The One who got Away_A Second Chance Romance

by Mia Ford

  Darren started pacing around the kitchen as he processed it all. Just as he’d been about to speak, he heard beeping in his phone signaling a call was coming through. He pulled the phone away from his face and saw it was his mother on the other line. A groan slipped out of his lips and he shook his head.

  “Okay, I understand what you’re saying,” Darren said to Hicks. “But I think I really wanna go ahead and take the chance and start the process. Who can you get me in touch with around here, Mister Hicks?”

  Chapter 6: Three Months Later

  Darren woke up on a crisp September morning with heavy eyes and a crook in his neck. He stretched then grabbed his head and cracked his neck as he turned over to face the window. The sun was slowly rising above the houses across the street. Darren wondered what time it was, but didn’t feel like getting up to find his phone. He spread his arm out across the bed in search of it before realizing that he had heard it thump against the floor in the night. Instead, Darren lay there in thought.

  Last night had been a true test of fatherhood for the single man. Gabriel, the beautiful two year-old he officially adopted a little less than a month ago, woke up in the night waling at the top of his lungs. A storm had passed over the area last night. Huge bolts of lightening reached out of the sky with so much fury. Thunder rumbled in the clouds for several hours straight. Shortly after a loud thunder shook the windows and woke Darren up out of his sleep, he heard the baby crying from the crib, which was in the adjacent bedroom – a bedroom which had a connecting door that Gabriel left ajar through the night. Quickly, instincts kick-started in ways he never would’ve imagined when he jumped out of bed and ran into the room where he stood at the side of the crib. He comforted Gabriel, talking to him like any father wanting to calm his frightened son. The 6-months-old eventually stopped yelling and Darren watched him as his tiny eyes closed and he fell back to sleep in his father’s arms.

  Darren smirked as he thought about last night. It was one thing to think about adopting a child; it was totally different to have the child at home and in his possession. He finally turned away from the window and looked toward the ajar door. Gabriel was sound asleep...and the new father wanted it to stay that way. He turned back toward the window, hearing the screeching school bus brakes like he did every morning as they made their way down the street, stopping every couple of blocks to pick up a group of kids.

  After fading in and out of sleep for the next twenty minutes, Darren realized it was finally time to get started with his day. Business was going well, his social life was much better than it had been when he first got to Ft. Wayne, and now he was the single father of a beautiful baby boy. Time was of the essence, so he sprung out of bed and went to use the bathroom. When he finished up, he washed his hands, then rushed excitedly into the Gabriel’s room. There, he stood at the side of the crib. Darren smiled, analyzing the child for no particular reason.

  Darren stood at the crib’s side for a while as he reminisced vividly on the adoption process. Regretfully, he found his family’s means and influence in the real estate world didn’t exactly translate into making the adoption process for a single man any easier. Sure, his financial situation was certainly favorable; however, just as Gilbert Hicks warned on the phone that morning Darren finally decided to do something about filling the void in his life, the stigma of a single man wanting to adopt a child was certainly very real.

  Every bit of paperwork Darren had to fill out was then met with a supervisor looking over it in a scrutinizing way, sometimes with the 34-year-old sitting in an office and looking out at the confused eyes and faces of a woman staff member who was obviously skeptical of a single man wanting to adopt a child. Numerous times, he’d been asked why he hadn’t gotten married or if he would wait until he found a wife. And numerous times, Darren had to explain, mostly to a woman, his hesitance toward getting married because of the risk. He would then refer to his financial statements, which highlighted his many business endeavors that getting married would certainly put at risk. Darren pushed through, though, making sure he had the best adoption attorney in the area that money could buy.

  Gabriel started to move a bit, his arms reaching out like a tiny yawn. Darren pushed his reminiscing of the adoption process aside and realized every moment of it was worth the struggle. For the last three weeks, his life had been filled with a certain kind of excitement and joy any business endeavor in Ft. Wayne or back home in Chicago would never match. As Gabriel’s tiny blue eyes opened and he looked around anxiously, Darren reached into the crib and lifted the baby up and out. He held him in his arms, talking to him like a true gift from God.

  Darren carried Gabriel and walked around the upper level of his house. First, he went down into one of the spare bedrooms and stood at a window that looked down into the backyard. Gabriel seemed to like nature because anytime the new father would take the baby up to the window, he looked out curiously at the trees and the yard. Squirrels jumping from branch to branch particularly excited the child.

  Darren then carried Gabriel, rocking him slightly as he asked him questions for which he never expected to get an answer. Next stop was the office, where Darren held Gabriel in one hand while he rummaged through some papers on his desk with the other. There were a lot of things he needed to get done today, one of which was placing an ad for a nanny. He was fortunate enough to be in a part of the real estate sector where contracting outside help, like that of a property management firm, greatly reduced the amount of hands-on work he had to do. For the most part, he’d spent the last few weeks at home, growing his mini-empire through email, phone calls, as well as having meetings in the sitting room downstairs. He did have Gabriel registered with a daycare where he often spend partial days so Darren could get things done.

  Gabriel had been introduced into a privileged life that he was yet to understand. Two days after bringing him home and setting him down in a crib, Darren contacted his family’s financial adviser as well as his local accountant to set up a trust fund. Darren arrange for money to automatically withdraw from his account monthly and into an investment fund that would grow with time from the interest alone. Prior to that, Darren contracted an interior decorator to design Gabriel’s room so the baby’s eyes would open every morning to the best money could buy.

  Darren headed downstairs and gently put Gabriel into the high-chair as he went rummaging through the cabinet for baby food then prepared a bottle of milk. Even though he’d been doing the daddy routine for nearly three weeks at this point, every morning felt like the first time. And he loved it.

  “Yeah, I got that milk coming for you, buddy,” Darren said, looking back at his son as he put the bottle in the microwave. “I got it coming, so just hold on.”

  Just as the microwave started warming the bottle, Darren heard his phone ring from the dining room. He had put it on the charger when he first came downstairs with Gabriel. Quickly, he darted out into the dining room and picked the phone up. “Oh shit,” he said, seeing it was his mother calling. Having ignored her last two phone calls, Darren figured he should go ahead and answer this one. The last thing he needed was his mother showing up because she thought – rather, wanted to believe so she could be nosy and controlling – something might be wrong.

  “Hello?” Darren answered, heading back into the kitchen. He tried to sound as upbeat as possible about his mother calling.

  “Hello, son,” Joan said. “How are you this morning?”

  “I’m good, Mom,” Darren said. “Just getting up and feeding little Gabriel. Did you get the picture I sent you last night?”

  “Yeah, I got it,” Joan said. “I got the picture. Thank you so much. Look, Darren, I’ve been wanting to talk to you, but you haven’t been answering my calls.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry, Mom,” Darren said, shaking his head as he held the bottle up to Gabriel’s lips. “I’ve just been so busy with Gabriel. Plus, you remember that I was telling you I would be placing an ad or contacting an agency so I can get a nanny t
o come in and help, maybe even live here for a while.”

  Joan groaned – a groan her soon knew oh so well. “Yeah, I remember, son. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Look, I know you wanted a child and I know you had your reservations about marriage. As I’ve gotten older, and the media has changed as well, my eyes have been opening to why more and more men are weary of marriage, at least compared to when I was younger. I get it, I get it. But, Darren, you’re a handsome young man with a lot to offer. And you’re in a different kind of place where I imagine the women must be...must be a bit more cooperative, let’s say. Darren, honey, I really want you to find a woman you can love and who can support you and be a good wife and mother to your child.”

  Darren sighed, thinking about how he really wasn’t trying to hear this speech this early in the morning. He simply wanted to enjoy his morning with his new son until the baby went back to sleep and Darren himself was knee-deep in phone calls and emails. On top of that, his housekeeper was due to show up around 10 o’clock and Darren wanted to have showered and put Gabriel back in his bedroom by then. “I know, Mom. I know. You told me this stuff last time we talked...and the time before that when I was going through the process and everything. But I just don’t think I wanna risk everything getting married.”

  “Okay, son,” Joan said. “I hear you, I hear you. I’m just concerned, is all. I’m so proud of what you’re doing over there...your father and I both, really...that I just don’t want you stressing yourself out. I know marriage isn’t for everyone, but a man like you would probably be even more successful, you know, if he had a wife by his side to share some of the responsibilities. Trust me, son. Trust what your mother is saying. I raised two kids already...and I’m glad I had a husband who was there to help me...at least some of the times. I’m just worried, Darren, that you might be trying to take on more than you can handle.”

  Darren paused, looking out the window in thought. He could already see some of the issues being a businessman and a single father that would inevitably bring about if he didn’t find a nanny soon. However, he stood firm in his position on marriage: the risk was just too great and he would rather be a single father than to be taken for a ride through the system by a woman.

  “Yeah, Mom,” Darren said. “I hear you, I hear you.”

  “Okay, Son,” Joan said. “I love you and know know I just worry about you and what you’re going to do is all.”

  Darren chatted with his mother for a while as he fed Gabriel, filling her in on what was going on with the investment properties. Shortly before getting off of the phone, Joan said, “Alright, well, you know I've got this big case going on right now.” She groaned. “I’m sick of these people, but they have a lot of money, so I have to do it. But, just so you know, once I finish up with this fiasco, I will be coming over to Fort Wayne for a little visit.”

  Darren rolled his eyes and shook his head. Like any other son, he loved his mother dearly. But he was perfectly fine with her staying back in Chicago. There seemed to be a strange sort of peace in Ft. Wayne that came with his being there all by himself. “Okay, Mom,” he said. “Well, don’t rush. Maybe you need to take a little vacation somewhere after the case.”

  Joan chuckled. “Sounds like someone doesn’t want me to come visit. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

  “Mom, I didn’t say that,” Darren said. “You know I would love for you to come and visit and, you know, help me learn the ropes of taking care of Gabriel and all that.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear that, Darren,” Joan said. “I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe I’ll have to come for longer than I planned...like for two or maybe even three weeks. Then again, if I work my schedule right, and finagle some of my other clients, I might be able to do things in such a way to where I could come there and stay for an entire month.”

  Violins screeched in Darren’s mind like in a horror movie. “Oh, okay, Mom. Well, um, we’ll definitely have to talk about it. I gotta get going now. Rosa is about to show up and I still need to get some things done, but don’t rush to get here. Everything will still be going fine if you don’t come for a month or six months, or heck, even a year or two. I can hold down the fort.” He chuckled at the unintended pun.

  Joan laughed. “All right, son. Hmm, hmm. Talk to you later.”

  Darren looked at the phone as his mother laughed in a villainous way as she hung up. Quickly, he tossed his phone onto the counter and finished feeding Gabriel. “Grandma might be coming soon, little buddy.” He groaned. “And she’ll probably be flying in on her broomstick.”

  Gabriel laughed a little, causing Darren to laugh himself at the irony. “Yeah, laugh now. Wait until you get older, little guy. It won’t be funny anymore.”

  Quickly, Darren finished up with Gabriel then carried him back upstairs. He set him into the crib and he started to cry. Darren tried tending to him, but time was ticking. Ignoring the baby’s screams, Darren rushed through his shower then came back out into the hallway, in nothing but a towel. Just as he lifted Gabriel out of the crib, the doorbell rang through the house.

  “Dammit,” he grimaced then realizing as Gabriel got older, he would probably have to watch his words so his son wouldn’t pick up anything and carry it to daycare.

  Darren yelled out for Rosa to hold on a moment as he set Gabriel back into his crib. His crying was dying down now, so Darren’s plan was to just ignore him and hope that he’d fall to sleep when the attention he craved just wasn’t coming. Darren then rushed to his bedroom closet, threw on some black dress pants and a blue collared shirt, and rushed downstairs.

  “Hey, Rosa, come on in,” Darren said. He stood to the side, allowing the Guatemalan woman to step into the foyer. He spent a few moments explaining what her duties would be for the day then rushed off, telling her to make sure to let him know if she needed anything.

  Darren checked the time, knowing that he had a telecom conference with a firm in Buenos Aires his family partnered with for business. He darted up the stairs to check on Gabriel. As he approached his door, he noticed the silence. The new father peeked inside and smiled, seeing his beautiful baby boy fast asleep in his crib. Darren made a mental note to check his diaper when he finished up the call.

  Down in his dining room, Darren pulled the pocket door shut most of the way, leaving it open just enough to hear if Gabriel started crying. For the next twenty minutes or so, he discussed foreign investment with Cordoba, Inc. out of Buenos Aires, laughing and being as cordial as possible. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind his father would be calling later on to see how it went. Easily, his family could’ve made at least a million dollars a year off of working with this firm. One of Darren’s objectives was to go down to Argentina on his next vacation and spend some time in Buenos Aires. He thought it would be cool to have his first “family” vacation there while also meeting with some of the Cordoba’ s team.

  As Ricardo finished up going over the investment report, Gabriel screamed at the top of his lungs from his crib. Darren’s face flushed with embarrassment when he noticed the facial expressions of the three other conference call members. One, a woman, smiled endearingly, clearly sympathetic toward a man taking care of his child. Darren excused himself and rushed out of the dining room. As he approached the bottom of the staircase, Gabriel still crying at the top of his lungs, Rosa stepped out of the sitting room. She started dusting the vase next to the front door.

  “Rosa?” Darren said, jumping off of the third step.

  “Yes, Mister McWaters?” the 50-year-old woman asked, nodding her head submissively.

  “I hate to ask you to do this again, Rosa,” Darren said, glancing up the steps. “But you’re so good with babies. Do you think you could go up there and calm Gabriel down like you did last time? I’ll pay your for a couple extra hours or work today. It’s just that I’m on this conference call with this firm in Buenos Aires. I’m almost done. Do you think you could just go up there and calm him down for like, maybe ten minutes?” Darren hated
to ask her again, as he did have a daycare where Gabriel would be going for the afternoon, but his crying was so loud there is no way the other members of the conference call would be able to take him seriously with it going on in the background.

  Before Rosa could answer, Darren patted her on the shoulder then rushed off toward the dining room. The frustrated Guatemalan woman looked at the back of the businessman then slammed her duster onto the small end table. The older woman then trudged up the steps and into baby Gabriel’s room. She sighed, thinking that her days of taking care of children – her three daughters were approaching thirty years-old – had long gone.

  When Darren sat back down at his dining room table, he excused himself once again then insisted that the conversation continue on. He listened to the firm’s objectives when it came to real estate and investing in the Chicago area. Darren took detailed notes, knowing that his father would want a scanned copy and would probably still come up with tons of questions. Nonetheless, to Darren’s relief, Gabriel calmed down. Thank God for Rosa, he thought.

  The conference call with Cordoba finished up within fifteen minutes. Darren tended to some emails from the property management company, made a few calls to contractors, then stepped out into the calm hallway. He looked around downstairs, expecting Rosa to have come back downstairs at this point and have gotten back to her duties. The trash in the kitchen still hadn’t been taken out; there were some dishes in the sink from last night that had yet to have been washed. Posting an ad for a nanny crossed Darren’s mind as the next thing he would need when his afternoon calmed down.