Chapter Twenty-Six

Kaleigh

My whole body hurts. Why does my body hurt so much? I blink my eyes open. And why is it that all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep? I went into work today and took a two-hour nap in the relaxation room. Then I got up, came home, and then napped again till the kids came home. I got to Noah’s at five-thirty and drifted off while watching House Hunters.

I pick up my phone, noticing that Noah called me four times in the last five minutes. I’m about to call him back when the doorbell rings. I walk to the door, opening it and coming face to face with his mother.

If I thought she was well dressed when she was here the last time, it’s nothing compared to now. She is wearing a charcoal knee-length skirt with the matching jacket tied at the waist and flaring off at the hips. A cream-colored Hermes bag finishes the well-polished look. Her hair is once again styled flawlessly.

“Well, look at this,” she says, walking past me into the house.

I close my eyes and say a prayer that Noah gets here before I kill her. “Please come in,” I say to no one really.

“Where is my son?” she asks, looking around the living room.

“He is at work or on his way home.”

“I see. Well, then this is even better. We can have a conversation woman to woman,” she says, holding her purse handle in two hands now. “So tell me how much is it going to cost me to make you go away?”

My head snaps back and I stop. I can’t swallow because my mouth is suddenly dry. “What?” I ask in almost a whisper.

“I got a call today. It seems you’ve got yourself in a situation and I need to know how much it will take to make you and the situation go away.”

My hand goes straight to my stomach in protection mode.

“We both know that you saw Noah and found out who he was and then starting hatching a plan to get your claws into him. So, I’ll ask you again, how much will it cost me to have you be a bad memory?”

“I’m going to be as polite as I possibly can because my parents taught me that. But get the fuck out,” I say, pointing to the door. “There is not a price that you can pay me to as you put it ‘go away.’ And this situation you are talking about is your grandchild.”

“Can we really be sure?” she says and I gasp in shock.

“Get the fuck out.” Is roared behind me.

I turn to come face to face with Noah. Actually it’s not Noah. I have never met this person before. Gone are the clear blue eyes. In their place are dark blue cloudy ones. His hands are clenched at his sides while the vein is in forehead is ticking. “Take your bullshit and your vile words and get the fuck out of my house, Mother.”

She actually rolls her eyes at him. “Noah, you can’t honestly tell me that it didn’t cross your mind that the child might not be yours.”

“I may be a lot of things. I may be flighty. I may be nonchalant, and I may show up later most of the times. But one thing you can never say about me is that I’m a liar.” My hands now clench at my sides while I feel Noah come to me, putting his arm around my shoulders, giving me strength.

“I’ve seen you pull a lot of stunts in my life, Mother, but this right here is the straw that is breaking the camel’s back. My whole childhood, all I wanted was for you to give a shit about me for two fucking seconds, but the only time you actually paid attention to me was when you were parading me around like a show dog. I graduated top of my class and you didn’t show up because you had to prepare for a case.”

I slip my hand around his waist, bringing me closer now.

“You aren’t a mother, you’re a name that they put on a birth certificate. But Kaleigh, she is everything that I want my children to have. She is beautiful, she is kind, and most of all she’s fucking loyal.”

“That was quite a declaration, but it doesn’t answer my question. When are you going to have a paternity test?”

Noah shakes his head. “Go put on your shoes, babycakes,” he tells me as I turn to slip on the flip-flops that I took off near the couch. “Since you can’t get it into your head to get the fuck out, we will.” He grabs my hand, turning around. “Oh and, Mother, just so we’re clear, you’ll never set eyes on my children.”

The door closes behind us with a big thud. I look up at Noah, seeing the tears in his eyes as he blinks them away.

“Fuck this,” I say, turning back around and storming back in the door.

“You are…” I start saying, watching her blink her eyes at me. “Your son is kind. He is so kind. He’s loving. He took care of me and bought vegan food just because I was sick. He’s caring. He held my hair while I threw up. He’s selfless. He let my niece paint his nails and toenails just to keep her busy. He is everything that you could ever wish your child to grow up to be and more. And instead of welcoming it into your life, you push it away because you’re an egotistical bitch.”

Her mouth opens wide.

“Yeah, that’s right, I said it. You’re a bitch. A high-class, nose so high in the air, I’m surprised you can see all the little things.” My hands fly up in frustration. “You know that throne you sit up on that is high, well, let me tell you when you fall it’s going to be a bumpy fucking fall and you’ll have no one there to help you, no one.” I turn now, walking out of the room and turning my head over my shoulder. “And all because you’re a bitch.” I turn back around and walk out to see that Noah and Austin are now there watching me.

“That was some speech,” Noah says to me.

“Yeah, well, she poked the bear,” I say, walking past them. “Now can someone please feed me? All this has gotten me hungry.”

“I’ll leave you two be. Just making sure I didn’t need to get the go-to bag out to bury a body.” Austin winks at me and then slaps Noah on the shoulder.

“Can we go eat, please?” I say, walking to his car, getting in as he gets in and buckles himself in.

“Can I just say I got so hot watching you stick up for me?” He leans over, giving me a kiss on the lips. “So hot I’m going to make sure I show you exactly how hot.”

I roll my eyes. “Like I could stop you from showing me.”

We pull out of the driveway and make our way back to our favorite Italian restaurant when he gets a call on his Bluetooth.

“Hello,” he answers. “You’re on speaker.”

“Hey, Noah, it’s Luca.” A male’s voice fills the car. “Guess what?”

“I have no idea,” he answers.

“I found her,” he says. “She lives in New York and works at Lennox hospital in the NICU.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he says, his voice booming out.

“Yes, sir, lives in Brooklyn, which is why she doesn’t need a car. She has two kids and lives with her partner, Ruthie.”

“Holy shit. I owe you one, man,” he says, hanging up. He looks over at me. “Want to spend the weekend in New York?”

“You want me to come with you?” I ask him, not sure how I’m going to feel meeting his actual wife.

“Of course I want you to come with me. We can make a mini vacation out of it. Stroll through Central Park, take pictures in Times Square, have vacation sex.”

I laugh at him. “I would love to go on vacation with you and have vacation sex.”

He pumps his fist in the air and dials Lauren’s number.

She answers on the third ring. “Hey.”

“I need you to book two tickets first-class to New York. For Thursday to Sunday. I also need a swanky hotel to take your sister to.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow morning first thing. So I take it you found her?” she asks.

“Yes, we did,” Noah says and then makes plans to see her tomorrow morning bright and early, and by bright he said he will be in by ten.

“I love you,” I say, turning my back to the door.

His head whips around to look at me.

“I never got a chance to tell you when you declared your love for me and I wanted to say it back.” I smile at him as he pulls over to the side of the street. “This thing with us started off as just me wanting to have really good sex.

“Great sex,” he interjects. “With my huge cock. Proceed.”

“Yes, great sex with the biggest cock I have ever seen in my life.” I giggle.

“That’s more like it.”

“I ran away after the first night,” I tell him, getting on my knees in the middle of the seat.

“And the second.” He points out.

“And the second, but you chased me and never took no for an answer. You ate my food, which I forgot to tell you I burnt a pan and buried it in the back.” I laugh when I see his eyes open wide. “You were there and you made me see that love isn’t hard, it’s work, but it’s a work I want to do. So, let’s go to New York and get you divorced so I can put a ring on it.”