He sounded cautious when he said “Okay.”
“I did a line. It was just one, and I promise that I’ll never touch the stuff again.”
“It’s okay babe. I know how hard it can be to give that shit up.”
“Thanks Rich. I love you. I’d better let you go. Gabe’s probably waiting for me.”
“Be safe Brandy. I love you. I’ll see you and Joey when I get back home.”
“Bye Rich.”
“Bye babe.”
She hung up her phone and considered throwing it at the bathroom wall. Instead she sighed and shoved it back into her pocket.
She unlocked the bathroom door not bothering to look at Sabrina or Chloe as she walked by. She was sure that Gabe had explained to them that she wouldn’t be working that night.
He was leaning against his truck when she got outside. “Do you want to drive? I already put the directions in the GPS.”
“No.”
She wasn’t looking forward to this night one bit she thought as she got into the passenger side of the truck and strapped herself into the seatbelt.
Gabe started the truck. “Are you hungry Brandy? We could stop and pick something up on the way out of town.”
“No. I don’t think I could eat anything right now anyway. It makes me sick to think of sleeping with you again. What are you doing with my car?”
“I’ll have someone come and pick it up later and take it back to your house. And thanks so much Brandy. I love you too.”
She gave him a smile that she didn’t feel and then turned around to look out the window.
“It’s about a six hour drive. The Perrys agreed to meet us halfway. We’ll have plenty of time together tonight. And tomorrow you’ll get to see your son again.”
A thought had suddenly occurred to her. “Gabe, I don’t have anything for Joey, not even a bed.”
“It’s already taken care of Brandy. When Rich leaves for work tomorrow someone will come in and set up your spare bedroom for Joey. He’ll have a bed and a dresser, and plenty of toys and clothes. I was glad that you’d had a boy instead of a girl when I was picking everything out. I have much more experience with a four year old boy than a four year old girl since Jessa’s still a baby.”
“Why do you have a key to my house and my car?” Then she sighed. “Oh, never mind.”
The ride was silent after that. She was half asleep when Gabe pulled up to a hotel hours later. He went inside the office and returned with a magnetic key card.
He opened her door for her and said apologetically “I didn’t think to get you a change of clothes or anything. We’ll stop somewhere in the morning before the Perrys get here. The hotel provides hygiene products so you’ll be able to take a shower at least.”
She nodded, feeling numb. She still felt numb when she followed him to a room on the second floor.
Gabe didn’t waste time undressing once they were in the room. She let him undress her, already pretending she was somewhere else in her head.
Gabe did manage to surprise her that night though. When he’d demanded one last night with her she’d expected him to ask her to do the kind of degrading things he’d had her do on some of the nights they’d spent together at the bar. But instead he did everything he could to try to please her. She figured it was a last ditch effort to try to convince her that she should be with him instead of Rich, but it didn’t work.
Thinking of Rich really was all that got her through that night. She was so intent on thinking of Rich that she called out his name the first time Gabe made love to her. The second and third time she did it on purpose, but she wasn’t sure if either of them really cared.
She slept late the next morning. Gabe shook her awake a little after ten a.m.
“Get up Brandy. I’m sure you want some fresh clothes before your son gets here don’t you?”
She rolled over in bed and groaned, having a very strong craving for a cigarette.
“Gabe, do you have any smokes?”
“No. You are not going to smoke another cigarette Brandy. I may be letting you pretend that the child you’re carrying belongs to you and Rich, but it is still my child. No more smoking and certainly no more coke. I still can’t believe you pulled that crap at the bar last night.”
She looked up at him and grinned. “You make girls go a little crazy sometimes Gabe.”
“Ha ha. Get up. Let’s go. The Perrys will be here with Joey in less than two hours.”
“Thank you Gabe.”
“A child needs his mother. Well, sometimes I think mine would be better off without theirs. But I would never take them away from her. She does love them in her own way I suppose, in the way that a truly selfish bitch like Leslie can.”
“You love your wife. You know you do.”
“That doesn’t mean she isn’t a selfish bitch. Get up and get dressed. I’ll get you a cup of coffee from the office. Do you want a muffin or a donut or something? I think they have a free continental breakfast.”
“No thank you.”
She was still a little queasy thinking about the night before, what she had done with him. It also embarrassed her that she had let herself fall asleep naked in Gabe’s arms when she was so much in love with Rich.
“I’m surprised you don’t have morning sickness this morning.”
“Me, too,” she said. Then the real nausea hit her and she ran to the bathroom.
She heard Gabe chuckle as she slammed the bathroom door behind her.
She had used some of the mouthwash that the hotel provided and was dressed and sitting on the bed when Gabe came back, balancing two cups of coffee and a napkin that held two muffins.
He handed her the coffee and said “It’s decaf. I could never get Leslie to give up caffeine when she was pregnant. Have a muffin please. You didn’t eat anything last night. You need to stay strong for the baby.”
If the situation were different Brandy thought his concern might actually have touched her. But it didn’t she thought. He hadn’t technically raped her the night before since she had willingly given herself to him. But it still felt a little like he had, even though her traitorous body had indeed responded to him as it always had.
“Thanks.”
She took the offered muffin and made herself eat it, though it was banana nut and she’d never liked the flavor. Rich would have known that she preferred blueberry she thought, realizing again how much she missed him. How much she wished that it could be him here with her instead of Gabe.
Once they had finished the muffins, Gabe said “Let’s go. There’s a mall a few miles away. If you’d like we can pick you up some maternity clothes while we’re there as well.”
“No thanks.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, and followed her out the door.
At the mall she did let Gabe talk her into letting him buy her some maternity clothes because she was already gaining weight and most of her clothes were tight as it was. He over did it in the usual Gabe style. They were loaded down with bags by the time they left the mall an hour later. She had picked out a book that she had loved when she was a child and a teddy bear for Joey which she insisted on paying for herself.
When they got back to the hotel with barely half an hour to spare before the Perrys were scheduled to drop off Joey, she quickly became so nervous that she almost threw up again. Gabe gave her a ginger candy to settle her stomach after she had gotten dressed in her new clothes. She’d used the hairbrush to brush her hair that he had given her to use since they had forgotten to pick one up while they were at the mall, though it weirded her out a little to use it because he told her that it belonged to his wife.
She pulled a red hair out of the brush that she could see was starting to turn brown at the roots and wanted to ask him if his wife was a natural brunette, thinking that the dark hair she had seen in pictures of his son and his baby daughter had come from their mother and not the unnamed father that Gabe seemed to think it came from, but she kept her mouth shut.
&
nbsp; She even let him sit her down on the bed and rub her back when she couldn’t sit still. She didn’t think that Rich would care, especially since it was so tame compared to what she had let him do to her the night before.
A little after noon, there was a knock at the door. Gabe let her get up to answer it. Her heart felt like it was in her throat when she turned the knob. She hadn’t seen her baby in person in over two years. Oh, what if he hated her for taking him away from the only parents he had ever known she thought as she opened the door.
Aida Perry was standing on the other side of the door, and Joey was clutching her hand.
When Brandy looked at her son, she wanted to cry. He was so beautiful, she thought. She could hardly believe that he come from not only her, but his natural father, whom she had pretty much considered worthless after he had given her a fat lip and accused her of cheating when she told him she was pregnant.
After a moment stretched on in silence, Aida Perry said “Hello Brandy. You look well.”
“Thank you. You look good too, Mrs. Perry. Hi Joey.”
“Hi Mommy.”
Her son stepped forward from where he had been partially hiding behind Aida Perry’s leg and said “Mama Aida said that I’m going to live with you now and that I’m going to have a new Dad. Do you have a dog? Mama Aida and Mr. Tom have three.”
Brandy felt tears sting her eyes. “No. We don’t have a dog right now baby, but we’ll get one real soon okay?”
“Okay.”
Aida Perry handed Brandy a duffel bag and turned to Gabe. “Thank you Mr. Atkins. You’ll never know how much the money will help with the children that we’ve just adopted.” She took a thick stack of papers out of an oversized shoulder bag and handed them to him. “Here are the papers.”
Gabe glanced through the papers, and after removing one and tearing it to shreds, handed the rest to Brandy. “The wire transfer should go through today Mrs. Perry. I added an extra $25,000 for your troubles.”
“Oh, thank you Mr. Atkins. We love Joey so much, but these other children needed a home so badly. I’m sure he’ll be in good hands with his mother.” She turned to Joey. “Do you want to go say goodbye to Mr. Tom and the kids?”
Joey nodded. “Yes please. Do you want to come Mommy?”
When Joey slipped his hand into hers, she thought there was no way she could stop the tears from flowing. Gabe smiled at her and patted her shoulder. She did manage to keep her tears in check though. She and Joey followed Mrs. Perry out to a dark green full size van that had four car seats in it. What must have been Joey’s was the only one that sat empty.
Aida opened the side door of the van. Joey let go of Brandy’s hand and let Mrs. Perry help him into the van. He hugged the three children in the car seats saying goodbye to children that she heard her son call Bryan, Ruth, and Kirk. The children all looked healthy and normal. Brandy briefly wondered why any of them were considered “special needs” as her mother had called them, but told herself it was none of her business.
Then Aida Perry helped Joey out of the van and took him around to the drivers’ side window, lifting him up so he could hug the older man that sat behind the wheel. “Bye Mr. Tom,” she heard her son say. “I love you.”
“Goodbye Joey,” Tom Perry said, and his voice sounded a little rough. Brandy wondered if the man was fighting tears himself and it was suddenly even harder to fight her own. “I love you too.”
Aida Perry brought Joey back around to the other side of the van and knelt down to his level to hug him. “Goodbye Joey. I love you. Be good for your Mommy, okay?”
“I love you Mama Aida. I’ll be good. Bye.”
Tears had started to fall down the older woman’s face. Brandy felt helpless. Aida wiped her face and said “I’m sorry Brandy. I know that he’ll be fine with you. . . I just. . .”
Brandy squeezed her hand. “I know.” She felt tears start to fall down her own face. “Thank you for taking care of him for me. I can never thank you enough for that.”
“You’re welcome. If you ever need anything, just call us. We would appreciate a picture now and then if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.”
“I’m hungry Mommy.”
“Okay.”
Aida Perry turned towards the van. Brandy took her son’s hand and went back with him to the room where Gabe waited. When they were inside, before Brandy could say anything, Joey looked up at Gabe with an imploring pair of brown eyes and said, “Are you my new Dad?”
Gabe looked Joey in the eye. Brandy was afraid for a minute of what he was going to say, but he merely said “No, buddy. I’m not. Your new Dad is at work right now. He drives a big truck. I bet that if you ask him really nice he might take you for a ride in it sometime.”
“Really?”
“Yep. I do have a son about your age though. Would you like to see a picture?”
“Okay.”
Gabe removed his wallet from the pocket of his jeans and flipped his wallet open. He showed Joey a picture of Christian first and then Jessa. “That’s my son’s baby sister. Did you know that you’re going to have a baby brother or sister too?”
“Yeah. Mama Aida told me. She said that there’s a baby growing in my Mom’s belly right now, just like I did.”
“That’s right Joey.”
“Do you have a dog?”
Gabe laughed. “No. My wife is allergic to them.”
“What’s a-ll-er-gic?”
Listening to her son sound the word out, Brandy felt very proud. Joey seemed very smart. While she hadn’t had much to do with raising him so far, she would from now on and he had come from her, she thought.
Joey listened patiently to Gabe while he explained what an allergy was, and then said “I’m hungry.”
“Okay. Mommy, are you ready to go eat?”
She gave Gabe a dirty look. “Yes.”
Gabe smiled at her. “Okay. We’ll go eat then. You can take Joey out to the truck and get him in Christian’s car seat while I check out. Don’t worry about the bags. I’ll bring them in a minute.”
Gabe handed her his keys. She took Joey’s hand and led him out to his truck. She strapped Joey into the car seat. She then decided to sit with him instead of up front with Gabe, even though she was a little cramped because she was stuck between the car seat that Joey was in and the infant seat on the other side.
Gabe came out a few minutes later. She handed him the keys to unlock the back of the truck. He had everything stowed away quickly and got into the driver’s seat. “You’re not going to keep me company Mommy?” He met her eyes in the rearview mirror.
“I think I’d rather keep my son company, thank you.”
Gabe laughed, and turned to Joey. “Where do you want to eat?”
Joey named a fast food restaurant that had a play place that he had seen on the way into town with the Perrys. Brandy wasn’t thrilled about eating there, but figured she’d have to get used to it, since she was sure Joey would be able to talk her into taking him at least every once in a while.
Watching Gabe run around and play with her son while they were at the restaurant gave her a really weird feeling. Gabe seemed like he was a really good father, and Joey really seemed to like him. She wondered how such a loving father could stand to be away from his children so often by choice.
Joey cried when they pulled out of town because he had forgotten his favorite toy car at the Perry’s house and wanted to go get it. When Gabe gently explained to him that they couldn’t he became almost inconsolable. Brandy became worried about him again, until he calmed down when she told him that she’d take him to get any car he wanted when they got home and promised him that Rich would give him a ride in his big truck as soon as he could. She didn’t like the feeling that she was bribing her son, but he quieted down and went to sleep soon after.
She was sure that Joey must have plenty of confused feelings. She wanted to make his sudden change in living arrangements as smooth as she possibly could.
After Joey went to sleep, Gabe tried to talk to her. He was trying to convince her to set up a play date for Joey with his son but Brandy didn’t want Joey to have anything to do with Gabe’s wife or some nameless nanny.
When she kept putting him off, Gabe finally left her alone and turned the radio up a touch, finally choosing to leave her alone with her own thoughts. Since she hadn’t slept well the night before, she fell asleep and didn’t wake up until Gabe pulled up in front of her house several hours later.
Joey was awake and chatting away with Gabe. She felt a stab of panic, wondering what they were talking about, but calmed down when she realized that they were talking about cars, and the preschool that Gabe’s son Christian went to.
She handed Gabe her house key, and he took their bags into the house. She crossed her lawn, Joey’s hand in hers, and approached Brenda, who was standing on her porch smoking a cigarette.
Brenda quickly put out her cigarette and said “Hi Brandy. Rich told me that you had gotten custody of your son back. That’s so wonderful. And this little guy must be Joey, huh? Hi, Joey. I’m Brenda, you and your Mommy’s neighbor.”
“Hi. Do you have a dog?”
Brenda laughed. “Yes, I do. My kids convinced me to let them have a puppy.”
“Can I see it?”
“If it’s okay with your Mommy, sure.”
Brandy nodded, and let Brenda take Joey into the house. Gabe came up the porch steps and said “His room’s all set up. I hope he likes it.”
“I’m sure he will, if he’s anything like your son. Gabe, how can you stand to be away from your kids so much?”
“It’s not easy Brandy. Sometimes I wonder about the choices I make. I love my children more than they will ever know, but it’s like there’s a piece of me missing. I feel selfish because I take so much time away from them to try to fill it, but I can’t help myself. If Leslie loved me the way I love her, our children wouldn’t have such an absent father. Alas, I don’t believe that Leslie will ever love me like that. I don’t think she knows how.”
“You’re a romantic Gabe. A perverted romantic, but a romantic all the same.”
Gabe laughed. “I suppose I am Brandy. Your son will be fine. It might take a while for him to get adjusted to living with you and Rich. But there will come a day when he will stop asking about the Perrys, and stop thinking about them. He will think of no one else as his mother but you, and eventually Rich, as his father, I’m sure.”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 54
