Hearing the exchange from the open living room, Seth yelled, “You know you don’t have to marry her. Get out now.”
“You trying to steal my man, Princess?” Mia was smiling at Seth.
“You just keep on being you, BBC. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
In front of a roaring fire after dinner, presents for Paola and Nathaniel were exchanged, while Holly, Jared, and Seth continued to work on the tree. Snuggled up against Schooner on the couch with a sleeping Nathaniel in her arms, Mia looked around at the people she loved, and the overwhelming thought that crossed her mind was that she was grateful. It had taken a long time to get to this place. Charles and Seth had been there through the good, the bad and the ugly. Mia inwardly laughed thinking that her escapades gave new meaning to the word ugly. But they had stayed there by her side, weathering it together with tears, laughter, support and some very tough love.
And then there was this beautiful man who she was snuggled against, holding his angelic child in her arms. This man who she held a connection with - a connection that defied time and distance. A connection that was never broken even when they were shattered into sharp, self-destructive fragments. A connection so powerful that she was certain that their souls were entwined in some dimension-defying realm.
Whatever the sources were in the universe that had conspired on the day they met, that provenience was fully aware of the fate that lay before them. Led through a maze of mirrors and dead ends, false starts and photo finishes, punctuated by breathtaking highs and gut wrenching lows, Schooner and Mia would eventually be led by those very same powers to this perfect moment. A moment for which Mia would be eternally grateful, as she basked in its simplicity, surrounded by the abundance of love that she gratefully accepted and wholeheartedly returned without reserve.
Smiling as she felt his lips in her hair, Mia looked up at Schooner, her eyes moist.
“You ok?” he mouthed.
Nodding, she smiled and then looked away, staring into the mesmerizing flames of the fire, in an attempt to compose herself.
“I love you, Baby Girl,” he whispered into her ear.
Mia wanted to tell him it was smoochal, but getting words past the burning lump in her throat was not going to happen. Instead, she buried her face in their son’s soft, sweet cheek and melted deeper into Schooner’s side.
Chapter Twelve
The late March sun was streaming through the southern exposure windows of Mia’s office, warming the room, as Nathaniel amused himself in his Exersaucer, cooing at the plastic jungle animals. Mia focused intently on the advertising copy on her laptop, trying to tighten a good concept into a snappy, succinct ad.
Picking up her ringing cell, Mia smiled at the picture of Schooner holding Nathaniel. “Hi Babe.”
“Hey, Baby Girl.”
She could hear it immediately in his voice. Something was very, very wrong. “Schooner, what’s the matter?”
“My mom just called. My dad was out golfing today with Zac and some friends and he had a heart attack.”
“Oh my God, is he ok?” Mia’s sharp tone scared Nathaniel and she watched as his face crumbled, his lower lip starting to tremble. Putting Schooner on speaker, she laid her cell on her desk and went to Nathaniel, lifting him out of his seat.
“Yeah, I think so, it appears that it was mild and there was only a small amount of damage to the front of his heart, but they have him in CCU.”
“Are there blockages?” Mia was gently swaying with Nathaniel, softly saying, “shhh” in his ear to calm him down. With his head on her shoulder, she could feel him relaxing and getting heavier with sleep.
“It doesn’t appear that he’s going to need a bypass. They are evaluating a stent in one artery.”
“How is your mom doing? And Zac?” Mia’s heart went out to them both. How scary for Dee, she thought, to see her husband of forty-five years, the patriarch of the family, the man whom she leaned on, downed without any warning. And what a difficult thing for an almost eighteen year old to have to have witnessed.
“They are both very badly shaken up. Can you get away for a few days?”
His voice told her he needed her by his side. Her and Nathaniel.
“Of course. I just need to get with Kami and Seth and migrate some work over to the team and cancel my appointments for the rest of the week. Do you want me to get Seth to book us flights?”
“Yes. That would be great. It’s kind of late in the day now, see what he can get us for first thing in the morning either into LAX or John Wayne. If we can get a flight into John Wayne, we’ll only be about five or six miles from the hospital.”
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of everything. I’ll meet you at home in a couple of hours.” Nathaniel was now fast asleep on her shoulder.
“Mia, thank you,” his voice was soft.
“Oh Baby, I just wish I could make it better and that I was there to hug you.”
The weight on Schooner was evident in his voice. Control. Protect. Fix. That was his M.O. and things that were out of his realm of control disturbed him deeply. Especially when those he loved were at risk.
Mia wasn’t sure if it was Schooner or Nathaniel or the irresistible combination of the two of them that was causing the bottleneck in the plane’s aisle as passengers boarded the jet. Every woman that passed by had to stop to comment to Schooner about the beautiful bright-eyed baby in his lap. With his platinum ringlets that were just starting to come in and his father’s smile, Nathaniel Moore was beginning his long journey of being adored by the female sex, and he was already loving it, as he quickly mastered the art of flirtation.
“You’re like sex magnets,” Mia elbowed him.
“He’s a chick magnet,” Schooner agreed. “If you ever throw my ass out, I’m just going to walk the streets with this one until some hot babe takes me in.”
“Third one’s a charm, she can be your trophy wife.”
Leaning over, he kissed her softly, “Nope. No third for me. I’ve told you, you’re stuck with me,” he paused, as if thinking and then smiled a wry smile, “and unfortunately, I’m still stuck with CJ.”
Mia rolled her eyes and looked out the window.
“Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone this trip and get things moving along.”
“That would be good, but don’t put that stress on yourself, Schooner. Your dad, mom and Zac are priorities for this trip. Fuck CJ. She’s not worth any of your energy right now.”
Taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, “You have been incredibly patient and good natured about this, Mia, and I really appreciate it.”
“She won for a long time, Schooner. I’m done handing her wins. In another time and place I probably would have said that I’d kick her ass, but no more. She just doesn’t deserve that energy from me. She’s nothing. One of the most important things you’ve ever said to me was when you told me I needed to exorcise her ghost. I needed to hear that, because it just wasn’t clicking, and when you said that to me and told me that she was always jealous of the place that I held in your heart, it was like I finally saw this picture that was right in front of my eyes that I could just never see.” Smiling at him, “The only thing that annoys me is that she puts stress on you and that upsets me because I do want to kill anyone who hurts you.”
Schooner remained silent with eyes trained on Mia’s.
“What? What’s that look?” Mia broke the silence.
“We’re a team, Baby Girl. We’re finally handling things as a team. Together.”
Reaching out, she put a hand on his cheek and nodded, “And we’ll just keep getting better and better at it.” Then she chuckled and her devil grin took over, “Ok, so maybe I kind of do have a fantasy about a good old fashioned bitch fight and taking her down.”
Throwing his head back with laughter, “I’d pay good money to see that and my money would be on the scrappy babe from New York.”
Chapter Thirteen
Exiting the elevator on
the cardiac care unit at Hoag Memorial Hospital, Mia could see the deep concern and fear in Schooner’s eyes.
“I’ll meet you at your dad’s room,” Mia’s nose was scrunched up. “I don’t want your parents to meet their grandson smelling like this.”
Ducking into a bathroom, Mia pulled out a changing pad and laid Nathaniel out on the plastic changing table. “So Poopy Boy, you are going to get to meet your grandma and grandpa for the first time. You were too little to travel and we didn’t want them to travel to New York in the dead of winter. And I’m going to tell you a secret, even though I talk to them on the phone all the time, I haven’t seen them since I was a munchkin.”
Tossing the offending diaper into the garbage, Mia dressed Nathaniel back up in his Baby Gap sweats.
“I’ll bet just seeing you will make Grandpa feel so much better. I know when he sees Daddy, he’s going to be very happy. And you are all smiles today, so we’re all really lucky.”
Picking him up and slinging the diaper bag onto her shoulder, Mia exited the bathroom, “Ok, let’s go find Daddy.”
As she stepped out into the corridor she nearly collided with a person walking down the hall.
“Mia?”
And they both stood there in shock, each as surprised as the other at their near collision. Mia’s hold on Nathaniel became tighter, as she went into protection mode, and Nathaniel turned his face from Mia’s shoulder to see why.
He gasped and choked out in a rough voice, “Oh my God, he looks like me.” The look on his face was the same perplexed look she had seen on Schooner’s face, so many years before, the first time he had laid eyes on her in front of Brewster Hall. And then she noticed the glaze as his eyes became wet.
“Yes. He does look like you. There’s some strong genes in the family.” Taking a deep breath, Mia attempted to outwardly regain her composure, before she went on. “Nathaniel, this is your big brother, Zac.”
As if on cue, Nathaniel hit Zac with a classic Moore smile and Zac reacted without thinking, returning Nathaniel’s smile with a real smile of his own.
Squirming in Mia’s arms, Nathaniel was making it known that he wanted to go to Zac. This immediate innate trust of his older brother caused panic in Mia’s gut. Would Zac hurt him? The incident at L9 could have been tragic for Nathaniel.
The tighter Mia held him, the more he squirmed, literally trying to throw his body at Zac as he began to fuss.
“He wants you to hold him,” Mia locked eyes with Zac. The last thing she wanted to do was hand him her baby. Fear gripped her tighter than she was gripping Nathaniel, but somewhere deep down she knew she couldn’t keep the brothers apart.
Zac searched her eyes, as confused by the moment as she was. “Is that ok?”
Nodding, Mia placed Nathaniel in his arms.
“You are so cute. Holly told me that you looked like me, but I did not expect you to be a mini-me,” he laughed, his face a full blown smile. “I have a mini-me,” he said proudly.
Nathaniel rewarded him with a smile, cooing as if Zac were reading him an amusing story. Thrusting himself forward, he pressed his open mouth to Zac’s cheek, leaving a big wet spot.
“What’s he doing?” Zac’s eyes were again wide with confusion.
Mia laughed. “He just kissed you. He doesn’t know how to give real kisses yet, so that is how he kisses. He likes you, Zac.”
“He’s really cute.”
Feeling the tears beginning to well in her eyes, Mia willed them to stop, but they weren’t complying and she quickly brushed them away.
“Mia. I’m sorry about everything. I’m glad you’re ok. Really, I am. And I’m really glad he is ok, too.” He was transfixed on Nathaniel.
In his eyes, Mia saw contrition. Holding his sweet, innocent brother in his arms finally made the ramifications of what could have happened abundantly clear.
Not ready to verbalize anything to him, she nodded. Clearing her throat, “Let’s go take Nathaniel to meet his grandparents.”
As Zac led the way, his brother still in his arms, a shocked Mia walked alongside them wondering about the seemingly immediate bond that she had just witnessed between the two Moore brothers.
Chapter Fourteen
“The Brothers Moore have arrived,” Zac announced upon entering Gavin Moore’s hospital room.
Both Gavin and Dee’s faces lit up at the sight of their two grandsons. Surprised to see his two sons together and his older son proudly walking in with a smiling Nathaniel in his arms, Schooner’s face was a portrait in shock and astonishment.
“Oh, let’s see this handsome boy.” Gavin Moore was distinguished and handsome. His light hair now a thick shock of white, setting off his deep tan and pale sapphire Moore eyes.
Mia’s smile matched the intensity of everyone’s in the room. It had been nearly a quarter of a century since she had seen them, but the moment she was in their presence, she felt that same warmth they had shown her as a teen.
Giving Dee a welcoming hug, she could see the strain and fear in her lovely blue eyes. Mia gave the older woman’s hand a reassuring squeeze, letting her know they were there now and she no longer had to shoulder the burden alone.
Going to Gavin’s bedside, she bent down to give him a kiss. Pulling back to take in his handsome face, the look in his eyes told Mia they were happy about her place in their son’s life.
“Look at you. As pretty as you were when you were a teen. And that’s quite a good looking boy you’ve got there.”
Mia took his hand in hers and sat in the bedside chair that Schooner had brought over for her. “I’d say the Moore men are a good looking crew.”
“That’s because we surround ourselves with beautiful women. You make us look better,” Gavin laughed. “Look at the curls on this one,” commenting on the first few curls of fair hair that were now just beginning to come in.
Zac handed Nathaniel to his grandfather.
“You are quite the handsome young man, Nathaniel Moore.”
Smiling at his grandfather, baby Nathaniel was providing a cure that modern medicine could not rival. The dream for Gavin to be present and in good health for the milestones in this little boy’s life dispensed the ultimate impetus to heal.
Schooner was standing behind Mia and she could feel his hands on her shoulders giving her a squeeze. Without even turning around, she instinctively knew the look on his face and in his eyes as he watched his father cuddling the newest member of the family. As Mia watched her small son flirting with his grandfather, she knew that she was not only Schooner’s, but that she was a member of the Moore family, and while Zac might be the last hold out in his relationship to her, the bridge to détente would most definitely be Nathaniel.
Sitting back in her chair, she was hit by the enormity of the healing power this little boy brought. It appeared that he was much more than her miracle baby - defying the odds of conception after forty, good health, the auspicious circumstances of his birth - her little miracle had the power to bring hope and renewed resolve to his grandfather as well as to be the conduit to join together the disparate pieces of what had just recently appeared to be an irrevocably shattered family.
And in that moment, Mia too, had hope. Hope that Schooner’s relationships with all of his children would be in a place that brought him happiness again and hope that the three Moore children would have healthy, loving and supportive relationships.
Gavin handed Nathaniel back to her and she kissed her son’s tiny nose. “Your Grandma has been very patient and I don’t think we should make her wait another second before holding you. What do you think, Munchkin?”
Mia stood and walked over to a beaming Dee. Their eyes met as she handed Nathaniel over to her. The joy in holding her grandson for the first time swept away the storm clouds that Mia had seen hovering earlier in Dee’s eyes.
“You look just like your daddy at this age,” she kissed him on his almost chubby cheek.
With his head settled on her shoulder, Nathaniel was aslee
p within moments.
“You’re staying with us,” Dee announced.
“Mom, we thought we’d stay at the Ritz. We don’t want to put you out or make any more work for you.”
The look on Dee’s face let Schooner know immediately that was not acceptable.
“You’re staying with me.”
Smiling at the dynamic between mother and son, there was no way Schooner was going to disappoint his mother, and there was no way Dee was going to relinquish even a moment with her newest grandchild.
“What are you smiling at?” Schooner asked Mia.
“I’ve never seen where you grew up. You’ve seen so much of my world, but I haven’t seen yours yet, so I’m really excited to see everything. And Dee, thank you for the invitation, we would love to stay with you.”
“Wonderful, we’ll have a nice full house. Zac has been staying with me.”
Schooner looked to his older son and Zac just shrugged. “I didn’t want Grandma to be alone and things at the house are really weird.”
“What do you mean really weird?” Schooner’s body language immediately tensed.
“Well, it’s just uncomfortable there.”
“In what way?” pressed a quickly agitated Schooner. It was clear that he was not going to let up until he got the answer to what was causing Zac’s discomfort.
Taking a deep breath, Zac just looked at his feet.
“Zac, I asked you a question.”
Getting her first glimpse of the tough, disciplinarian father, Mia could feel the tension in the room building to a fevered pitch.
And then, without any preamble, the bomb was dropped.
“Uncle Beau has moved in with Mom. He’s moved into our house, Dad.”
Chapter Fifteen
The air was sucked out of the room and all was still. Dead calm. All Mia could think of was the sky before a huge thunderstorm, where the air was heavy and dank, and the rolling gray clouds took on a tinge of green. Mia always described those few moments before the heavens let loose as feeling like she was in a fish tank, and she thought it was probably fair to say that at that moment, everyone (with the exception of Nathaniel) in Gavin Moore’s hospital room probably felt as if they were drowning in the fish tank as they waited for the vessel to burst, propelling them, flip-flopping, through the rushing torrent of water onto the institutional tile floor.
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