by Melissa Kate
Nate thought about how good his life had been in the past few years and found himself feeling sad for Brielle and Noah and how hard they’d had it in the early years. He imagined how scared she must have been to deal with the pregnancy alone and have to worry about finances, wondering if there was a man that helped her at all. He wondered if Matt had been in the picture and if he had held his son as an infant. The thought made him angry. Angry at all the missed moments with his child. Angry that another man had been the male role in his son’s life for so long. And why? Because someone in his camp had lied to Brielle about his interest in being involved in the child’s life. He couldn’t imagine how she must have hated him all these years and then he goes and accuses her of trying to trap him! He felt like a fucking idiot!
He opened his mouth to ask Mena if she knew anything about Brielle when the limo stopped and they had to make their grand appearance. Stepping out, he held the door open for Mena as the paparazzi went crazy. She put her hand out for him and he took it as he helped her get out of the car. She draped herself against him and he figured that she was playing into the camera.
The paparazzi shouted from all directions, trying to get his attention. “How’s the season going so far?” “Do you think you will win tomorrow’s race?” “What happened to the last model you dated?” “Who’s your new girlfriend?”
Mena was a slut for attention and she soaked up the secondary fame like a sponge, pushing her barely covered breasts into his chest and sandwiching her bare leg between his. And he let her do it because she was is front and confident and he trusted her.
“Give her a kiss!” someone shouted.
Nate had had enough, he didn’t fall prey to the paparazzi pressures but before he could disentangle himself from Mena, she grabbed his face with both hands and smacked a wet one right on his lips.
“What are you doing?” he whispered harshly.
“Creating a buzz. You haven’t been in the spotlight in awhile. Ride it out.”
He didn’t feel like riding it out. Brielle’s were the only lips he was thinking about. Dammit!
They headed into the club; the place looked plush. They found seats at the bar and took in the upmarket clientele. He greeted other F1 drivers around the place and realized that their PR teams had had the same idea as Mena to exploit them. He couldn’t enjoy himself without first getting to the bottom of the issues he had. He needed some answers and Mena was just the person who would have them.
“Did you handle all my PR issues from the get go?”
“Yes. Why?” she asked, ordering them both drinks.
“Someone provided false information to a woman I met and I want to know who it was.”
“What information? You meet lots of women.”
“Yes, but this decision had a profound impact on my life, Mena.”
“Well, what happened?”
“I have a son.”
Mena nearly fell off her chair. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. I only just recently found out.”
“Are you sure he’s yours? You do get thousands of women claiming to have had your child but we both know you don’t get around that much.”
He didn’t smile. “I had blood tests done to prove it. Noah is my son.”
“Wow, I can’t believe it.”
“Yup, that’s how I felt too. But, it’s settled in now and he’s such an amazing kid,” Nate said wistfully, a slight smile on his face. “But, someone told his mother that I wasn’t interested in becoming a father and I want to know who denied me five years of getting to know my child.”
Nate got angry every time he thought about this. He prided himself on control but in this situation someone had taken fate out of his hands, spat on it and tossed it aside. And that person was going to pay.
Nate glanced at Mena and noticed that she looked a little pale. “You ok?”
“Yeah, just a lot to take in,” she waved a bangled arm in front of her face. “Do you have any leads?”
He shook his head no. “I reasoned I’d start with you. You run my life and most of everything comes through you first so I figure you’d remember something like this.
“Nothing that comes to mind off-hand. Did you ask the child’s mother? Does she remember who she spoke to?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t recall. It was a long time ago and she didn’t hold it against whoever she spoke to because she had every reason to believe it came from me and so she hated me instead. But, the truth is out now and I have a debt to settle with that person. It’s not going to be pretty.”
Mena nodded, still looking pale and deep in thought.
Nate knew he was one step closer to the truth.
The next day’s race was long and Nate’s mind was just not on it. For the first time in his racing career, the driving did not give him a calm state of mind. Instead, his mind was plagued by a multitude of foreign emotions. He wasn’t used to zoning out thinking about another human being, but he found himself reminiscing about Noah and his antics all throughout the day. If he was honest with himself, Noah wasn’t the only Woods that he’d had on his mind lately. There was just something about Brielle that had him thinking back on her constantly. She was so different from the shy girl he’d met in Brazil. She was so fierce now and he supposed that struggling on her own to raise their child had done that to her.
The guilt he felt over that consumed him daily. He’d been living his life in sinful bliss while they had had to almost live hand-to-mouth to survive. It tore at a part of him that had been dormant all his life.
He snapped out of his reverie when he heard two other cars whizz past him. Shit! He had to get his head in the game. He downshifted and sped up to maneuvre his way through the track, easing in behind the rear wing of the car ahead of him. It was an old trick and Nate used the car ahead of him to his advantage. He saw an apex up ahead and at the right moment, turned the steering wheel and directed the car out of the slipstream, taking position ahead of the other driver. He overturned though and the car slid and he found himself graining. Fuck! That was going to cost him. He continued to drive and knew the effect on his tires – like driving on ball bearings. He slowed down and was going to make a pit stop when in his rearview mirror he saw one of the other racecars hurtling all over the place; the car had lost control, bumping cars out of his path and was now heading straight for Nate.
Nate tried to drive out of the way as best he could but he was as good as in quicksand with the condition of his tires. His last thought was of Noah and Brielle as the impact hit and Nate lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 10
BRIELLE WAS GETTING HOME FROM a particularly tiresome day of work two days later. She walked into the house and Noah came running to her, looking panicked.
“What’s wrong, Lovebug?” she bent down to look into his distressed faced.
“Momma, what does ‘illegitimate’ mean?”
Brielle almost fell backward. “Where did you hear that?”
“The kids at school were saying that you got knocked up and that I’m illegitimate.”
Brielle’s blood ran cold. “Where did they hear that?”
“Randy came in this morning and was saying that he heard his mom talking on the phone and they mentioned your name. What does it mean, Momma? Was I adopted?”
Where the hell had Randy’s mother heard that?! She was at Noah’s birthday party but could she really have picked that up. How cruel to start spreading that kind of gossip when children were around. She was going to give Randy’s mother a piece of her mind. Bored bloody housewives!
“No, my angel. You are not adopted,” she assured the anxious child.
Her own anxiety levels were starting to spike because she knew that she had to be honest with him and that time was fast approaching.
“It means that you were made with love sweetheart.”
“B
ut if I was made from love, then where is my daddy? If he loved me, then why does he have to save all the other kids and stay away from me? Doesn’t he want me, Momma?”
Oh, dear. Brielle’s heart sank and she glanced away from Noah, looking around the room for some inspiration on how to explain this to a five-year-old. She noticed that the TV was on and Noah was watching sports. How strange for a five-year-old.
“Baby, momma is going to tell you something very important now, ok, and I need you to be a big boy about it.”
Noah nodded, eyes wide with unshed tears and her chest squeezed painfully.
“Your daddy has been doing big things in the world and he’s ready to come to meet you. He didn’t know about you before because when momma tried to tell him the great news, a bad person kept it a secret from daddy.”
“Why would they do that, Momma?” his bright green eyes started to pool and her heart sank even lower.
“I don’t know, Baby, but the minute he found out about you, he immediately wanted to get to know you better.”
“Who is he, Momma?”
“Do you remember Mr. Wolfe, Lovebug?”
He nodded slowly.
“Nathan Wolfe is your daddy, Sweetpea.” She waited tentatively for Noah’s reaction. She could see the wheel’s turning in his head.
“Really?” he sniffed.
Brielle nodded. “What do you think?”
“Does he know he’s my daddy now?”
“Yes, Sweetheart,” she reassured him.
“Why didn’t he say anything to me yet?” A single tear streamed down his pale face.
“I told him not to tell you yet, Baby. We wanted you to get used to him first and we wanted to tell you together.”
A long silence ensued as Noah processed the information.
“Does he like me?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
“Oh, Baby,” she pulled the small child into her arms. “What’s not to like? He’d be crazy not to like you. Look at the time he spent here for your birthday, just to be near you.”
“When is he coming to see me?”
She pulled away to look into his tear-stained face, the confusion written all over it. “He’s in Texas right now but I’m sure he will come by when he’s back.”
Noah nodded again and seemed to compose himself.
“You ok, Squirt?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok, you go watch some TV and I will whip us up some dinner, ok?”
“Ok, Mom,” he sauntered off to the sofa and stared at the screen.
“Hey, Kiddo,” she called. “If you have any questions then you come right back and ask me, ok? Don’t keep any feelings to yourself.”
“Ok,” he said absentmindedly.
She started chopping her veggies for that night’s supper, deep in thought. This was going to be a shock to Nate. She really hoped she’d done the right thing and that Nate was serious about Noah because if he wasn’t, Noah would be crushed. She couldn’t stand to see her child disappointed. So unlike any other five-year-old, he was thoughtful and composed and so in tune with what the people around him were feeling. He was so unselfish and deserved to have the same returned to him.
“Momma!!” he shouted from the living room, interrupting her jumbled thoughts. “Come quick!”
She raced to Noah, her heart in her throat thinking of what she’d find. He sat, frozen in place, eyes fixed as he pointed to the TV screen.
She noticed that the news was showing some report of a car accident and it looked grisly. She was about to turn away when she read the caption at the bottom of the screen, “Multi Racecar pile-up for Austin F1”. Nate was in Austin.
Brielle watched in horror as the crash was replayed. The news anchor then mentioned Nate’s name and Brielle sat down heavily on the sofa beside Noah. Nate was in an accident. Was he ok? Was he even alive? She felt her world spinning.
Noah started to cry. “Is it him, Momma? Is he hurt?”
She knew who he was referring to but she had no idea. Two days ago! Why hadn’t anyone called to tell her? Of course, she was no one to Nate. Nobody knew that he’d fathered her child.
“We have to go to him, Momma,” Noah cried, tears streaming down his face.
“Honey, we can’t just-“
“PLEASE Momma,” his eyes opened wide and he looked so distraught. “He can’t leave me yet.”
Brielle pulled him in and let the child sob. Her own eyes welled with tears as she felt the pain for her son. Please let Nate be ok,” she willed silently.
A minute later the phone rang and she answered it automatically.
“I just saw the news.” It was Emma. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine, shocked but ok. Noah is taking it badly.”
“Noah. Why would he be affected by that?”
“He knows Em. I told him.”
“Oh. How did he take it?”
“Like a soldier.” She smiled despite the circumstances, so proud of her stoic little man. “He wants to see Nate.”
“I read online that he got transferred to County General. He and one of the other local drivers.”
“Do you know how bad he’s hurt?”
“The reports just said that he’s stable.”
“Ok, thanks Em.”
“Are you going to take him to the hospital?”
“I don’t see that I have a choice. He’s inconsolable.”
“Ok. Do you need me to come?”
“No, I can manage. But thank you. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Take it easy babe, and love to Bucket, ok.”
“Ok.”
Half an hour later they arrived at County General Hospital. The place was a madhouse with news crew and paparazzi. They entered the ward where Nate was being held but his room was guarded by security that refused to let them in.
“Look, my son just wants to see him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but no fans allowed. Mr. Wolfe needs his rest.” The security officer informed Brielle.
She argued for a few more minutes but it was no use, they wouldn’t let her in and Brielle didn’t want to leak the secret out that Nate had a child – it wasn’t her story to tell.
She asked the nurse about his progress but they wouldn’t tell her much either. Just that he was alive and stable.
Dejected, they left the hospital and headed home.
By the weekend, Brielle had heard that Nate had been discharged and was settled in at home. She had stealthily obtained his home details and like two crooks, she and Noah sat in her Mazda outside his apartment.
“You ready, Squirt?”
He nodded enthusiastically.
They strolled to the building door and when she pressed the intercom, a woman’s voice came across, “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Brielle, we are here to see Nate.”
“Mr. Wolfe isn’t expecting anyone.”
“I know, we thought we would surprise him and see how he’s doing.”
The line went silent for a while.
“We won’t be long, promise. Please can you just let him know we are here?”
Another few minutes of silence and Brielle was sure they would be sent away again. To her surprise the large gates buzzed open. They rode the elevator all the way up to the penthouse.
The front door was opened by a housekeeper and when she greeted them, Brielle recognized that she was the voice over the intercom. Why she felt relieved, she had no idea.
Nate sat on a large wraparound sofa, looking worse for wear. His beautiful face was battered and bruised. He had white strips along his hairline and an impressive purple bruise along his right eye and jawline. His arm was in a sling and he had his right foot bandaged and elevated on two pillows at the end of the sofa.
“Hey,” he greeted roughly.
“Hey,” she parroted, suddenly questioning why she had thought this was a good idea.
“What are you doing here?”
“We came to see you.”
Nate looked surprised.
Brielle reached for Noah and was surprised that the boy was suddenly feeling shy and hiding behind her.
“Hey, Noah,” Nate greeted, the pain clearly etched on his face.
“Hi, Mr. Wolfe,” he said softly.
Oh, her sweet little boy. He was so shy and her heart ached for him.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Nate.
“How do I look?”
“Bad.”
“I feel worse.”
He didn’t seem in a chipper mood but she didn’t blame him.
“You ok with us being here? We can go if you need to rest.”
“No, it’s fine. Come, sit.”
They came to sit around him and Noah stuck close to Brielle, seeking his mother’s comfort.
“What’s wrong, Buddy?” Nate asked him.
Noah didn’t answer, just stared at Nate with wide eyes. Nate looked to Brielle questioningly.
“Nate, Noah knows who you are.”
Nate still looked confused.
“He knows who you are to him,” she continued.
And then the penny dropped. Nate closed his eyes for a few moments and Brielle found her anxiety levels rising. She’d been on edge all week, waiting for this to all be out in the open and hopefully not blow up in her face.
When he opened his green eyes, they were fixed on Noah. “How do you feel about that, Buddy?”
The small child shrugged, his eyes downcast.
“Are you disappointed?”
Noah shook his head no.
“Are you happy?”
He nodded and shrugged at the same time then turned his gaze to meet Nate’s. “Does it hurt?”
“No, Buddy, I’m ok,” he lied. “Don’t be sad, ok?”
The situation was awkward from both sides and Brielle wished she could wave a magic wand and make everything ok.
