by Melissa Kate
“I didn’t plan this, Nate,” she continued when he made no attempt to fill the silence. “I was shocked as hell when I found out, too. But he was something created out of my flesh and blood, I could never abandon him as though he were a mistake.” The silence went on. “He’s a good kid. He’s an amazing kid.”
Nate nodded again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She choked on her juice and sputtered all over the counter ahead of her. He came around and patted her back as she coughed through the liquid in her nose.
“You ok?” he asked.
She nodded, still trying to catch her breath. “How can you even ask me that?” she nearly shouted.
He looked confused and his brow furrowed.
“I called you almost immediately after I found out. I had to call and call and call back again just to talk to someone.”
“Who did you call?” Nate’s expression changed.
“Your PR people. They talked down to me and treated me exactly like you did the other night – like I was trying to trap you. Then, I was told that you weren’t interested and I should move on with my child.”
He was starting to look angry. If he was a cartoon, she probably would have seen the steam come out of his ears. “Who?”
“What?”
“Who did you speak to?”
“I don’t know Nate, it was so long ago.”
“I will get to the bottom of this.”
“Didn’t you know?”
He shook his head, looking pained.
This was a revelation and Brielle’s head felt like it was spinning. Nate never knew he had a child. All the years of pining and worrying and hoping he would come around and then hating him when he never bothered. That was all surpassed by the fact that he never knew. Her heart started to pound for the little boy in Noah who could possibly have a father.
“Don’t look at me like that?” he said pointedly at her.
“Like what?”
“Like your son has a daddy all of a sudden.”
Brielle’s bubble popped and something broke in her heart. “He is your son, Nate. How can you even say that?”
“I don’t know if I want to be a part of this equation, Brielle.” He sounded so cold and clinical. “I want a paternity test.”
And just like that, he went back to making her feel like the scum of the earth.
“Get out of my house,” she ordered.
He pushed away from the counter and headed toward the door. “I will have my people contact you later today. I want this done as soon as possible.”
“What for, Nathan? So you can have proof he’s your son and then walk away anyway?”
“Like father, like son.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
But he was already down the driveway, too happy to ignore her.
Nate’s legal team worked quickly and by Saturday morning he had the results of the paternity test hand-delivered to his home. There in black ink, it was stated for all to see. He was Noah Wood’s father. Damn
That floored him more than the moment he found out he had a child.
What was he going to do with this information?
Fuck, he couldn’t just sit around and stare at the ceiling. He needed to do something.
He grabbed his keys and wallet and found himself just driving.
It was the one thing that gave him a sense of calm and damn if he didn’t need that now. Nate knew what he had to do. He stopped by the sporting goods store to pick up something and then found himself on the road again. He took in the tree-lined streets as he drove off the highway and into the suburbs, right in front of a one-story beige house. Brielle’s house. He grabbed his package off the back seat and was glad that the sales clerk had used a monochrome gift wrap and not anything too splashy. Seeing the red balloons decorating the gate that led to the backyard, he followed the childish giggles before he found a group of kids and adults casually enjoying the festivities. The Cars theme was not lost on him as he took in the napkins and paper plates with pictures from the movie emblazoned across them.
In one corner he saw Brielle at a snack table and he was surprised by how beautiful she looked today. Her normally tightly controlled hair was hanging loose and free to the middle of her back in amazing soft waves. She had on a sundress with a fitted bodice and a willowy skirt and she looked in a way he hadn’t seen her in five years. She looked happy. A man came up behind her and encircled his arms around her, hugging her back to his chest. He whispered something in her ear and she laughed and he twirled her around. Nate watched as she giggled like a girl, thrilled to have this man touch her. Nate was not thrilled. His child was here for God’s sake. Why was she behaving like this?
“Mr. Wolfe?!” Noah exclaimed next to him.
“Hey, Noah,” Nate replied uncertainly. He’d had no problems interacting with his child before the truth was out but suddenly he was at a loss for words. How was he supposed to behave around a child?
“What are you doing here?” he bounced beside him, somewhat giddy with sugar.
And then Nate remembered, “Happy Birthday, buddy.” He passed him the huge box and Noah looked at it as Nate leaned it against the wall for balance.
“Oh, boy! What is it?”
The child had no reservations or questions as to why a racecar celebrity was in his mother’s back yard, bringing him gifts for his birthday. If he thought it suspicious, he didn’t let on. Which was saying more than the other twenty-odd adults staring at him curiously.
“Nathan?” Brielle asked, suddenly at his side. “What are you doing here?” Her face was perfectly friendly, which he knew was for public display, but her eyes and tone of voice spoke volumes about her feelings toward him.
“I came to see my—” he broke off when he saw the warning in her eyes.
“I came to wish Noah Happy Birthday,” he corrected. “Hoping he will give me luck for my season this year.”
“Oh, boy! Absolutely, Mr. Wolfe!”
“Call me Nate.”
“Man-o-man.” He looked to Brielle. “Please, can I open this one now, Momma?” he opened his eyes wide and Nate just about sank to his knees.
“No, lovebug, you can open them later.”
“Ah Mom, pleeeeeease. I ate all my peas and broccoli last night. Please?” His face twisted to emphasize his distaste of the vegetables he’d had to endure the night before.
“Fine. Just this one and no more for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Oh boy, oh boy,” he bounced, happily ripping up the neat wrapping. “Woweeeeee! Look Mom, it’s a trampoline!” his eyes bugged out of his head in excitement.
“It’s adult-sized too, so your mom can jump with you.”
“Come on, Mom,” Noah encouraged, grabbing her hand. “Let’s set it up.”
“Later, Squirt, we have a party to get to and I think it’s about time you cut the cake.”
“Ok, Momma.” And like any five-year-old, his attention was easily diverted by something one of the other kids was showing him.
Nate watched Brielle disappear into the kitchen and then reappear with a red-iced, car-shaped cake.
“Happy Birthday to you,” she started to sing.
“Happy Birthday to you,” the crowd joined and Nate found himself singing along.
“Happy birthday to Noah.”
“Happy Birthday to you.”
“Make a wish and blow out the candles, Lovebug,” Brielle said to Noah.
Nate was taken in by the moment between mother and child. The ease with which Brielle played the role of mother.
“Nate!” Noah called. “Come help me blow out the candles.”
He shook his head, not wanting to take anything away from the young child’s moment but somehow the crowd had ushered him forward. He stood beside Noah, feeling an odd
emotion as the child took a deep breath and blew out the candles.
Before being asked to, Noah scooped up a piece of cake and stuffed it in his mouth, managing to get it all over his face and in his hair.
The group laughed and everyone joined in, grabbing plates to get their piece of cake.
By the evening Nate was feeling more like an outsider than ever. Most of the guests had left and why he was still sticking around was beyond him. The sun was setting and he was on his hands and knees on the ground with Noah, setting up the trampoline. It was a lot bigger than he had initially thought. They’d only been at it for ten minutes and already it was scattered across the small back yard.
“Thanks for coming today, Mr. Wolfe,” Noah said softly.
“Don’t mention it, Buddy. Thank you for letting me come, I had fun.”
Noah beamed. “And thanks for my trampoline. I don’t think mom would have even known how to open the box.”
Nate laughed. “Does your mom battle with the hardware stuff?”
“Yeah, sometimes, but I will help her out when I’m bigger. She says I will get real big some day. But uncle Matt helps her when she needs stuff done.”
“Matt?”
Noah gestured through the window at Brielle and another man sharing an easy laugh. The same man he’d seen pawing at her earlier.
“Does he come over often?” he asked, feeling only slightly guilty for grilling his child. What did it matter to him anyway? It shouldn’t matter to him. It wasn’t like there was anything there between him and Brielle. He certainly didn’t need that baggage on top of everything else.
Noah shrugged. “Sometimes.”
They worked in silence for a while before Noah asked, “Do you know your daddy, Mr. Wolfe?”
Where the hell did that come from? “My dad passed away, Noah.”
Noah looked so sad at the revelation. Nate was sure that he was going to cry but he reeled himself in and instead said, “My momma says that my daddy is a super hero and is so busy saving the world and that’s why he can’t be with us.”
Nate instantly choked up. What the hell was going on today?
He needed to tell his child who he was. He needed him to know that he hadn’t abandoned him. “Noah, I-“
“Hey, Bucket,” a tall, dark-haired woman interrupted. He recognized her as Brielle’s friend from Brazil.
“Yes, Aunt Emma?”
“Your mom wants you to finish up and get ready for the bath, Kiddo.”
“Five more minutes, Aunt Em. Come help us to finish so we can have a few jumps before bed.”
Emma looked disapproving.
“Pleeeeease,” Noah begged and again he used the wide-eyed pouty gaze and the other woman caved like a ton of bricks.
She sat beside them and followed their cues for assembling the trampoline.
“So why Bucket?” Nate asked, trying to fill the silence.
Emma actually smiled. Nate was stunned.
“Aunt Em, no, you can’t!” Noah begged.
“Come on, Squirt. I can either tell the story and finish the trampoline or I keep my mouth shut and you go in and have a splash.”
He put his head down in silent resignation.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Kiddo. It gives you character.” She retuned her attention to Nate. “When Noah was potty training, Bree and I had taken him out to the beach one day. He didn’t have a diaper on, just his swim trunks and he all of a sudden decided that he had to go,” she emphasized the word so Nate would catch her meaning without her saying it crudely.
He nodded his understanding and she continued. “Well, we couldn’t get him to a toilet in time so little Noah here just dropped his pants and made it in the sand bucket, right there in the center of the beach.”
Nate threw his head back and laughed. When he recovered he looked at Noah and the child looked gutted. “Wow, Noah,” he soothed. “That takes some guts for what you did. Put it there.” He held out his fist and the child bumped his much smaller one with Nate. He didn’t want to give him a greater complex now that he’d laughed so best to turn a negative experience into a positive one. “Takes guts for what you did, doing it in public and all. So, wear the name Bucket with pride, ok?”
He gave a shy smile and Nate took it as one step closer to him regaining his dignity.
“Ok, let’s give this baby a jump,” he stood up and positioned the now large trampoline in the center of the yard. He had double and tripled checked all the fittings and nettings around the sides – his child’s safety was of utmost importance.
Noah got on and gave it a tentative jump. It didn’t take him two minutes before he was leaping high in the air.
“Come join me, Mr. Wolfe!” he encouraged. “You too, Aunt Emma.”
“I’ll pass kiddo. I just ate and I wouldn’t want to decorate your new trampoline with regurgitated birthday cake.”
Nate stepped on and the two of them bounced, the only sound was their laughter high into the air.
Brielle watched Nate and Noah on the trampoline. They were shrieking with glee, each trying to out-leap the other. They looked so right together. Like father and son. Brielle didn’t know whether that thought made her happy or sad. Nate had come today and played the perfect father figure but how long would that last. How long until the image Nate had of fatherhood, and the reality, collided? He’d already expressed resistance to playing Daddy.
She gave them five more minutes before calling Noah in to the bath.
“Come on, Baby, I see some potatoes growing in those dirty ears.”
“Oh, Mom!” he breezed in and headed straight for the bath.
“We’re going to head out, Babe,” Emma said, picking up her purse and car keys. “See you on Monday, ok?”
“Thanks, Em,” she hugged her and turned to Matt. “Thanks for your help today, I couldn’t have done it without you.” He kissed her cheek and gave her a long hug.
“Take it easy, ok?” he whispered in her ear before releasing her. She nodded and looked out after them as they walked out.
She was now left alone with Nate in the kitchen and she suddenly felt shy. “So, um, thanks for Noah’s gift. Did he thank you for it?”
“Yeah, he did. He’s got impeccable manners for a five-year-old. You did a good job with him.”
Brielle wasn’t expecting a compliment. “Thank you. He’s an amazing child all on his own.”
“I can see that.” He put his hands in his pocket and seemed deep in thought.
“Why are you still here, Nathan?” she asked bluntly.
Looking her in the eye, he said, “I don’t know. I liked spending time with Noah and being here.” He looked at her a long time before saying, “I’d like to get to know him Brielle.”
“To what end, Nate? Now that a blood test suddenly proves that you’re his father, you want to act like one?”
“I’m sorry about the way I handled the blood test. I was just trying—”
“You were trying to protect your reputation – your celebrity. I don’t care what you think of me, Nate. I just can’t stand for one second to see Noah sad or disappointed or hurt. How long before you get tired of playing dad and up and leave?”
“Think what you will of me, Brielle, you don’t know me any better but I will prove to be a decent father to Noah.” And speaking so quietly that Brielle could barely hear him, he said, “I won’t be like my father.”
“Look,” she sighed. “Let’s test this out on a trial basis, ok? Let’s do supervised visits and see how he interacts with you as a family friend. I want to ease him into the news of you being his father.”
“You mean you want to see if I stick around before telling him the truth.
Brielle nodded. “Let me put Noah to bed and then we can map this out, ok?”
Nate nodded.
Nate knew Brie
lle’s end game. She figured that he would grow bored of this role and take flight. She had little faith in him. Hell, he’d had little faith himself up until a few hours ago. He could be better than his father, he didn’t have to follow in his footsteps. Being a bad father was not a part of his genetic makeup. He would prove everyone, including Brielle and himself, wrong. He would be a great father to Noah.
Nate heard the two giggling in the room down the hall and he found himself drawn to the sound.
“Did you have fun today, my love?” he heard her ask Noah.
“Yes, Mom, thank you, it was the best birthday party ever.”
Nate stood in the doorway, blocked from both their view, and watched as Noah’s tiny arms encircled Brielle’s neck. The exchange between mother and son stirred something odd inside him.
“Mom, please sing my song.”
“Oh, Sweetheart, it’s so late.”
“Pleeeeease,” he begged and there were those big doleful eyes again. He was such a good manipulator.
“Ok my love, but only because it’s your birthday.”
Noah leaned back against his pillows and snuggled in.
Brielle started to sing softly and Nate was amazed at how beautifully melodic her voice sounded as she sang the rendition he recognized by Ellie Goulding.
“It’s a little bit funny this feeling inside
I’m not one of those who can easily hide
I don’t have much money but boy if I did
I’d buy a big house where we both could live
So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen
