FOREVER BELOVED (Billionaire Love Series) (3 page)

I beamed, even as sadness pulled at me. “I
did. Would you like to see your great-grandson?”

“
Oh yes, you bet your patootie,” he said,
coming to stand by the hospital bed. “He’s beautiful.” His
weathered face radiated love, making me cry again.

“
Would you like to hold him?” I asked as I
took in his priceless reaction to seeing his
great-grandson.

He nodded, tenderly taking the baby from me
as he carefully cradled Charlie in his arms.

“
What’s his name?” he asked, stroking the
baby’s cheek.

“
Charles Beau Matthews.”

“
You named him after me and Beau?” he
asked, his voice full of awe.

“
I did. I couldn’t think of anyone
better.”

His blue eyes overflowed with joy. “Well,
I’ll be damned. That’s wonderful. Thank you.”

“
It’s the least I can do.”

“
Oh, you’ve done plenty. He looks just
like Beau when he was born. This is definitely Beau’s boy,” Charly
offered, gazing at the little boy who had entered our
lives.

My heart shredded open again.

Beau’s boy.

The boy he would never know.

I shook my head, trying to keep the grief at
bay as I watched great-granddad and great-grandson get to know each
other.

Charly wandered around the room, talking to
the baby. “You and me got a lot to do. But first I gotta tell you
something. So a guy walks into a bar...”

My funny bone was tickled as a big chuckle
escaped me. “Are you trying to tell him a joke?”

His gaze danced with mischief. “Gotta start
early. I’m fixin’ to tell him all my jokes.”

I laughed again, happy to see Charly
treating my Charlie so well. “I guess that means we’ll see you from
time to time?” I asked, hoping he would want to stay connected.

A serious light entered his warm gaze.
“Listen, Marla. I know Beau’s dad treated you wrong. I want to make
it right. It would mean the world to me if you would let me take
care of your little family. I can set you up in a new apartment.
I’ll pay for the rest of your schooling, if you want to go back.
I’ll give you a monthly income to live on and take care of any of
little Charlie’s needs, including his college education.”

“
Are you serious?” I asked, wondering if I
was delusional from giving birth.

“
Yep, as serious as a heart
attack.”

“
I don’t know what to say.”

“
Just say thank you and let me take care
of you.”

My eyes pooled with fresh tears. “Thank you.
I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

He handed the baby back to me, concern
etched in his bright blue eyes. “Are you ever going to tell Beau
the truth about what happened?”

“
I want to, but I can’t afford to lose my
sister or my baby.”

He nodded grimly. “Beau’s dad does have
powerful friends. I can’t guarantee he wouldn’t come after
you.”

Stark pain stabbed me in the heart as I
contemplated telling Beau about the baby. “No, I can’t risk it,
Charly. Not now. Not with another little one to protect. Please,
the damage is done. I can’t bear to lose anyone else out of my
life,” I begged openly.

He patted my hand. “Hush, hush. It’s okay.
Don’t worry. I’m on your side. We’ll get through this.”

*****

I couldn’t believe my baby was all grown up
now.

I had feared this meeting of father and son.
I knew, at some point, Beau and Charlie would collide, especially
since Beau had moved back to Baltimore.

I just hadn’t planned on it happening this
way.

I wished I’d done a better job explaining all
this history to Charlie. He deserved better. I had planned to tell
him about Beau at our reunion dinner, but like all things these
days, I found myself in the middle of a disaster.

Charlie had barely been home for a minute and
wham
he was in Beau’s face ready to protect me.

I didn’t want that.

But there it was.

Ugly and messy.

Growing up, Charlie had approached me a
couple of times with the whole father issue. It was always a
delicate dilemma and I tried to answer his questions about his dad
with a degree of honesty I thought he could handle.

When he was eight, he’d asked about his dad
for the first time.

We were baking chocolate chip cookies and
out of the blue, he laid it out for me. “So do I have a dad?”

After a stunned second, I composed myself as
I stopped stirring the dough and faced him. “Of course you do!”

“
Where is he then?” His little face was so
serious. His mop of brown hair fell over his dark brows furrowing
in worry.

“
Oh, honey. How long have you been
thinking about this?”

He shrugged and looked away. “A while.”

My heart hurt for him. I didn’t want him to
think the worst, but I wasn’t ready to give him the whole
truth.

So I gave him a watered down version of
events. “Your dad and I were young and in love, but it didn’t work
out. But he gave me you and that’s all that matters.”

“
Why doesn’t he visit me?” he asked as he
licked cookie dough off the beater I handed him.

I smiled, getting down on my haunches in
front of his skinny frame. “He would if he could, but he can’t
right now. I do have hope that one day he will come see you. But it
might not be until you’re older.”

He nodded. “Why can’t we go see him?”

“
He lives in another country.”

“
Like Africa?”

“
Well, Africa’s a continent, but he lives
in Canada.”

“
That’s not so far. They’re just above
us.”

“
You’re right. Canada isn’t that
far.”

“
Can we go someday?”

“
I’ll think about it,” I offered, knowing
it wasn’t something I could say yes to. He was still too young to
chance it.

“’
Kay. Can I go play?”

“
Sure.” I breathed a sigh of relief, as he
seemed to accept my answers for the moment.

Fortunately, we made it through another
couple of years, before he brought it up again. One night, at the
tender age of thirteen, he confronted me as I sat watching a hockey
game on TV.

“
This isn’t cool, Mom. I feel like you’re
not telling me the truth about my dad.” He scowled as if he were
interviewing a suspect in a crime.

“
What do you want to know?” I asked,
muting the TV.

“
How about a name?”

I was willing to reveal a little bit. “Beau.
He was a guy I went to high school with.”

His brows creased in concentration. “Why did
he really leave? Does he know about me?”

“
He got the opportunity of a lifetime to
play professional hockey and no, he doesn’t know about
you.”

“
So, he still doesn’t know he has a son?
Even though I’m thirteen?”

“
No, and for your safety, I haven’t let
him know about you.”

“
My safety?” he asked, his brown eyes
growing wide.

Shooting him a comforting grin, I tried to
explain what I could about the situation. “There are things you
don’t understand that happened before you were born. But, I need
you to know that your father is a good man. It had nothing to do
with him.”

“
Why all the secrecy?”

“
You know I just want to protect you,
right? That I would only do things because they’re
necessary?”

“
Why is this necessary?

“
There are members of Beau’s family, who
want to take you away from me.”

“
Yeah, but I’m thirteen, now.”

“
I know. But you’re still so young that if
they got a hold of you, I don’t know what would happen.”

“
Nothing would happen. I wouldn’t leave
you, Mom.”

I smiled. “I know you wouldn’t want to,
sweetie. However, sometimes things happen we can’t control and I
don’t want to risk it. When you’re eighteen, if you still want to
visit Beau, we’ll go. Okay?”

“
Okay,” he agreed, looking more at peace.
“I just want to know who he is.”

“
I know you do and as soon as I feel it’s
safe, I will be happy to answer all of your questions and track him
down.”

I felt bad, but I didn’t want to give Beau’s
dad any opportunity to influence Charlie. He was a wily old snake
and I knew from experience he had plenty of devious tricks up his
sleeve.

By the time Charlie was eighteen, he’d lost
interest. He was more concerned with college and figuring out his
place in the world. He reminded me so much of Beau at that age,
with the same gangly height, lopsided grin, and charming
disposition.

I could only hope some of that charm was
still intact as I headed home with a heavy heart. The trip usually
took me about twenty minutes, but this time it seemed only about
twenty seconds long, as I tried to think of what to say to him.

No explanation could fix any of this.

I turned down our street, parked the car, and
sat in the driveway for a couple of minutes, trying to wrap my mind
around what was going on with my son.

I dreaded confronting the past. Yet, here I
was, about to deal with the most important issue of my son’s young
life. I sighed as I walked through the front door and threw my keys
in the bowl.

“I’m home,” I let out as I put my purse down
on the front entry table.

“In here,” Charlie called from the
kitchen.

I found him making a turkey sandwich,
standing in front of the butcher-block island I’d had put in a
couple years ago. I moved slowly toward him, trying to determine
what kind of mood he was in.

He glanced back at me, his mop of shiny brown
curls falling over his forehead. His eyes searched mine, like he
used to do when the world had hurt him in some way.

My mother’s heart got the best of me and I
hugged him from behind, laying my head against his back. “I love
you, Charlie Brown. I need you to know that right now.”

“I know you do,” he said quietly, letting me
hug him for a long second.

“You’re so big, now. I can’t believe I used
to hold you in my arms. I always loved doing that.”

“Ah, Mama. You’re getting sappy.”

He didn’t call me mama very often these days.
I knew he was telling me he loved me. “I can’t help it. That
showdown in the salon did not go how I had planned.”

“Wow, Mom, that was heavy.”

“Yes, it was. Thank you for coming to my
defense, even though it wasn’t necessary. I’m sorry you had to meet
your father that way. My goal was always to protect you and keep
you safe.”

“I know that, Mom.”

“I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“You didn’t know how to tell me I descend
from a rich, ex-hockey playing, real-estate tycoon, who owns the
Baltimore Gators?”

I came out from behind his back and faced
him. “I see you did some research.”

“It’s not every day I meet my dad. I thought
I should look him up.”

“I didn’t know how to bring it up. I couldn’t
tell you when you were younger and then I didn’t want to throw your
life into a tailspin as you got older.”

“Well, my life is thrown, Mom. Big time.”

“What do you want me to do? How can I help?”
I asked, standing next to him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“How do you feel about knowing who your dad
is?”

He scrunched up his mouth. “I don’t know.
It’s complicated. It’s cool. It’s a disaster.”

I smiled sympathetically. “I understand.
There is no right way to feel about it and chances are you’ve got a
lot of feelings to work through.”

His brown eyes grew worried. “I gotta know
something. Did he hurt you, Mom? Physically? He was more than in
your face back there and I swear if he touched you...”

“No…no! He was just upset he found out he was
a father. There’s always been a lot of passion between Beau and me.
It was a shock to him and he didn’t handle things very well. I know
he would never hurt me.”

“Good. ‘Cause I was gonna have to throw down
with him if he was gonna hurt my mama,” he said, holding his arms
out as if he was going to do a Karate chop.

I did my best to remain serious, even though
I was amused. “I can see that. I’m glad you didn’t have to unleash
your mad skills on your father.” I wasn’t about tell him Beau was a
pretty fierce MMA style fighter. I didn’t want to burst his
bubble.

“So what can you tell me about him?”

“I’ll tell you everything. Let me fix a cup
of tea and I’ll explain it all.”

We sat at the table that night for a good
long time as I filled him in on every detail he wanted to know: how
we met, how we got together, what I liked best about him. I didn’t
tell him about Beau’s father; that horrible story would be saved
for another time.

When I was done spilling the beans, Charlie
had only one question for me. “You want me to put him through a
quest?”

I burst out laughing; knowing Charlie would
pull out all the stops to test Beau. “That would be awesome, but
let’s hold back just yet. Your father and I have a long
history.”

“All right.” He smiled sleepily and yawned
big. “I’m so jet lagged, Mom. I gotta get some sleep.”

“Okay, honey. Go on up to bed.” He stood up
and kissed me on the cheek as he made his way to his room.

I sat there for a second and realized I was
tired, too.

Soul tired from carrying this burden for so
long.

It was such a relief to have part of the
secret out in the open. Yet, I sensed there might be more trouble
ahead. No matter, that worry would be saved for another day.

I was done analyzing for the night. I headed
up to bed, hoping Charlie would want to talk more after he had a
chance to rest.