by E. C. Land
“Got it. I’ll find out,” Gadget declares and disconnects.
I pull the phone from my ear and nod.
I’ll find answers and I’ll make shit right with my wife. I just need to be rational and not let my temper fly while explaining things about my dead wife and supposedly dead son. Once I do this, I know she’ll understand the reason I reacted the way I did and will forgive me.
I didn’t mean to fuckin’ hurt her but it guts me thinking of having a kid and the possibilities are high in that department. All because for the first time in ten years, I’ve not worn a condom when inside a woman, and I don’t want to. I also know it’s a possibility since my wife isn’t on birth control.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Motherfuckin’ A.
If she ends up pregnant and something happens to her and the kid, I don’t know what I’d do. I’m not sure I could survive it this time around. Not when my heart and soul are entwined with hers. I’ll end up in the ground next to her before going on breathing. That’s how much she means to me.
Chapter Sixteen
Alison
Waking up in Mitch’s arms is the last thing I thought I’d feel this morning when I fell asleep last night. Actually, I went to bed in one of the spare rooms, wanting to give him his space.
But here I am, waking up in our bed with my husband holding me to his chest as he sleeps soundly. Last night he’d hurt me with his words but at the same time hearing him clearly. I understand his pain and now know the answer to the question of who the woman in the picture he has is. It was his wife and she’d been pregnant when she died.
My heart hurt for him, but it also ached for me due to his harsh words.
He doesn’t want children and I’ve always wanted them.
Always.
It’s the one thing I knew all my life that even if I had a husband that didn’t love me, I’d always have a child to love and adore. The thought of not having one with Mitch hurts me.
Without making a sound, I slowly slide out of bed doing my best not to wake him. I don’t know what time he came home last night but I’m not waking him. I don’t think I can face his anger again this morning not after last night.
I quickly get dressed for the day in another dress, this one a black maxi dress with sunflowers on it. I grab a yellow cardigan to wear over my arms. Going downstairs, I start the coffee maker while pulling up the number for an Uber. I’d heard of them and didn’t want to wait on Ian or wake Mitch to take me to the school to work for the day.
I’m sure this is a decision that Mitch will frown upon but I’m not going to get into it right now. I’ll cross that bridge later when the time comes. For now, I’m going to work with children and not let my heart ache at the thought of not having one of my own.
I’d been at work all of three hours and I’m ready to go home. I’m working with Miss Marshall again today, and she upset me first thing this morning with her comments about my appearance. Then to say something of how no man would want to marry me.
I would love nothing more than to go home as her comments proceeded to be made when the kids were busy doing something. All the children were gone to specials and are due back soon when Mitch walks into the classroom.
Miss Marshall stands and smiles at him. “Hey, baby,” she says huskily.
My spine stiffens as I look at him. He doesn’t give Miss Marshall the time of day as he comes straight to me and pulls me into his arms. “Mo stór, you didn’t wake me this morning before leaving,” he states, sounding slightly annoyed but a hint of pain in his voice.
“I needed to leave, and you were asleep,” I mumble, pressing my hands into his chest.
“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t wake me. I could have brought you to work rather than you callin’ an Uber of all things,” he says, drawing out the fact he knew I didn’t have Ian bring me in.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Miss Marshall snarks. “Mitch, baby, you’re with this puny thing?”
At Miss Marshall’s snide comment, not only do I tense but Mitch’s gaze turns livid. Turning my attention to the woman, I snap. “Do you mind? My husband and I are speaking for a moment before he leaves so I can continue my day.”
“Your husband? Since when? I had his cock in my mouth not even a month ago.” My stomach churns at this information.
“Bitch, you best shut the fuck up. I fucked you once, and it had been before my wife and I got married. And you weren’t even good. Nowhere close to what my wife gives me, and she hasn’t even sucked my cock yet,” he sneers, and I would say I’m somewhat mortified he’d say that.
Miss Marshall looks as if she wants to say something, but Mitch doesn’t give her a chance. Instead, he pulls away enough to grab my hand and pull me into the hallway. “Don’t listen to what the cunt said, mo stór. She nor anyone else but one other woman has ever meant anything to me, and that was Michelle, Alison. She died ten years ago and hasn’t been an easy subject; however, you deserve the right to know I loved her, and this part here is the hard part of it all, my love for her is nothing compared to what I feel for you. I suppose this is one of the reasons I’ve been distant with you this past week as I’ve fully come to terms with it along with the fact, we’ve got shit brewing we’re trying to shut down. I’m sorry for hurting you.”
I completely understand where he’s coming from right now. Though how I feel counts in this, I’m glad he’s acknowledging the fact he hurt me. However, I understand now more of what he’s been feeling, and it kills me that he’s had to come to terms with this all. It also makes me feel a sense of guilt that he’d think to care more for me than the woman he looked so happy with in the picture I saw of them.
“How about this evening I’ll take you out to dinner and talk?” he suggests. “I’ll tell you about Michelle and answer any questions you might have.”
“I’d like that,” I say, giving him a small smile.
“Good,” he murmurs as kids start walking past us to go into the classroom.
“I’ve got to get back in there and help,” I mutter, not even wanting to do that.
Mitch grunts as his gaze narrows briefly before looking at all the kids walking past us. His eyes land on Mathias and he sucks in a sharp breath.
“That’s the boy I’d been telling you about last night . . . Mathias,” I utter loud enough for only his ears.
Nodding, Mitch stares at the boy as the boy does the same with eyes wide.
He seems surprised to see him and even stops walking.
“You . . . You . . .” he stammers, and tears well in his eyes. “I thought you were dead,” he murmurs and turns, running the other way.”
Oh my.
What just happened?
Chapter Seventeen
Mitch
My day started out as shit when I’d woken up with my wife missing. I’d flipped the hell out thinking she’d been missing. This is after coming home to find her sleeping in one of the spare rooms rather than our bed. I lifted her into my arms without her waking up and carried her back to our bed.
Throughout this process, not once did she budge when I held her.
Sleeping like a rock, I didn’t even feel her get out of the bed. Then when I found out she’d taken a fuckin’ Uber of all things to work rather than wait on Ian to take her, it pissed me off. I’d been ready to yell at her more, but seeing her looking upset already, my anger melted away and I’d immediately wanted to soothe my wife’s emotions.
Of course, that stupid cunt who I’d fucked had been there and had the nerve to say shit to my wife and me. Then the boy Alison told me about that caused me to flip out last night on her starts to walk by us and into the classroom. He sees me and says shit that causes me to rush after him with Alison as he runs in another direction.
“I thought you were dead.” His words filter through my head.
Mathias runs quickly through the doors to the outside of the school and the principal comes out as well. Alison stops and tells her something about Mathia
s being upset, and we were going to go speak with him and calm him down. I heard her say this, but I don’t stop in my pursuit of the kid who looks just like my wife said. But furthermore, he’s got Michelle in him as well. For instance, the birthmark on his wrist that I saw is the same as his mother’s. He also has ears that stick a little further out than mine. She used to joke calling them her elf ears, but I thought they were cute.
Shit. This is my son.
I don’t have to have a DNA test to know this.
Pulling my phone out, I dial Gadget’s number as I keep going and tell him to change tactics and find the doctor who had performed the surgery to save my son and told me he’d died. I hang up and keep going. The kid is fast for his age and makes me wonder why he’s running from me.
At the edge of the back of the school, I finally catch him as he tries to climb the fence.
“Let me go,” he yells through his tears.
“Calm down, Mathias, calm down.”
“Let me go, you . . . You’re alive and didn’t want me,” he cries.
“You know who I am?” I ask him, ignoring the fact the principal and Alison both had joined us. I don’t miss my wife telling the principal that she should call social services and the police. I get why she’s doing this, but I wish she hadn’t. When I find the fucker who separated me from my son, I’ll kill him.
“Yes, I know who you are,” Mathias cries even more. “You’re dead. He told me you and my mom died the day I was born.”
“How do you know who I am?” I keep going not releasing him from my grasp as I ask him these questions. I can sense that he’s been through hell. It’s in his eyes, and I, for one, never wanted that for my child.
“My granddaddy, he allowed me to have one picture of you and my mommy. Said it’s only fair that I have the one but to never think or speak of you. Said I couldn’t look into the death of my parents when I asked about them.”
Motherfucker.
“Granddad,” I mutter, and that’s when it hits me. Michelle’s father is a doctor. He’d been at the hospital that day. It was upon his request we have a closed casket funeral for my wife and son.
Pulling Mathias into my arms, I hold him. “I didn’t know you lived. If I had known, I would have never let you out of my sight. I’ve hurt every day thinking you were gone along with your mother.”
“Mitch,” Alison calls my name timidly.
Glancing up, I see the tears running down her face.
“Mo stór, come here,” I murmur, and she does as I ask without hesitation. I wrap my arms around them both. Because at this moment in time I need to have them both close. By the end of the day, Mathias will know the truth and so will I.
“What does that mean?” Mathias asks, looking up at me as I hold them both in my arms.
“Means my treasure, which is exactly what Alison is to me. She’s my wife, Mathias.”
I get this is a lot for him at his age but I’m a firm believer in putting shit out there. Though, when it comes to my wife, that’s a different story.
“Evidently, I didn’t need to call the police or social services,” the principal declares, gaining all of our attention.
“What do you mean?” Alison asks.
“The office just called and said they were already here as well as two men in leather and a woman.” Oh fuck. This means Gadget had already had shit and was already on his way here to the school. I know about his and his brother’s childhood and who their father is, and he’d been fucked up. So I’m sure this shit didn’t sit well with him or Dragon and their ol’ lady. “Let’s get inside to the conference room and find out what’s going on. I, definitely, would love to know.”
“Right, let’s get this done,” I growl, not liking the thought of what I might find.
With my arm around Mathias’ shoulders keeping him close, I hold Alison’s hand while we follow the principal back into the school.
How the hell did this day get flipped around so weirdly. In one way, it’s caused my anger to grow immensely. In another, it’s caused a piece of me that I thought was missing to show as my son, who I thought was dead, is alive and knows I’m his father.
Releasing Alison’s hand, I pull out my phone and shoot a text message to Dean asking him to send Kenyon and Marc for Michelle’s dad. He knows who he is, and he’ll make sure to get him and put him where I want him before the cops show.
Once sent, I take Alison’s hand in mine and she squeezes it giving me her support. I’m sure this isn’t easy for her, but I know she loves me enough to stand by my side and help both me and Mathias. It’s who she is.
I couldn’t be more grateful than I am right now to have her not only in my life but as my wife also as the one whose heart is entwined with my own.
Chapter Eighteen
Alison
When Mathias said he’d thought his dad died and how his grandfather has been raising him since birth, my heart which already hurt, hurt even more. The fact that both father and son were separated for the past ten years, never to see each other before this moment, is horrifying. I wish I could find Mathias’ grandfather and shoot him myself.
And for me to think such a thing, it has to be something so horrific.
The moment we entered the conference room we found it already filled with people. Two police officers off to the side of the room, they nod to Mitch as we step inside. There’s a woman a little older than I standing close to them. She seems to be peeved about being here and not liking it. Then there are two other men, you could tell they were twins, look pissed the hell off wearing leather vests and a woman with a pained look on her face sitting between them. Both men had one of their arms around her.
“What . . . What’s going on?” Mathias asks when the door closes.
“Shit, Mitch, kid definitely looks like you,” one of the men wearing a leather vest says.
“Yeah, I know,” Mitch mutters. “What did you find, Gadget?” He goes on to demand getting right to it, surprising me with the question.
It seems he’d already started looking into this.
“Well, your name and Michelle’s name were on the birth certificate,” the guy he called Gadget says and proceeds to show us documentation he’d found that the hospital had buried. Evidently, the doctors who did this all were not too bright in covering up their tracks as the guy said.
“Excuse me, but does this have any relevance as to why we’re here?” the woman standing beside the officers snaps.
“I would assume it does since you are a social worker and you’re supposed to be here on behalf of what’s best for Mathias,” the other woman, I learned her name to be Connors says. Gadget mentioned how she’d been able to easily access this information for him when he asked for hard copies. This had been easy for her as she’s a doctor with privileges at the local hospital here and two other ones.
“In my opinion, I would think it best for the child to stay with his grandfather considering who his grandfather is and who his father is. Let the dead stay dead,” the woman snaps.
“But I don’t want to go back to my granddaddy. I don’t want to be punished anymore. He . . . He blames me for my mom dying.” If there was any free air left in the room, Mathias’ words sucked it right out with his admission.
“Ma’am, I think you are dismissed. I’ll be sure to get the documentation to the courts and whatnot later. As a former social worker myself, I will be taking over since I’m still licensed. Now leave and I do expect you to be clearing your desk out when you get to the office as I will be calling your supervisor,” Principal Tyler says firmly to the social worker.
Huffing, the woman stalks out of the room, shooting glares at everyone as she goes.
The moment the door closes once again, Mitch speaks up. Looking at Mathias. “You’re not going back to him. You’ll be coming back home with Alison and me.”
“Will Alison be my mom?” Mathias asks, causing me to stop breathing. “Or will I still have to hear about Michelle being the daughter who screw
ed up and had me? I really don’t want to think of her as my mom. Please don’t make me think of her as my mom. I . . . I didn’t know her. I don’t know you, but I know you’re my dad. I’d prefer to be around you then him and hearing about her.”
“Kid, you can think of Alison as whatever you want,” Mitch states firmly and pulls him into his arms.
“Why don’t you all go on home? It’s Friday and we’ll handle what needs to be done before the end of the day. I’ll see Mathias and Alison on Monday when they come back for school,” Principal Tyler says, surprising me.
“Appreciate it. But can I request that Mathias be switched from Miss Marshall’s class to another one?” Mitch asks. I’m more than grateful to him for making this request as it would mean Mathias is away from that horrible woman. “Also, I’d greatly appreciate my wife not working with the woman anymore.”
“We can make this happen,” Principal Tyler murmurs with a nod of her head.
“Great, we’re heading home,” Mitch announces. “Gadget, Dragon, Connors are you going to be with them or visit with Dean and Bridget?”
Wait, this woman knows my sister?
“We’re heading back home. We’ll come back this weekend. Jordan is dying to come to Sinner’s Cove and hang out with you all so . . .”
“Fuckin’ great. Tell me she’s not going to try to get up on the pole again,” Mitch mutters, causing me to jerk around to look at him.
“You know how our sister is, plus it drives Badger nuts,” Dragon grumbles.
Um. Okay, now I’m confused. Pole? As in dancing pole?
I’ve read about those and have wanted to try to take the classes for it. Not to actually do it for a living or anything but because it’s great exercise.
“You are not doing that shit,” Mitch mutters.
I lift my gaze to his as I hear everyone laughing. Crap, did I say that out loud?
