Noah
Have you ever had one of those moments when everything comes crashing in around you? Where you are left feeling as if you can’t breathe because the fire blazing inside you makes it hurt too much? My entire body shook with a mixture of adrenaline and fear as disgust and rage slowly burned along my spine, combined with an unexpected sense of love for the child in front of me.
How could anyone keep a child hidden from their father? How could she take from me the things she had and still face me as if she hadn’t robbed me blind?
The boy’s eyes were a replica of my own. He was a miniature version of myself.
I was torn between anger and the instant pull this little man had on me. Each time I looked at him, my heart ached with the need to touch him, pull him to me, and hold on tight. I was so lost about what the right thing to do would be.
I was eye level with him, and he looked back at me with curiosity.
“Why?” I asked Stacey without taking my eyes off him. “How?”
“I didn’t know for sure,” she whispered.
Closing my eyes tightly, I fought the urge to yell at her. How the fuck could she not know? One look at him and it was obvious.
“Listen, um,” she mumbled as she placed her hand on the little boy’s shoulder. My stomach knotted as thoughts of her taking him away hit me. There was no way she was walking away, not now.
I wanted to know. I had to know.
“I never intended for you to find out like this,” Stacey added, and her comment only made the need to tell her how dumb she was even stronger. “Why don’t we let you get back to your…?” She paused, and I remembered Alena was witnessing all of this.
I stood quickly and turned to find her still leaning against my truck, staring past me at Stacey and the child.
“Alena, I—”
She held her hand up and shook her head.
“It’s okay, really. You have some things to figure out, and I’m not that far from home. I can walk,” she said as she stood tall and forced a smile. I had spent the last few months staring at her beautiful smile. I knew the one she was giving now was not genuine.
I stepped toward her and placed my hand on her hip. “I can take you.” She shook her head. “I don’t want you to walk at night by yourself.”
“It’s only two blocks. Honestly, Noah, I’m from Chicago.” She shrugged. “And I have mace.” She winked as she slipped around me and began walking toward Heavenly Delights.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your night,” Stacey said from behind me. “This can wait.”
I spun around and faced her. From the startled look on her face, I could only imagine what my own expression was like.
“Wait?” I snapped. “For how long this time? Maybe until he’s starting high school? Or learning to drive?”
“I never meant to keep him from you. I just didn’t know,” she said in a whisper.
“Bullshit. You knew that he was mine, so don’t feed me any more garbage excuses.”
I looked down to find the little boy wrapping his arms around Stacey’s leg, pressing his face tightly against her as if to shield himself from the intensity of our argument.
“We need to get him some ice cream, and then you and I have some things to talk about. Not tomorrow, now,” I said with authority as I motioned for Stacey to walk toward Bill’s Diner.
She knelt and picked up our son, and my heart sank. I wanted to reach out and take him into my own arms. She had already taken so much from me, and I hated her for it.
Instead I fisted my hands and followed her.
As we entered the diner, I sent a quick text to Alena, making sure she made it home okay. When she replied with a simple yes, I felt like a total ass for not taking her home myself.
“Noah,” Bill Williams said as I took a seat in the booth. He stood just at the edge of the table as his eyes shifted to the seat across from me and grew wide. “Stacey Henderson, is that you?”
“Hello, Bill, how have you been?” she said with a look of distaste. Stacey always felt she was above us all.
“We’ve been good, thank you. Is this your little boy?” he asked, and I gripped the edge of the table.
“Yes, this is Austin.” My gaze shot to Stacey’s eyes as she looked down at our son with a smile. Hearing her tell Bill his name before she told me pissed me off even more.
“What kind of ice cream do you like, Austin?” Just saying his name choked me up. Stacey shifted next to him, but I kept my eyes trained on my son. My son. I have a son.
“Chocolate,” he said with excitement, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Bill, can we get a dish of chocolate ice cream, please?” I leaned back in the booth and continued to look at my son in awe.