Second Chance, Baby

by A. C. Arthur

“Fraud? Why didn’t you go to your supervisors or the owners of the company? Why go directly to Harmon Braddock?” How did she even know to go to Harmon? he wondered. Daiyu neither worked nor lived in his district.

  “Are you asking if I caused his accident? Do you think I had something to do with his death?”

  She stood to her full length in front of him, her chest heaving as she was clearly upset—or afraid, he couldn’t quite tell. All he knew for sure was that he felt like an ass for interrogating his own mother.

  So, taking her hands, he tried to calm the situation. “I am simply trying to answer some questions for my client. I’ll need to know more about this fraud Harmon was looking into for you. If you have any correspondence between the two of you, any evidence, I’ll need to see it.”

  “I could lose my job,” she said evenly.

  “Mom, that was a risk you took when you went to the congressman in the first place. Whatever wheels you set in motion by doing that are going to keep rolling until we find out who is behind both the fraud and Congressman Braddock’s accident.”

  She pulled her hands away from his and walked across the office.

  “Is there something else you’re not telling me?”

  Daiyu did not answer immediately. She stood with her back to him for endless moments. Then she turned, looked her son directly in the eye and said, “There is nothing else to tell you regarding Harmon Braddock.”

  Ty had been driving for hours. The sky above was so dark now he had no idea what time it actually was. He pulled the Aston Martin into the garage at the Braddock estate and sat there long after he’d turned the car off.

  From the moment he’d seen those papers, his mind had been in turmoil, his heart, his hopes and dreams shattered. He’d concluded this morning that TJB Investments, his house, his cars, none of them, meant anything to him without Felicia. That fact had struck him like a vicious blow as he’d read the documents requesting their ties be severed.

  How could she do this so callously? How could she simply give up without a fight? Even as he asked himself those questions, Ty realized that she had fought. Each time she’d waited up for him and asked him to take time off with her. Each time she’d begged for them to start a family. She had been fighting to save their marriage. And he had ignored her.

  Self-examination was a hard task. It was even harder when all the negative strikes accumulated rested with him.

  Losing his wife and his family had never been a concern to him. Now it just wasn’t an option.

  He stepped out of the car and walked into the house. And was surprised to see his mother sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in one hand, another cup sitting across from her.

  He went over and kissed Evelyn on her cheek. “Hi. What are you doing up?” he asked.

  “Sit down,” she said simply in a clipped voice.

  Ty raised a brow and sat down when she returned the favor. “What’s going on?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing. But that would be a waste of time since I already know.”

  “Mom, it’s late and I just want to call the hospital and check on Felicia then go to bed.”

  “You’re staying here tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’m too tired to make the trip back into town.” The truth was he was too hurt to go back into that penthouse without his wife. To face the divorce papers he’d thrown on the floor as he marched out.

  “That’s fine because you and I need to talk.”

  “I’m really tired, Mom,” he heard himself complain.

  “I’m really tired, too, Tyson. I’m tired of watching you destroy something good. Now I’m going to brush off the fact that you didn’t tell me that I was going to be a grandmother personally.”

  “I was going to tell you,” he interrupted.

  “When? When Felicia gave birth?” Evelyn waved her hand when he began to respond. “It doesn’t matter now. The more important issue is what you’re doing to your marriage.”

  That was the last thing he wanted to talk to anybody about, especially his mother. But if he knew anything about Evelyn Braddock, he knew there was no stopping her when she had something on her mind.

  “Felicia and I are going to be okay,” he said simply.

  “Why? Because you say so?”

  “No. Not just because I say so.” He exhaled deeply. “Because we belong together.”

  Evelyn nodded. “I happen to agree with that point. But I don’t agree with how you’re proving it.”

  “Mom—”

  “Don’t ‘Mom’ me. Felicia and I had lunch. You know that day I was supposed to have lunch with both of you? Well, anyway, when you neglected to show up, Felicia got upset. She told me everything that’s been going on with you two.”

  Ty dropped his elbows on the table, letting his head fall into his hands. “I know I messed up. And I’m going to make it better.”

  Evelyn reached out a hand and lifted Ty’s face to look at her. “How are you going to make it better?”

  “I’m going to stop working so much. I even passed on my biggest client to one of my associates.”

  Evelyn only smiled. “And you think that’s enough?”

  “That’s what she wants. She wants me to be with her more, to be there for her and the baby more. And I’m willing to do whatever I have to for her happiness.”

  “What about your happiness, son? What are you going to do six months down the road when you start itching to get back to work?”

  “I don’t understand.” Ty shook his head, trying to figure out what his mother was getting at. For a moment he thought she was going to lash out at him about how he was treating Felicia. Now it seemed like she was on his side. “What do you suggest I do?”

  “I suggest you think about what it is you really want out of life and why you want it. Listen, your father and I went through a similar point in our marriage. Harmon was determined to make as much money as I already had in my trust fund. He desperately needed to prove that he could support me and keep me in the manner in which I was brought up.

  “But that wasn’t what I needed. I loved your father for the man that he was. He didn’t have to prove anything to me, or to anyone else for that matter. You see, he kept thinking that he had to be what everyone else expected of him, instead of just being himself. It took him a long time to get a handle on that.”

  Ty thought about her words as he sat back in his chair. “I’m not like Malcolm. I don’t want to work for the cause, and the thought of politics as a career makes me nauseous. I’m not lawyer material like Dad and Shondra. So I knew growing up that whatever I chose to do I had to do it well. Better than well. I had to be the best to make up for what I wasn’t.”

  “That’s nonsense, baby. Don’t you see that? Your father and I loved you for who and what you were. Your sister and brother love and respect you for those same reasons. And Felicia, she fell in love with an underweight college student who hated to iron his own clothes.” Evelyn chuckled. “Do you think that all your focus on your career is going to change the way any of us feel about you?”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I think that it’s important for a man to know his place, to take care of his family, to be a provider.”

  “Tyson, you can provide for a small village of families on the money you make in three months. You’re pushing yourself too hard and you are the only person that believes that type of behavior is necessary.”

  “I have to be a good father. Dad would be disappointed if I wasn’t.” Ty stared at the refrigerator to avoid the compassion and the hurt he saw in his mother’s eyes. “And I have to show Felicia that I can be what she needs also.”

  “When I was younger and somebody would tell us what we had to do, we’d say, ‘I don’t have to do anything but stay black and die.’” She chuckled and stood, pulling her son out of the chair to embrace him in a tight hug.

  “Felicia loves you like a woman should love her husband. Your family loves you. Your father loved you. And tha
t baby is going to love you whether or not you’re a billionaire or a plumber unclogging somebody’s toilet. That’s what’s important, Tyson. And that’s all you have to be concerned with.”

  She left him standing there after kissing his cheek. Ty sat back in the chair, staring at nothing but thinking about everything. His wife, his job, his child, his life. But mainly he thought about his father and how his mother’s words had struck home.

  Felicia said she’d fallen in love with him before TJB had ever been created. She’d wanted to marry him and to have a family before he’d become an obsessed workaholic. That meant he must have been doing something right at that time. So all these years he’d been wasting time and energy trying to outdo himself. And at what cost?

  At the cost of losing the one thing that mattered most to him.

  Two days later Felicia was released from the hospital and went back to her apartment. As she looked around at the stark white walls, she felt like crying. No way could she bring her baby into this house. That’s what it was. Not a home at all.

  But then where would be home if Ty wasn’t there?

  Shaking herself free of that pointless thought, she put a pitcher of iced tea on the table and stood back trying to remember if she had everything. Shondra had called that morning and wanted to stop by. Felicia said that was a great idea and offered to fix lunch. Of course Shondra argued, saying she could bring them something to eat, but Felicia was sick and tired of laying in that bed. This gave her something else to do between watching television, going to the bathroom and taking her pills every four hours.

  She hadn’t had any contractions in the last two days, so the doctor had released her from the hospital. But she knew the danger now. She knew that at any moment, if she didn’t keep herself calm and get plenty of rest, the contractions could start again. She could go into preterm labor and her baby could die. That was not acceptable.

  The doorbell rang and she went to answer it.

  “Hey, there. You’re looking nice and rested,” Shondra said as she entered the apartment, then stopped briefly to kiss Felicia on the cheek.

  “Thanks. But I know I don’t look half as good as you.”

  Shondra Braddock was a knockout, plain and simple. Tall and fit, always dressed to impress. She was a bombshell that any man would be pleased to have on his arm. “Who are you kidding?” Shondra remarked as she moved easily into the kitchen.

  Felicia had closed the door and was following her when she heard her say, “You’re the one with that gorgeous pregnancy glow. Women all over the world are, as we speak, in beauty salons trying to capture that look.”

  “If they want to gain weight, pee all day long and struggle to keep down the smallest of meals for nine months, they can be my guest.”

  Shondra sat and Felicia did the same. She reached across the table and was uncovering the plate of sandwiches she’d made when Shondra asked, “Is that really how it feels?”

  Felicia thought about the question for a moment. “Not really. Most of the time there’s this unbeatable excitement. Then there’s awe that outside of all the side effects, there’s a real life growing inside of you. That can’t be beat.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty terrific.”

  When they both had plates with potato salad and a sandwich, Felicia asked what had been on her mind for a while.

  “So how are things with you and Connor?”

  “Things are cool.”

  “Just cool?”

  Shondra smiled. “Things are terrific. Connor is terrific.”

  And there it was. The glow of a woman in love. Shondra probably had no idea that she had that special look of her own.

  “That’s great. I’m really happy for you. You know he came by the hospital one afternoon to see me. He seems really nice.”

  “He is. And he’s thoughtful. You know how hard it is to find a thoughtful man?”

  Felicia only nodded.

  “As a matter of fact, that’s part of the reason I wanted to see you.”

  Yeah, she knew and she’d been trying like hell to avoid it. Shondra and Felicia had a pretty good relationship. But the bottom line was that Shondra was Ty’s sister. And the Braddocks were nothing if they weren’t loyal to each other.

  “What’s going on with you and Ty?”

  “Nothing. I’ve filed for divorce.”

  Shondra looked startled then picked up her glass to take a sip. “It’s that serious, huh?”

  “It’s what has to be done.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure or I wouldn’t have done it. Ty and I have been having problems for a long time now. This wasn’t a decision I made overnight.”

  “Was it a decision you made with your entire family in mind? I mean, what about the child you’re carrying? You’re a teacher, Felicia. You know the statistics of children growing up in single-parent households compared to ones who grow up in two-parent households.”

  “I also know the statistics of children who grow up around two unhappy parents versus the ones of children with one happy, healthy parent.”

  “Touché.”

  “Look, Shondra, I know you mean well, but believe me when I say I’ve given this a lot of thought. I would never have left Ty on a whim. I’ve never loved anyone but him.”

  “So why not fight for him?”

  “I can’t. Not when fighting for him means fighting with him. Or against what he wants so desperately in his life.” Felicia took a sip of lemonade then stabbed at her potato salad with her fork.

  “I see what you’re saying. Ty is ridiculous when it comes to work. But I know that he loves you so much. This is killing him, Felicia.”

  “This almost killed my baby,” Felicia said adamantly. She knew she was being a tad overdramatic. “I mean, it’s not as easy as you might think for me, either. You don’t know how badly I wanted to stay with him no matter what. But it’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to our child.”

  “He’s going to want to be a father to his baby. There’s no question about that.”

  “And I would never stand in his way.”

  “This is hard for all of us, Felicia. Especially on the heels of Dad’s death. We all love you. You became one of us the day Ty brought you home from college. We don’t want to lose you any more than he does.”

  That made Felicia smile. “I love you guys, too. And if there were any other way, if there were any compromise, I would have made it. I grew up an only child, so the closeness that you have with your parents and your siblings is something I’ve always envied. I wanted that for my children, too.”

  “You know what? When I would mess up something, and I did that frequently, my dad used to tell me not to worry, that it was never too late to fix a mistake.”

  With that said, Shondra refused to talk about her brother or her father or any other issues that would stress Felicia out for the duration of her time there. So instead, they finished their lunch and shopped online for baby things. Then Shondra had made a big deal out of walking Felicia into the bedroom, making sure she took her next pill and got into the bed before letting herself out of the apartment.

  Alone in that bed, Felicia had no choice but to think about what she’d done. Her lawyer had contacted her with the news that Ty had been served. He’d come to see her twice a day each day since she’d first been in the hospital. At none of his visits did he mention the papers. He spoke only of her well-being and of things that concerned the baby. He’d been thinking of names and had bought a few more pieces of furniture to match the ones they’d purchased on their shopping trip to the mall weeks ago. But he never asked her to come back to him. He never pled his case for reconciliation.

  Why did that make her heart hurt instead of relieving some of her stress?

  Chapter 14

  Another day had gone by and Felicia was finally back to work. She’d regained some sort of normalcy in her life and was trying to make that a constant.

  Ty had continued his daily visits, a
dding phone calls now that she’d returned to work, but he still hadn’t mentioned the divorce. Tired of waiting for the ax to drop, so to speak, Felicia called her attorney and set up a meeting. There were things they needed to agree upon regarding their life together. As much as she wanted to make a clean break, five years weren’t simply going to vanish neatly into the air.

  Besides, they had the child to consider and provide for. Ty would be more than fair. He would give their baby anything and everything. That was fine with Felicia because she didn’t want anything from Ty for herself. She’d loved their penthouse and every piece of furniture they put into it, but she would walk away from that, too. It was easier that way.

  “Tomorrow at noon.” Ty spoke into the phone while sitting in his office. “I’ll be there.”

  Hanging up the phone, he sat back in his chair and contemplated his life once again. Well, no, not this time. He knew where he’d gone wrong and he knew how he could make it better. But his plan meant nothing if Felicia wasn’t on board. His mother and siblings had been a great support in this time, telling him how wrong he was and how much they still loved him, making him feel better than he’d anticipated.

  He’d been seeing Felicia even though they were separated. No, she hadn’t come back to the penthouse and he hadn’t so much as kissed her since the last night they’d made love. But he loved her just as fiercely.

  She was taking care of herself. Taking the medication to hold the contractions at bay every four hours just as the doctor prescribed. She’d gone back to work, and while he would have preferred she stay at home, he saw how being with her students completed her.

  In all their time together, he’d never really noticed how vibrant and energetic she was when she was teaching. But on her first day back, worried and unsure of how things would turn out, he’d stayed at the school all day long and watched her from a distance. The school principal hadn’t been too happy about that, but she’d come around after he’d used his Braddock charm.

  As the day had progressed, he’d seen her reading to the students as they all sat around her on a colorful rug. The children—and he, too, if he had to be truthful—were mesmerized by her voice. Never had he heard Mrs. Spider’s Tea Party read with such emotion, such genuine feeling. His heart had swelled with love for her and pity for his own selfish blindness.