"After you sped away I followed you and I got there right as your neighbor was breaking down your door. Brian tried to run but we held him until the cops came. I called your parents as soon as I knew you were in the ambulance and then I came to the hospital to wait until you woke up. I had to know that you were okay. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you." He started to choke up and looked away as he composed himself.
"How did you get my parents phone number?"
"They are your ‘in case of emergency' contact at work so I had my assistant pull your information."
"Thank you for calling my parents, but you don't have to be here, you don't have to worry about me." I looked at him with cold eyes. "I am not your responsibility, that little boy is."
His eyes were sad and he looked defeated as he took a deep breath.
"Can I please tell you about that?"
"I don't want to hear it Sebastian, you had plenty of time to tell me that you had a son. Can you just go, please? My head is killing me so I don't feel like talking."
"Elena, you have to let me explain, please!"
I had never seen him look desperate and I don't know if it was because my head was killing me and I just wanted to rest or if I really wanted to hear what he had to say, but I gave in.
"Okay, fine. But it will have to wait until I am out of the hospital. The doctor said I need to rest and avoid stress."
A look of relief fell over his face. "Okay, thank you. I'll call you in a couple of days just to see how you're doing."
The meds were really kicking in again and I just wanted to be alone so I agreed with him. After he left I lay in my hospital bed thinking about what had happened to me in the past couple of days. Seeing Sophia at Sebastian's house holding that little boy's hand, and hearing him call Sebastian ‘daddy' was like a knife to my heart. Anything I thought I might be able to have with Sebastian was completely over. He had plenty of opportunities to tell me that he had a kid with Sophia but he didn't do it. I even asked him about her, about his relationship with her and he failed to mention the most important thing of all, his child. Was he ashamed of him? The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
I was torn because I had such strong feelings for him, he was so sweet to me, he was gorgeous and the sex … there were no words. Why didn't he tell me about his son? I didn't know how we were going to get past that. I drifted off to sleep again feeling both sad and confused.
I went home a couple of days later on Tuesday and my mom doted on me trying to do everything for me even though I kept telling her that she didn't have to. My dad was only able to stay with us for a day and then he had to go back home. I slept a lot the first few days I was home and then Friday afternoon, when I was feeling much better, my mom and I were having tea and chatting on my couch.
My mom looked at me with a devilish grin and I knew the Sebastian inquisition was coming. "So honey, tell me about Sebastian."
She was now grinning from ear to ear and I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head trying hard not to crackup at the expression on her face.
"Mom, don't look at me like that!"
We both started laughing and then the phone rang, interrupting our moment.
"Elena." Sebastian's smooth voice made my belly flip, I couldn't help it, I was happy to hear from him even though my head was telling me I shouldn't care.
"Hi Sebastian." I tried to sound nonchalant but I doubt I was able to disguise the lilt in my voice.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, I'm finally feeling a lot better today. The pounding headache is gone."
"I'm glad to hear it. Do you need anything, is your mom still with you?"
"No, I'm fine, and yes, she's still here."
My mom looked at me and mouthed for me to tell him thank you for her.
"Mom wants me to tell you thank you for all of your help and for getting the lawyer."
"Tell her that I am just happy that she is there with you and that you are okay."
She gave me a mischievous smile and I waved my hand at her as I tried not to giggle.
"When does your mom go back home?"
"She's leaving Sunday since I am feeling better. I told her I would be fine and she needs to get back to work." My mom gave me the sad face when I said that because she didn't want to leave me so soon. But I knew that she had to get back to work and I didn't want her to have to work late every night for the next week to make up the hours she missed from work being there with me.
"I should be back in the office on Monday."
"Elena, please don't worry about work, the important thing is for you to get better, I want you to come back when you are feeling 100 percent. Also, I would like to pay for your mother's plane ticket back to Pensacola, and please just say yes; I know how much a last minute ticket costs. I just want to help."
I started to protest but then I bit my tongue because it would help her a ton if she didn't have to shell out that money for a ticket.
"Okay, I won't fight you on that. Thank you Sebastian."
"No problem at all. Can I speak to your mother for a minute so that I can get her information to buy the ticket?"
I held the phone away from my mouth and quickly told my mom that he offered to buy her ticket. She looked really surprised and I could also see that she was grateful as she realized that she would not have to spend that money.
I handed my mom the phone, they talked for a few minutes, got everything squared away and she gave the phone back to me.
"I will have my assistant set everything up for her, I'll have a car pick her up and all she will have to do is show up at the airport."
It was a really nice gesture and I was grateful that he was being so generous. I hated to admit it but it softened me a bit toward him. How could I stay mad at him when he was being so nice to my mom?
"Thank you Sebastian, I want you to know that we both really appreciate your generosity."
"It's my pleasure. Elena, can I come see you on Sunday after your mom leaves? I really want to explain everything to you." There was a subtle desperation in his voice and I could tell that whatever he had to say was important so I gave in.
"Sure, why don't you come by around 1:30?"
"Okay, I'll see you Sunday. If you need anything, anything at all before then, please let me know."
"Okay, I will."
As soon as I hung up the phone my mom was staring at me waiting for me to fill her in on Sebastian.
"Honey, you have to tell me what has been going on with him. He was so worried about you, you should have seen the way he was pacing back and forth in the hospital room before you woke up, and now he's offering to pay for my flight home. Elena, this man really cares about you but I can sense that you are upset with him, what happened?"
"Things were really starting to develop with us, I mean things were going great, and then he had to go to Paris for a few days. When he came back, I decided to surprise him at his house and when I got there, it's a long story but another woman came out of his house and was holding the hand of a little boy who looked like he's about three years old. It turns out that little boy is Sebastian's son who he never told me about. So I feel like he was hiding it from me and I don't understand why."
"Oh. Hmmm, well maybe you should just hear what he has to say, I'm sure there's a good explanation for why he didn't tell you before. Who was the woman?"
"Her name is Sophia and she is the PR exec in the Paris office who Sebastian dated a few years ago and apparently, he left out the part about him having a child with her."
"Is there anything going on between the two of them now?"
"No, he says things were over with them a long time ago but when we were in Brazil I could tell that she still has feelings for him."
"Be careful there Elena, she's the mother of his child and it will be really easy for her to make him feel like they should be together. You need to be sure that he is really over her and there are no feelings there. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I know, that's why I agreed to hear what he has to say. I will keep you posted on what happens but I don't want to dwell on this during the rest of your time here. I just want to spend quality time with you, mom."
She patted the back of my hand. "Okay honey."
Chapter Thirteen – Answers
Sunday afternoon, after my mom and I had our tearful goodbye, I took my time getting ready because I wanted to look pretty for Sebastian. Even though I had no idea what was going to happen between us, I still had feelings for him and wanted to look nice. He showed up right on time and I double-checked my makeup in the mirror before I opened the door.