Veronica shrugged indifferently. “It’s a court order for a paternity test.”
She took the envelope from Veronica’s outstretched hand, opened it, and began to read. The letter consisted mostly of legal jargon, but the bottom line was, if Brody wanted a leg to stand on during his divorce proceedings, she had to supply Parker’s DNA sample to prove once and for all that Brody was his father.
“You have seven days.” Without another word, Veronica turned on her heel and left.
Brody and Avery watched wordlessly as Veronica disappeared into the elevator and out of sight. When the elevator doors slid closed, they returned to the darkened apartment.
In the blackness of the hall, a small voice whispered out, “Mama?”
“It’s okay, little man, go back to sleep.”
“I can’t.”
“Alright,” Avery replied gently. She hated it when Parker saw her upset. “Wait for me in your room. I need to talk to Brody for a minute and then I’ll be right in.”
“Okay.”
The door to Parker’s room creaked shut.
Brody followed Avery to the bedroom. He wasn’t sure what to say, but he knew he had to say something. This was low, even for Veronica, and there was no way he was going to let her drive a wedge between him and Avery. “I’m sorry. I had no idea she was going to do this.”
Avery sat on the edge of the bed, rocking back and forth as she contemplated her response. Five minutes passed and she still said nothing.
“Please, tell me what you’re thinking.”
Her head snapped up as if she’d just awoke from a deep trance. “What do you want me to say, Brody, that everything’s okay? Because it’s not okay, it’s far from okay. How could you have known about this and not tell me?”
“This is nothing more than a speed bump.”
“No, this is not a speed bump,” Avery half screamed, half stuttered. “A speed bump would be me being called into the courtroom as a witness, but dragging Parker into the middle of your messy divorce is so much more than a speed bump.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Avery. It’s one simple test.” Brody instantly regretted his choice of words the second they left his mouth, and the steely look that flashed across Avery’s face only confirmed it. Yep, he was a dead man.
“I’m not being dramatic,” Avery spat. “I’m being honest. Do you really think it’s fair to drag Parker into the middle of your divorce? He has enough problems of his own to deal with. He doesn’t need to deal with yours too.” Okay, maybe she was being a bit harsh, but this was for Parker’s own good. No good could come of subjecting her son to a nasty courtroom battle.
“He’s not going to be called into court. All they need is one simple blood test.”
“It’s not a blood test,” she countered. “It’s a mouth swab.”
“See? There’s nothing to it.”
Avery closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down. Lately, she’d been struggling with the decision of whether to move to New York and take over the family business, or stay in Boston and try to make a go of it with Brody. But in light of this evening’s events, the decision was becoming easier to make. No way would she put Parker through that. It wasn’t fair to him. “Listen, there’s something we need to talk about.”
“It’s a simple swab,” Brody implored, but he could tell by the instantaneous change in her demeanor that this was something more, something beyond a simple genetics test.
“Do you remember when I told you a few months back that my father had a heart attack?”
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?” Brody gestured to the piece of paper in Avery’s hand.
“Everything,” she replied honestly.
He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I know,” Avery began, but was unable to go on. Tears stung the back of her eyes and threatened to spill over. How could she be a heartless bitch and break Brody’s heart in two. What right did she have to separate him from his son? And what about Parker? God, she was going to break his heart too. But the bottom line was, she had to do what was best for her son, even if that meant packing up and moving to New York. Certain she was making the right choice, Avery continued. “My father sent me to Harvard to earn my Master’s Degree knowing that one day I would take over the family business. When I found out I was pregnant, he almost disowned me, but Chloe convinced him that I was still the right choice to run the company. She offered to help with Parker while I finished my degree. My father was skeptical at first, but in the end, he agreed. So when Parker was old enough, I went back to school and finished my degree. If it hadn’t been for me getting pregnant, he would’ve retired years ago.”
“I still don’t see what this has to do with anything.”
“Let me finish, please.” Avery cleared her throat, chocking back the tears. “I had every intention of moving back to New York when I graduated, but then you showed up at my door again. Things got complicated again. Suddenly, I found myself wonder if we could really make a go of it, if we could be the family Parker deserved. But now, I’m not so sure. I’ll make things easier on you and take Parker for the test, but I can’t and I won’t subject him to a courtroom battle. It’s not fair to him.”
“There’s not going to be a courtroom battle,” Brody contested. “And what are you saying? You’re moving to New York and taking Parker away from me?”
“Yes and no.”
“There is no yes or no, Avery, it’s one or the other.”
“Yes, I’m moving back to New York, but I’m not taking Parker away from you. You can see him whenever you want and you can have him on alternate holidays.” Avery waited for Brody to snap, but he didn’t. She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“You don’t want me to say anything, not right now.” Brody’s words were a clear warning. He was pissed and about to explode.
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay, here it goes. I think you’re a selfish. You’re only thinking about yourself, not me, and certainly not Parker. Not only did you keep me from Parker all those years, but now you’re going to take him away from me. Have you even given any consideration about how much this might set him back? You think he had problems before, but wait until you uproot him from his home and family and move him to a new city where he doesn’t know anyone. At least here he has me and your sister.”
“How in the hell can you say I’m being selfish?” Avery snapped back. “I’m doing this for him.”
In a fit of rage, Brody stood up and grabbed the camera from the night table. He turned it on and began thumbing through the pictures on the screen.
“What are you doing?”
Brody found the picture he was looking for and shoved the camera in Avery’s face. “Are you willing to give this up because of one simple paternity test?”
Avery looked at the picture on the screen. It was a self portrait she’d taken of the three of them having lunch in the park. Tears sprang from her eyes. “I don’t have a choice.”
“Of course you have a choice, Avery. You always have a choice. It’s called free will.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t, so please explain it to me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a no brainer. You tell your father thanks, but no thanks. I’m staying in Boston with the father of my child, with the man I love. Or was that a lie too?”
“I never told you I loved you.”
Brody felt as if a white, hot knife had been plunged into his back. “You don’t love me?”
“I never said that. Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“God, Avery, you really are a cold hearted bitch.”
Being called a bitch from Veronica was one thing, but having Brody call her a bitch stung. Of course she loved him, but telling him now would only complicate things further, so she said
the only thing she could. “I’d like you to leave.”
Brody felt as if he were going to be sick, like his entire world had reduced to a pile of rubble in the last five seconds. “Please don’t do this,” he begged.
Avery averted her glance. She didn’t want Brody to see the tears streaming from her eyes. “Just go.”
Without speaking another word, Brody finished getting dressed. She watched him disappear into the darkness. A part of her wanted to scream at him to stop, but that would only be postponing the inevitable, so instead, she watched him walk out of her life. A few seconds later the door clicked shut. Brody was gone.
Chapter 16
A week had passed, a week of seconding guessing herself and avoiding all possible contact with Brody. Avery knew that it wouldn’t take much to change her mind, so she’d avoided him at all costs. She was doing this for Parker, or at least that’s what she kept telling herself. Yet a part of her—the tiny part deep in her subconscious that stopped her from doing stupid things—still felt uncertain.
“What do you want me to do with this?” Chloe asked, and held up the big, blue bear that Brody had won for Parker at the carnival.
Avery’s mind was flooded with memories of their day at the waterfront, and she had to force back a fresh wave of tears. Avery could feel Chloe standing behind her, but the last thing she wanted was for her sister to see her cry.
“You’re doing the right thing.” Chloe’s voice was compassionate, but forced, as if she didn’t believe her own words.
“Am I?” Avery shot back harshly. “How is taking Parker away from Brody beneficial for either of them?”
“They’ll still see each other all the time. New York isn’t that far away.”
“That’s not the point, Chloe, and you know it.” Avery stood up and stormed across the living room to where her purse sat in an armchair. She sat down in the chair and began riffling through its contents, tossing aside papers and makeup until she found the solitary piece of paper that had been weighing down her purse for months.
“What’s that?” Chloe asked curiously, and sat down on the sofa next to her.
“Parker’s birthday present from Brody.” Avery held the cheque up to the light, turning it over in her hand.
“Whoa! Since when did Brody become Mr. Money-Bags?”
Avery shrugged. It didn’t matter if Brody was the wealthiest man alive. She’d made up her mind and was sticking to it. Her family was wealthy in their own right. Avery never wanted or needed a cent of Brody’s money.
“What are you going to do with it?” Chloe asked.
In answer to her sister’s question, Avery retrieved a lighter from the inside pocket of her purse, and holding it to the corner of the cheque, she sparked it. Blue flames danced in the air as fire consumed the tiny piece of paper.
“You’re insane. You know that, right?”
“I don’t want his money.”
Chloe leaned over and picked up a folded piece of paper from the table, train tickets to New York. “You could’ve used the money for a plane ticket. Trains are so passé.”
“Parker wanted to take the train. It’s his newest fascination.”
“Five o’clock, huh?” Chloe remarked as she unfolded the paper and noted the departure time..
“Yep, only a few hours to go.” Avery looked around at the mass of boxes that littered the living room. “Are you sure you don’t mind shipping all this crap to me? It’s going to cost a fortune.”
“Hence the reason you should’ve cashed that cheque instead of burning it,” Chloe laughed, but it was a forced, half hearted laugh. Truth be told, she was going to miss her sister. A lot.
“What time is Scott dropping off Parker?”
Scott, Chloe’s husband, had begrudgingly agreed to watch the kids while the girls packed up the last of the apartment.
“He’ll be here by three.”
Avery looked at her watch. Only an hour to go.
•••••
“Don’t put that there,” Brody screamed over the roar of the chainsaw. Opening up a new shop had proved to be more work than he expected. “And don’t start painting until I give you the thumbs up.”
“Yes, boss,” a worker replied in a thick Spanish accent.
The construction provided a much needed distraction, but it didn’t make him easier to work with. For the past week he’d been miserable, barking orders at people and having a meltdown when one of them accidentally bought the wrong colored paint. And the fact that Avery hadn’t returned one of his phone calls, emails, or text messages only added to his misery.
If Brody had not felt his phone vibrate, he would never have heard it ring above the racket of drills, saws, and hammers. Slipping it out of his shirt pocket, he flipped it open and answered a little more harshly than he’d intended. “What?”
“Hey, big guy, it’s me. Tone it down a notch.”
“Sorry, Chastity, I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Chastity—Brody’s sister—was a younger, feistier, more attractive version of himself. “What do you want?”
“Have you heard back from her yet?”
One thing his sister was was blunt. “No, not yet.”
“She leaves today, doesn’t she?”
“Yes,” Brody replied. He didn’t have time for this, not today. The shop opened in a week and there was still two weeks’ worth of work to be done. The last think he wanted or needed was his little sister reminding of what he was losing.
“And you’re just going to let her leave?”
Brody ran a hand through his plaster matted hair and sighed. “What else can I do?”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course I love her. What kind of question is that?”
“Then go after her.”
“Chastity, she made her decision. Nothing I can say or do will change her mind. You don’t know Avery like I do. She’s stubborn.”
“Pot calling the kettle black,” his sister jested. “I may not know Avery, but I know you, Brody. I remember what you were like when you never heard back from her the first time. This time it’s not just the girl you’re losing. You’re losing your son too.”
Brody thought back to five years ago when he’d lost the only woman he ever really loved. It was a dark time in his life, darker than he cared to admit. And Chastity was right, there was a lot more at stake this time around. He stood to lose Avery and Parker, the son he’d only just begun to know. The thought was almost too much to bear.
Chastity knew by his lack of response that her brother was considering what she’d said. “Well, what are you waiting for? If you leave now, you’ll catch them at the train station.”
The watch on his wrist read four o’clock. “It’s rush hour. I’ll never make it to the train station in an hour.”
“You won’t know unless you try.”
“Are you at your computer?” he asked in a rush.
“Yeah, why?”
“I need you to check the traffic and construction reports.” Brody rushed through the shop, jumping over boxes of tiles and nearly tripping on an extension cord that had haphazardly been strung across the floor. He burst through the doors and ran towards the silver Volvo parked less than a block away. Behind him, he heard the voice of one of the workers hollering after him.
“Boss, where are you going?”
He glance over his shoulder. “I’ve got something I have to do. Make sure you lock up tonight before you leave.”
“You got it,” the worker hollered back.
With the phone cradled to his ear, Brody slid into the driver’s seat and started the SUV. Frantically, he began to punch the coordinates for the Amtrak station into the GPS unit in the dash. As he eased into traffic, the sound of his sister’s voice rang through the phone.
“There’s an accident on Tremont Street and construction on Essex. Bypass those and you should make good time.”
“Thanks,” he replied hurriedly. “Wish me luck.”
“Go get her, t
iger.”
Brody laughed.
“Oh, and Brody?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, sis.” Brody snapped the phone shut and swerved into the curb lane, cutting off a taxi driver and earning himself a few choice words.
It was a race against the clock. His future with Avery and Parker hinged on how much traffic stood between him and the train station. He pressed down on the gas pedal. Yellow lights became a mere suggestion and stop signs were nonexistent. The issue wasn’t making it to the train station on time. Brody drove like a mad man. He knew he’d make it there before five o’clock. The real issue was finding them when he got there. He had no idea what train they were on other than it left at 5pm sharp.
Buses and taxis lined the front of the station. Even if he had the slightest inclination to park, he never would’ve found a spot this time of day, so instead, he waited for a taxi to pull out and pulled in behind it. Horns blared when he stepped out of the SUV and ran towards the main entrance. The road that ran along the front of the train station was a no parking zone. Already, cars began to line the road as taxis and buses tried to maneuver around the silver Volvo. But getting a ticket was the least of his concerns. Hell, he didn’t even care if he got towed.
Brody burst through the front doors of the station, taking a second to glance at his watch as he ran towards the information desk. 4:57pm. The girl at the desk looked up in shock as he approached the desk and slammed his fists down on the counter.
“Where’s the train headed for New York.”
“Pardon,” the girl stammered, taken aback by the brutishness of Brody’s demeanor.
“What platform? I need to know what platform the train for New York City is leaving from.”
A series of clicks could be heard as the girl typed frantically. “There are two leaving this evening.”
Frustrated, he narrowed it down even further for her. “What about the one leaving at five o’clock?”
Another series of rapid keystrokes followed. “They’ both leave at five, sir.”
“What platform?”
A group of onlookers stared at Brody, surprised by his loud outburst. The girl, unsure of what to say, scribbled a few words on a piece of paper and handed it to him. “These are the platform numbers.”
Inked Page 15
