“I should probably not work at the house then…”
“Cassie’s not going to be at the house, Vicki. I’m going to finish the divorce. I don’t love her. I’m not going to stay with her out of fear that she’ll take my money any longer. My attorneys can deal with her and I’ll do my best to help them reach a settlement with her that she’s satisfied with. But I don’t want to be with her any longer. We’re both miserable and it’s as unfair to her as it is to me.”
That news made me happier than I probably had a right to be. I felt a little ashamed that a divorce made me happy. But I’d heard so many awful fights and I’d borne witness to the fact that he was right; they didn’t belong together. “I want to share him with you, Alex… but please promise me something.”
“Anything,” he said.
“Please promise me you will never try and take him from me. I couldn’t bear it. I already love him so much that the thought of being without him makes it hard to breathe.”
He shook his head and looked back down at our son. “I promise. I would never consider it. He needs you and you need him and we need each other. We’re a family now. How ‘bout that, Michael Alexander? You made us a family.” He looked up at me again. His long, dark eyelashes were wet with residual tears and he said, “Vicki, I’m so sorry for everything. After we were together that day in the basement… I was so confused. I didn’t understand why being with you had made me feel so differently from being with the other women I’d been with since Cassie left. I was overwhelmed by the emotional part of it and it scared me to death so I just tried to ignore it and pretend it never happened. That was so wrong.”
I reached up with the hand that didn’t hold our son and touched his face. “It was a confusing situation,” I said.
“Maybe,” he said. “But my behavior was inexcusable.”
“But not unforgiveable, and that’s what matters.” He brought my hand to his lips and held it there for a few beats.
“Thank you,” he said. “I need to apologize for so much more… the lawyers, the fights with Cassie that you had to overhear… I thought that I was grown up and a man of the world and then I slept with my maid and realized I didn’t know anything at all.”
I laughed. “I think I have a lot of that growing up stuff left to do myself,” I told him. “Maybe Michael can help us with that.”
“Vicki?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I hold him?”
“Of course.” I scooped the tiny little man with one hand under his bottom and kept the other under his head as I handed him to Alex. Then I watched as the baby yawned and stretched and peeked open one of his little eyes… his hazel eyes. He looked at his daddy and the look on Alex’s face was priceless. They were bonding and I knew that my baby would never have to want for anything, most especially love.
When Alex was able to tear his eyes away from Michael he said, “Michael and I were wondering if his Mama might consent to having a date with his daddy when she gets out of the hospital?”
I laughed and said, “Mama would love that… but I don’t think I’ll be able to get too far from him for a while.”
“That’s okay,” Alex said, looking down at his son. “He has a standing invitation.”
Holly Rayner
The sequel to this story is coming soon!