Chapter 45

Jenna

FIVE DAYS AFTER WAKING up, Ethan was finally released. He was adamant that he didn’t want Nolan seeing him in the hospital. He’d felt he already was going to have a hard time adjusting over the loss of his mother, and he didn’t want to traumatize him any more by bringing him into the hospital.

Nolan was a resilient little boy. It was clear he was understandably missing his mother and the man he believed to be his father. That was the part that concerned me. I didn’t want him to reject Ethan because he believed someone else was his dad. It was going to be a huge adjustment for him, but I was certain with mine and Ethan’s love, he’d overcome it. He’d taken an immediate liking to me and would cling to me each time I was around, and I was certain it was because of the resemblance I bore to his mother. It was love at first sight, the moment he cuddled in my arms. I knew I loved that little boy as much as I did his daddy, and I’d do anything in the world for him.

The detectives working on the case had filled Ethan in on everything. Marcus Withers was Edward’s nephew and a struggling writer. He and Darrah were college sweethearts who’d broken up shortly before she’d met Ethan. But even after their breakup she remained close with Edward and his wife. When she and Ethan began to have problems in their marriage, she turned to Marcus for comfort, which eventually led to their affair. It was Edward who devised the elaborate plan of stealing the story to put his nephew on the map in the publishing world. While Darrah plotted her death as well as Nolan’s to get back at Ethan for his infidelity. Both she and Edward knew Ethan would be too wrapped up in his grief to even realize his story had been published. According to her husband, Darrah was supposed to have stayed back in Washington and not have joined him on his book tour, but her ever-increasing paranoia over his faithfulness got the best of her. Both Marcus and Edward were charged with accessory to kidnapping, and I along with Ethan were hoping they got everything they had coming to them.

“I’m really nervous, Jenna. What if…what if he doesn’t remember me?” Ethan stopped himself just as we were readying to enter his house.

“Ethan, it’s going to be fine,” I reassured him. The time I’d spent with Nolan, I’d showed him pictures of Ethan and told him all about his daddy. Not that I’d expected him to understand at three years old, but he appeared to be taking it all in when I spoke. “You’re his dad. Don’t be afraid.” I squeezed his hand and we walked through the door. He was still in a lot of pain, so we took it slow down the hallway.

“We’re in here!” Helene called from the living room.

“Denna!” Nolan bolted from the couch when we made our way in and was immediately by my side. His smile widened as he titled his head, staring up at Ethan, who was frozen in emotion.

“Nolan.” I bent down to his level. “Remember the pictures I showed you when we talked about your real daddy?”

He nodded, still staring up at Ethan in awe.

“This is him.

“Easy,” I whispered to Ethan when he bent down to get a closer look at Nolan.

He ignored the pain he was surely in and focused on Nolan. Tears pooled in his eyes, and I struggled to chase away mine. I took a seat on the couch next to Helene, and she grabbed my hand as we watched the beautiful reunion play out in front of us. Ethan placed his hands on the sides of Nolan’s face before throwing his arms around him and hugging him tight and picking him up in his arms.

“Ethan, sit down. You’re not supposed to be lifting,” Tom scolded, rushing to his side and guiding him to the couch.

Nolan sat on Ethan’s lap and stared up at him.

“Do you remember me?” Ethan asked.

Nolan nodded. I wasn’t sure if he even knew what he was answering to, but it made me happy to see the smile on Ethan’s face with his reply.

“I missed you so much, buddy. I thought about you every single day, and I love you more than you’ll ever know.” He closed his eyes and rested his lips on Nolan’s head. It was the perfect moment that Ethan never thought he’d have with his son. Tears pricked my eyes, just imagining the emotions he was feeling right now.

I got up and followed Helene and Tom into the kitchen, wanting to give Ethan some one on one time with his son.

“He had a good morning. He woke up crying for his mother, but I was able to calm him down,” Helene advised, both of us reaching for napkins to dab our eyes.

I sighed heavily. That sweet little boy had been through so much in his three short years. “It’s going to be tough on him. I did mention to Ethan about maybe taking him to counseling. I’m not sure how much it would help a three-year-old, but maybe they’d have some ideas for Ethan to help Nolan get through this.”

“I just don’t understand. What kind of mother would do this to their child? Did she even stop to think how this would affect her son?” Helene asked with a shake of her head.

“She was a sick woman, that’s for sure,” Tom chimed in. “Withers told the detectives she was so distraught half the time, that she barely had time for Nolan. The nanny was practically raising him.”

“Well, now he has Ethan and you.” Helene reached over the table and squeezed my hand, meeting my gaze.

I gave her a reassuring smile and she smiled back. It all seemed so surreal to me. Just a few months ago, I was engaged to another man and Ethan was basically a stranger. Now, here I was, willing to commit to him and his sweet little boy forever.

***

Nolan and Ethan seemed to pick up right where they’d left off. Ethan hadn’t left his side the entire day. Nolan began to cry for his mother once bedtime had arrived. Helene had warned that bedtime and morning were his worst times, so I was prepared to handle it. Ethan had overdone it during the course of the day, and I demanded he lie down and let me handle Nolan.

I sat next to Nolan in his bed and grabbed a book from the pile Helene had gotten him. “Oh, this one looks cute…Dragons Love Tacos. What do you think, should we read this one?” I asked.

He gazed up at me with his tear-filled eyes and nodded, moving as close as he could to me. I started to read and his crying subsided as he pointed to the pictures. “Dat’s a big mongsta,” he remarked, turning the page to get to the next picture.

“He’s very big, and look at all those tacos he’s eating.”

“He’s a silly head!” Nolan let out a deep belly laugh, and my heart swelled.

I looked down at him to find him fast asleep by the time I’d gotten to the last page. His head was on my lap, and I couldn’t help but notice just how perfectly round his angelic little face was. I softly worked my fingers through his light-brown curls, wishing things could have been different for this sweet little boy. I rested my head against the headboard of Nolan’s bed and closed my eyes, and it wasn’t long before I was dreaming of taco-eating dragons as well.

I wasn’t sure exactly how long I’d dosed off for, but once my eyes peeled open, I carefully slipped out of Nolan’s bed, covering him up and kissing his cheek. I turned around and gave him one last look before turning off his light and exiting his bedroom. I poked my head in Ethan’s bedroom where I’d left him just a short time ago, and he wasn’t there. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I headed down the hallway to the guest room to find it was empty as well. He was never going to heal if he kept pushing himself like this.

“Ethan,” I called as I made my way down the steps. The dim light coming from his office caught my eye. I gently knocked before making my way in. “What are you doing up?” I asked when he lifted his head from the computer screen.

“I just wanted to do something really quick while I was thinking about it.” He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, leaning against it with his hands in his pockets.

“Ethan, you really need to go lie down. The doctor only let you leave today because you promised you’d take it easy, and I promised I’d make sure you would. Nolan is asleep. Now you need to go to bed too.”

“When did you get so bossy?” He smirked.

I shrugged. “Maybe after two weeks of watching you lying in a hospital bed, not knowing if you were gonna make it.” My eyes swelled with tears just thinking about it.

“Jenna, really? I’m fine. Stop crying.” He walked over to me and pulled me into his embrace.

I eagerly hugged him back, unable to control my emotions. I realized in those two weeks how foolish I was for not telling him how I really felt about him, scared I’d never get the chance again.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just—” I paused to catch my breath. “I wish I’d told you sooner how I was really feeling—that I loved you. I was so afraid you’d never know. I was so nervous that maybe we were moving too fast and it was all going to come crashing down on us eventually.”

He took my face in his hands and gazed down at me with a smile. “Isn’t it ironic that the one who believes in the happily ever afters was the one who was most cynical?”

I shook my head and managed a slight laugh. “I love you, Ethan. I loved you on the day you first told me, and I loved you even before then. I was overthinking too much, and everything was playing over and over in my head. How were we going to make it work being so far away? How were you going to adjust with everything going on in your life? And in those two weeks without you, I realized…it will work. If we want it badly enough, it will. I know now that when you find the right person, you just know it. I spent three years with Brad, trying to convince myself he was that person, only to find in three short months that it was really you. Maybe that’s what real love was all about.”

He moved his hands around my waist and pressed his forehead into mine. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m pushing you into anything, Jenna. I know Nolan changes things a lot, and if you’re not ready to take on—”

“Are you kidding me? If anything, that sweet little boy has earned you even more points.”

“Is that so?” He grinned.

“Well, what can I say? He’s a cutie. But so are you.” I rose up on the tips of my toes and kissed him on the lips. “Now, I’m going to take you upstairs…”

“I like the sound of where this is going.” He smirked.

“Easy there…no strenuous activity for six weeks.”

“Jenna, I’ll be dead by then.”

“Oh, I think you’ll manage. Now come on, you’re going to lie down. Would you like me to read you Dragons Love Tacos too?”

I took his hand and led him out of his office. He pulled me back when we reached the stairs. “Thank you so much for everything. Thank you for giving me my son back. Thank you for not running away when most people would have been long gone…and thank you for allowing me to love again.”

I looked up at him and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

We took a few steps up the stairs before stopping once again.

“Were you working on another book in there?”

“Maybe.”

“Do I get a sneak peek?”

“Nope, this one you’ll have to wait until the end.”

“Hey, that’s not fair...I think being with you should come with some perks.”

He laughed. “I think the wait will be well worth it. It’s gonna be a lot different than my norm.”

“If you say so, but, Ethan...”

“Hmm...”

“Don’t do it to show your readers that Jonathan Reed still exists, do it to prove to yourself that Ethan Banks is still alive.”

“He’s more alive than ever. Thanks to you.”