by Lolah Lace
“What are you doing?”
“Making coffee.”
“You need some breakfast. I can make it.”
“You can make breakfast?”
“Yeah, I can make waffles.”
“Well I want waffles.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Two waffles coming right up.” Kelly marched over to the refrigerator’s freezer and grabbed a box of Eggo waffles. She walked over to the toaster that was on the counter and started doing her cooking magic.
I went into the cupboard for plates and I grabbed the maple syrup also.
“Luke.”
“Yes Kelly.”
“Do you love my mom again?”
“Yes, I love your mom. I love you too. I love you both.”
“I love the baby? Luke, do you love the baby?”
“Yes I love the baby.”
“The baby needs a dad. I’ve gone a long time without one so it’s not a big deal to me but the baby really needs one.”
“You’re right. I’m going to be a dad. If you ever needed a dad like person I could do that.”
“Like a father figure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, yeah, whatever.” She shrugged. “I think Hailey would approve.”
“I think she would approve.” I agreed.
“My mother was sad without you here.”
“I was sad when I wasn’t here. I like it here with you guys.”
I spent the next hour in the kitchen with Kelly. We ate our waffles and I drank my coffee. Kelly and I talked about our future together with the baby. It was one of the most grownup conversations I ever had with I kid. I really did love this kid. I missed her when she was gone from my life. I was sure my feelings for her were true. She wasn’t a replacement Hailey because they weren’t that much alike at all when I gave it some real thought.
I thought that I should bring coffee to Nicki but I wasn’t sure if pregnant women could drink coffee. There was so much I didn’t know.
Kelly and I parted ways so I could go check up on her mother. I entered the bedroom and Nicki was partially sitting up in bed with pillows surrounding her body.
“Hey.”
“Hey come here.” Nicki reached out for me.
“Yeah, did you think I left? I just went downstairs for coffee.”
“I tripped over your big shoes when I ran to the bathroom.”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. I hope she didn’t fall.
“No, come here.”
I crawled into the bed and got as close to her as possible. Her stomach set me back at least a foot.
“What’s up?”
“I’m sorry I lied to you.”
I glazed over her apology because I had something else on my mind. “Would you consider being my wife? Seriously you said you love me. I know I love you. I want you. I want us, a wife, a baby and a daughter that can do my taxes. This is what I want. I love you.” I was rambling.
“I ah I love you and I ah--”
“If it’s the money I could sign a prenup. I want you to be my wife. I don’t ever want to lose you again.”
“Luke, I want to be your wife.” My happiness spilled out to the corner of my lips. I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “You want a family?”
“I want a family with you.” I kissed her lips again. “I want a life with you in it every single day.”
***
Once again life had changed drastically for me. I was on this new journey that I wholeheartedly embraced. My ex Rebecca was on a journey of her own. She was sentenced to one year for the DUI. She also got two years for reckless endangerment. It was a plea deal from the vehicular manslaughter charge. She would have to do half the time, maybe less. I didn’t go to the sentencing. I didn’t really care. I decided to hold on to the memory of Hailey and let go of all negative feelings pertaining to Rebecca. I knew it was unhealthy to leave Hailey’s room like a shrine to her memory. So I got rid of most of her stuff. The Barbie dolls went to Kelly, clothes to Goodwill. I took up permanent residence in Bloombury Court with my fiancée and future step-daughter. I rented my place to my brother.
Three weeks later my fiancée had our baby boy. He was named after me. I wasn’t too sure about a namesake but Nicki insisted on it. I would have loved to have named him Luke Skywalker Hamilton but Nicki shut that down with an eye roll.
So my son was born Lukas Michael Hamilton. He was eight pounds and twelves ounces. There was instant love as soon as I saw him. I felt like I had been punched in the chest. It was as if someone had reached into my chest and squeezed the shit out of my heart. I loved this baby. I love my son and I still had room in my heart to love Hailey.
After two weeks newborn he started to look like me. He had gray eyes, my nose and a curler version of my brown unruly hair. Little Luke was a tan baby because he was biracial but I was also tanned just because I was always in the sun.
Kelly was excited with her new title as big sister. I never seen a kid love a baby the way she loved little Luke. Kelly went from calling me Mr. Lukas to Lukas. She made it clear she would start calling me dad as soon as the baby could talk because she didn’t want to confuse him. I thought that was a brilliant idea. She was full of brilliant ideas. I would always proud to be her stepdad. I truly believed she would be a lawyer. She fights for what she believes in. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her need to voice the truth.
Nicki had always gotten child support from Kelly’s father. He paid her out of pocket. I call it under the table only because his wife didn’t know anything about it. Because Clifford was married he never signed Kelly’s birth certificate. Kelly’s last name was Nevels and that opened the door for me to adopt her.
Before the wedding I warned my mother ahead of time that there would be no disrespect tolerated at my wedding, the reception or to my wife and kids. My mother cried like I killed her. I felt bad for being so stern with her but I knew she was prejudice, racist or whatever you call it and I wasn’t having Nicki’s special day ruined.
I had an informal meeting with my mother, father, my fiancée and my kids. On the day of our visit I had never seen my mother’s house so spotless. I needed everybody to meet ahead of time. Nicki assured me that it would be okay. Nicki was right. I had never seen my mother kiss anybody’s ass like she kissed Nicki’s.
Nicki was a Queen. I realized that my mother wasn’t the first racist old lady she had come across. She had my mother eating out of the palm of her hands. It was like she hit my mother in the head with magic. It also helped that Nicki showed up with an Elvis doll as a gift for my mother. My mother was a groupie nutcase for Elvis Presley. I had no idea Nicki listened to Elvis but she knew his songs and this impressed my mother. I almost had a heart attack when my mother rocked baby Luke to sleep. I had to snap a picture of my mother with a little tan baby on her lap. Tony would have to see this.
Since Nicki and I weren’t churchgoers, we got married at her mother’s church six months after Nicki gave birth. There was no prenup but I lead my family and friends to believe there was one. I didn’t want anyone to get any ideas about asking for loans. My brother had somehow remained clean and sober and he was a groomsmen. Tony was my best man. He took full credit for Nicki and I having a love connection. He told everyone at the reception that if he didn’t drop the TV on the floor there would have been no love connection, no baby and no wedding.
Maybe he was right but somehow I felt that Nicki and I would have found our way to each other. Everything went off without a hitch mainly because it was planned perfectly by my Nicki. She was Superwoman and Wonderwoman rolled into one.
Being married to Nicki Hamilton was pure bliss. She legally changed her name but hyphenated it for work. It sounds corny but every day that passes I fall more and more in love with her. After Hailey died I never dreamed I could feel this kind of love and happiness.
When you give love you get love in return. My relationship with my brother has never been better. He pa
ys me rent sometimes. My relationship with my parents had manifested from nothing to something really amazing. I vaguely remember a time when I was so sad. That time has passed.
People are always throwing the word blessed around but I am truly…BLESSED.
Authors Note
I couldn’t wait to write this stand-alone book. I didn’t realize how much until I got the idea for this book when I was writing Free Agent. I had written 10k words of this book and had to put it aside to continue writing the Balls To The Walls Erotica Series. I love the Mason Rizza character but I needed a break and that’s how the Lukas Hamilton character came to be. Lukas is a softer gentler side of the Alpha male. Now back to BTTW. What comes after BTTW? I have many unfinished novels so I will be fast at work finishing up one of the books I have already started. I also plan on adapting one of my screenplays into a novel. I cranked the Balls To The Walls books out constantly and I plan on taking a little more time to make my next books longer and more in depth. All those books had a feeling of realism. I plan on also taking a stab at an overdramatized story. Some readers want fantasy as opposed the realism. I like both. I will continue to blog. I love to blog but rarely have time to do so. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your purchase. Thanks for taking the time to read my first stand-alone novel. Please leave a review. They are greatly appreciated.
http://www.amazon.com/Lolah-Lace/e/B00DH1Q31O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7143906.Lolah_Lace
Check out my blog Erotic City for updates and news: http://lolahlace.blogspot.com/
Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lolah.lace
Balls to The Walls books
by Lolah Lace
Let’s Play Ball (Book One)
Line Of Scrimmage (Book Two)
Full Court Press (Book Three)
Balls To The Walls Erotica Series Books 1-3
Free Agent (Book 3.5)
Bases Loaded (Book Four)
Other Novels
The Boss Lady
Coming Soon
Flag On The Play (February 2014)
Out of Bounds (March 2014)
