As long as he only sees mild groping with a guy in the house and his wife I can deal. I’m not raising a playboy. I don’t want him to make the mistakes I made when Gabby was gone. “Come on, Casanova. We’ll go find her after we talk to Mommy.
“Lil,” Riggan says from behind me. Knowing Riggan he’s been standing there the whole time. “What are you doing here?”
She stands. I hug her. “Proud of you, girl. We’ve missed the sober Lily. Don’t be a stranger.”
When I pull away, she dabs the corner of her eye. I glance at Riggan. “I’ll be back for the wedding party photos.”
Madden follows me out just as the door to the room shuts, quickly coming by my side. I look down at him. “Where did you learn how to flirt, boy?”
“I don’t have friends at my new school Mommy registered me at. Uncle Konnor said when I start school in January to flirt with the pretty girls until I’m old enough to play football, and be nice, and I’ll have lots of friends. He said he used to flirt with Aunt Presley when they were little.”
I laugh as we walk through the venue, spotting the very person he’s referring to with a toddler in his arms. “I guess if Uncle Konnor said it, it must be true.”
“Did you flirt with Mommy?”
“I flirted with Mommy a lot. She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. I didn’t want anyone else to flirt with her.”
He walks silently for a second. “Daddy?”
“What, buddy?”
“What do I do if another boy flirts with a girl I think is pretty?”
I think of what Gabby would say and immediately smile, remembering the girls she’s been a bitch to for looking the wrong way. “If he knew you liked her first, then you make sure he never flirts with the girl you like again. That and if someone is mean to you first are the only times it’s okay to be mean to someone.”
“So do what Mommy said? You beat ‘em up?”
I bust out laughing, drawing attention our way. “Are you sure Mommy said that?”
I know she did.
He nods. “I asked her too when she said to stop flirting with Aunt Sayler’s friend Morgan ‘cause she had a boyfriend at school.”
“Mommy is always right and never lies.”
He stops walking. I glance back at him standing with his mouth wide. “Mommy beat someone up?! I thought she was kidding!”
My brows rise. What on earth is she telling him? “Mommy did not tell you that.”
“Did too!”
“Madden, she did not.”
“I promise, Dad!”
“Mom told you she beat up a girl?”
“I did. The heifer shouldn’t have been flirting with my man. Once someone is taken, they’re off limits.”
I smile at Madden at the sound of her voice behind me. “Mommy!”
He runs toward me but passes me by. I turn around at the exact moment she picks him up, my heart already beating out of my chest when I see her in the red, long sleeved, floor length dress. My right hand goes over my chest. The entire top half is V-neck and fitted but low cut, ending just below her boobs and also low in the back, also detailed with some beading. The bottom is solid red but looks sort of like a depleted bell. I like that Blondie stuck with Christmas colors for their wedding, because Gabby looks phenomenal in red. Her bright blonde hair is fixed in an updo. Her makeup is done just right. She takes my breath away.
Blondie insisted she be a bridesmaid shortly after they met. Gabby tried to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but the second Sayler mentioned that if she didn’t I was escorting another bridesmaid down the aisle, she had a change of heart. I’ve always loved her jealousy.
She kisses Madden’s cheek. “Where were you two handsome fellas off to?”
“To find the pretty flower girl!” he tells her.
Gabby’s face becomes animated. I love watching her with him. You’d never know they’d been without each other so long. “Oh, she’s pretty alright. Her long black hair is curled and she’s wearing a white long sleeve dress with a red sash. She showed me the pretty red rose petals in her basket. I told her I bet you’d like to see her petals before she dropped them down the aisle.”
“You did?! Can we go find her?”
“Of course, we can! Her name is Blair. She doesn’t want to walk by herself with all of those people. That’s actually why I came to find you. Aunt Sayler asked if you would carry the rings on a special pillow she found instead of Daddy. She’s scared he’ll lose them.”
He nods excitedly. “I’ll walk with her! I promise to take special care of them.”
“I know you will, sweet boy. She’s right over there by the fountain. Will you go introduce yourself?”
“Yes!”
Gabby puts him down and he takes off running, her eyes quickly diverting to mine. “What would you say if I told you seeing you in a tux makes me want to find a broom closet somewhere?”
“I’d say I need to buy a tux.”
She smiles at me. “Would you do it?”
“The better question is what would I not do for you.” I walk toward her, placing my hands on her hips. “You look beautiful. I’ve never seen you like this.”
“That’s because you never took me to prom.”
My heart sinks. “You know I wanted to. That’s why we got caught.”
“I know. Because I asked my dad if I could go with you.”
I take a deep breath, the memories flooding in. They aren’t good ones. My life shattered because I wanted a real relationship with her. I wanted her to hang out with my friends and be able to take her on dates in our hometown. I wanted to dance with my girlfriend at prom. It was my senior year. I wanted pictures that would last forever. For a moment, I thought her dad would understand that despite our age difference, we loved each other. Looking back, I would have just snuck her out and we make our own prom.
A thought occurs to me, breaking my heart. For a long time, I tried to keep anything related to Gabby and another guy out of my mind. “How was your prom? Was it everything you thought it’d be with me?”
She’s wearing a saddened expression. “I never went to my prom, baby.”
As much as I hate it, I’m relieved. I have no right to feel relieved that she missed such an important part of high school, because I went my junior year with Courtney, but I am. I’m happy that no one else saw her dressed up like this when I wanted to so bad. “You didn’t?” I whisper.
She wraps her arms around my neck, her smile returning. She likes my jealousy as much as I like hers. “It makes you happy that I didn’t go with anyone else to prom?”
“Yes,” I whisper, trying to feel ashamed, because I know damn well I was screwing other girls, but the feeling doesn’t come. “But why didn’t you go, Gabby? Did no one ask you?”
She smirks. “Actually, I was asked a lot, both junior and senior year. I always said no.”
I want a fucking list. I want to kill every one of them. I sigh instead. “Why didn’t you say yes?”
She shrugs. “It’s pretty simple, really. None of them were you.”
She knows how to gut me with one sentence. “Gab . . . I don’t deserve you.”
“Yes, you do. And I deserve you. We sacrificed enough.”
I grab her face and kiss her. Hard. Not giving a damn about her makeup. She pushes her forehead against mine when we break for air. “After we watch our friends get married and have the first dance, will you pretend my dad said yes and we made it to prom? I want to dance with you as if nothing ever went wrong.”
“Yeah, baby, but you knew that was going to be my answer. I’d rope the moon for you if you asked.”
She smiles at me. I hope that’s the last thing I see before I die. Her smile. It’s unforgettable. “Always the romantic one.”
“It’s you.”
“Sayler asked if we’d reconsider Lake Tahoe.”
“No. I’m not leaving Madden his first Christmas with us, but at the same time, I don’t want them to spend their honeymoon with
a kid. I know they’re going tonight and spending a few days alone before everyone else arrives, but it’s not the way I’d want to spend my honeymoon.”
“It’s funny you mentioned that. Your mom called on their way here.”
I stare into her dark eyes. “My mom called you?”
She laughs. “Yes.”
“Traitor. Why?”
“She wanted to ask if Madden could stay a few nights with them before he started school. She even offered to fly here to get him. I told her about Lake Tahoe and how we had planned to go with them until we got Madden. She offered to keep him for us to go.”
“But it’s during Christmas.”
“I know.”
“So you’re okay with him being with my parents on Christmas morning when we’ve never spent a Christmas with him? What am I missing?”
“We aren’t the only ones that missed out on time with him, Maddox. He wasn’t raised to believe in Santa. For him, there is no difference in Christmas Day and a few days later. We made a commitment to our friends, and if us all being together where Riggan and Sayler met is all they’ve asked of us before they have a baby in the mix, then I think we should go. I want Maddox to know all of his grandparents, and when he starts school it’s going to make things harder. They’ll have to wait for breaks or come see him. I also want to be close to your mom. I let her ask Madden what he wanted to do. He wanted to go. He asked if your brother would be there. He called him after she gave him the number. Micah is going to come home if he does. They’ve been talking about going to see lights and all sorts of things. I think we should let him. I’m thankful enough that we have him back to share.”
I pull her closer, trying to hold in my smile. “Did I even have the option to say no?”
“Always.”
I laugh. “You’re a shitty liar.” I glance down her dress, rubbing my fingertip down the neckline. “But if I agree to this ridiculous idea, what’s the trade off? Do I get a naughty Christmas Eve instead?”
She has a gleam in her eye. “What did you have in mind?”
“Red lingerie. A Santa hat with your hair down. Heels. I may even fuck you to Christmas music.”
She has a Grinchy grin, just like I knew she would. “You have a wild imagination, Burns. And here I thought you were going to say something like a sex swing underneath mistletoe or something of equal value.”
My mouth spreads wide. “Does my mama know what a dirty-minded girl you are? Wonder if she’d call you over me then.”
She grabs the lapels of my tux and jerks me forward, her lips skimming mine. “Your mama most definitely would not agree to let you marry me if she knew how I got you. Some things are best kept secret.”
My hands slide down, wanting so badly to grip her ass. We’re in public. I need to behave. “If my mama knew you’d only slept with me she’d beg you to stay.”
“I guess you should be glad you did it right the first time then. Nobody could love my body like you, baby.”
“Damn right. That broom closet is starting to appeal to me more now.”
She looks at me, her index finger running along the bottom of my chin. “Yeah? You want to remind me how you got me pregnant . . . twice?”
“Don’t think I won’t do it again.”
She kisses me, becoming more serious. “If our appointment and ultrasound goes well Monday, I think I’m ready to tell Madden he’s going to be a brother.”
I smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I wanted to see it first. Just in case.”
“I caught you eating pickles, ice cream, and lemon salt last night. That’s disgusting. It’s fine.”
She laughs. “It sounds worse on replay, but it tasted so damn good.” I pretend to gag. She glances around until she locates Madden chasing the little girl around. “How fast can you come?”
“If you do that thing I like . . . three minutes.”
She grabs my hand and starts pulling me along until we come to a unisex bathroom. As soon as we get inside, she shuts the door and locks it. “This isn’t a broom closet.”
She’s already pulling her dress bottom up. “Shut up. Keep it off the clothes.” I drop to a squat. Fuck. Red panties. I push her leg up to the door and pull them to the side. “What are you doing? You said three minutes.”
I stare at her wet, swollen pussy. “Yeah. Time me.”
I shove my tongue inside her. “Shit, baby. Fuck three minutes. Make it five.”
Whatever my girl wants . . .
Fifty-Nine
Gabby
Maddox pulls the rental into his parents’ driveway. I smile out the window, enjoying the view. I’ve pretty much been in a good mood for twenty-four hours, but I am ready to settle somewhere. We’ll head back to the airport for Nevada as soon as we drop Madden off with Maddox’s parents.
I look back at him in the backseat. “Are you excited to stay with Gigi and PopPop and Uncle Micah? You remembered to pack their presents you picked out, right?”
He nods dramatically. “Gigi said we’re going to make a bonfire and roast marshmallows! And make gores. And drink hot chocolate. And see lights on houses!”
I return his animated expression. He’s such a lovable kid. “What?! Jealous. I love roasted marshmallows. But what are gores?”
He’s thinking. “Gigi said we roast the marshmallows for the gores.”
“S’mores, buddy,” Maddox says, as if he knew what he was talking about the entire time. I should have. “You put the chocolate and hot marshmallow between the graham crackers and make a yummy, gooey sandwich. Gigi makes good s’mores, because she makes a chocolate sauce to dip them in. She calls them double chocolate s’mores.”
I stare at him in awe as he looks through the rearview mirror while he explains it to Madden. It warms my heart to know he has memories like that with his mom. “Can we go see them?”
I turn and look at him holding his stuffed animal that was on his bed when we brought him home. He’s become attached to the stuffed puppy. Every time Presley sees him with it, she smiles. He doesn’t sleep without it. “Wait a minute. Are you going to miss me?”
He smiles. “Maybe a little.”
My jaw drops. “A little! That’s it. We’re taking you with us. I’m going to miss you too much.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” he says, interrupting me with his hands out like stop signs. “I just kidding. I miss you lots. But Gigi and PopPop and Uncle Micah will be sad if I go with you. Pop needs my help with logs, Mom. I gotta go. He got me work boots.”
Maddox gleams at me with pride, melting my heart. I think he’s officially over the guilt of not being with Madden for Christmas. “Well in that case, I guess you can stay. I wouldn’t want to take PopPop’s helper. Are you going to mind and be sweet?”
“I be good boy.”
“Good. Come sit up here for a second and then we’ll take you inside. We have to tell you something.” He presses on the seatbelt buckle a few times before it finally comes loose, and when he gets the belt off, he climbs on the console to sit between us. I lean forward and grab the envelope out of my purse, handing it to him. “Open it.”
It takes him a minute to get it open, but shortly after, the paper tears and he pulls out the card. I hand him the quarter I already had ready to scratch the gold heart on the front of the card like a scratch off ticket. Above the heart is says ‘guess what’ and below it says, ‘scratch me’. I do the very top corner to show him how to do it. “Now you do it.”
I glance at Maddox and we both watch him. He sticks his tongue out the side of his mouth as he concentrates. I rub my fingers through the front of his dirty-blond hair. “It’s words,” he says.
“Will you read it to me like you’ve been doing at night?” My grandmother had been teaching him to read for a while, so I’ve kept up his daily reading.
“Okay.” He looks at the front of the card. “Y-you’re go-ing to be a big b-br-broth-er. Brother.” I get nervous when he doesn’t look up. He just stares at the front. Maybe it was t
oo soon. Maybe we haven’t spent enough time with just him.”
“Madden, do you know what it means?” Maddox asks. My heart stalls and I feel panicky.
He still doesn’t respond. He’s staring down, not moving. I look at Maddox, my eyes filling with tears. “Madden?”
He finally looks up at me. “I was praying, Mom. You’re not supposed to talk when I’m praying. You’re supposed to say thank you when your prayer gets answered, so I did.”
My lip quivers. “What? You prayed to be a brother?”
He nods. “I been praying for a brother or sister for a long time. My friends at my old school had brothers and sisters.”
The tear falls. I grab him up and hug him tight, then kiss his temple. “Next summer you’ll be a big brother, sweet boy. Mommy is having a baby. Open the card.” I pull back some but keep my arm around him. He grabs the edge and opens it, the ultrasound photo from our appointment yesterday taped inside. I point to the tiny peanut-looking baby in the middle of the sac. “See this? This is the baby. It’s in Mommy’s tummy. We got to see its heart beating on the screen. Every month it will grow. Then next July will be its birthday.”
He looks at me. “Will I have a brother or a sister?”
“We don’t know yet. It’s still too little to tell. I think we will get to find out in February.”
“Okay.” He looks at Maddox and hugs him. “You don’t gotta get me a Christmas present, Daddy. This is all I want.”
Maddox’s eyes gloss over and his jaw clenches tight. What started as an accident turned into an answered prayer. The guilt over being upset in the beginning eats at me. He wraps his arms around him and squeezes him tight. “Of course you’re getting presents, buddy. We just wanted to give you this one early.”
Finding Fate Page 45
