start delivering coffee, old man,” Linc said, grinning at his father-in-law.
“Who you calling old, boy?”
“Figure of speech. I want to be ‘old’ like you someday.”
“You think we ought to pitch in?” Elmer asked.
“I think we’d better before there’s a riot.”
“How hard can it be? We watch Megan do it every day.”
“Exactly.”
“You get the coffee,” Elmer said. “I’ll take the orders.”
“On it.”
For the next hour, they ran their asses off, refilling coffee, taking orders, delivering food, messing up orders, redoing orders, making more coffee, clearing tables and wiping up after each customer.
When the breakfast rush was finally over, they dropped into their usual booth, completely exhausted.
“Holy. Shit.”
“What you said.” Elmer guzzled the glass of ice water he’d poured for himself. “How does Megan do that every day by herself? And pregnant for the last nine months, no less!�
�
“I have a whole new respect for her,” Linc said.
“Me, too.”
Butch came out from the kitchen. “Thanks for the help, boys. You saved my ass.”
“We need to get someone here to help while Megan’s out.”
“She won’t be gone long, will she? How long does it take to get over having a baby, anyway?”
Linc snorted with laughter. “It’s gonna be a while, my friend.”
“Our company believes in full maternity leave,” Elmer said. “As the official owner of the diner, I encouraged her to take all the time she needs. So, let’s hire someone to help out in the meantime.”
“I don’t like change,” Butch said, frowning.
“Well, I’m not going to pour coffee for you every day,” Linc said.
“And I’m too damned old to work this hard,” Elmer said.
“Oh, so now you’re old,” Linc said.
“Don’t be cheeky, young man.”
Linc lost it laughing. “I’m just pointing out that when it’s convenient for you, you play the old-man card.”
“If you live to be my age, you can play any card you want.”
Butch refilled their mugs. “If you want more, get it yourself,” he said as he walked away.
“He does know we’re the bosses around here, doesn’t he?” Elmer asked, grinning.
“He’s well aware that we need him more than he needs us.”
“Especially right now.” Elmer settled back against the booth. “Well, that got the blood pumping. I’ll sleep well tonight.”
“Makes me realize how easy my real job is,” Linc said.
“If it’s too easy for you, I can find someone else to run my parents’ business.”
“I think that ship has sailed, my friend. You’re stuck with me.”
“All this excitement made me forget that I wanted to tell you I heard Noah and Brianna bought the Foster horse barn.”
“Did they now?” Linc asked, beaming. “That’s wonderful. They told us how they want to restore old barns and churches and other unique properties.”
“It’s a great idea. There are a lot of abandoned old places in need of a purpose. I love to see him coming out of his shell with her.”
