Epilogue
Two months later Braden and I went with Samson to meet Caleb at his physiotherapist. He had been working hard to get back on his feet, and was finally able to take more than twenty steps before having to rest. When I entered the rehabilitation centre it was decorated with gold balloons and white roses all over the place. At the far end, I spotted Damien and his fiancée standing among the staff along with a bunch of really big bulky men who I could only assume were Celeb’s rugby mates. Caleb stood near the parallel walking bar in a suit. I glanced around the room and slowly approached him with Braden holding my hand.
Caleb looked at me and smiled and with the help of his physiotherapist he went down on one knee and held out a little velvet box.
“Rae Callaway, I’m on my knees finally, so will you do me the honour of being my partner in crime?” he said with a grin. Around us everyone stood holding their breaths and waiting in anticipation, some of the women were dabbing tears from their eyes and I was pretty close to tears myself.
I looked down at Braden and then asked him, “So do you want Caleb to be your real dad?”
Braden didn’t even wait; he launched at Caleb and hugged him tightly. I smiled and went down on my knees then leaned in and kissed him, “I would want nothing more,” I said softly and Caleb slid the ring unto my trembling finger.
Finally, my life was starting to get direction, my son finally accepted me as his only mother, while I had the love of my life right by my side, nothing could be more prefect that this.
****
THE END
a family by valentine
Lucy
“What am I going to do?” Lucy asked in a voice high with desperation. She paced the small living room of the apartment she shared with her four-year-old son Jacob.
“Call him,” her brother Chris advised softly from the other end of the phone receiver held to her ear. “You’ve kept this from him long enough. Do you have any idea how hard it was keeping it from Mom and Dad?” he demanded.
Lucy laughed hysterically. The mere thought of rich, famous Seth Landers finding out he has a secret son would make huge headlines and that was the main reason she’d kept it from him. She didn’t want her son exposed to that kind of life.
“You never should have kept this from him,” Chris admonished and she rolled her eyes at the years’ old argument.
“I never should have told you,” she snapped and instantly felt guilty. It wasn’t Chris’s fault that she’d fallen for her brother’s gorgeous best friend from college. She’d met Seth a little over five years ago, while she, herself, was only a college sophomore.
Seth had come back to town to act as best man in Chris’s wedding and after one alcohol-hazed night, he’d left Erie, Pennsylvania, and Lucy in his rearview mirror. The town wasn’t affected as much as Lucy – she’d been pregnant with Seth’s child.
He’d gone on to sign with the St. Louis Cardinal’s professional baseball team and now had a recurring multi-million dollar contract. He loved his high-rolling, celebrity lifestyle and the spotlight it gave him. He’d gone on record numerous times saying how he wasn’t the type to settle down with just one woman and he adamantly claimed not to want children.
Lucy, a straight-A student who loved nothing but studying and collecting books, couldn’t stand the thought of her son being used as cannon fodder for some money-grubbing newspaper or tabloid trash. So, she’d kept Jacob’s existence a secret.
It had worked fine for four years now.
Chris inhaled deeply on the other end of the call. Having moved to San Francisco, California shortly after getting married, he kept in constant contact with his little sister. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant and refused to reveal the father, her parent’s had virtually disowned her. They’d died in a freak car accident a month before Jacob was born. Chris was the only family she had left.
“You can’t do this alone, Luce,” her brother said. “You’re gonna need help.”
“And you’re sure neither you nor Amber can come?” she asked again. He’d already told her they couldn’t get the time off of work, but it didn’t hurt to ask again.
“I’m sorry, sweetpea, I wish we could, but Amber just got this big promotion and I need all the hours I can clock for the mortgage. I know it sounds like we’re brushing you off, but I promise you, I’m not. I can’t take any time off until next month and then God Himself won’t stop me, you just need to make it until then -” He trailed off.
“And it isn’t like I can get a babysitter,” Lucy admitted. “This is a 24/7 therapy treatment and they won’t let Jacob stay with me.” No matter how badly she didn’t want to call on Seth, she slowly realized she had no other choice.
“So, bite the bullet and call him. If he’s an ass, then you let me know and I’ll beat him senseless,” Chris threatened. “But honestly, I can’t see him turning his back on his own flesh and blood.”
Lucy caved at her brother’s trust and faith in his friend. Maybe she had been wrong about Seth, maybe she did owe it to him. Mind made up, she decided she’d call him and ask for help, but she refused to throw Jacob in the line of fire just yet. If Seth came and actually showed some interest in being with her son, then maybe she’d tell him. Only time would tell.