by Sandi Lynn
“Yeah. Yeah. Good morning.”
I sighed as I went into my office and set the car seat and diaper bag on the couch.
“Don’t forget you have a meeting at noon with Castle Corp,” Lexi spoke in between cooing at Christopher.
“Shit. I did forget. Thanks for reminding me. Now please hand over my son so I can take him to see his grandfather.”
“Do I have to?” Lexi pouted.
I stood there and cocked my head at her.
“Fine.” She put him in my arms.
I walked down to my father’s office and opened his door.
“Knock, knock. Someone came to see you,” I spoke as I stepped inside.
“Well, hello there, Christopher, come to Grandpa.” He smiled as he got up from his desk and took him from me. “Did Kinsley start school today?”
“Yeah. She did. Can I talk to you for a minute, Dad?”
“Sure, son. Sit down,” he spoke as he took a seat behind his desk with Christopher. “What’s on your mind?”
“I’m going to ask Kinsley to marry me.”
“Well, look at you. My son is growing up.” He smirked. “I wondered how long it was going to take you.”
“I’ve been wanting to ask her for the past few months, but with her being pregnant, her hands and fingers were swollen, and I didn’t want to give her the ring if she couldn’t wear it. She was very self-conscious towards the end. Then Christopher was born and it’s been a little crazy.”
“I understand. When are you going to ask her?”
“Tomorrow night. Lexi and Ben are going to watch Christopher while we go out. What if she says no, Dad? I’ll admit I’m a little scared.”
“She won’t, son. Kinsley loves you. You have nothing to worry about.”
Chapter 42
Kinsley
Chase and I bathed Christopher and put him down to sleep. I had homework that I needed to do, but I wanted to spend time with Chase before I started it. I hadn’t seen him all day except when I picked up the baby and I missed him. I snuggled up against him on the couch as he held me in his strong arms. We talked about our day and watched a movie together. Christopher’s timing was impeccable because as soon as the movie ended, he woke up and wanted to be fed.
“I’ll give him his bottle,” Chase spoke as he kissed my head. “You go start your homework.”
“Are you sure? I can feed him.”
“Sweetheart, go do your homework. I’ve got this.” He smiled as he kissed my lips.
I went into the kitchen to get the bottle ready while Chase went upstairs and took Christopher from his crib. When he came down, he took a seat on the couch and I handed him his bottle.
“Thank you. I love you.” I smiled.
“I love you too. I’ll be up when he’s done eating.”
I went upstairs, changed into my nightshirt, grabbed my laptop, and sat down on the bed. Shit. I forgot my book on the kitchen table. As I was walking down the stairs, I heard Chase talking to Christopher. He was already an amazing father, and every time I saw him with our son, my heart melted. I took a seat on the steps and listened for a few moments before going down and grabbing my book.
“Your dad needs to have a little talk with you,” he spoke. “Your mom is an amazing woman, but you already know that. I see the way you look at her. I look at her that way too. You can’t help but to fall in love with her. She’s smart, kind, selfless and the most beautiful woman in the world. She truly has the soul of an angel. She’s the strongest woman I know, and she puts up with me, even though there are times where I wouldn’t put up with me. When we first met, I knew right away she was special. She was unlike any woman I’d ever met, and to be honest, it frightened the hell out of me. The more I was around her, the more in love with her I fell. She opened my eyes to what life really should be. See, Christopher, I was too afraid to love anyone, and she changed all that. I’m going to ask her to marry me because there’s nothing in this world I want more than to call her my wife. I’m really nervous; I won’t lie to you, little buddy. I’m so afraid that your mom, this magnificent woman who deserves everything in the entire world, isn’t ready or will say no. Neither one of us has ever brought up marriage. Maybe the thought never even crossed her mind. She seems content with the way things are and that’s what worries me. I love her so much and even if she says she’s not ready yet, it won’t change a thing, because I will wait an entire lifetime until she is. You’ll see what I’m talking about when you get to know her better. You’re very lucky to have her as your mom. This stays between us, okay?”
Tears started to stream down my face and my heart broke knowing that he was afraid I wasn’t ready to marry him and that I might say no. I couldn’t go down there, so I went back to our room and waited for him to come up.
“He’s all fed, changed, and fast asleep.” Chase smiled as he walked into the bedroom, climbed on the bed, and gave me a kiss.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“I’m going to go grab my laptop from downstairs. I have some work to do as well. Do you need anything while I’m down there?”
“My book that’s on the kitchen table. Also, bring up a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.” I smiled.
“Sounds good. I’ll be right back.” He winked.
Chase Calloway wasn’t just my baby’s father. He was the man of my dreams and I never knew I could love someone so much as I did him. A few moments later, he walked back into the bedroom and set the bottle of wine and glasses on the nightstand.
“Want me to pour some now?” he asked.
“How about we wait a little bit?”
“Just let me know when you’re ready for it.”
He stripped out his clothes and slipped into a pair of navy blue pajama bottoms. He climbed on the bed, rested his laptop on his legs, and began working.
“Chase?” I spoke as I set my laptop over to the side.
“Yeah, baby,” he answered as he stared at his computer screen, typing away.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
“Will you marry me?” I blurted out.
His fingers came to a standstill as he slowly turned his head and our eyes met.
“What?” he asked as a shocked expression splayed across his handsome face.
“Will you marry me? If you’re not ready, I’ll understand.”
He closed the lid to his laptop and set it on the floor.
“I am so ready to marry you.” He jumped off the bed, went into the closet and returned with a small blue velvet box. “I was going to ask you to marry me.” He flipped open the lid. “But I was afraid you weren’t ready.”
“Oh my God, Chase. It’s beautiful.” I placed my right hand over my mouth as I stared at the three-carat princess-cut white-gold diamond ring.
With a smile on his face, he took the ring from the box and held it up in front of me.
“Let me do this. Kinsley Davis, I love you with all my heart and soul. Will you marry me, darling?”
“Yes, Chase Calloway, I will marry you.” I smiled as tears filled my eyes.
He took hold of my left hand and slipped the ring on my finger.
“I promise to love you for eternity. I can’t imagine my life without you,” he spoke as he leaned in and kissed my lips.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed my forehead against his.
“And I promise to love you for eternity.”
Chapter 43
Four Months Later
Kinsley
“Hello, my sweet boy.” I smiled as I picked up Christopher from his crib. “Did you have a good nap?”
He smiled and laid his head on my shoulder. After changing his diaper, I walked downstairs, and the doorbell rang. With Christopher in my arms, I opened the door and stood there in shock.
“Jimmy?”
“Kinsley. You are one hard woman to find,” he spoke.
“My God. What are you doing here?”
“I need t
o talk to you about your mother.”
“Come in.” I opened the door wider.
“Who’s this handsome little guy?” He smiled.
“This is Christopher, my son.”
“Your son?” he asked in shock. “Wow. It’s good to see you.” He reached out and touched my arm.
“It’s good to see you too. How did you find me?”
“I hired a private investigator. I had no choice. I needed to find you. Your mom is in the hospital, Kinsley, and she’s asking to see you. She’s dying, and she doesn’t have much time left.” He lowered his head.
Suddenly, I felt weak, so I sat down on the couch.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked.
“Her liver is failing.”
Tears started to fill my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling.
“I’m not surprised,” I softly spoke.
“Listen, Kinsley, I know she was a shit mother, but she’s still your mom and she wants to see her daughter before she dies.”
Christopher started to cry, so I got up from the couch and put him in his high chair.
“I need to give him his dinner,” I spoke as I grabbed the baby food from the cabinet.
“How old is he?” Jimmy asked.
“Six months.”
I heard the front door open, and when Chase walked into the kitchen, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Umm. What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Chase, this is Jimmy, from back home. Jimmy, this is my fiancé, Chase Calloway.”
“Nice to meet you, man,” Jimmy spoke as he extended his hand.
“Ah yes, I do believe Kinsley has mentioned you.” Chase shook his hand. “What brings you to California?”
“Kinsley can tell you. I need to get going. It was good to see you.” He smiled at me. “Thanks for taking care of her.” He turned to Chase. “You have a beautiful family.”
“Thank you,” Chase spoke.
As soon as he left, I sat down at the table and began feeding Christopher.
“Are you going to tell me what that was all about?” he asked.
“My mom is dying of liver failure and she’s asking to see me.”
“Oh, baby.” He walked over and kissed the top of my head. “I’m sorry.”
“I always knew this day would come. To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long with the amount of alcohol she drank every day.”
“I’ll feed Christopher,” he spoke as he placed his hand on mine.
I jerked away.
“I can feed my son,” I shouted in an irritated tone.
“Sweetheart, talk to me.”
“I don’t want to talk about anything, Chase. So just drop it,” I snapped.
“Okay, fine. I’m going upstairs to change.”
As soon as I was finished feeding Christopher, I took him upstairs and handed him to Chase.
“Can you bathe him, please? I need some fresh air.”
“Of course. Come on, little man, let’s get you cleaned up.”
I went downstairs, grabbed a blanket and a bottle of wine, and took it down to the beach. Darkness was falling upon the sky and the stars were waiting patiently to make their appearance. Sitting down on the blanket, I brought the bottle to my lips and took a sip as I stared out into the ocean water.
“You okay?” Chase asked as he sat down beside me and brought his knees up to his chest.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you. To be honest, I don’t know if I’m okay or not.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re going through a lot of mixed emotions right now.” He hooked his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder.
“A part of me hates her and a part of me loves her.”
“We’ll go to Indiana. You have to make peace with her, Kinsley. If you don’t, you’ll end up regretting it the rest of your life.”
“I know.”
“You can do this, baby, and Christopher and I will be there for you. I’ll make a few calls, get a private jet, and we’ll go first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Then I guess we better get packing,” I spoke as I took a sip of wine.
“By the way, you never really did tell me who that Jimmy guy is?”
“He’s her cousin. He gave up on her a long time ago. They had a huge fight one night and he never came around again. He owns a car repair shop in town. He buys vintage cars and rebuilds them.”
“Come on, let’s go inside. I have calls to make and we need to get things ready to leave tomorrow,” he spoke.
When we arrived in Indiana, we checked into a hotel because I knew the house was going to be filthy and I didn’t want Christopher there. As soon as we settled in, we headed straight to the hospital.
“You can do this, sweetheart. You’re a strong woman,” Chase spoke as he reached over and held my hand.
“I know.”
As we entered the hospital, the sick feeling in my belly intensified. Chase held Christopher in one hand and held mine with the other. I didn’t think I could do this without him here and I was so grateful for all his support. We took the elevator up to the second floor and walked down the hallway until we found room 2101. I stopped in the doorway and took in a deep breath as Chase gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I slowly walked into the room and my mom turned her head and looked at me. A small, weak smile graced her face when she saw me.
“Kinsley,” she spoke in a soft voice.
“Hi, Mom,” I spoke as I walked over to her bed. “I want you to meet my fiancé Chase Calloway and your grandson, Christopher.”
Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him.
“My grandson? You’re a mother?”
“Yeah.” I smiled.
“I met him already.” She looked at Chase.
“Hi. I apologize for being rude,” Chase spoke.
“Nah. Don’t be. You didn’t tell me anything I already didn’t know. Can I hold my grandson?”
“Of course,” I spoke.
Chase walked over and put Christopher in her arms. Tears ran down her face as she held him against her.
“You’re so handsome,” she spoke to him.
After a few moments, Christopher started to cry, so I took him from her and handed him to Chase.
“He’s probably hungry,” I spoke.
“I’ll go feed him and leave you two alone.”
Chase walked out of the room and I took a seat in the chair and stared at my mother. She was so frail and weak.
“How long have you known, Mom?” I asked.
“I kind of suspected something was going on the past couple of years.”
“You could have gotten help. You could have asked me to help you,” I spoke.
“You’ve helped me enough, Kinsley. I didn’t want to put that on you. You had Henry and you were doing your own thing.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head.
“Listen to me. I know I was a shit mother, but I loved you and I did what I did for you. I needed you to be stronger than I ever was. I’m sorry, Kinsley. I’m so sorry.” She began to cry.
Suddenly, all the anger I felt for her all these years slowly dissipated away. This woman, whom I called my mom, was dying and remaining angry at her for something neither she or I could change wouldn’t solve anything. She needed my forgiveness.
“I forgive you, Mom.” I squeezed her hand. “I am strong and it’s because of you.”
I got up from my chair and wrapped my arms around her as we both cried together. After we settled down, we talked for a while. I told her all about California and how I was going to school. I shared my dream of owning my own antique shop and she told me for the first time in my life that she was proud of me. After Chase was finished feeding Christopher, he came back into the room and we stayed for a while longer so she could spend some time with her grandson. She was tired and growing weaker every minute we were there.
“We better go and let you get some rest,” I spoke.
“Thanks for coming, Kinsl
ey,” my mother whispered.
“I love you, Mom.” I leaned over and gave her a hug. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
“I love you too.”
Later that night, Jimmy called me at the hotel and told me that my mother had passed away.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Chase spoke as he held me tight.
“She’s in a better place now,” I cried on his shoulder. “She doesn’t have to suffer anymore.”
A couple days later, we buried her in the same cemetery my father was buried at.
“Kinsley.” I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Well, well.” Chase smiled. “If it isn’t the waitress from that grease pit.”
I turned around and locked eyes with Krista.
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
“Thanks, Krista. I appreciate it.”
“I didn’t know you had a baby. He’s so sweet.” She smiled.
“He is.” I hooked my arm around Chase. “They both are and they’re both the love of my life, so thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For sleeping with Henry. Because if you hadn’t, I’d probably still be stuck in this miserable town, living a miserable life with a man I never even loved. But thanks to you, I moved to California and met this wonderful man and had this beautiful baby.”
“Umm. You’re welcome?”
I gave her a smile and gracefully walked away.
Chapter 44
Sixteen Years Later
Chase
It was hard to believe that Kinsley and I had been married sixteen years already. It seemed like it was yesterday when I first laid eyes on her. The three of us turned into the five of us. Christopher was almost seventeen, and the twins, Chanel and Camille, were blooming teenagers at the age of thirteen. My father retired a few years back and I stepped in and took over the company. Christopher was following in my footsteps, not only attending Stanford, but he would be the next generation to take over Calloway Tech. The girls were typical teens, and they were smart, strong, and beautiful like their mother. Needless to say, when we found out we were having twins, we were shocked. Kinsley didn’t know that twins ran in her family. So after some investigating of the family tree, we found out that Kinsley’s great-grandmother was a twin.
