Seth
Seth glanced in his rearview mirror and studied the little boy napping in his booster seat. They’d stayed with Lucy until she fallen asleep – much to her dismay – Seth had suffered her wrath like a boss. Jacob wanted his mommy and dammit if Uncle Seth wouldn’t oblige him. From what he’d gathered, the kid had never been away from his mother for an extended period of time. Lucy’s brother and sister-in-law had sometimes babysat, but never overnight.
So far, mother and son had spent two nights apart. If staying up past the little guy’s bedtime allowed him some degree of comfort, then it was the least he could do.
After parking his rental, he made a mental note to get a bigger car as soon as possible and wrestled his big body across the folded front seat to extract the sleeping child from his harness of hell.
He impressed himself by making it all the way up the stairs, through the door and into Jacob’s bedroom before the boy even moved. Placing him gently on his Superman comforter, Seth set about removing the little red boots, cape and glasses. He figured letting him sleep in the blue sweat suit was harmless and tucked Jacob’s little legs under the covers.
Stepping back, he studied the sleeping child through the moonlight filtering in through his window. A paternal instinct he’d sworn he didn’t own rose to fill his chest. It both surprised and comforted him. He wouldn’t be able to play baseball forever, but he’d never given much thought to what he’d do once he retired.
Having a family certainly never entered his mind. He was still young, strong and too raring to go to think about settling down. But from the moment of Lucy’s phone call, something had shifted inside him. Sure, his first thought was of getting the gorgeous brown-eyed angel back between the sheets but the moment he’d laid eyes on her frail form and the shy, smaller, version of her, his thoughts had gone in a different direction.
“And thinkin’ is what gets you in trouble,” he mumbled to himself, and after giving Jacob one last glance over, turned to head toward the living room. A small framed picture sitting on Jacob’s dresser caught Seth’s eye and he picked it up for closer inspection.
It was a photo of Chris and Lucy, dated about seven months after Chris’s wedding. Amber stood in the background, bent over a cake and other women were lined up with plates in hand. Under closer scrutiny, Seth realized that Lucy was pregnant and the photo was taken during her baby shower.
Smiling at the glowing beauty Lucy was, he sat the picture back on the dresser and went on into the living room. Settling on the sofa, he grabbed the remote and began channel surfing for something good to watch. Even though it was a little after midnight, he wasn’t tired.
He awoke to the shrill ringing of his cell phone some time later. Realizing he’d fallen asleep, he fished around in his pocket and pulled the device out. A glance at the time showed it to be three-forty a.m. He recognized Chris’s number immediately and answered the call.
“Hey man, how’s it goin’?” Chris drawled. “Sorry it’s so late; I just couldn’t sleep and wanted to check on Lucy. I figured you could give me a better update than the nurses.”
“She’s hanging in there,” Seth explained and did his best to tramp down the sudden anger that rose at hearing his old friend’s voice. He should have been here with his sister, not some guy she’d met a long time ago. Jacob deserved to be with family and Lucy deserved familiar people to lean on. He’d seen her discomfort at needing help to the restroom. He hadn’t minded offering that help, but he could only imagine how she felt in being forced to take it.
“Ah, I hear it in your voice,” Chris observed. “You’re pissed. Look man, I’m sorry. Neither Amber nor I could get away. Believe me, I wouldn’t have suggested Lucy call you if it weren’t absolutely necessary.”
“Why doesn’t she have any female friends?” Seth demanded and had to remind himself to keep his voice down lest he wake Jacob up. “Why is she in this godforsaken town, with a son for fuck’s sake, all alone?”
“She wanted to raise her son alone,” Chris snapped. “She was afraid someone would figure out who his biological father is. She just wanted Jacob to have a normal life.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Seth argued. “Any man worth his salt would be lucky to have a kid like Jacob. The boy is smart, funny and talented as hell,” he stressed. “Tell me who this asshole is and I’ll have a talk with him.”
“It’s not that easy,” Chris said defensively.
“The hell it ain’t,” Seth argued more forcefully. “A man has the right to know if he has a kid, no matter who he is.” He frowned when he realized he’d sudden switched gears. First he was ready to rip the asshat apart and now he was defending this total stranger?
“Yeah, well, you should talk to Lucy, I’m not going to chance my sister’s wrath,” Chris explained. “Besides, it’s her choice. Nobody forces her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“True enough,” Seth relented and decided to let the subject drop for the time being. He and Chris fell into the friendly banter that only best friends would understand. After about an hour they said their goodbyes with Chris promising to check back soon.
Seth ended the call and felt a ball of disgust form in his stomach. Lucy – beautiful, kind, sweet and smart Lucy – was battling a disease that ravaged her body by the hour and she cared more for her son than herself.
It wasn’t the fact that she hadn’t told Jacob’s father about his son, it was the fact that she’d protected her son from a man who possibly didn’t want him.
“Uncle Seth?” a small voice called and Seth whirled to see the sleepy-eyed, hair-tousled little boy in question standing in the doorway to his room.
“Hey little man,” Seth cooed and glanced at his watch. Seeing that it was only five a.m., he knew it was still too early for the kid to be up. Something must have woken him. “What you doing up this early?” he asked and moved toward him to scoop the boy in his arms. “You should still be asleep.”
“I had a nightmare,” Jacob murmured and buried his face in the crook of Seth’s throat. An unfamiliar feeling coursed through Seth’s body. He’d never had anyone depend on him for anything. Sure, he fulfilled his contractual obligations to the Cardinals’ every year, but beyond that, his life was all about himself and no responsibilities.
Now, after all these years, he realized that it felt good to be needed for just who he was; not his talent on the diamond, not his experience with the ladies. Lucy and her son needed the man, the flesh and blood man Seth was and that meant the world to him.
Seth wrapped his arms a bit tighter around Jacob and headed back into the boy’s bedroom. Placing him gently on the bed, he stretched out beside him. Jacob’s little fingers clenched the front of Seth’s t-shirt and this caused him to smile.
It felt great to be needed. It was a feeling he could definitely get used to.
“How about I stay with you while you take a nap?” Seth murmured and turned onto his side, extracting Jacob’s fingers from his shirt and laying his arm across the boy’s stomach.
“You won’t leave me?” Jacob asked, his voice small and hesitant.
“Never,” Seth answered with a conviction he didn’t know resided within him.
Seth decided that – Jacob willing – he’d drop the boy off at daycare later this morning and go visit Lucy alone. He wanted to talk to her about Jacob’s father and his right to know he had a son. No, it wasn’t his business, but he was making it his. He’d grown really fond of the little boy and the thought of another man in his life made Seth jealous, but the kid deserved to know his biological father.
It wasn’t that he questioned Lucy’s parenting abilities, quite the opposite. The woman was phenomenal as a mother. Her entire life revolved around her little boy and that, itself, was admirable.