He groans, his arms coming up behind me and pushing me against him until his face is all but buried against my chest. “Why now?”
“God’s timing?” I joke. “I’m here for the summer, Duke, unless I have a really, really good reason to stay instead.” Please let him be the really, really good reason.
Duke lifts his head, his eyes stark, no longer stormy. His jaw is firm, hard. “There’s no other way to tell you, except just to say it... Laken’s pregnant.”
Blood rushes from my face, leaving me feeling light-headed. “But you said you weren’t with her anymore. Haven’t been.”
He frames my face with his hands. “Before you... before I ever saw you... back when we were trying to make our marriage work...Fuck. I’m so sorry, True. I don’t know what to do, but it’s very, very possible I’m the dad.”
For a moment, I simply stare at him and then... I burst into tears.
Chapter 14
Duke
I’m not sure how long I sit there, holding True in my lap while she sobs in the crook of my neck. I rub her back without saying anything.
What can I say to make her feel better? The answer is nothing.
There is absolutely nothing on this earth I could utter to change the fact that I most likely am the father of Laken’s child.
True exhales, her body relaxing into mine, as if she’s finally given up the fight. I look down, attempting to see if she’s fallen asleep or ready to talk. Or take a swing at me.
Her lashes are low, so low that I think she might, in fact, be asleep, and the selfish part of me is glad. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. If this had been a perfect kind of date for us, True would be in my bed, drowsy and satisfied.
I’d be satisfied.
Whole.
Happy for once.
“When?” she croaks.
“The baby?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“Fall.”
“Oh.” Tipping her head back, her hazel brown eyes are red and her lashes are laden with unshed tears as they meet mine. Her nose is swollen and rosy, too. Fuck if I don’t feel like the world’s biggest asshole right now. “Are you getting back together?”
“No. God, no.”
“What about the baby?”
It’s a fair question.
“I think the baby should have both of its parents, don’t you?” she says.
When possible, hell yes, I do. As much as I’m pissed at my dad, I miss him just as much. My little brother has to be suffering, too. And this child, this soon to be born child has not a damn thing to do with Laken and me or rather our problems. He or she didn’t ask to be conceived, much less born into a dysfunctional marriage at its end.
Yet in about three months, I’ll be a dad.
“Duke, please get out of your head for once and talk to me. I deserve to know everything.” She sits up taller, and I cling to her tighter. I don’t want her to leave me, even if she should.
“I think the baby should have both. But I do not want to work things out with Laken. Ever. She doesn’t want to work things out with me either. Our lunch today,” I grimace at the memory. “She didn’t ask me to take her back.”
True bites her lip, her gaze casting down. “Y’all might feel differently after the baby is born.”
“I don’t think so.”
“But you don’t know. For sure.”
My jaw works. “What I do know, for sure, is that I love you, True Prince.”
Her face crumples. “You don’t know how much I wanted to hear that. I mean, I wanted you to be the excuse for me to accept a job here in Castle Beach or Royal Bay.”
“But,” I prompt.
“I can’t make a decision about my future when in three months, you could change your mind about us. Or circumstances will change your mind. You’re not the type of guy to cut and run.” She caresses the side of my face. “I know you, know that you bear the burden of taking care of Laird, your family, and the business. I know that you willingly put that on yourself, and if this baby turns out to be yours, then you won’t stay away from Laken because they’ll be a package deal. You’ll want and need to be here for your son or daughter. Not miss out on all the firsts... That’s simply the man you are, which is why I love you.”
“It’s also why this hurts so bad,” she adds softly.
It’s then I know that True can’t live in Castle Beach or even Royal Bay. Even if I convince her to stay with me, I think the constant reminder of Laken would wear us down. Take a toll, and I’d end up alone again.
Worse, I’d end up hurting True.
But maybe, just maybe, I can keep True in my life if I tell her to go... start fresh. Eventually, I can join her and be there for the baby, too. There has to be a way for us.
“Take the teaching job in Arizona. I swear to you that we will make this work. Other people do it all the time. Whatever happens, you’re mine.” I kiss her lightly on the lips because I have to. I need to. “Always and forever, sunshine.”
“My stormy, silent man,” she whispers against my mouth.
“Stay with me.”
“Tonight?” she asks. “I don’t think that’s a good idea until we know. I can’t... I just can’t.”
“No, not tonight. I’m not trying to convince you to sleep with me.” I frame her face in my hands. “I mean stay with me. Don’t give up on us.”
“I’ll try.” This time she kisses me back, but instead of continuing, she pulls away and lays her head against me. “I promise to try but that’s it.”
“I understand.” I don’t like it though. “It’ll be okay. Take the job in Arizona, baby duck.”
“Are you sure because—”
“I’m positive,” I assure her. “It’s the right thing for us.”
***
The following Saturday, I go to the beach sans True. Laird and Ophelia are with me. She watches him surf while making jewelry under a wide umbrella that I’m pretty sure my little brother bought for her.
I plop down beside her, not in the mood for the ocean today. Mostly because my sunshine is avoiding me. She needs time to think, and no matter how much I disagree, I’ll give it to her.
“Who are you making that for?” I ask.
Ophelia glances up from her work, pale green eyes crinkling at the corners. “Nobody, really. Laird says I should sell my work, but I don’t think anyone would buy it. Besides, I’m only copying the ones my daddy designed, but...” She shrugs. “Laird’s very biased when it comes to me.”
Ain’t that the truth. In her case, I think it’s true. Ophelia is a sweet kid who deals with a lot of shit that I don’t even understand, and probably don’t know the half of it either. “Do you want to work in your family’s funeral home for the rest of your life?” Swiping a bottle of water from the nearby open cooler I brought to the beach, I drink up.
“I don’t know... maybe? The dead are much easier to deal with than the living.” She smirks. “Do you want to work in your family’s shipping business for the rest of your life?”
“Never had a choice.”
“It’s the burden of being the oldest.”
I nod at Laird. “What do you think my little brother will do with his life?” He expertly rides in on a killer wave, looks to see if Ophelia is watching, and grins broadly when she cheers loudly for him before plunging into the Atlantic once more.
“Anything he wants as long as I’m with him.”
“Did you make that rule?”
She laughs. “Hardly. That’s Laird’s rule. He says he can’t imagine sunrises and sunsets without me.” Her laughter fades, replaced by a look of guilt. Fuck. I don’t want to broach the subject, but she’s fifteen going on sixteen, and my brother is fourteen now—his birthday two days ago. In horny guy years, he’s twenty-five. “It’s not what you think, and I know what you’re thinking because my momma accuses us of the same thing.”
“Maybe, for once, she’s right and y’all need to slow down.”
Ophelia
shakes her head, cheeks burning bright red. “You don’t understand. Laird and I... we don’t... it’s not... it’s perfectly innocent and chaste. We keep the nightmares away. He used to do it for me, and now it’s my turn. Please don’t stop us. It’s the only thing I have,” she swallows, “of value to give to him.”
What kind of nightmares? More importantly, why does this girl think she needs something of value to give to my brother? “Your value is not based on what another person thinks you’re worth.”
“My value is determined by me, and me alone.” She sets the bracelet down in front of her and gives me a look that will most likely stay with me for the rest of my days. Her soul shines in her eyes, an old soul who’s had far too many sorrows and pain for someone so young. “Will you forbid us from being together, Duke?
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
“Just know that we will find a way. I will always find my way to Laird... not even an ocean could keep us apart.”
Out of nowhere, Laird launches himself at Ophelia, covering her with water and sand. She laughs freely as if she doesn’t have a care in the world, but I can’t help but notice how careful my brother is when he touches her. As if she’s made of something so precious and fragile she’ll break from the pressure, and he wants to guard against that.
Ophelia pushes him away and jumps to her feet, brushing off the sand. “I’m going to take advantage of the new showers on the boardwalk. Be back in a minute or two.”
“Holler if you need me.” Laird plops down, his ocean eyes narrowing. “What were you and Ophelia discussing?”
I can either lie to the kid or treat him like an almost adult. “You. Specifically, your relationship with Ophelia. How often are the two of you sleeping together?”
He doesn’t look away. Doesn’t look guilty either. “Almost every night.”
“You do know what can eventually happen, right?”
“Like I told you. It’s up to her.” He flicks a piece of sand off his board shorts. “I would never hurt Ophelia.”
“Putting her in situations where she feels beholden to you is hurting her.”
“Whatever, dude.” He makes to get up, but I grab his arm.
“Sit your ass down and talk to me like a man. You know, the one you want to be treated as.”
His lips thin. “Look. I know you’re going to tell me I’m stupid or a dumbass, and that we’re too young... but I’m going to marry Ophelia as soon as I’m old enough. Probably right after high school graduation.”
My jaw drops. “You’re serious.”
“Yup.”
“When did you come to this decision?”
“I don’t know exactly.” He shrugs. “I tried to imagine a world without Ophelia and didn’t like what I saw.”
I wonder if I should have said something like that to True. Something so simple yet sensible and profound.
“I’m not going to forbid you from seeing Ophelia, but promise me that when you guys do decide to take your relationship further, even if I’d rather you wait until much, much later to get that... serious.” I wince. “Be smart about it and wrap it up.”
“I know what to do. Deacon had the talk with me two months ago. Okay?” Shaking his head, he grabs a bottle of water and pops it open. “He even bought condoms and gave them to me.”
I choke. I’m going to kill our brother because I’m certain Deacon probably threw them in Laird’s bedroom with a ‘don’t be stupid, kid’. “But did he tell you to be responsible?”
“No.” Laird snorts. “He knew you would. I’m going to find Ophelia.”
I watch him walk away, envious as fuck of his confidence in Ophelia and their relationship. Jealous as hell of their certainty that they will always be together.
Then again, I have no one but myself to blame for my own insecurities. After all, Laird didn’t get his ex pregnant.
Chapter 15
True
I haven’t been able to make myself spend time with Duke.
No matter how often he calls or texts, I simply can’t do it.
Not today.
Or yesterday.
Or the two weeks before that.
Maybe it’s cowardly of me. Maybe I should woman up and put him out of his misery, at least when it comes to our relationship.
Whatever that means.
Summer is almost over. I have less than a week to accept the offer to teach in Arizona, specifically in Pima County, or accept the offer my mother managed to wrangle from the principal of the private school I attended as a child.
It’ll be okay. Take the job in Arizona, baby duck.
Does he really want me to take the job in Arizona? Put us thousands of miles and a couple of time zones apart for the next three years.
Yeah, I didn’t get to explain that part to him. Or he didn’t care.
Ugh.
I hate this. This feeling of being so powerless and depending on a man to make decisions about a future he may or may not be in.
I gaze at my parents while they make dinner. The little smiles, the lingering touches, and the quick kisses because they don’t want to hear me say, “gross y’all.” I know it took work for them to get to this point, that all marriages do, because God likes to put opposites together and the things we loved or even overlooked at first start to wear over time. Eventually, without tending to, things wear so much that a marriage breaks beyond repair.
“Pumpkin, put the phone down. It’s time to eat. We made your favorites,” Dad says, his eyes brimming with sympathy. I told them everything about what had transpired between Duke, me, and Laken... and the future baby.
“Coming.” I flip my phone over, so I won’t see the screen light up with another text or missed call from Duke. He was content to give me space, but now, he’s like a dog after a bone.
Surely that meant something positive. The thing is, I don’t expect him to go back to Laken. He says he doesn’t want to, and I do believe him, but the fact of the matter is their divorce isn’t final until November.
A lot of things can change in that amount of time: feelings, circumstances, and hearts. And now there is a baby binding them together. Forever.
I plop down at the informal table and wait for Momma to say Grace. I can barely lift my head when she’s done, instead opting to stare at the flounder stuffed with crab meat and shrimp on the plate in front of me. Hushpuppies, loaded baked potato, and applesauce complete my meal of favorites, but all I do is push them around with my fork until one of the hushpuppies rolls right off my plate.
With a sigh, I pick it up and risk a glance at my parents. They smile sympathetically and start up a conversation about a charity event they’re attending next month.
“Don’t you want to know what decision I’ve made?”
They stop talking, giving me their full attention, Dad speaking up first. “We’re ready to listen when you’re ready to talk.”
“And no matter what you decide, we’ll support you,” Momma chimes in.
My lips quiver. “I haven’t made a decision yet.”
Dad reaches over, grabbing my hand and squeezing gently. “You have a little time.”
“What if I make the wrong decision?” I whisper, on the verge of tears, but I know I won’t actually cry. I’ve cried myself out over the past two and a half weeks.
“Then you do, and you learn from it before moving on,” Momma says. “It’s not the end of the world for us if you don’t stay in Royal Bay. Yes, we want you here, but you have to do what’s best for your career.”
“But the job in Arizona is for three years.”
“That’s only one thousand and ninety-five days give or take a leap year...” Dad winks at me and I laugh. It’s rusty, a little foreign sounding, but it feels good.
“Would I be stupid to stay here, knowing that the man I love is having a child with another woman? A woman who is still his wife?” I hate saying it, hate classifying her position in Duke’s life that way, but I can’t ignore that fact. “Before I
found out, before Duke found out, I was really leaning on staying here. I thought... I thought something special had happened.”
“I have my own opinions on the subject, but your mother and I can’t make that decision for you. We can only guide you and that’s only if you want it. You’re old enough to make life choices without us.” Dad grimaces. “Even if we don’t like them.”
“If I do stay here, I could help... maybe not be that woman who wants baby momma drama and instead is the coolest future step-mother ever?”
“Is it that serious between you two?” Momma asks.
“It was. I think. He told me he loved me and there were no strings attached to it. He just told me to go to Arizona, but I think he was only saying that so I didn’t have to deal. But I can deal. I’m not some fragile flower.”
“That you are not.” Dad smiles at me proudly. “Sounds like you want to stay here after all?”
My heart races, but in the best way ever. I can be strong. I can be supportive. This baby doesn’t have to come between us. Duke might not even be the father.
Just as I open my mouth to reply, our doorbell rings. Momma leaves the table to answer it, coming back a minute later with an odd look on her face. “True, honey. You have a visitor.”
My heart pounding, I jump to my feet, Duke’s name on my lips, but that word dies a slow death as Laken rounds the corner.
She smiles at me, but it’s not malicious or friendly. It’s just there, most likely from the manners her mother instilled in her.
“I’m sorry to have interrupted supper, Mr. and Mrs. Prince.” She nods coolly at me. “This won’t take long, True.”
I wipe my damp palms on my shorts. “We can go on the patio to talk. Would you like something to drink?”
“No thanks.”
She follows me outside to the very table that Duke and I sat at, on his first visit with my family. My heart pinches at the memory.
With a flip of her hair, she pulls out a chair and sits down, her pregnancy, now that I know about it, more pronounced. “I’d like for you to consider not seeing Duke anymore.”
Picture Perfect Summer Page 9
