Dawn of a New Age: A Sons of Satrina Novel (29 page)

He got up to cross the room. Kelton was going to call anyone he could think of to find Kayleigh so he could get this woman out of here. He wasn’t heartless enough to kick her out without saying goodbye to her daughters, no matter how tempting that idea was.

“They have your eyes.”

Kelton stopped dead. He didn’t turn to look at her. He couldn’t.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I think you know exactly what I mean. They have your eyes. They’re yours, Kelton. They are your daughters.”

The world began to swim around him. The words knocked him sideways. There was no way that this could be true.

No way.

“Kelton. I know that this is a lot to spring on you, but I have had no way to find you before this. It is like it is meant to be.” Her voice sounded scarily genuine and the words chilled him to the bone.

“This can’t be true.” He muttered, more to himself than to her.

“It’s true. They are your daughters. Our daughters. Kelton. That night was the worst and the best of my life.”

He put his shaking hands to his face. He wanted to put hands over his ears and sing so he couldn’t hear her. He didn’t want to hear any of this.

“Kelton. They are your daughters!”

A gasp from over the other side of the reception area had him whirling around. His heart sank to his boots as he saw Kayleigh standing there. She looked with wide eyes from Kelton to Cassandra and then back to him again. Confusion and fear clouded her eyes.

“What? What did she just say?” Her eyes were locked on Kelton. He didn’t know what to say to her.

“I’m sorry, but we are trying to have a private conversation here. We would appreciate it if you left.” Cassandra said in her most haughty tone.

“Well, it’s not private anymore.” Kayleigh growled at her in such a menacing manner that the woman took a step back. “Kelton, what is she talking about?”

Cassandra casually straightened her skirt. “Are you two…” she paused dramatically, “Well, this is awkward.”

Kelton couldn’t look at either of them. He couldn’t believe that this was happening. This was the last thing that he wanted Kayleigh to walk in on.

“So, she’s saying that the twins are yours? How on earth is that possible?” Kayleigh demanded.

Cassandra laughed. “If you need to ask that than maybe I was wrong and the two of you aren’t together. If my memory serves me correctly, Kelton definitely knows what he’s doing.”

Kelton couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Back then, and even here when he was talking to her, he never knew that this bitchy side of her existed. This was certainly not the kind of woman that he would ever go near if he was in his right mind.

“How old are they?” Kayleigh hissed, being able to guess the answer.

Kelton couldn’t bear this a moment longer. “Kayleigh, please, listen to me.”

“I said, how old are they?”

“Please, Leigh.” He pleaded.

“How fucking old are they?” she screamed.

“They are eighteen.” Cassandra said with a decided sneer to her tone. It was obvious that she would never lower her standards to scream like a banshee in public like that.

Kayleigh didn’t need to linger over the mathematics. The girls were eighteen. They were conceived nineteen years ago. That was the time when things had seemed to smooth out between her and Kelton, getting on the right track and their relationship had blossomed. She now knew why. Guilt had spurred him on. What they had built had been based on lies.

“How could you? How could you do this to me?” she whispered to him, feeling the hurt and the pain of his betrayal to her very core.

He couldn’t speak. He hated that this was happening to them. Kelton had never forgiven himself for what had happened, so how could he expect Kayleigh to forgive him for it? He hated himself for the pain that he had caused her, pain that was evident on her face.

“How could you do this to me?” Something in her eyes cracked before she could look at him no more. She fled from the room, feeling like her heart was physically breaking in her chest. Everything in her life had been destroyed in that one sentence.

The silence in the reception area was suffocating. Kelton wanted to go after her, but he didn’t think that she would want to see him right now. He had no idea how he was going to make any of this right.

He vaguely heard Cassandra announcing that she was leaving and would call to speak to the girls. Kelton couldn’t care less. He couldn’t play the role of warrior or leader that most parents would expect to see at a time like this. Not when his world was crashing down around his shoulders.

Kelton couldn’t get his head around the fact that he had a child out there that he had never even known about, let alone two of them. Twins. How was he supposed to make up for all of those years that he had missed out on? That they had missed out on?  They had been without a father for so long that maybe they wouldn’t even want one now. Did he even want to be a father to these two strangers? It was too much for his head and heart to take.

“Kelton?”

He turned to see Pete standing behind him with a concerned expression on his face.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

Kelton shook his head. There wasn’t anything anyone could do right now. “Keep this to yourself.” was all he could say. Pete nodded. He wouldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone. Kelton trusted him.

Kayleigh. He couldn’t even imagine how she was feeling right now. He had betrayed her and the worst thing was that she could remember the point in time when it must have happened. He hated to think what she thought of him right now. He had lied to her ever since it had happened. How was he ever going to make that right? How could he ever explain how it had happened? He couldn’t. There was no way he could ever justify what happened. He thought more of Kayleigh than to sound like one of those guys who just couldn’t control themselves.

Kayleigh was the single most important thing in his life. He had hurt her more than words could express. Kelton couldn’t just leave her all alone when she was feeling like this, even if she slammed the door in his face, he had to try.

A relationship in trouble. A new role as a father. Kelton had much to face in the future. Yes, he was a warrior. But, was he strong enough to get through this with his life intact?

This was going to be his greatest battle.

Hungry for more? Join the warriors in the next instalment coming Spring 2015