His arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the floor. “No, sir.”
“Eyes on me.” I made him look at me. “I understand that this is very important to you, and that you’re very excited about meeting your mother. That said, I am your father, and I decide what’s right for you. Do you understand me?”
His eyes grew big as he shook his head. “Not about her, I don’t. That’s my mom. And nothing you or anyone else does can change that.”
“Oh, Kane.” Zandra came up behind Fox, putting her arms around him as he sat in the chair. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to get so loud with you. Tell him you’re sorry, Fox. Tell him you won’t yell at him again.”
“Sorry, Dad.” He looked back at Zandra. “I’m sorry I yelled, but not sorry for what I said. No one can take you away from me. No one. Not even Dad.”
His words chilled my soul. I had no plans on keeping him from his mother, but that boy had always been mine. Just mine. Sure, my parents and aunt and uncle had helped raise him, but it’d always just been me and him. In name, he’d been mine alone since my aunt and uncle had turned over custody to me.
This didn’t feel good at all.
Fox had his mom now. A woman neither of us knew, really. And what I did know wasn’t exactly great, so far.
But I could see now that I would have to watch what I said in front of my son. And I’d seen a side of him I’d never seen before—a side that must’ve come from his mother, because my side of the family didn’t act that way.
Her parents had been real hard-asses after all. Could my son be capable of fighting just as hard as they had to keep him a secret?
The future had seemed so bright only minutes before, but now I was getting a glimpse of just how challenging it could be.
Zandra’s eyes met mine. “Kane, we’ve got a lot to take in. Maybe we should part ways now to let things sink in. I could use a drink, anyway.”
And there it was. She wanted to leave her son already to go have a drink. And it was only five in the evening, at that.
Well, I guessed five was about when most happy hours started, so I guessed the average person thought it was okay to partake in the cocktails at that time. But I couldn’t help feeling a little judgmental—she wasn’t just an average person; she was my son’s mother, and I’d do anything to protect him.
“Yeah, I guess you probably do need one.” I could concede that she’d had a harder day than normal, though.
“I bet you do too,” she teased as she made her way to the door.
“Nah.” I followed after her. “Hey, we need to exchange phone numbers. Give me your cell.”
“Oh, yeah.” She reached into her back pocket, taking it out then handing it to me.
Fox came up, wrapping himself around her again. “Don’t go. Please. I just got you. Please.”
She looked a little bewildered as she said, “Um, Fox, I can’t sit here in this office all night. I’ve got to get home.”
“How come?” he asked her, a pitiful look on his face.
Handing her phone back to her, I tried to make him understand things. “Because she probably has things at home that she needs to take care of.” Then I thought about something else I might want to have. “How about you give me your address, Zandra?”
“Oh, sure.” She went to the desk, found a blank piece of paper, and wrote it down. “Here you go.” Patting Fox on the back, she said, “I’m off tomorrow. If it’s okay with your dad, I can see you then.”
“I’ve got to go to school,” Fox said with a frown. He looked at me with a smile. “Can she take me to school, Dad?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I looked at her. “Is that something you want to do, Zandra?”
“Um … I … don’t—” She had that deer-in-the-headlights look about her again.
“I think we’ve caught her a little off guard.” I chuckled and shook my head at my son. “I think we’ve got to give her time to get her bearings before something like that. Heck, we don’t even know if she’s got a car to take you to school in.”
“Of course I have a car, Kane.” She looked a little miffed. “I’m actually doing pretty well financially, now that I work at Mynt. I can take him. What time do I need to pick you up, Fox? And from what address?”
It occurred to me suddenly that the school had rules about who could pick up the kids and drop them off. “I forgot, Fox. She’s not on the list. We’ll have to get her on the list first.”
“Can you do it tomorrow?” he asked as he looked at me with droopy eyes. “I really want her to take me sometimes, and even pick me up sometimes too.”
How could I tell my kid that I had no idea if his mother was in any way capable of taking on such a big responsibility yet? How could I let him know that I had no idea about her moral character, or if she would even be fit to do things like pick him up or take him to school?
And how could I do it with her standing right there?
“Tell you what, Fox. Let me hammer out all these details with the school this evening, and I’ll call your mom to work things out with her too.”
That should work for now.
“Okay, thanks, Dad.” He wiggled his finger at Zandra. “Can I have a kiss on the cheek before you go, Mom?”
She laughed then leaned down to kiss his cheek. “You’ll make a mother out of me yet, won’t you?”
“I will.” He beamed at her, looking so proud of himself as he opened the door for her. “I’ll walk with you out to your car. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Mom.”
“I’ll join you two.” I came up on the other side of her as Fox took her hand. “It seems he’s taken a shine to you, Zandra,” I whispered over his head.
I had to admit to myself that my son’s behavior was a little bothersome to me. Could I really be feeling jealous that he’d taken so well to his mom?
I shook the feeling off. We would work out all the kinks in this new thing we’d all fallen into. I had to keep in mind that Zandra had been completely caught off guard, much more so than either Fox or me.
Hell, she’d had no clue that I had the boy or that I even knew he existed. This had to be knocking her out of the water. It would’ve done the same to me if the shoe were on the other foot.
As we went outside, she pointed at a shiny red Mustang. “That’s me over there.”
“The sports car?” Fox asked. When she nodded, he added, “So cool! My mom’s gonna be one of those cool moms.” He pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!”
As a doctor, that wasn’t exactly the kind of mother I wanted for my son. I wanted her to be one of the respectable moms—one of the responsible ones. A cool mom wasn’t something I had ever dreamt of for him.
Her long legs bent gracefully as she sat in the low-profile car. “Thank you, boys, for walking me out.” She put on a pair of Ray-Bans, making her look even more beautiful, and yes, I could admit, cooler too. “I look forward to hearing from you later on tonight, Kane.”
“I’ll call you when I’ve got my ducks in a row. It’ll be after nine, after I’ve put Fox to bed.” I closed the door for her, and she gave us a little wave.
Fox looked up at me as he knocked on her darkly tinted window. “Hey, wait.”
“What are you doing now?” I asked him as I put my hand on his shoulder.
“You’ll see.” He looked at his mother as she rolled the window down.
“Yes?” she asked him.
“Why don’t you just come over to our house and Dad can cook for us out on the grill?” He looked up at me. “She could stay the night, and we can all go to school together, and you can get her put on the list first thing in the morning. Please, Dad.”
“Um … I—” He’d put me in one hell of a hard place with that.
She looked at me too, but the dark sunglasses hid her expression from me. I had no idea where she stood on this.
But I knew, as a responsible father, that you didn’t go bringing strangers into your home. And you didn’t let them spend the night. An
d that was that.
“Dad, why are you taking so long to answer me?” Fox pushed further. “Just say yes already. Please.”
“I’ve got to say no on this one, buddy. Zandra has a lot to take in, after all. Let’s give her some space. Sorry.” The way he looked at me crushed me. Well, almost crushed me. I was a dad, and dads didn’t crush all that easily.
One day he would be a dad, and then he would understand. But until then he was just a little boy who’d finally gotten a mom, and he wasn’t happy with my decision.
“Fine!” He stalked back into the hospital.
“Whoa,” Zandra said. “Well. I’ll talk to you later then.”
She backed up at what I thought was too fast a speed. Her tires spun a bit as she left the parking lot, and I both adored her as a man and didn’t much like her as a father.
What the hell have I gotten into here?
Chapter 13
Zandra
The steering wheel felt odd in my hands as I pulled away from Kane after our son stalked off, angry at his father. My mind was numb from all the new information.
I’ve got my son back!
In a matter of a few minutes, I’d become a mother to a ten-year-old boy. It defied the imagination. And the odds, too.
The odds of Kane’s aunt and uncle finding where my parents had relocated us hadn’t been good. The odds of them finding the adoption agency my parents had signed me up with were just as slim. The odds of Kane turning out to be a good father weren’t all that good either.
But even with all that going against this situation, somehow it all had worked out in our favor. It didn’t make sense to me. Mostly because I wasn’t used to good things happening to me, I guessed.
My life had shown me that, more often than not, bad things happened to me. Like being a virgin and getting pregnant after having sex one time—and at barely sixteen. Like being born to parents who’d made me give up the baby I had loved so much. While working as a waitress had helped me gain my freedom from my parent and make ends meet, it wasn’t easy, and I’d had a lot of difficult nights and found myself in more than one shitty situation.
It definitely wasn’t a job that a shy girl like I’d been would’ve ever thought of doing. Well, not until push came to shove and I’d had no other choice.
Pulling into the apartment complex, I spotted Taylor’s BMW parked in front of our apartment. Glad to have someone to talk to, I hoped she was awake. With so much on my mind, I figured talking to her would help.
As I went into the apartment, I smelled burnt toast. “I’m home,” I called out.
“Good.” She rounded the corner from her bedroom to the living room. “I tried to make some toast in the oven then forgot about it. I wanted to go out to get something to eat, but I didn’t want to go alone.” She picked up her purse as she looked at my hand. “Did they give you stitches at the hospital?”
“No.” I pulled the bandage off my left hand. “I got butterfly bandages. Well, that, and a son.” I waited for her to catch on to what I’d said, watching her face for her reaction.
She stopped, put her hand on her hip, and looked me in the eyes. “Give me that last part again, will ya?”
“I found my son, Taylor. The one my parents made me give away. The baby I told you about. I found him.” My heart pounded as I said it out loud for the first time. “I’ve got him back, Taylor.” The dam burst, tears pouring down my cheeks and a few sobs slipping through.
Taylor had me in her arms in no time, hugging me as she cried too. “Oh, Zandy! This is amazing. You’ve got to sit down and tell me everything. I want to know all the details, girl.”
“Wine. I need wine,” I gasped.
After helping me take a seat on the sofa, she left me to go to the kitchen to get what I’d requested. “Screw wine. I’m making us some mimosas. This is champagne kind of news. And since I don’t like it on its own, I’m mixing it with orange juice.”
I tried to gather myself and stop the waterworks. “Thanks, Taylor. This is something to celebrate.” Going to the half bath off the living room, I grabbed some toilet paper to blow my nose and some more to dry my tears.
Staring into the mirror, I looked at my red-rimmed eyes and saw something else there that hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but I would say it had to be something akin to joy.
It was hard to tell. I hadn’t ever experienced so much joy in my life. But something was definitely different with me.
“Come on, Zandy,” Taylor called out. “I’ve got the drinks, and I’m dying to hear about your day.”
Heading back out, I took the champagne glass she’d set on the coffee table and took one long drink, hoping to steady my nerves. “Okay, the guy who got me pregnant is now a doctor. Dr. Kane Price, to be exact. And you’ve met him.”
“I knew it!” She pointed at me. “You lied to me. It was that guy from last night. You bitch!”
“I know.” Another swallow of the drink helped me steady myself to go on. “I’m sorry. I have no idea why, but I didn’t want you to know that he was the one. None of that matters anymore. The whole town knows that I had a baby. The whole town knows that Kane is the father.”
Perplexed, she asked, “And how is that?”
“He told me that one of my neighbors overheard my family when that whole thing went down. My parents screamed at me a lot, so I can’t say I’m surprised by that. She went to school when it started up again and told Kane about what had happened. She was pretty sure he was the guy, since she’d seen us together at that party.” I took another drink, finding my glass empty. “Well, hell.”
“I made a whole gallon of it.” Taylor jerked her head toward the kitchen. “On the counter.”
I got up to go refill my glass. “Great thinking. This news is a bit overwhelming.”
“I bet it is.” She put her glass down, watching me. “Okay, so somehow this guy was able to track you down, without you knowing, and he was able to get the baby you’d been forced to put up for adoption?”
“Well, technically he didn’t do it—at least not alone. He said his aunt and uncle did the research and were the ones to officially adopt the baby. His aunt was even in the delivery room when Fox was born. She took him shortly after the delivery was over.” I filled my glass up then looked at it. “I bet most moms don’t drink as much as I do.”
“Who knows,” Taylor said, then laughed. “Maybe they drink even more than we do. I mean, dealing with kids doesn’t seem like a picnic.”
She was right. The exchanges between Kane and Fox didn’t exactly look easy. “Yeah, I bet it’s not a picnic at all.”
“So, this kid’s name is Fox?” She nodded, as if she approved of the name. “Pretty cool name.”
“Fox Colton Price,” I murmured. “My son’s name is Fox Colton Price. I’m a mom.” Now that just feels weird. “Am I ever going to get used to this, Taylor?”
“How the hell should I know?” She leaned forward as I passed by her, holding out her glass. I clanked mine against hers. “Congratulations, Zandra Larkin, on becoming a real mother today. So, what’s the plan now?”
I took my seat again, pondering her question. “I’m not really sure. Kane wants me. I know that much. Fox wants me around—I know that too. What I don’t know is if Kane actually wants me around all that much.”
One of her brows arched in confusion. “Wait. Kane wants you. The kid wants you. But you didn’t feel like Kane wanted you around? I don’t get it.”
“Me neither.” It was true. I didn’t understand everything yet. “Fox asked if I could take him to school in the morning. Kane shot that down.”
“Be thankful.” She nodded. “That school traffic is a nightmare. Not that I’ve ever been in it, but I’ve seen it.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” I agreed. “But there was something about the way Kane looked when Fox asked that. Like he didn’t think it was a good idea. And just before I left, Fox asked me to go over to their home for dinner and to stay the
night. Kane shut that down too, and quickly. And I don’t know why he did that.”
“I thought you said he wanted you,” Taylor said, taking another sip of her drink as she contemplated my words. “Did you mean sexually, he wanted you?”
“He did. Before he told me that Fox was my son, the two of us were alone in his office for a little while, and Kane was all over me. He asked me out on a date then, too.” My body got warm as I recalled the way it felt to have that man’s hands on me again. “At first I said no way. You know, because of the whole secret baby thingy. But once I found out everything and he asked me again, I said yes. So, we’ve got a date sometime.”
Taylor seemed to be deep in thought. “So, he wants to see you. But he doesn’t want you to be at his home with him and your kid. That’s odd. Don’t you think that’s odd?”
“Kinda.” I thought about it a bit. “But then again, it’s not. You know?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. He wants you, but he doesn’t want to share you with your son?”
“I think he’s just being cautious.” I put the glass down then looked at the tattoo on my wrist. “He’s always been out of my league, Taylor. He still is. He’s a doctor, and I’m just a cocktail waitress with no aspirations. He asked me if I was waitressing while going to college. I had to tell him that I wasn’t doing anything, and I saw the disappointment in his gorgeous green eyes.”
“Those eyes are like emeralds,” she mused, her lips curling into a dreamy smile.
“Hey!” I made her look at me. “I know he’s not mine, technically. But he’s mine. So no thinking about which gem his eyes most resemble. And by the way, our son has his eyes, too. He’s such a handsome little guy.”
“I bet.” She chewed her lower lip. “That man is built, too. Oh, Zandy, am I jealous.”
“Stop it.” I gave her my take-no-shit expression. “I don’t like the look you’ve got on your face right now.”
Dirty Little Secret_A Secret Baby-Second Chance Romance Page 10
